Transcript of the exclusive Fan Q&A January 2008. To listen to Sophia Myles go here.
Hello everyone, this is Sophia. Happy 2008! I hope it’s going well for you all so far. I’ve had a great time, I’ve been doing absolutely nothing, but it’s been rather fabulous. I’m in LA at the moment and there’s this, well, I’m sure you all know, big writer strike going on. So, Moonlight, my TV show here is no longer on the air at the moment, because we don’t have anymore scripts. So we’re just waiting. But what a lovely place LA is to sit and chill out in. It’s amazing here, I higly recommend anyone spending a winter here.
Anyway, so, the reason I’m talking to you all is that Maria who runs this wonderful website sophiamyles.org, and has done since I don’t know when, it’s a long time now, at least I think it’s about 5 years. Anyway, she told me that a lot of people had questions and all of that for me and she sent me a bunch of them. So I wanted to do my best to answer them for you. It’s really nice to be able to have the opportunity to do this because normally whenever I have to answer questions it’s always to journalists who then never kind of write it or print it the way that you said it and… achh, I don’t know. It’s all ridiculous, that side of what I do for a living. But anyway, here is my chance to talk to you all one to one.
So, the first question we have from, let me see, Sara Amelia in Canada. Her question is ‘When all is said and done would you rather be hatefully remembered or completely forgotten?’ Definitely completely forgotten. Yeah, who wants to be hatefully remembered? That would be bad.
Forgive me, I haven’t actually looked at these questions in advance but that’s probably a good thing because at least you’re gonna get spontaneous answers.
Ok the next question is from Chris, says: ‘What’s your favourite flower and what’s your favourite kind of architecture?’ My favourite flower is an orchid, of any kind. I love them. My favourite kind of architecture… uff, that’s a really tough question. I love architecture. My taste in it is very diverse. One great thing about Los Angeles, where I’m living right now, is that you can… there’s such a kind of mixture, so eclect that you can kind of build whatever kind of style house you want here right next to… You find a kind of mock French Chateau right next and old kind of fake British Tudor building. It’s very funny.
Ok the next question. Ok. Julia from the USA wants to know ‘How many days does it take to film one episode of ‘Moonlight’? Well, Julia it takes 8 days – and very long days at that. We work… it’s a really intense working schedule like none other I’ve ever experienced on making movies. And it’s kind of crazy because we were shooting 6-day-weeks and just mostly night shoots, so you… it’s very strange, I mean humans aren’t designed to not see the sun. So I started to get very pasty and kind of… the skin gets all funky. But anyway, in answer to that it takes 8 days to shoot an episode.
Ok, Julia as well. Oh, Julia also wants to know ‘As one of the biggest MickBeth fans I was wondering if you can tell us is there anything really good coming up for this amazing duo?’ Well, you know what, I’m late in getting my answers to these questions back and we only have one more episode of Moonlight yet to air and probably by the time this is on Maria’s site it will have already gone out, so in terms of the future of MickBeth I mean, there are so many, so many possibilities. I’m so excited. I mean I just want this writers’ strike to finish because we have to make more. As the story unfolds and this kind of romance blossoms… you know I want to discover, I’m interested, I want to know! I don’t think if we just finish where we do finish I’m not satisfied.
Anyway, ok ‘What was it like,’ oh, Julia also wants to know what it’s like working with Alex O’Loughlin. Oh, It was a dream! I can’t tell you! Just, I’m so lucky, like I really really lucked out because on the kind of schedule, like I said the working hours and the days are so long, that if we didn’t get on it would be a nightmare. I mean I saw Alex when we were shooting the show more than I think I’ve ever seen any boyfriend I’ve ever had. And I mean these people become family: Shannyn Sossamon’s become a really dear friend of mine now and it’s great. Moonlight is a great, we got a great… we’re really lucky because we all really genuinely love each other. That’s sickening, isn’t it, but I’ve just, I know I struck gold with that show.
