I'm a bit late on this, sorry.... but here's the new extended clip presenting GoT, Lena is also featured and there are bits of interview with her! ;)
14 December 2010
29 November 2010
A brand new Game of Thrones preview clip, this time with Lena in it!! :) You can see her at about 0:40!! Enjoy!! ;)
28 November 2010
This a new HQ preview pic from Game of Thrones!! And this below is a new preview clip, I haven't seen Lena in this, but if you're curious you might as well check it out ;) It's actually just a promo for a longer preview clip that will air on HBO next Sunday, Dec. 5, as Winter is Coming reports.
21 November 2010
27 October 2010
If you're following Lena on FB (link to her official page is on the left) you already know this, Lena is currently shooting for Game of Thrones in Malta!! So if you live there you might get a chance to see her!! She's there till Sunday so don't miss this opportunity, then she will be back in Belfast again.
There's also a pic contest going on there at her FB page, she'll be giving a price to her fave photo next Monday, stay tuned! ;)
Also about Game of Thrones, Peter Dinklage, Lena's co-star was interviewed and asked about his character's relationship with Cersei:
Nothing says “occupational hazard” like the piercing eyes of Cersei Lannister – and it didn’t take long for Peter Dinklage to realize just what a handful the queen could be. “Tyrion’s relationship with Cersei is…oh God, it’s really difficult,” he says. “They’re constantly battling one another. Unlike my relationship with Lena Headey, the actress playing the role – I’m really good friends with Lena, and we’re very upset that we don’t have more scenes together this first season. But it’s really tempestuous because both of them see through each other’s veneer and pretensions and all of that. Tyrion and Cersei are both fraught with those. So I think people who see each other for who they really are have a hard time being around each other in pleasant company…”
3 October 2010
Not that she reads this lol, but today is Lena's birthday so here's wishing a fabulous day to her!! She left some comments on Facebook these days, be sure to check them out!! ;)
Again many heartfelt wishes to this wonderful actress and person! ;)
26 September 2010
From Lena's official Facebook here's a new fan mail address which you can use to write to her:
Lena Headey
PO Box 1037
Cary, NC 27512
USA
And always from Facebook a new short clip that Lena made with Stacie Ponder, you can see Lena's hubby in the clip too :-" It's called In Satan's Closet:
Lena Headey
PO Box 1037
Cary, NC 27512
USA
And always from Facebook a new short clip that Lena made with Stacie Ponder, you can see Lena's hubby in the clip too :-" It's called In Satan's Closet:
13 September 2010
And this is a promotional Making of video featured on the official Making of Game of Thrones Blog:
Ok finally we get to have a glimpse of how Lena will look like in Game of Thrones! \:D/
First a preview, called Raven, where you can catch Lena at about 0.37:
And this is a promotional Making of video featured on the official Making of Game of Thrones Blog:
It's just a couple of seconds, so I've also made some screencaps! It looks like she's wearing a wig though, I thought she had dyed her hair.... :-/ :-? Anyway I've only seen her in these frames... :-" let me know if I missed something! ;)
And feel free to share your thoughts about this preview if you'd like! ;)
 |
 |
| Click on the images to enlarge |
8 September 2010
As you can see two posts below, a fan commented on the TSCC movie news, here's what they said:
My friend was there when the aforementioned inquiry was made to Summer, and she had a very different take on Summer's statement. In my friend's retelling, Summer simply expressed a continued lingering sadness about TSCC's premature cancellation last year (we're all bitter with you, Ms. Glau!) and that while folks, including actors BTS, are still trying to keep efforts alive, things obviously become more difficult as actors get attached to other long-term projects (like Lena and Summer getting new TV gigs), which really is sort-of a given.
I was honestly freaking out a little when talking to my friend, but she hastened to remind me that it took Firefly two years for their fans to get Serenity and four years for Farscape fans to get their continuation. It really is a very exceptional thing for a series to have an actor and producer (BAG & James Middleton) openly talk about their active dedication to a fictional property and, moreso, a willingness to financially back a continuation.
So, keep the hope alive! SAVETHESCC.COM ! :D:D:D
Thanks R for the info on Summer's statement!! :) IIm relieved to read this! Let's hope we'll hear more news soon, in the meantime as R said, check out the website for more info on what you can do to help get the show back in some way ;) The link is also on your right!
7 September 2010
I read this on Facebook, a fan of TSCC got a chance to meet and talk to Summer Glau and when asked about the TSCC movie she said it's not in the plans as all the actors are now involved in other projects, but she added that of course there's still a possibility that they might be able to make it in the future, but unlike what Thomas said, this is not going to happen anytime soon unfortunately... :( Anyway if you want you can join a group of fans who are still struggling to make it happen, all infos can be found here :)
16 August 2010
I've just found out that Lena has now an official Facebook fanpage administered by the IMAY fansite webmistress! Lena herself will use it to communicate with the fans from time to time, so all you Lenaholics go ahead and 'like' the page!! ;)
This is a short movie found by my YouTube friend Coldeadfish :) which Lena made with her former boyfriend Jason Flemying, it's called Love. Many thanks to my buddy SVgal for sharing! ;) Here it is, enjoy it! ;)
30 July 2010
This is a new pic of Lena from the movie Old Scratch by Rob Hall from the IMAY fansite!! Her hair looks pretty dark by the way! Also the webmistress of the site has talked to Rob Hall about the movie and he said he's still trying to finish it.
