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Dark Crystal and Star Wars actor – Hugh Spight interview

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Hugh Spight is a dancer and a “puppet performer.” He was a Mystic in “Dark Crystal” and a Gamorrean Guard in “Return of the Jedi.” He studied dance in London and worked in Germany before getting into the movie industry. I was able to speak with him at the 2018 Great Philadelphia Comic Con.

1:25 – Hugh Spight talks about he got into acting. He started as a dancer and then auditioned for Dark Crystal. He got the role to help develop how the creatures in that movie move.

4:36 – He actually learned how to gallop with a contraption that carried 60% of his body weight. When he finished at Dark Crystal, Return of the Jedi was being filmed close by and he was asked to do puppetry work on that.

6:20 – Netflix will be doing a prequel to Dark Crystal and they will be using body costumes again. People don’t react to CGI characters as much as they might react to real people in costumes. The industry might be swinging back to three dimensional characters.

9:32 – Passion is vital to succeed in dance or actor. Sacrifice is necessary to succeed in that.

10:57 – Hugh considers himself a Billy Elliot type when he got into dance.

13:58 – His first dance job after school in London was in Germany. When he started he was afraid to tell his parents.

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Hugh Spight

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, puppets, daleks, doctor who, gamorrean guard, return of the jedi, mystic, Dark Crystal, dance, Wales, Germany, Billy Elliot

Game of Thrones and Star Wars actor – Ian McElhinney interview

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Ian McElhinney has been a stage and screen actor for close to 40 years. He’s done a wide range of roles including acting in both the Star Wars franchise, Krypton, and in Game of Thrones as Barristan Selmy. We talked at the 2018 Great Philadelphia Comic Con about acting in general, how he got into it and how he does his work, and also about his work specifically in Star Wars and GoT.

1:30 – Ian talks about how he got into acting. He started at University trying to study something serious. He was getting a degree outside of Boston, Brandeis, and they had a theater degree. He decided he loved acting too much to not get a theater studies degree.

3:55 – He went back to the British theater and taught for a few years. Then he went back into the gaming game and had to get an equity card. At age 30, he went back to Northern Ireland to work as an actor in Belfast.

5:56 – He did a lot of screen work that reflected modern Irish politics and he was often put in a box. He had more freedom on the stage.

11:00 – Ian discusses what its like playing a character in sci-fi and fantasy including the Game of Thrones.

14:50 – Wearing a knight costume gave an Ian a different sense of movement. Wearing armor and wielding a sword gives one a new sense of weight and such. Props can give you a new sense of how you relate to others.

17:20 – Ian loves being on stage and getting the feeling of having connected with the audience. He’s also started enjoying rehearsing a lot more.

19:42 – Ian addresses how he approached his roles in Star Wars and Game of Thrones.

20:30 – Ian loves acting and will keep doing it as long as he can.

21:40 – He was in a Ken Brannaugh production and he met Jack Lemmon. He had always been a big fan of Jack and loved working with him. It was the only time he did a fan thing and he asked Jack for a favor.

24:50 – He had to give up science while in school because the system required one to choose science or the arts. But he really liked science and misses having learned it.

25:55 – He’s more of a fan of gritty dramas rather than sci-fi or fantasy. However, as a child he would have liked to be able to fly and enjoy the freedom and sensation of flight.

28:18 – Ian believes that apart from entertaining people, actors can help people think outside the box and to broaden their minds.

30:00 – Ian has a twitter account @serianmc

Links of interest

https://twitter.com/SerIanMc

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Ian McElhinney

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, barristan selmy, game of thrones, star wars, rogue one, General Dodonna, sci-fi, acting, props, Belfast, Ireland, Brandeis, Krytpon, Superman

Sci-fi and fantasy writing – Jack Campbell interview

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Jack Campbell has published multiple sci-fi and fantasy book series over the years that are extremely popular. Two of his most popular series are the Lost Fleet series and the Legacy of Dragons series. In March 2018 I spoke with Jack about his writing.

1:28 – Jack Campbell talks about his latest work which is part of the Lost Fleet series.

5:01 – Jack talks about how he balances sci-fi and fantasy elements in his novels.

6:20 – He makes sure he maintains consistency in the rules of what characters can and can’t do in the world in which they live.

7:17 – Jack talks about how he meets deadlines and gets what he wants in his novels.

9:15 – His Lost Fleet series was inspired by the idea of a Long Retreat type story in Star Trek. The second inspiration was the idea of a sleeping hero returning to save the day for some society.

12:25 – Jack decided to get into writing seriously once he retired from the Navy. He felt he had stories he had to tell.

14:41 – Mixing short story and novel writing at the same time can help keep your writing progressing.

15:44 – Jack’s first success was selling a story to Analog magazine. After selling three stories he was part of the Science Fiction Writers Association.

17:31 – Attending conventions are exhausting but very energizing overall to see his fans and hear from them.

18:35 – He finds it difficult to listen to his own books as audio books. But the feedback from his audio books has made him more aware of names and language elements in his books.

21:24 – He loves Andre Norton, CJ Cherry, and Lee Brackett. He read a lot of books when he was young. But now that he writes he doesn’t have as much time to read. He does try to keep up with science discoveries though.

25:05 – He was living on Midway Island when the original Star Trek series came out. He would watch the shows on a base movie screen. He learned that it was the characters, not the special effects, that made the story. He watches a lot of anime nowadays. The mashups they create in anime can be amazing. He also loves anime soundtracks.

27:35 – The interest in time travel wanes once you have kids and you can develop a fear of doing something that could cause them to not exist.

29:58 – His website is Jack-Campbell.com.

Links of interest

Jack-Campbell.com

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Jack Campbell

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, lost fleet, legacy of dragons, writer, sci-fi