Anyway, next question. Ok, oh, this is… Oh, Julia’s just telling me that she has a website, a MickBeth website, that’s lovely.
Ok, Patricia from Australia wants to know ‘I wanted to ask Sophia about whether she’s now prefers Vampire scripts since she’s done so many projects associated with them, does she prefer playing the vampire, the victim or would she like to play a slayer? Huh! So does she prefer playing the vampire, the victim or would she like to… ah ok I see. I don’t know why, I’ve never actively chosen or sought out vampire or vampiric scripts. They seem to have found me. Underworld, I loved playing a vampire in Underworld. It’s great playing an evil vampire, it’s fun, very empowering, I loved it! Playing the victim is also cool. Playing a vampire slayer? Hmm, I don’t know maybe Beth can take this up as a hobby (Laughs). That would be… No, I’m joking!
Ok, next question from Julianna in the United States ‘What was it specifically about the role of Beth Turner that drew you to this television show?’ I was really interested in playing a modern day character, I’ve done a lot of period drama, films like Tristan & Isolde, Mansfied Park and various other things. Beth was attractive just because she’s kind of a regular girl. It was fun, the idea of playing an American… Just the whole experience of it! I mean just to get offered a job like this or an opportunity like this, I mean it’s just, you can’t, it was impossible to say no, you know. I got a letter from Joel Silver and his people inviting me to come and work on the Warner Brother’s lot every day. I mean, talk about living the dream! So that’s why I wanted to do this job, this show.
Ok, next question from Catherine in Canada ‘What advice would you give a young actor who wants to have a successful career?’ I’d be very honest and tell anyone, especially… you know young girls I think, because I do think it’s harder for women, I don’t think feminism ever quite happened in the film industry the way that it did in the rest of the world, so anyway, that’s why I say that. But anyway, for any aspiring budding young actor it’s a very… it’s a tough tough business. And it’s a business, it’s not just an art form, it’s a business. So there’s a whole… also especially in America, I mean, even more so in the States. I can’t describe it only to say that, you know, you’ve got to really really… you have to feel it in your soul, like you have to want it. Because if you’re not quite sure, but you want to have a go, like that’s not enough and that won’t get you through and will probably end up destroying you. So, but good luck to anyone! Because when you do, like when it does work for you and when you are successful at it then, boy, is it good fun! And it’s… I’ve had some of the biggest adrenaline rushes of my life related to what I do for a living! So, that is my advice (chuckles) if I get any more, pick up any more along the way I’ll let you guys know.
This question’s interesting. Claire from Scotland wants to know, she says ‘You’ve had to various different accents for projects you’ve worked on, Irish for Tristan & Isolde, Scottish for Hallam Foe and an American for Moonlight. You seem to have a really good ear for accents but I was wondering how easy you found it. Being from Scotland and Edinburgh myself I have to say that your accent in Hallam Foe was excellent!’ Aww, that’s nice! She says, ‘I think it’s better than mine.’ Aww, bless you Claire! Well, in response to that, I’ve always been fascinated by voices, sounds, ever since I was a little kid. I think I take in information much better if I hear it than if I read it. And I always mimicked people. My brother and I used to always do that when we were kids. And it’s one of the biggest challenges and exciting things for me about taking on a job. I love it if I get.. You know, turn over a page of a script and find that the character’s from somewhere that I’ve never played before. So I’ve worked with 2 incredible, well, more than 2 actually, but I have 2 very special dialect coaches that I work with, one in England, one in the States. It’s just like working out a muscle at the gym. I mean you just play a different accent and it’s kinf of like you use different parts of your mouth and your throat and all that and it’s just kind of tuning in. Especially, I find that working on Moonlight for example, playing an American, because I’m living in LA at the moment, I’m hearing it all the time, so I’m very in-tune with the sound. So you just have to tune your voice into whatever melody each region or each country has, going for it! Simple as that (Laughs).
