Fall 2006

It’s one of those where you kind of imagine what your reaction might be like, um, and I couldn’t say anything. My agent rang me up and he said, “What are you doing for the next six months?” and I was like, “Oh, you know, well, I’m not doing anything, I’m free, you know, for anything,” and he went, “Well, you’re not free, because you’re going to Budapest for the next six months,” and I kind of just went, “Oh… that’s really good. Thank you. Bye,” put the phone down, and then I kind of went, “Mom! Oh, my god, guess what?”

Because the audition process went on for quite a long time, I sort of imagined what the experience was going to be like and what it would be like saying goodbye to people, and I used to kind of go up on the train on the way to the auditions, fairy-taling the whole thing in my head and imagining what it would be like, so I got to kind of go, “Oh, my goodness, all these things I’ve thought about are actually going to happen. Wow.”

One of our, um, arts, sort of techy guys, was digging a hole for a stunt and, um, he covered it up with a load of sticks and stuff so, you know, obviously, ‘cause somebody had to tread in it, Little John had to step into it and disappear. So, he forgot that it was there and went and lent on these branches and you just saw this, like, flick flack, and this guy’s feet in the air with these Jesus sandals and socks on. And apparently people were rolling around so much that no one actually went to see if he’d broke his neck or broke his back or whatever, and two minutes later they kind of went, “Oh, you know, are you alright?” And this guy with a string vest was like, “Yeah, I’m fine”, from underneath. So, that was one of the most memorable—has to be those funny ones, I’m afraid.

A few of the kind of punches and bits of horse riding you see is me. Um, but the, I mean there are, for instance, insurance reasons, obviously. There are some bits which we just can’t do ourselves ‘cause you’d get a camera man with an arrow sticking through his eye, you know. Um, or, um, or a Sheriff of Nottingham with an injured groin to say the least after having fallen off his horse. Um, but, but, yeah, you will see me in some of the fighting sequences.

I did archery and horse riding and archery’s, you’d think it was easier than horse riding, but to be able to aim and actually end up with an arrow that’s anywhere near where you wanted it to go is quite, well I think it’s impossible. It’s not impossible, obviously, because people do it, but I’ve probably found that the most difficult thing. The horse riding is just wonderful.

When it’s hot in Budapest... oh, my goodness. It’s like, you know, 38 degrees and stuff as a kind of, bit of an average, whereas over here it kind of peaks, like, every ten years doesn’t it, at 38 degrees. So that was kind of difficult, but, um, but I had nothing to complain about compared to Richard, who’s dressed in, like, leather, top to toe black leather, all the way down.

I’m probably equally close to all of them, simply—all of the, um, lads, the gang, and, um, and the makeup lady is one of the only women on set, so I’m quite close with her and, and so probably, yeah, probably all of them. I mean we all, we are very much in it together and it’s been a really kind of a team effort, which I’m hoping will come through. Um, and everyone really does get on in real life as well. And there’s that kind of banter thing going on, which I guess you get around lots of blokes, which I’m really enjoying.

Well, it started off, we were being quite adventurous seeing the sights of Budapest, and then, and there kind of came a weekend where we all went, “Oh, sod it, we’re here for six months, we’ll get to see everything,” and we found this Irish bar, and we’ve been there ever since. And we’re coming back in a week, so…