Articles with fantasy

Game of Thrones actor – Ian Beattie (Meryn Trant) interview – Great Philadelphia Comic Con 2018 – youtube

Actor Ian Beattie has been on stage, film and television for over 20 years. He’s best known for his roles on Game of Thrones as Meryn Trant and on the movie Alexander as Antigonus. I spoke to him at the Great Philadelphia Comic Con.

1:51 – Ian Beattie started acting as a child in a Northern Ireland circus. He kept at that for a while and then went to law school to be a barrister. But then he went to acting school in 1989. He spent a few years in LA doing theater but then went to Belfast and did stage and tv work here and there.

3:03 – His big break was getting on the movie Alexander but his biggest success was getting the role of Ser Meryn Tranth in Game of Thrones. That was a game changer.

3:34 – Experience was what changed his way of acting. He learned a lot with Alexander. He’s always been an intense actor and has always researched his roles including the accents. He’s done a few real characters and that’s helped him with doing research. He really likes doing historical characters. He really enjoyed his work on Alexander as Antigonus.

6:45 – He loves film and television and he loves being on set. He considers himself a good director’s actor and loves to be on the same page. Gabriel Burnham said that when you’re playing a role it’s vital to find the truth and make it your truth.

8:03 – He’s loved wearing the costumes in Vikings and in the Tudors. He’s inspired by fellow directors and actors. But he doesn’t have favorite actors or actresses that he loves watching.

9:22 – He’s most moved by strong scripts and stories. He likes the to find the realism of the time he’s in. he also likes to take in what others around him teach him.

11:24 – He’s always wanted to fly but then he figured out he was afraid of heights. He’s most inspired by people who have changed the world for the better.

12:03 – As a kid he loved Batman. As a teenager he loved Judge Dredd. He loved seeing Karl Urban and would have loved that role. But there are a million roles he’d love to play. He was down to the last two in a role and didn’t make it but anytime things could change. He was down to final selection in a Justice League role but they decided to go younger.

13:50 – If the audience spots you acting then you’re in trouble.

14:16 – On the last day of Alexander they were praying to a statue. He was on a two hundred foot ledge without railing and it freaked him out since he had only vision out of one eye.

15:03 – Everyone should always maintain their belief and stay hungry. Persistence pays and always practice while you’re waiting for a role.

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Ian Beattie

Host: Cris Alvarez

 

Sci-fi author Timothy Zahn interview – Far Point 2018 – youtube

Author Timothy Zahn has been writing professionally since 1984. He’s written a number of well-regarded Star Wars novels, as well as the Manticore Ascendent trilogy, the Cobra trilogy and the young adult Dragonback series. I was able to interview Mr. Zahn at Far Point 2018.

1:17 – Mr. Zahn’s latest work is the ninth book in the Cobra series. It’s the last Cobra book for a while. Right before that he finished the Star Wars Thrawn novel and coming up is the third book in the Manticore Ascendant series.

1:55 – He likes his Quadrille series. The Star Wars books. Everything has been fun to write. He has about 55 books published.

3:01 – He outlines his books and knows where they’re going. So plot threads wind up at the 100,000-word mark. His middle grade books are about 50,000.

4:05 – Sometimes his cat will join him in his writing. He started with short stories and developed from there. The second story was important to show he’s not a one hit wonder. Once he started writing Star Wars novels everything jumped forward fast.

5:28 – He doesn’t get to read much fiction. It feels too much like research. He reads a lot of history for his books. For example, the Nazi desire to invade Switzerland has been interesting. Science is interesting for his writing but is part of the grab bag like history. He’s seen some of his story ideas become actual inventions.

7:41 – he loved sci-fi when he was young. His favorites were Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, Keith Lamar, and Alistair McClane. Those writers inspired him.

8:31 – When he was young his favorite X-Man was Cyclops. He also read a lot of comic books. X-Men, Flash, Fantastic Four.

9:15 – He has a couple of Star Wars novels he’d like to pitch to LucasFilms. He also has some personal works he wants to pitch to his agent.

10:03 – He’s on facebook under Timothy Zahn and he goes to conventions often.

 

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon

 

 

Guests: Timothy Zahn

Host: Cris Alvarez

 

Fantasy weapons maker Matt Stagmer interview

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Matt Stagmer is a prolific weapons maker. He’s part of the Man At Arms Reforged youtube show and he spoke to me at Magfest about his work.

1:14 – Matt was in charge of making the Optimus Prime sword handle. He loves the old school cartoon. He’s made up to 40 or 50,000 weapons over his career.

2:26 – He never really feels a weapon is finished but he has deadlines to meet so they’re done on deadline.

3:20 – Matt’s a big video gamer and games sometimes inspire him. But much of his work is history inspired. He uses lots of books and museums for history. He used to be part of some fighting societies but not anymore.

4:29 – He listens to all kinds of music and comedy while he’s working on weapons. Music inspires and helps kill the sounds of weapons making.

5:23 – He loves to hammer the tang over the pommel. He loves that last step and tries to do that on every weapon. His older brother got him into weapons making. He thought he might be an engineer or architect. Creating three-dimensional art is addictive. He’s used auto CAD and uses CNC tools to make the weapons.

7:22 – The first time he sold a folded steel Damascus sword he knew he wanted to stay with weapons making. You won’t get rich making weapons so you have to love it.

8:09 – Sword makers used to be social outcasts but Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings changed that. Weapons makers are cool now. They’re just grungy guys in a shop thought but he loves making his fans happy. Things changed around 2000 when the fantasy stuff started coming out.

10:14 – He’s a huge Zelda fan. He plays Pub G and Ark. He’s got a lightsaber handle that he can put a blade into. They’ve worked with Robert Rodriguez on a project. He loved Never Ending story and Flight of the Navigator when he was a kid. He liked a program about a football team that became knights of the Round Table (King Arthur and the Knights of Justice.)

12:04 – He wants to make some of the Star Wars hand-to-hand weapons. He wants to make Chaos Eater. He also wants to make the rapier from Princess Bride.

13:08 – He streams on twitch and his gamer tag is stalkertron. The Man At Arms: Reforged vidoes are online hosted by AWE Me.

 

Links

https://playbattlegrounds.com/main.pu

http://store.steampowered.com/app/346110/ARK_Survival_Evolved/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292411/?ref_=nv_sr_2

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNKcMBYP_-18FLgk4BYGtfw

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Matt Stagmer

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: weapons, blacksmith, weaponsmaker, fantasy