Source: IMAY fansite
24 July 2010
More info about Lena's new movie, it looks like it's a horror flick rather than a thriller... @-) :-< and - here I get a little worried - it involves monsters... :-o /blur
Anyway here is a new article with a bit more info, the Morning Starr reports:
"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles star Lena Headey will be the lead in the brand new horror film Safe House. Headey leads a pretty impressive cast in the movie which is being touted as “Assault On Precinct 13 meets The Thing”. The plot involves a mother and teenage daughter who are put in a safe house as part of a witness protection programme, but things turn sour when the house and it’s occupants are attacked by vicious monsters. The plot might not be the most original, but Headey will be joined by the legendary Michael Ironside and the role of the teenage daughter appears to have been offered to the yummy Kate Mara. Michael Trucco from Battlestar Galactica and V will also be joining them, and the special effects team behind the aliens in District 9 will be creating the monsters."
And here's what the director said:
"Safehouse is a terrific project, a totally entertaining movie with a fresh angle - we start pre-production this fall with shooting in South Africa in the Spring of next year. This movie is an entirely different project for me. It’s very realistic, shot on location, full of jumps and scares. Its going to be great and I am so excited to working with Lena, (Headey) Michael (Ironside) and such a tremendous cast."
Sources: The Morning Starr & Quiet Earth
 |
| Safe House Poster |
More info about Lena's new movie, it looks like it's a horror flick rather than a thriller... @-) :-< and - here I get a little worried - it involves monsters... :-o /blur
Anyway here is a new article with a bit more info, the Morning Starr reports:
"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles star Lena Headey will be the lead in the brand new horror film Safe House. Headey leads a pretty impressive cast in the movie which is being touted as “Assault On Precinct 13 meets The Thing”. The plot involves a mother and teenage daughter who are put in a safe house as part of a witness protection programme, but things turn sour when the house and it’s occupants are attacked by vicious monsters. The plot might not be the most original, but Headey will be joined by the legendary Michael Ironside and the role of the teenage daughter appears to have been offered to the yummy Kate Mara. Michael Trucco from Battlestar Galactica and V will also be joining them, and the special effects team behind the aliens in District 9 will be creating the monsters."
And here's what the director said:
"Safehouse is a terrific project, a totally entertaining movie with a fresh angle - we start pre-production this fall with shooting in South Africa in the Spring of next year. This movie is an entirely different project for me. It’s very realistic, shot on location, full of jumps and scares. Its going to be great and I am so excited to working with Lena, (Headey) Michael (Ironside) and such a tremendous cast."
Sources: The Morning Starr & Quiet Earth
22 July 2010
It looks like Lena has been cast in a new movie! It's a thriller, let's hope it's a good one... 8-| :-S
She'll play the lead role, here's the article from Deadline:The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles actress will lead the cast in a new Brit shocker being planned for next year. Michael Ironside (Terminator Salvation) is also attached. Offers are out to Kate Mara (Iron-Man 2) and Michael Trucco (Battlestar Galactica).Safe House, which is due to begin filming next March, follows a team of US Marshals charged with protecting a mob-trial witness and her teenage daughter, Alice. Mother and daughter are relocated to an isolated compound high in the Californian Rockies. The location appears secure -- outfitted specifically for witness protection -- yet its past is steeped in mystery and violence...Producer Steve Iles of Spirit Pictures pitches it as “Assault On Precinct 13 meets The Thing.” The director is Simon Hunter, whose last movie was Mutant Chronicles. “Safe House is totally different from Chronicles, which was a big canvas,” Hunter tells me. “This is a world that I’m going to portray in an extremely realistic way.”Andy Briggs, who wrote Aquaman for Warner Bros and has worked with Stan Lee and Robert Evans, has written the screenplay and is also producing.The filmmakers are certainly building this one from the ground up to be a fanboy’s wet dream. Image Engine, the Canadian VFX shop which created the aliens in District 9, is in talks to do the monster design. Simon Bowles, who regularly works with Neil Marshall (The Descent), will be production designer. Prosthetics will be built by SFX veteran Shaune Harrison (Harry Potter, Star Wars). And Jeremy Zimmerman is casting director (Moon, Hellboy II).
So if this is confirmed this is another project for Lena beside Game of Thrones, which she should be currently filming. :)
20 July 2010
If you don't know what The Constellation Awards are, here's some info from their website:
The Constellation Awards are Canada's annual science fiction awards focused on rewarding excellence in science fiction film and television. Now in its fourth year, The Constellation Awards celebrate and honour the actors, writers, and technical artists behind the best of today's science fiction film and TV works - with an added focus on Canadian contributions to science fiction film and television. The Constellation Awards are also the only Canadian science fiction film and TV awards where YOU, the Canadian viewing public, get to select the nominees and winners in all categories.
