prequel series – Michmutters
Categories
Entertainment

Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke: Who’s who in the House of the Dragon cast?

Audiences are about to plunge into the world of House of the Dragon, and just like its predecessor Game of Thrones, its ensemble cast is made up of well-known stars and “where have I seen them before?” faces.

Here are the main thesps and the roles that brought them to this moment in their professional lives.

matt smith

Character: Prince Daemon Targaryen

English actor Matt Smith is probably most famous face of House of the Dragons‘ ensemble cast, having played British cultural icons Doctor Who and Prince Philip.

Before nabbing the role of the Eleventh Doctor, Smith’s most prominent role had been in 2007 miniseries Party Animals, portraying a political staffer. As David Tennant’s time traveler replacement, Smith was catapulted into the stratosphere when he became the youngest actor to take on the Doctor. He was in the role for three series and five specials.

He followed that up by stepping into Prince Philip’s very expensive, custom-made shoes for two seasons of The Crown, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. Smith was praised for capturing the Duke of Edinburgh’s hautiness as well as the royal’s vulnerability to her as the Queen’s mostly powerless consort.

But his time on The Crown was embroiled in controversy when it was revealed Smith had been paid more than his co-star Claire Foy, despite Foy having the larger, more demanding and title role. Foy’s salary was later upped to match his.

Smith parlayed his TV celebrity into movie roles in Terminator Genisys, Charlie Says (where he played Charles Manson), His House and as villainous creeps in Edgar Wright’s stylish thriller Last Night in Soho and comic book vampire flick Morbius. Most recently, he took on the role of a wealthy party host in The Forgivenwhich also starred Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes.

Olivia Cooke

Character: Lady Alicent Hightower

Treading the boards since she was eight years old, Olivia Cooke got her start through a local theater workshop in her hometown of Oldham.

Her first big break came when she landed the role of Emma Decody in Bates Matela prequel series to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Her character de ella had started the show as Norman Bates’ love interest and managed to survive the whole five seasons.

Cooke followed that up as William Thackeray’s scheming social climber Becky Sharp in the 2018 TV adaptation of Vanity Fair – great experience for her role as the manipulative Alicent in House of the Dragon.

On the silver screen, Cooke has been in a raft of studio and indie movies including Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Thoroughbreads, Sound of Metal, pixie and as one of the leads in Steven Spielberg’s big budget sci-fi epic Ready Player One.

HOTD isn’t Cooke’s only prominent TV role this year – she was also one of the leads in Apple TV+’s spy show Slow Horsesopposite Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas. Slow Horses has already been renewed for four seasons.

Paddy Considine

Character: King Viserys I Targaryen

A constant presence in film and on TV, English star Paddy Considine has had memorable roles over the years, including as the doomed journalist weaving his way through Waterloo Station in the Bourne Ultimate – it was one of the most suspenseful sequences to feature in a spy thriller, so that’s saying a lot.

His most high-profile film projects have included Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, The Death of Stalin, Miss You Already, Cinderella Man and two of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End.

On the smaller screen, Considine had starred in a series of TV movies called The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and had been making a splash in recent years as a recurring character on Peaky BlindersStephen King adaptation The Outsider and Jude Law series The Third Day.

He’s also a filmmaker, having written and directed Tyrannosaurusa feature he adapted from his own short film, and which starred Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan and Peter Mullan.

Stream House of the Dragon from August 22 on BINGE. New customers get a 14-day free trial. Sign up at binge.com.au

Emma D’Arcy

Character: Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen

Emma D’Arcy is a relative newcomer on the scene, compared to some of their more experienced scene partners, but that doesn’t mean they can’t hold their presence on screen.

They have been in several theater productions at smaller venues, including The Crucible, romeo and juliet and Pillowman While their TV roles have included the divisive Netflix miniseries Wanderlust, the promptly canceled Rob Lowe drama Wild Bill and Hanna. They were one of the leads in Nick Frost and Simon Pegg’s supernatural comedy Truth Seekers.

On film, D’Arcy has been in misbehaviora Keira Knightley dramedy about the feminist protest at the 1970 Miss World Competition, and mothering sundaya romantic drama which starred Odessa Young, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth.

House of the Dragon will be their most prominent role yet.

Milly Alcock

Character: Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen

House of the Dragon will be the young Australian actor’s first international role, and what a platform on which to step up for your global debut.

Alcock, all of 22 years old, has been in many local productions, starting with guest and recurring roles in TV shows such as Wonderland, Janet King and A Place to Call Home. She was also in Foxtel show fighting season, Les Norton, Reckoning, The Gloaming and ABC series pine gapthe latter of which was a Netflix co-financed production.

