Meet McKidd
Here’s one of the leading men of Rome and Rome II, who’s relieved he has got fewer sex scenes in the series than his co-stars. Next week: Interviews with other cast members
By ELIZABETH TAI
starmag-feedback@thestar.com.my
I’M not very interesting,” Kevin McKidd insists. I don’t believe him, of course. But the 33-year-old Scottish actor, known for his role as the honourable Roman soldier Lucius Vorenus in the HBO-BBC series Rome, says that he was a shy, tongue-tied kid who stumbled onto acting because he discovered that he could express himself better as an actor.
Furthermore, he doesn’t think it is an actor’s job to make people interested in them.
“I am not an actor because I want to be a celebrity,” he says in a light Scottish accent.
Despite the tumultuous times in Rome, best friends Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) hang on to their friendship. – Photos courtesy of HBO Asia
McKidd, who looks decidedly more casual in jeans and white shirt than the very proper Vorenus, is in HBO Asia’s offices in Singapore to promote the second season of Rome, which premieres on regional television next week. (The actor met with the media last Tuesday.)
Thanks to Vorenus’ intimidating presence, one tends to think that McKidd is as intense as the stern soldier. But in real life, McKidd is a light-hearted and talkative fellow whose “vice” is that he’s a bit of a gadget freak. The unpretentious and down-to-earth actor, together with his beautiful, publicity-shy wife, gamely joins us reporters for a pottery-making session at Boon’s Pottery and later for a noisy dinner at Brown Sugar, a fusion restaurant in River Valley Road. Stardom has not quite swelled his head.
“I live a very quiet life, really,” he says. (He makes his home in a cottage in the English countryside with his wife and two children – one aged seven, and the other is five.) He claims that his role in Rome hasn’t changed his personal life much, even though the powers that be behind American television are very interested in his leading man potential (see Rome leads to roles).
Interestingly, McKidd nearly didn’t become Vorenus because he had turned it down when it was first offered to him.
“I thought: ‘American TV show? Nah,’” he says.
Back then, he had been doing lots of independent cinema in Europe, and didn’t know what it meant to star in a HBO original series because the cable channel was not available in Britain. Plus, he didn’t realise that it would be broadcast internationally. If not for his agent, who asked him to reconsider, we may have a very different Vorenus!
“If you look at Rome, it’s a very high-class, high-end soap opera. And I think that’s what keeps people watching.
McKidd sportingly joins in the activity at Boon’s Pottery in Singapore last week.
“Coming from the film world, I used to be snobby about it, but I came to realise that I was in denial. It is a soap opera.”
And a good one, mind you.
Roman adventure
For 179 days in 2006, McKidd had to wake up at 5.30am to get to Cinecittà Studios (in Rome, Italy) to shoot the second season of Rome. Considering that an average 22-episode series takes 160 to 180 days of production, it was certainly a mammoth task to make the 10 episodes of Rome II. The actor recalled working 14-hour (or more) days that often included strenuous battle scenes.
“It’s a boy’s dream come true to ride horses and swing swords, so I will try not to complain,” he says with a chuckle.
“Now, Ray (Stevenson, who portrays Titus Pullo) is a terrible complainer,” he adds cheekily.
The actors had to wear actual chain mail – no plastic ones for them – because the producers wanted the costumes to be as realistic as possible.
“Wearing them for 14 hours was like you’d been in the gym for four hours. Which was great!” he says, laughing.
However, standing around for 14 hours in heavy chain mail didn’t do favours for their feet. The actors absolutely hated the leather sandals they had on because the soles were only half an inch (slightly over 1cm) thick.
“They were agony. Your arches were dropping. And we thought, ‘Why can’t we get Birkenstocks?’ My kingdom for a decent pair of sandals!” he says in jest.
Eventually, they managed to convince the producers to tone down the realism a notch to allow them to wear leather sandals with proper arch support!
Besides its attention to detail, Rome is also famous for pushing the envelope with its brutal battles and steamy love scenes. The producers argue that they needed to portray an era where such debauchery was commonplace and an accepted part of life.
Love scenes are never easy for the actors to act out, admits McKidd. He feels especially sorry for James Purefoy, who plays the womanising Mark Antony.
“Poor James. At one point he said, ‘I’m so sick of having to take my f***ing clothes off every episode!’”
McKidd had fewer sex scenes only because his character is a principled man who is loyal to his wife.
“Those scenes are awkward for an actor to do. There’s not one actor I’ve met – male or female – who has said that they enjoy steamy scenes,” says McKidd.
“They’re embarrassing; you’ve got lights, you’re worried about the way you look ... yuck,” he says, making a face.
“I think I got off lucky,” he chuckles.
A dark turn
But while being Vorenus was fun, McKidd was always aware of the heavy responsibility he had as the lead actor of an expensive production.
“That was quite scary, but it made you stronger in the long run. Now, there’s not much to faze me in this career,” he says.
In Season One, McKidd was very hands-on, and even contributed to the writing process. But it was taking a toll on him after a while.
“It was exhausting, and I wasn’t enjoying myself. And I made a note to myself that I wasn’t going to do that in Season Two, but to focus on my acting.”
Just as well he did for Vorenus was slated to undergo a massive personality change in the second season.
Mark Antony (James Purefoy) and Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshal) begin a stormy love affair. Doing those love scenes was no joy for Purefoy!
“Vorenus is the kind of man who, no matter what happens, will stick to his principles. It can get frustrating after a while. I had been desperate for him to do something a bit more out of control and out of character,” he says.
He got his wish in Season Two; Vorenus is going to a dark place.
“Vorenus has lost everything in his life and because he has nothing to live for he has a certain power he hasn’t had before ... he’s released from himself,” says McKidd.
To prepare himself for a darker Vorenus, McKidd watched Asian films like the South Korean movie Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, the crime thriller directed by Park Chan-wook.
“Vorenus wants to die in some bloody battlefield, and because he has no fear of death he becomes strangely invincible and unkillable,” he says.
And that means lots of physically-demanding battles such as the fight between Vorenus and his best pal Titus.
“It was hard, sweaty work for three days in a dark studio, knocking lumps at each other,” he says.
“Ray damaged his thumb. He’s quite accident-prone,” he says, laughing. (Stevenson also fell off his horse thrice and dislocated his shoulder during filming.)
There were also many more emotionally-draining scenes such as the one that involved Vorenus’ children.
“I have children ... and the idea of playing a scene about young children under your care that you allowed to fall into abuse ... the kind of guilt that a parent will feel ... the horrible emotions that you have to go through. That was hard. I know how visceral that emotion would be,” he says.
“There were some days it was almost as if I had given myself a headache because of the level of intensity I had to get to. In real life I’m light-hearted generally, so to get to that place, that kind of intensity, was exhausting,” he relates.
Ironically, after being released from the straitjacket of Vorenus’ principles, McKidd finds that he prefers the Vorenus of Season One.
“He had that innocence that is stripped from him in Season Two. In a way, he was naive, that was one of his faults, but he had ideals he hoped he could live up to. It’s very sad, but you have to open his eyes to the truth so that he becomes less ideal (sic),” he says.
When executive producer Bruno Heller told McKidd that there wouldn’t be a third season, the latter was naturally sad.
“Bruno said, ‘The great thing about this is that they’ve given us 10 episodes and now I can put three seasons worth of storylines all in one intense, 10-episode, kick-a*** season.’
“But it’s much more punchy because we know we have only one season to tell everything,” McKidd says.
