How time flies! It seems like yesterday that Absolutely Sophia Myles had been celebrating being online for half a decade and already another year’s passed. For the occasion I finished coding a new layout for the website.

A while ago members of the messageboard had the opportunity to create a layout for the site. In the end only one was submitted – but what a gorgeous layout this is! Luna designed the graphics – many thanks! – which in turn highly influenced my coding. I’ve been going over everything so I think it should all work – but please let me know if you encounter any problems.

What else is new? In the sidebar I replaced the random quotes by Sophia Myles with new orginal ones. Enjoy!

It was also time to change the poll question. Since January 2, 2009, 766 of the site’s visitors have answered the question ‘What’s your favourite character?‘. The result was overwhelmingly clear: 515 people (or 67%) chose Beth Turner from ‘Moonlight‘. The other top choices were Isolde (‘Tristan & Isolde‘) with 18% and Reinette (‘Doctor Who‘) with 9%. But only 1% or 10 people prefer the character of Kate Breck in ‘Hallam Foe‘ to all others. See all results here. As of now there’s a new poll open for voting in the sidebar: What kind of movie would you like to see Sophia in next?

I came across an interview with Bill Nighy about ‘Underworld: Rise of the Lycans‘. In it he shared an anecdote of what happened on the set of the first installment (2003):

Does six hours of makeup help you get into character?
“Nope! It doesn’t help in any way whatsoever! It’s just aweful. Luckily, I only had to do it in the first one. I never have to do it again. ‘Pirates,’ the future, is computer generated. I didn’t have to wear any of it. It’s all computer generated and that’s the future and I’m very happy. They put me in a prosthetics truck with these very nice guys who for six hours apply with industrial adhesive chunks of latex to your body so that you can barely move. They then put contact lenses in and fangs, then nobody will have lunch with you any more. Literally, Sophia Myles in the first one who was supposed to have lunch with me before she saw the makeup, she actually said ‘Bill I can’t really…’ she was backing away because she freaked out. And in fact they got a model of my body; an electronic version of me and they showed it to Sophia just innocently and she went up to look at the head and then they turned it on and it sat up and its mouth fell open and she nearly had a heart attack. And they have it on video, they were very pleased with themselves that they’d scared Sophia so bad.”

Source: Movie Jungle. It’s certainly nice for one of the stars of the Underworld films to acknowledge and mention Sophia!

You may remember that in a number of interviews Sophia Myles has stated that she’s good friends with fellow Brits Anna Friel and Lena Headey, who’re also staying in LA. Now the star of Pushing Daisies, Anna Friel, mentioned Sophia too. From a new interview with MediaBlvd Magazine:

I’m friends with Ben Chaplin and Sophia Myles, who was on Moonlight, and Lena Headey is on Terminator. Me, Lena and Sophia used to always go for the same jobs in England, and we would cross each other at auditions. Here, we were all filming on the same lot and we became really lovely friends.

Which reminds me I really have to catch up on the new season of Ned and Chuck.

Right in time for the Film Festival Locarno the Production Notes for ‘Outlander‘ have been released. Here the Sophia-relevant parts:

Director Howard McCain
„We really did attract a great cast,” affirmed McCain, „all of whom are in it for the right reasons. From Jim Caviezel and John Hurt to Sophia Myles, Jack Huston and Ron Perlman, they all liked the script, not because it was a monster movie, not because it was a genre movie, but because of the underlying story.”

„Sophia Myles was ideal for Freya because she brought a sense of grit and edge and she inhabited this historical world well. I had seen TRISTAN AND ISOLDE and loved Sophia’s performance,” said McCain.

Sophia Myles
„It’s curious how I seem to get offered a lot of royalty!” said Myles, who has played a princess several times previously, including TRISTAN AND ISOLDE. „But Freya’s different. She gets her hands dirty. She gets to fight the Moorwen, which delighted me when I read that in the script. She’s more masculine than any other character I’ve played, and that I get to deck Jim with a roundhouse is impressive, but then again, I’m surrounded by so much testosterone in this film. The boys are great. Jack has become my best friend, Jim has been great, showing me up all the time with his push-ups, and then there is John Hurt. Just to be in the same room with him is a privilege.”

About her director, Myles said, „Howard has been fantastic. We instantly connected. He sees the vision and he knows what he wants. It’s been a mud bath at times, but the harder it is on the day, the better it looks on the screen, so I was prepared to put up with all the muck.” Myles said that when she read the script, she never envisioned Freya as a blonde, her own color, and had always harbored a wish to be a redhead, if only for a brief while. She convinced McCain to try it out and it worked beautifully with the personality of the character.

Co-Star Jack Huston
Huston thoroughly enjoyed the cast of OUTLANDER. „Ron Perlman is just the epitome of cool. Sophia is a sweetheart, and Jim is a great actor with an amazing intensity which is perfect for the character.

Sophia’s costumes
It was Freya’s dresses which truly showcased Hanson’s talents. Using Fortuny „Delphos” pleating and laundering fabrics so they appeared hand-loomed, the gowns for this Viking princess are deceptively simple. For the emerald gown Freya wore in Shield Hall, Hanson reversed the cloth, and suddenly the smooth gold flecks had a whimsical unevenness to them. The gown Freya wore for the funeral scene is the most elaborate: a garnet-colored fabric with a heavily embroidered ceremonial cloak is complimented by a fur piece over one shoulder. The belting, buckles and footwear, while not necessarily period correct, contribute to the primitive sophistication.

Read the full Production Notes here. Oh, and I’ve replaced that new still of Freya and Kainan kissing with an even better HQ version. Enjoy!