But her most prominent role so far has been the scene-stealing co-lead in right, the drama developed, co-written by and starring Tim Minchin. Alcock has also wrapped filming on a second season of the series.

Steve Toussaint

Character: Lord Corlys Velaryon

Steve Toussaint has been a prolific actor in his near three-decade career on screen.

From one of his earliest roles as a nondescript squadron leader in the critically reviled Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd to playing John Boyega’s dad in Alexander McQueen’s Small AxToussaint leaves his mark.

He’s been in a raft of British TV shows such as Holby City, Bill, doctors, My Dad’s the Prime Minister, The Knock, It’s a Sin, death in paradise and Silent Witness – and like most British actors who have been around on TV long enough, he’s played a cop a bunch of times.

Eve Best

Character: Princess Rhaenys Velaryon

The RADA-trained actor is most recognized for her role on Nurse Jackie as Edie Falco’s onscreen best friend, a role she played for five seasons.

Also on TV, Best has been in Prime Suspect: The Final Act, Vital Signs, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, The American Experience and in all eight episodes of the Maggie Gyllenhaal-led political thriller The Honorable Woman.

If you were lucky enough to have seen Best in theatre, you may have witnessed her on stage in a bunch of Royal National Theater and Shakespeare’s Globe productions including Macbeth, The Cherry Orchard, The Coast of Utopia and Much Ado About Nothing.

Her best known film role was as American divorcee Wallis Simpson in Oscar winner The King’s Speech.

Sonoya Mizuno

Character: Mysaria

Former ballet dancer and model Sonoya Mizuno got her first big break in Alex Garland’s Former Machineas an AI android who was abused by her creator, played by Oscar Isaac.

Mizuno’s partnership with Garland continued in the filmmaker’s next work, Annihilation, but you may not have seen her face – she was the mirror dancing alien in that bonkers scene at the end with Natalie Portman. In Garland’s next project, the cerebral and philosophical miniseries devshe cast Mizuno as the lead, a computer engineer who is pulled into a plot after the disappearance of his partner.

She is also known for her appearance in Crazy Rich Asiansas the bride Araminta Lee, and shared a screen with Emma Stone in two projects, La La Land and Netflix series manic.

Rhys Ifans

Character: Ser Otto Hightower

What hasn’t Rhys Ifans done? The Welsh actor and musician gives Matt Smith a run for his money from him as the most recognizable star in House of the Dragon.

Ifans stole every scene he was in as Hugh Grant’s kooky and exhibitionist housemate in Notting Hill, among his many film credits which includes LittleNicky, The Replacements, The Shipping News, Vanity Fair, Enduring Love, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Boat That Rocked, The Five-Year Engagement and Official Secrets.

Younger fans might know him as the conspiracy loving Xenophilius Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies while he’s also played the slithering and clobbering villain Dr Curt Connors/Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Manthe latter was a role he recently reprised via voice performance in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

On TV, Ifans had a recurring role as Mycroft Holmes in Elementary and he was one of the leads in berlin station.

He also had a memorable starring role in the film clip to Oasis song, “The Importance of Being Idle”.

Fabien Frankel

Character: Ser Criston Cole

Fabien Frankel has only been in the business for a few years but he made an impression in Netflix true crime series The Serpentin which he played Dominique Renelleau, a real-life French backpacker who managed to escape death at the hands of serial killer Charles Sobhraj.

He has also had parts in the NYPD Blue TV movie reboot, an episode of An Uncandid Portraitthe Emilia Clarke rom-com Last Christmas and is one of the leads in the upcoming farce comedy Venice at Dawn.

House of the Dragon will premiere on Monday 22 August at the same time as the US, streaming on Binge. The series will also be available to watch on Foxtel in 4K Ultra HD

Read related topics:BingeFoxtel

.

Categories
Entertainment

Matt Smith reveals downside of filming House of the Dragon

It’s Matt Smith as you’ve rarely seen him.

The 39-year-old British actor has taken on his boldest role yet in HBO’s upcoming House of the Dragonthe much-anticipated prequel to game of Thrones debuting locally on Binge and Foxtel August 22.

Smith, who is best known for becoming the youngest actor to helm Doctor Who from 2010,-2014 as well as his Emmy-nominated performance as Prince Philip in Netflix’s The Crownenter the thrones-sphere as Prince Daemon Targaryen.

The main antagonist – Daemon is the impulsive, power-hungry brother of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) in a world set around 200 years before the events of GoT.

While joining a franchise as universally lauded as thrones was reason enough to jump on-board, it was the complexities of this character that enticed Smith most.

