This is the second of three interviews conducted recently in the run up to the launch of Hellboy II: the Golden Army on DVD and Blu-Ray next week. Following on from yesterday’s chat with Doug ‘Abe Sapien’ Jones (with Mike Mignola to follow tomorrow) we’re talking to Anna Walton about playing the Princess Nuala:
(Anna Walton, photo borrowed from her IMDB entry)
FPI: Hi, Anna, thanks for taking some time to talk to us. In the last couple of years you’ve been involved, among other works, with the Vampire Diary, Mutant Chronicles and of course, Hellboy. Are the more fantastic genres an area you like working in or is it just coincidence with one director seeing you in one film and thinking oh, she’s perfect for the film I’m planning?
Anna: It’s not something I’ve sought out as such, although I certainly like the genre. I tend to choose a role based on the script and the character; the character is the main thing, do I want to explore that character and who she is, the rest [like genre] isn’t so relevant.
(Anna in action mode in the Mutant Chronicles)
FPI: You’ve been involved in a variety of productions – plays, TV shows and films, but Hellboy is such a large production, with a big existing fanbase, complex effects and so on, did you find that daunting to approach? Were you aware of the first film or the comics before coming to the role?
Anna: It wasn’t daunting so much as I wasn’t hugely aware of Hellboy and the fanbase until I was actually doing the film. Then I felt a little responsibility – well a lot of responsibility to those fans and the other cast to play it well and be worthy of being a part of their world.
FPI: I’ve read somewhere that you were pregnant when Guillermo called you in to talk about the film, is that true or just a bit of internet nonsense?
Anna: Yes, I was pregnant.
FPI: Did it have a big effect?
Anna: Well, obviously not, I got the role! I think perhaps I had to work a bit harder to show it wasn’t a problem. Having a baby shouldn’t be a bar to playing a part anyway. But I think Guillermo is drawn to the abnormal so having a nine month pregnant woman waddling in to see him probably appealed to him!
FPI: Heheh, yes, I think you may well be right there! I know that you’ve also appeared with fellow Hellboy cast member Ron Perlman in the recent Mutant Chronicles movie. Was that before or after being offered the role of Nuala in The Golden Army?
Anna: I was cast before.
FPI: Going into a sequel movie where many of the cast and large crew already know one another I’d presume it would be nice to see Ron and think, well, at least I know someone here?
Anna: It was nice. Ron is a nice guy and he made sure I was well looked after, not that I really needed it as everyone was very friendly and welcoming.
FPI: Of course you had to sit through the make-up process as well. Nuala’s make-up and costumes have a suitably elegant, light quality to them unlike some of the more prosthetic-heavy designs; do you find the process helps you establish the character more or is it just a process you need to endure for the part?
Anna: I do enjoy make-up for any character and then there’s the costume too, putting that on, seeing how it looks and feels. Perhaps the make-up slightly less than the costume, since you don’t really look at yourself in the mirror all the time, but it makes you feel it more, its part of the preparation to transform you into the character.
FPI: And presumably the sets help with that process too. Obviously on set you don’t see the finished version we see on the screen, but I’d guess it still helps?
Anna: Well a lot of what you see really was there.
FPI: That must be a tremendous help as an actor, instead of standing in front of a green screen and being told to move this way and that and imagine what’s going on, especially when dealing with fantastical situations.
Anna: I had to do some of that in the Mutant Chronicles. There’s always a worry that we’ll all be looking in a different direction at the imaginary thing that’s added in later!
FPI: I think that’s been a problem in special effects since before they put sound into movies!
Anna: The only time you see a lot of green screen work [in Hellboy II] is in scenes like the Golden Army’s chambers, everything else was mostly there. We had creatures there, with puppeteers; they had them snorting, twitching and moving. I think some of the creatures were later digitally enhanced, but they were there with us on the sets to interact with.
FPI: That’s a particularly nice touch in this CGI-heavy age, I think. Turning to your character, its hard not to feel sympathy for Nuala: she’s quite a tragic character in many ways – she obviously loves her twin brother very much but equally she can’t stand back and let him start a war that will kill many people, its an impossible position. I suppose in a way she’s her twin’s other half, the half with the compassion and morality. Did having that dramatic conflict between family loyalty and morality help you to find the humanity in a non-human character? I’d imagine as an actor that kind of dramatic conflict offers you a lot more scope to investigate a character than if she had simply been happy and well adjusted?
Anna: I didn’t focus on the stranger elements. I took the normal conflicts all people have – although the stakes here were higher than normal – and used that. But that’s the same with any role, you draw on your own knowledge and experiences to give the character life. Its not too difficult, everyone has conflict in their lives. And with them being twins they are almost one person, so in a way the conflict is in your own head, those voices arguing inside your head over what to do that we probably all have at times.
FPI: And then there’s the romance blossoming with Doug Jones’ Abe Sapien, which was quite touching; two people from different worlds, neither of whom fit completely into their respective worlds – Abe is tolerated rather than accepted in the human world and Nula is losing her world by defying her brother. And it’s also a nice counterpoint the doom and gloom to have some sweet romance.
Anna: Absolutely – it could have been a bit boring if it was all doom. And it was lovely for Doug’s Abe Sapien; he had more action here and the romance was a part of it.
(An Elfin girl, an amphibian boy and a book of poetry, romance in the air… Anna Walton as Nuala with Doug Jones as Abe Sapien in Hellboy II: the Golden Army, (c) Universal)
FPI: How was it working with Guillermo? Were you familiar with his other work before joining the cast?
Anna: I was familiar with Pan’s Labyrinth already, not so much his other work, but seeing Pan’s Labyrinth really made me want to be a part of it.
FPI: He does have a brilliant imagination, creating some amazing visuals, a bit like Terry Gilliam in that respect. I should ask what’s your current or next piece of work we can expect to see you in? I read something about Robinson Crusoe on your IMDB entry, but it’s not something I’ve had a chance to see yet.
Anna: Yes, it’s been airing in the States on NBC - it’s a thirteen part series; I play Crusoe’s wife. It’s shot with a lot of flashbacks, so he is marooned on the island with Friday and there are flashbacks as they attempt to overcome all sorts of obstacles to return to London and his family.
FPI: Something else for us to watch our for when it gets screened in the UK. Anna, thank you very much for talking to us.
(FPI would like to thank Leah from MarketMe for kindly arranging the interview; the two-disc DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Hellboy II: the Golden Army, featuring almost four hours of extras, is released on Monday December 8th; our Hellboy graphic novels can be found on the mighty FPI webstore here and some very cool Hellboy movie merch can be found here; an interview with Mike Mignola will follow tomorrow and you can read yesterday’s chat with Doug Jones here)
Leave a Reply