In a recent interview with MediaBlvd Magazine ‘Moonlight‘ lead Alex O’Loughlin also gave an elaborate answer on his working relationship with Sophia Myles and their on screen chemistry (Read full interview):

Sophia and I spend a lot of time together and we’re great mates. She’s really fantastic to work with. I’m Australian and she’s British, and we have similar sensibilities and a similar sense of humor. We grew up with the same TV. We have a lot in common. She’s easy to get along with, which makes a big difference, when you’ve got to spend 18 hours a day with somebody. But, as far as our relationship goes, in comparison to Mick and Beth, it’s very different. There is no tension between Sophia and I. We’re colleagues. We’re not lovers. We have our separate lives. People talk about on screen chemistry. We work together, and those two characters have this really fantastic chemistry. I see it, when I watch the show back, but it’s not tangible in real life. When you put it on film, it’s there.

‘Moonlight‘ star Alex O’Loughlin has been named Sexiest Sci-Fi Guy by TV Guide. In their Sexiest Stars issue (May 1) Sophia Myles was quoted:

“I’m immune to Alex’s hotness. I see more of him than of any boyfriend I’ve ever had. I’m very privileged because of that, but since I see him so much, I’ve overdosed on his hotness. It’s just the norm. But other people become weak in the knees around him. They start blushing. They drool. He has that Johnny Depp thing, a special sparkle that’s just magic. How do you define it? The young girls love him, the older ladies love him, and the gay guys love him. He’s really good at expressive movement and loves musical theater. He’s also up there with the greatest comedians I’ve ever known. I go home with stomach pains from laughing so hard. It’s constant. He’s kind of crude. English and Australians have a great connection when it comes to humor, and we can be outrageous. You couldn’t put some of it in print. Americans don’t know what to do with us, but I like that.”

thanks to Mick-Beth Source for the original scan to get the quote

TVGuide have just published an article about ‘Moonlight’s leading star Alex O’Loughlin. The article as a whole is very informative – head over & read it – and quotes Sophia Myles on her costar:

“He’s a bundle of energy. And he’s funny — he makes me laugh all night long. With our schedule, 16 hours a day, six days a week, I couldn’t have hoped for anyone more wonderful to work with.

What’s great about Alex is he can turn on the sex for the job, but he never abuses his good looks. He knows his place in the universe.”

Some of you were wondering whether it was possible to send Sophia Myles fanmail to an address in the US now that she lives in LA. You can and here’s the address:

Sophia Myles
c/o Dar Rollins
ICM
10250 Constellation Boulevard
Los Angeles
CA 90067
USA

Then I updated the calendar, which was long overdue, it should now be totally up to date.

Also with shooting for ‘Moonlight’ currently taking place and less than 2 months to go till it airs on CBS I thought it was high time I opened a page for the show. Find it here. If you know of a fansite for lead actor Alex O’Loughlin that I could add to the site it’d be great if you could send it in

Finally, Variety and Floridian released an article on the many British actors and actresses who have come to the US to work in television series. Here the Sophia quotes:

“British thesp Sophia Myles, who has a prominent role in the upcoming Eye drama “Moonlight,” said the British government had so cut funding for filmmaking in the U.K. that many actors needed to look abroad for work.”

“In England, at the moment, our government isn’t putting money into film,” said Myles. “As an actor, you have to travel where the work is.”

General theatrical release for ‘Hallam Foe’ is approaching: in the UK (August 31) as well as in Germany (August 30) and Switzerland (September 20). Germany have settled on a ‘German’ name: ‘Hallam Foe – this is my story’ is the new offical film title (before it was ‘Hallam Foe – anständig durchgeknallt’). This is a little bit of trivia for you.

I’ve added the UK & German posters and one new still to the gallery as well as the Production Notes to the press archive. Here just some little quotes:

And then as Kate, the damaged young woman who into Hallam’s life, Sophia Myles brought a different dimension. She’s perfect, both hard and soft, professional and vulnerable and in her and Jamie’s hands the magic of the second part of the film just flows.”, says [producer Gillian] Berrie.

When Sophia first read the script she was so impressed she wrote to Mackenzie: “When I read it I was ‘yes please I want to do this’ and I wrote a letter to David, which I’ve never ever done before – I’ve never begged anyone for a job, but I was so passionate about it I really wanted to be part of it.”

By the way, I’ve just finished watching the 3 videos from the Q&A session after the blogger screening. I recommend you make sure to watch Part 1 since that’s the one where Sophia talks the most. She talks about writing to director David Mackenzie after having read the script (see Production Notes) and about when someone on Myspace pretended to be her.

Amo informed me that SeeFilmFirst and “Glamour” magazine are giving away free tickets to see Tristan and Isolde on the 19th April in various ODEON cinemas across the UK. Go here and enter the code: 13877. Thanks for the heads up!

He also sent me a link to MSN where – in a feature about the big names of tomorrow who are making a splash right now – they feature Sophia Myles in the category ‘The Actress’.

“Starring in the Thunderbirds movie as Miss Penelope may have brought our attention to the talents of British actress Sophia Myles, but it will be the romantic Tristan & Isolde (with Rufus Sewell) and that naked scene in the upcoming Art School Confidential (with John Malkovich and Angelica Houston) that will bring her leading lady status. The 25-year-old blonde bombshell, born and raised in Notting Hill, was discovered by Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes in a school play and was immediately cast in the BBC’s version of The Prince and the Pauper, aged just 16. Despite being on the brink of Hollywood superstardom, Myles is as down-to-earth as they come – she won’t consider moving to LA full-time and respects actresses like Reese Witherspoon who manage to keep their private life private. With fame around the corner and a relationship with Dr. Who star David Tennant going strong; this is one actress who appears to have it all ahead of her.”