“I thought he was really interesting and unknown. And I thought I could add something to him,” Smith says.

“I think you always feel an element of nerves going into every part, it felt sort of slightly outside of anything I’d done before, which is which is why I was attracted to do it.”

That’s not to say I loved every minute of it.

Smith says the nature of this production took an extreme physical and emotional toll on him. From sitting in the makeup chair for two hours to having the iconic Targaryen silver-haired wig fitted, to waiting around in hot, heavy armor.

“It was a great privilege to be apart of something like this, but it was grievous as well. It was a tough shoot. And it was a year over Covid and it wasn’t easy. It’s not like it was just bells and whistles,” he says.

“And this type of show, there’s so many characters in it. There’s a lot of hanging about on the set.”

Stream House of the Dragon on BINGE or watch on FOXTEL from August 22. New BINGE customers get a 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly. Sign up at binge.com.au

Admittedly, Smith feels overwhelmed on every set, saying his roles become his “sole focus.”

So, how does he stay sane?

“A pint of Guinness, watch some football. Go to the gym, do the normal stuff, walk my dog, you know, [I would] just go and do something that had nothing to do with blonde wigs and swords,” he says.

Few sets are as dynamic as this one. game of Thrones won Emmys for its immense fight scenes. Season 6’s ‘Battle of the Bastards’ (which was directed by HotD director Miguel Sapochnik) is as edge-of-your-seat-viewing as it gets.

Though, rehearsing such battles to the point of perfection can be risky.

French actor Fabien Frankel, who plays Sir Christen Cole in the prequel, reveals he almost damaged the money-maker – Smith’s pin-up face.

“I hit Matt in the face in our first rehearsal,” Frankel says. “My sword cut him in the head. We didn’t even really know each other.

Smith interjects, “It was your shield (which) hit my sword.”

While they laugh about it now, Frankel genuinely feared he was “going to get fired.”

“It was like, you know, you don’t want to insult Matt Smith,” he says.

Smith was one of the millions of diehard thrones fans, having watched the entirety of its eight season run.

He says he feels privileged to be welcomed into the world of Westeros for a new era, but of course, that sort of legacy warrants high stakes.

“But ultimately, it’s a good pressure,” Smith says.

“That had its own cultural footprint. And its success will never be repeated.

“There’s a huge fan base there. They love it. And we’re going to try and deliver something that’s original and entertaining and move the story forward, even though we’re moving the story backwards.”

House of the Dragon premieres express from the US on Binge and Foxtel August 22

Read related topics:BingeFoxtel

.

Categories
Entertainment

Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams debuts edgy buzzcut | photo

Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams has debuted her most dramatic hair transformation yet.

The 25-year-old UK actress, who shot to fame playing Arya Stark on the HBO fantasy series in 2011, uploaded a holiday snap showing off her edgy new buzzcut.

“Washing head w facewash,” she captioned photos of the new look on Instagram, adding the hashtag #3in1girlie.

British model Iris Law, 21, who recently debuted her own shaved head, gave Williams her stamp of approval in the comments, to which Williams replied, “U the blueprint.”

Tons of other friends and fans showed love for the bold look as well, with one person writing, “You have a lovely shaped bonce!”

Others commented, “Oh she cute,” “Queeeeeeen! I wasn’t ready” and “Wow, the buzz cut looks amazing on you.”

While this may be one of Williams’ most dramatic changes yet, she’s no stranger to pushing boundaries.

Earlier this year, the former child star bleached her hair and eyebrows a platinum hue for her role in the forthcoming limited series about the Sex Pistols.

And shortly after ending her eight-season run as Arya in 2019, Williams departed from her character by dyeing her brown hair a bright bubblegum pink.

“I love it, it’s a whole new me,” she said at the time.

Her big chop may be a nod to boyfriend Reuben Selby, who has a similarly cropped cut. The couple of three years often match their looks, having sported the same makeup and similar outfits in the front rows of Paris Fashion Week in 2019.

It comes as the Thrones spin-off,House of the Dragon, is just weeks away from premiering.

The prequel series, set 200 years before the events of GoTwill focus on the rise and fall of the Targaryen family.

It premieres express from the US on Binge and Foxtel on August 22.

.

Categories
Entertainment

The billion-dollar TV war between House of the Dragon, The Rings of Power, The Sandman and Andor

An epic battle is about to be waged and it’s not between warring houses or mythical creatures.

It’s the fight between mega TV franchises, and it’s going to mean a very exhausting few months for audiences who are being asked to deeply invest in not one but four huge genre series, which between them have cost something in the region of a billion dollars.

The main event is the showdown between a game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragongo to Lord of the Rings prequel, The Rings of Power.

