Actors Claudia Black, India Shaw-Smith, Graham McTavish and Jaime Slater talk to The Inside Reel about psychology, perspective and approach in regards to their new series: "Spartacus: House Of Ashur" on Starz.
00:00But in the arena, we force our own fate with our will, with our hands.
00:25Let's kill this city that we tower above all others.
00:30Underestimate Asher.
00:33At own peril.
00:39The gods themselves could not cry me loose.
00:45Where did you have to look at them psychologically to keep them grounded?
00:49Was it the power? Was it the era?
00:52Where did you have to begin?
00:54Claudia, if you could start, then India.
00:58Great question.
00:59For me, I work very intuitively and then instinctively.
01:03And for me, the question I asked was, what is the need of Kasutia?
01:08What is the the real root of her need?
01:11And what came in for me was she wants to be a woman unto herself.
01:15And that was I've got chills.
01:17That was so immediately relatable to me personally, after everything I've been through over the last decade or so, that I thought that's it.
01:24That is the that will be the organizing principle for me psychologically.
01:28For me, it was about really, really delving into our amazing script and looking at Viridia's backstory.
01:35I mean, when we meet her, she's at her lowest point after her, the death of her husband at the hands of Spartacus.
01:40And I think really, I really, really love when when it's available, looking at I know we're in historical fiction, but really looking at the history of this period.
01:51And so much of that fueled me and really fleshing out the backstory that was either given or sort of inputting my own memories and narrative into it really, really fueled me.
02:03And the historical research just really helped me put myself in time and immerse myself.
02:11You have been granted the greatest of honor to grace the sands of the arena.
02:28Is there any endeavor that does not find you?
02:33Yes!
02:35The failure.
02:36The house of Asher shall wallow in the dirt.
02:40Claudia, the obviously movement and everything is based, you know, the way she moves, your character moves through is very specific, but it's very strategic.
02:50There's chess moves, but it's also understanding different ways of moving and how that how the physicality reflects the emotionality, but how it can mask.
03:00Could you talk about that?
03:01So there's the literal and the figurative aspects.
03:04So I thought about her as sort of a big cat.
03:08So there's that predatory nature.
03:10And, you know, a villain doesn't know they're the villain.
03:12A predatory, a big cat doesn't know that they're somehow sort of more sinister in the animal universe.
03:17They just know that they need to operate in a certain way.
03:20And so for me, Kisutia is about the, you know, the way she watches and observes and doesn't want to make erratic movement and cause attention, bring attention to herself.
03:29And then there's sort of the more the figurative aspects.
03:32She's it's almost like Kisutia's angle is don't hate the player, hate the game.
03:36This is the game we find ourselves in.
03:38I've learned how to play this game.
03:41And Viridia is almost in that new sort of consciousness of would we play it differently or just literally play a different game or stop playing games altogether?
03:50So there's that I think that's the inherent tension for them is Kisutia is saying, I've been there, I've done that and I've barely survived by the skin of my teeth.
03:59Listen, or or you're going to, you know, the stakes are high.
04:03You might really perish.
04:04Apologies.
04:06Voices stirred interest.
04:08Viridia, it swells hard to see you stir from chambers.
04:12Effort rarely taken these days.
04:14Perhaps you might return after our esteemed guest has departed.
04:16Is this him?
04:18Syrian.
04:19You are not properly dressed to receive any.
04:21Receives the hands.
04:26The ones that saw Spartacus to deserve it end.
04:31They, uh, they, but aided in the effort.
04:39The one thing I have to say with everyone, whether it be Outlander, House Dragon, this one, a preacher, it's about the nature of man or the nature of what man can be.
04:49And how behavior dictates that.
04:51What's interesting with Chorus is that there's so many different lives he leads and you have to reflect that.
04:59Could you talk about that psychology, physicality, all that stuff?
05:03Yeah, an excellent observation.
05:06It's true.
05:07Um, he has to hide a great deal from many of the characters, partly because of the world that he lives in, which is a world of sudden death, that getting emotionally attached to people is very, is very dangerous.
05:20Um, and I think experience has taught him to some degree, not to do that, but with the way the show progresses and the way it's written by Stephen is that he, he has to allow people in.
05:34Um, and the relationships with Asher, Achillea, uh, Opata, you know, these, these three principally are ones where you see different sides to his character.
05:46Um, loyalty, um, loyalty, love, tenderness, um, you know, uh, uh, uh, sort of at first with Achillea, a kind of dismissal and sort of brutal dislike, uh, that then develops into, into real affection.
06:05And I, and I, and I found that made the character for me, one of the most interesting arcs that I've ever had to portray.
06:14He's, he's multi-layered, um, and hopefully that comes across in the, in the performance.
06:19Gratitude.
06:22Rome is forever in your debt.
06:26As am I.
06:27Hour grows late.
06:29Retired to bath with loving mother, so I may break words with honored guest.
06:33Absent distraction.
06:35Come.
06:38Let us leave the men to their folly.
06:41She knows that the trauma that can happen, as does Claudia's character, but she is reticent at times to take it on.
06:49Could you talk about finding sort of that balance, that dichotomy?
06:52Because it's the irony of wanting to find love, but finding it in an interesting way.
06:58Absolutely.
06:58I think, as Claudia just said, it was something that was really amazing to sort of immerse myself in, in terms of the, the, the games and the power structures that we see, particularly among the elites.
07:12And I think Viridia is, she's such a pure sort of ethereal soul, but also she's no one's fool.
07:22And I think with all of the games that are played, I think people sort of underestimate her at their peril.
07:29And it's something I'm really excited to see audiences, to see what, with her, with her journey and her story as it unfolds.
07:38And I think so much of, so much of Viridia's journey is about her, her agency and her power and what she, which road she chooses to go down.
07:50And actually, I think she would like to play the game differently.
07:52And as Claudia said, the two of them butting heads was just really wonderful and juicy to dig into.
08:01Cornelia, she's a force of nature, but she's also part of human nature, you know, the way she operates.
08:07But you have to see all these sort of different ideas of her, how she functions in certain parts of society and in others.
08:16Could you talk about sort of the build in your mind of that and how you approach her?
08:20How she functions in various parts of society?
08:23Yeah, and how you have to look at her in those masks.
08:27Yes, exactly. Well, that's exactly it.
08:29She does have to mask depending on who she's in front of.
08:32So, you know, with Asher and the servants within the villa, she just gets to be her awful self when she's in the circle of the Roman elites, because she's maneuvering towards very specific goals.
08:46goals she has to put on, you know, the bestie kind of vibe, you know, like graceful and attentive and interested when in reality, she's not.
08:58You fought before, but not against such as I.
09:02The fear that my fall has already been ridden.
Be the first to comment