Collateral attractions: Graham McTavish interview
Stephen Hunter does a web series where he interviews fellow actors. I posted one with Jed Brophy a few weeks ago (there’s also one with John Callen that I didn’t post). Here’s today’s installment with my second favorite dwarf, Graham McTavish. It’s seemed for a while that Hunter has been spinning his wheels — at least from his social media presence. So neat that some of the dwarves are banding together to support their friend.
Me + Richard Armitage 
Apart from the Hobbit memories (with a couple of snippets about RA), the best thing is seeing the evidence of how that time on the longest shoot EVER really has created long-lasting friendships. They are obviously familiar with each other, judging by the banter. And it’s nice to see Hunter doing what he is preaching to his students – creating opportunities for himself, by producing this series of interviews… And they are really entertaining to watch, too.
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I agree with you — except that I feel like Hunter is somehow uninteresting, perhaps by virtue of the fact that all of these interviews are IMO so poorly edited. Too much space in them. But this was an interesting one.
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Very enjoyable – it’s always interesting to listen to a conversation between two people who like and respect one another. I’m now going to disappear for a while to watch the rest of the series…
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I liked the one with Brophy, too.
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Me too. It was interesting to hear about how they had to readjust when the publicity was over and They returned to lives where staying at Claridges is not the norm. I’m not sure that RA has had to make that adjustment though.
It also left me wondering how much of an outsider RA was – it’s clear the New Zealanders formed a tight knit bunch and Graham McTavish seemed to be included in that. Quite a few mentions of Ken Stott, Aidan Turner and Martin Freeman but nothing about RA.
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I had the impression even when it was going on that he wasn’t really hanging out with anyone — he didn’t do that music video that a lot of the rest of them did, he didn’t participate in that NZ Shakespeare fest advertising, he wasn’t photographed by O’Gorman. I don’t think we got one candid from a bar or restaurant he was in. He participated in every charity thing that I knew about; he went to that movie premiere and to a few concerts and I guess to the rugby sevens (or whatever that was called). I remember him having a lunch with Stephen Fry on his birthday possibly? And he said something about spending some time with the actor who played the Goblin King.
After the publicity it seemed like he was hanging out with possibly Brophy. McTavish, Lilly and Pace. Certainly not Freeman. Supposedly they all had breakfast on Sunday mornings together at that cafe.
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I chuckled when someone commented that the actors tended to hang out with their own ‘species’ – dwarves with dwarves, elves with elves etc.. If rumours are to be believed one dwarf mixed quite a lot with at least one elf. 😉
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That was entertaining. Interesting to hear how Graham McTavish got into acting. I was impressed by his performance in the Outlander series. Not my favourite show, but it had some interesting aspects, with McTavish’s character always trying to prove himself and living by his own particular moral code. It’s less interesting with his character gone. I wonder if Hunter will be able to do an interview with Richard Armitage.
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I would love that but I am not holding my breath — Armitage seemed only to participate in these group initiatives in NZ if they were charitable efforts. But I would love it if it happened.
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lovely ones 🙂 Enjoyed that very much! Looks like i need to keep an eye out for McT, hope that play happens. Just another great reason to go back to Scotland!
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I really enjoyed the GMcT interview: he is a natural raconteur and comes across as a very decent man (with just a hint of “luvvy” about him!)
For me, it is interesting that an actor of his experience is being cast for
good character parts without needing his teeth veneered or nose straightened! Personally, I find “perfect” veneered teeth on an actor somewhat distracting from their performance (mentioning no names😉!) It makes me wonder what the current advice is to young actors looking to make it in Hollywood on the need for dental work?! Apologies for the digression…
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I suspect that because McTavish’s hair thinned, he was never in serious competition for romantic leads, so didn’t bother with other alterations. If you look at the kind of roles he played in his early career, they were dependent primarily on strength and menace as opposed to visual appeal.
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