And if you think the media are hyping up this TV war, consider this: at this time last year, Amazon announced it would premiere The Rings of Power on September 2, 2022. It gave everyone 13 months’ notice. Then HBO swooped in and picked August 21 as the date for House of the Dragonas though spoiling for a fight.

The two shows will air their finals in the same week. That’s a deliberate choice – and not everyone may emerge victorious. It’s going to be a sh**fight.

It’s like if Marvel and Warner Bros decided to release an Avengers and Justice League movie on the same day.

Both shows are gambling huge money on the pulling power of two established brands with rusted-on fans. But will audiences commit to two very demanding, complex fantasy shows?

Or will fans decide they prefer elves over dragons, or scheming royals over the rise of Sauron, and reserve the other little time they have every week for something entirely different, maybe a workplace comedy? Each series is wooing the same pool of fans.

The fact they both happen to be high fantasy shows would’ve been unthinkable 25 years ago, when the genre was considered a nerds-only niche.

And yet the biggest cultural flashpoints in this relatively young century have been fantasy ones. Harry Potter is a juggernaut of books, movies, theme parks, merchandise and stage shows. game of Thrones has dominated the TV zeitgeist in a way that nothing else has to the same degree of obsession, including The Sopranos and breaking bad.

Part of that is because game of Thrones came along at a time of increased online pop cultural discourse, when TV recaps and Reddit were on the rise, which fueled the level of fervor around the show. The series spawned an online industry.

But it’s also because fantasy epics are now mainstream and every studio and streamer wants one, or two or three or four or five. And they’re willing to pay for it.

The Rings of Power has the honor of being the most expensive TV series ever made. In addition to the $US250 million Amazon paid for the rights to JRR Tolkien’s Second Age, the production budget was reportedly $US465 million. At eight episodes, that’s $US58 million per episode.

Keep in mind that The Rings of Power doesn’t have any big name actors who would be commanding large paycheques, so that money is going almost entirely into the production, splashing big on the world-building.

When that first trailer dropped during Comic-Con, you couldn’t argue that it didn’t at least look spectacular.

House of the Dragonwhich will stream in Australia on Binge and Foxtel*, is comparatively paltry, coming in between $US150 million to $US200 million for the 10-episode season, which equates to under $US20 million per episode.

Fantasy shows don’t come cheap, especially when there are 17 dragons involved.

In the middle of all this are two scrappier though no less ambitious contenders in the wings, The Sandmana long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s legendary comics, and Andorto Star Wars streaming series.

Such is the insanely timed state of things that a Star Wars TV show is not even the second most anticipated upcoming streaming series.

Which is probably why this morning Disney blinked, saw the unhinged landscape and went, “Yeah, nah, we don’t want in on that,” and pushed Andor‘s release by three weeks into late September. Wise choice.

disney would have done Andor no favors if it had kept its original August 31 premiere date, sandwiched between House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power. It’s not high fantasy but sci-fi is a very close genre cousin.

By moving it to September 21, Andor will drop three episodes at once and it’ll have a bit of clear air. Disney will be hoping that fans will have made their House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power choices and settled in, ready to consider a third option.

And Netflix also has a horse in the race, The Sandmanwhich is releasing on August 5. Netflix would be hoping that The Sandman is releasing early enough to avoid the main fray.

The Sandman is a high-stakes story about Dream, the being responsible for our subconscious state, who is captured and held captive for a century, unleashing chaos across the realms.

It’s not the most accessible narrative and the title has been in various stages of production since the 1990s, having landed across the desks of several filmmakers and onscreen talent, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Roger Avary and Terry Gilliam.

It’s only now, after the runaway commercial successes of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogies and the original game of Thrones series that TV executives even have the confidence to greenlight and fund a show based on a relatively esoteric comic series. The Sandman reportedly cost $US165 million to make.

Decision-makers have witnessed the appetite for genre art and they want to tap into that audience desire by throwing lots and lots of money behind these works.

Everyone is trying to find the next game of Thronesincluding game of Thrones. HBO is feverishly hoping House of the Dragon will be able to recapture the same obsessive fandom as the original series.

of course, game of Thrones only happened because of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.

Like Jaime and Cersei, it’s all very incestuous. Also like Jaime and Cersei, everyone is about to head into battle. Wonder whose head is going to be crushed by a caving ceiling.

The Sandman is on Netflix from August 5, House of the Dragon is on Binge and Foxtel from August 21, The Rings of Power is on Amazon Prime Video from September 2 and Andor is on Disney+ from September 21.

*Binge and Foxtel are majority owned by News Corp, publisher of this website

.