Ok, next question. Zoey from Australia, formally London, says ‘Would you ever consider yourself being in a musical?’ Oh, Zoey, I would, I would love to be in a musical, the only catch is I really honestly don’t think I can sing to save my ass. Maybe in the shower on my own but I wouldn’t want to subject anyone else to it, let alone an entire theatre of people. Maybe with a bit of… If I had some singing lessons, I think maybe I could be ok, I don’t know. But anyway, ok, no is the answer to that question.
Siegfried from the USA wants to know ‘During production how to you deal with long tedium in between takes?’ Well, there is a lot of waiting around on film sets. Probably, I think, when I was younger I filled my time much less productively than I do now. I just sat around smoking cigarettes and drinking cups of coffee. And now, I’m pleased to say, as of one month ago, I’ve not had a cigarette, so that’s very big news people! In fact it’s huge! But now, I try to read, I read a lot, I speak to my friends on the phone…
Ok, next question. ‘How do you handle bad reviews?’ Chris in Tasmania wants to know. Well, I don’t really… I mean what can you do? (Chuckles) I’m lucky, I have to say, I haven’t, I don’t think, not that I’m aware, but I don’t think I’ve had that many bad ones. I mean you do remember the bad ones much more than you remember the good ones I think. But at the end of the day, I mean, it’s like life, you can’t… you can’t please everyone, can you? So… whatever!
‘How do you choose roles?’ Chris, oh this is also Chris from Tasmania, wants to know. I don’t know if I can articulate this properly. But it’s very much a kind of instinctive thing for me. If I pick up a script, and this doesn’t happen very often, but I pick up a script and I read and I can really hear the character very clearly in my head then I just kind of know, it’s no kind of method in my picking, you know my choices, it just happened very organically, my entire career really. So everything kind of comes its way when it’s meant to, I think. I think we all get the career we deserve.
Ok, next question. This is an interesting one, Camilla from the UK ‘I wanted to ask you this even before I saw the Moonlight episode ‘Fever’ but that episode gave me a perfect example of the scene where Beth goes home and cries believing Mick is death absolutely breaks my heart. How on earth do you prepare for and then ultimately summon up and project such realistic and affecting distress in a scene like that?’ Huh, well, that’s a very good question and I don’t know how to answer other than saying… Well, I kind of do. We all as humans kind of experience different things, good and bad, in our lives and we all have to a certain extent I think kind of an emotional library back there. I mean whether, you know some of us are kind of much more closed than others but anyway… I’ve had a lot of fantastic things happen in my life and a lot of shitty things as well and I’ve got this emotional library of experiences that I can go back to and I can kind of pick out, you know… I don’t know if I’m explaining myself clear enough, but I can kind of tune back into how it felt when… And so, but sometimes the writing is good enough that just the circumstance, that you just imagine how that poor old character would have felt in a situation, that’s enough to get me going. But if not, I can kind of draw on past experience. And it’s also just having the guts to let yourself go and to just let it all out in front of a crew of people and a couple of cameras, knowing that all of America is gonna see you, see you cry and maybe a bit of snot is gonna come out, you know, at the same time (chuckles) but anyway, that’s the answer to that one.
Maria from Switzerland, aww Maria, dear Maria. ‘What’s the most exotic place you’ve ever been?’ The Seychelles, ah, talk about heaven on earth! And also actually, I have to say, bits of Switzerland and I think Lichtenstein is a very very beautiful plac, a small principality on the border between Switzerland and Austria.
‘Where do you dream of travelling to?’ Maria wants to know. I want to go to the North Pole, because I wanna see the Northern Lights. I know you can see them from many different places but I want to, I’d quite like to go to the North Pole.
‘What do you think makes a beautiful person?’ Lisette from Canada wants to know. I tell you, a good sense of humour gets me every time. I just… funny people are just beautiful to me!
So, this has been fun! We should do this again sometime. I’m apologizing, but I haven’t managed to get through all of your questions today, but the ones that I haven’t managed to answer I’ll endeavour to do so at another point in the not too distant future but take care and I’ll be in touch soon! Bye!