Anthony Head

Exclusive Interview: ANTHONY STEWART IS CAMELOT’S KING (BUT UTHER NOT ARTHUR) IN NBC’S NEW SERIES ’MERLIN’ - PART 1

The former BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER actor talks about his role as the evil Pendragon in the new revisionist take on the classic King Arthur tale

It’s been a busy year for BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER actor Anthony Stewart Head. Not only did he make a splash last fall as the creepy Repo Man in the cult horror musical REPO! A GENETIC OPERA he’s also had roles in the recent BBC series’ THE INVISIBLES and FREE AGENTS.

Currently front and center though for the versatile performer is playing the deliciously villainous Uther Pendragon in the new BBC produced series MERLIN (which begins its 13-episode U.S. run on NBC this Sunday at 8:00 p.m).

In this two-part exclusive interview, Head spoke about his latest role and what he’s been up to in the past couple of years.

iF MAGAZINE: So have you been?

ANTHONY STEWART HEAD: The summer before last, it had been very odd. My agent said, “I don’t know what’s going on. This should be your time. Everything is in alignment. I don’t know what’s going on.” Movies were about to go and money would drop out. Things like SWEENEY TODD, suddenly the part would be written out. Then all of a sudden I did a pilot for a show called FREE AGENTS and I did a movie called REPO! and then I went straight from that to do a show for the BBC called THE INVISIBLES. The last week of that, I get a call from [Producer] Julie Gardner saying “I want you to be in my show called MERLIN, playing Uther Pendragon.” I did eight months of that, then FREE AGENTS got picked up and I did a really quick version of MACBETH and now we’re in the second season of MERLIN, so it’s been really great.

iF: How is MERLIN different from other tellings of the King Arthur?

HEAD: The story of Arthur has been told so many different ways. Everybody is trying to dress it up from Sean Connery [in FIRST KNIGHT] to Clive Owen dressed up as a Roman Centurian (in 2004’s KING ARTHUR). The producers spent five years in preparation on this, trying to work out how they would do this. They thought it would be more interesting to do a “pre” story like SMALLVILLE — whatever happened or whatever might have happened before the tale we all know began. So Arthur [Bradley James] and Merlin [Colin Morgan] met as young men in Camelot. Camelot will exist and it’s ruled over by this fairly fascist, tyrannical king Uther Pendragon. Not to blow my own trumpet — he is the force that is a catalyst and conflict within the tale. Merlin turns up hoping to use his magic and in the first scene Uther condemning a man to death for using magic. He has his reasons, it’s very thought through. He feels that people who are drawn to magic, may say magic can be used for good as well as ill, but unfortunately they tend to be drawn to the darkside and it ends up fairly categorically being used for ill. It is kind of like ethnic cleansing. Occasionally, there’s one episode eight, where he’s absolutely right, and it’s appalling and ultimately the person he is talking about, if you know the tale, will have a very dodgy influence.

iF: So is he the nemesis?

HEAD: There’s not a lot of good about him — he’s a bad guy, but he has his reasons. Everybody likes magic and loves the idea of magic. There’s something wonderful about magic. It’s the J.M. Barrie “clap if you believe in fairies’ moment in PETER PAN. We all do. Everybody would love to believe in fairies. Uther is the anti-thesis of that. He’s the Grinch and he’s not having it and as I said, he has his reasons. And without him, we wouldn’t have conflict – we wouldn’t have a story.

iF: What’s the tone of the series?

HEAD: It’s got a modern humor to it. And it’s taken awhile to get the tone of the dialogue right. Initially there were a few anachronisms thrown in there. There’s great banter between Arthur and Merlin. Merlin becomes his assistant. Merlin is constantly saying to his mentor, this court physician Gaius played by Richard Wilson, he says “no one sees my talent. No one sees who I am.” He has to hide under a bush, because if anyone knew what he could do, he would be dead. And he’s been told very early on by this mythical dragon [voiced by John Hurt] that’s chained up in the bowels of the castle, that it is his destiny to protect Arthur. So as his servant, he is constantly finding him in a position to constantly protect him. There’s a lot of banter between the two boys — off set and on. They have a great relationship. Bradley is doomed forever to play a Prince. He’s perfect for it. He’s got a bearing about him. I interestingly don’t have very much comedy to do. I have one scene with Richard and Colin and Bradley – I got one gag. But I am the straight guy. Since I did LITTLE BRITAIN, I get a lot of comic roles, so it’s nice to play something straight.

iF: Is there a beginning, middle and end to the thirteen episodes?

HEAD: There are certain parts of the story arc that they were going to introduce in the second or third season and went “no, let’s not go there yet.” We do introduce Lancelot, we introduce Mordred. We introduce all sorts of characters we all know are going to be very important down the line in the tale. The overall telling of it is going to be five seasons. That’s the aim. It’s been so popular in England, and I hope it’s going to be popular in America, but definitely in England it’s gone down extremely well.

iF: How does Uther feel about Merlin – even though he still doesn’t know he’s secretly performing magic?

HEAD: As far as I’m concerned, he is Arthur’s rather annoying [tagalong]. He does pitch up and says “such and such is going on.” There has to be a point where I say, “everything was fine until this geezer turned up, because it’s not going so well.” Uther is beginning to lose his grip. At the moment, that’s not necessary. There is a lot of stuff to come between Uther and Morgana. There’s a lot of father and son stuff. Arthur doesn’t see eye to eye with how he does things. Uther is more about getting things done.

iF: So MERLIN was made for the BBC and NBC acquired it?

HEAD: NBC acquired a show sight unseen without anything on film at all, which is a first as far as I know.

iF: Any challenges in making the show?

HEAD: They nearly cancelled it because they couldn’t find a castle [to shoot in], but at the last minute [they found one] and it’s just staggering. It’s in France. It’s staggering. It’s like the seventh member of the cast. It so informs everything we do. You do a corridor scene you do. It doesn’t matter what time of day, what the light is, it’s just beautiful. It has that depth.

iF: If the series continues, your character will be around for awhile, correct?

HEAD: As long as my character is useful and there’s enough in there for me to be able to exercise myself. If it becomes “oh, it’s Uther again” at any point, I think I would say “come on guys, let’s not go down this route.” There was a point in BUFFY about Season Four, where I went to Joss and said “what am I doing here? I’m miles away from my home and my children and I don’t feel like I fit in anymore.” And in true Joss Whedon fashion, he turned it into a mid-life crisis rant about [Giles] feeling he didn’t belong anymore.” It was great, it worked and gave me a direction to play. I don’t think Uther will last for five seasons, because I don’t think it will help the story. He has to be there up to a point, because Arthur can’t become King for awhile, so there has to be a reason for him not to be King. Him becoming King doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the tale, but somewhere down the line, there is an end of this tale.