And this year's winner for Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode was our Lena for Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep!!! You can read the results here, Lena won with the 29% of the total votes!!! Congratulations to Lena!! :) :)
16 July 2010
Many thanks to bilbi98 for this great find (and also to SVgal ;) )! There's this ad for Vision Express with a voice that you should recognize! ;) Actually as far as we know Lena's not credited for it, but it really sounds like her voice...
Below you can find the audio file of Lena speaking on the ad, you can also go to the Vision Express website and click on "see our ad" to watch it, (Lena's only giving her voice for the ad though! :P)
Below you can find the audio file of Lena speaking on the ad, you can also go to the Vision Express website and click on "see our ad" to watch it, (Lena's only giving her voice for the ad though! :P)
11 July 2010
Head over to the fantastic IMAY website to read the Q&A with Lena!! She talked about lots of stuff, like her new role in Game of Thrones, her role as Sarah Connor as well as her experience on the set of IMAY, also what is like to be an actor and a mother!! Lena is fun and charming as always and her answers to the fans' questions are really interesting to read! ;) Enjoy it!
25 June 2010
The IMAY fansite webmistress is doing a Q&A with Lena and you can send in your question for her, don't miss this great chance!!!
15 June 2010
There are some great news for TSCC fans! It seems like a DVD movie or maybe a proper movie is possible and people are thinking about it, all the actors are ready to get back on set, once again thanks to my buddy SVgal for the news, read all the details at the TSCC wiki.
As you all know Lena already gave birth and she's currently working on the set of Game of Thrones, so after that she might be available, although she still has a small baby to take care of ;)
And the other news is about Game of Thrones, there's a page on the HBO site with a short trailer, there's no Lena in it... but it's still good to see it's all happening!
Here it is:
Here it is:
8 June 2010
Stacie Ponder, Lena's good friend had a chat with Lena a couple of days ago, as she was so kind to take part to an episode of Stacie's Space Girls, she lends her voice to a... spaceship =)) I haven't watched it yet, but it should be fun!
23 May 2010
In a recent interview Thomas Dekker, Lena's co-star in TSCC, revealed he has written a screenplay for a thriller movie called Sick which will have Lena play the lead role, here's what he said:
I've written a screenplay with her to play the lead role. It's actually called Sick and it's about a woman who's married with a daughter. Things consistently terrible keep happening to her and you slowly realise she's bringing it on herself. It's sort of a question of why. It's a pretty psychological thriller. It's a hard role but she's good enough to tackle it.
He also talked about the experience of working on the TSCC set: "We were all mad on that show and tired constantly, Lena and I were two badly behaved children so that was what you had to watch out for, constantly getting into trouble and playing games."
Lena already starred in another movie written and directed by his friend Thomas, called Whore. Let's hope to get to know more about this project soon!
You can read more and check the video interview here.
19 May 2010
There's a trailer out there for a new horror movie titled Old Scratch, which reunites Lena and Thomas Dekker, once again directed by Rob Hall who also worked on TSCC. I'm not really a big fan of this slasher movies, I prefer thrillers like The Broken, but Lena seems to enjoy acting in them! ;))
So there you have it, thanks to my buddy SVgal for the heads up and the IMAY fansite for the trailer :)
4 May 2010
More news on the TSCC movie, Thomas was asked about it when he was in San Francisco on the first of May promoting another movie and he says it's happening!! Watch this clip to hear it for yourself! Thanks to Dekker_daily!
Now we also know that from June or end of June Lena should be on set for Game of Thrones, but maybe right after she could be working on a TSCC movie?! Who knows... busy times ahead for the new mommy! Thomas Dekker seems pretty sure and convinced about what he's talking about, so maybe this time it will really happen!! :) They would probably focus a lot on the future scenes, especially if the budget allows that, so now we have to see how much of Sarah will be in the movie, hopefully a lot! Anyway this is great news, let's hope to have it confirmed anytime soon! All you Lenaholics and Saraholics out there keep your fingers crossed!! ;)
Source: Dekker_daily
Source: Dekker_daily
1 May 2010
Source: The Sarah Connor Society
It seems like there might be hopes for a TSCC dvd movie, Thomas mentioned it once again when presenting his latest movie, Nightmare on Elm Street, here's the video from the Sarah Connor Society:
It's definitely good news that Thomas is talking again about this project, now that the rights have been acquired by Pacificor maybe things are changing?! Who knows...
It's definitely good news that Thomas is talking again about this project, now that the rights have been acquired by Pacificor maybe things are changing?! Who knows...
In a recent interview Summer was asked about a possible DVD movie too and here's what she had to say:
PW: Thomas brings up a possible movie on the season two DVD commentary -- what are your thoughts?
Summer: I heard there were ideas of doing that – we certainly had an awesome idea for season three that carried the storyline from season two, but was a stand-alone arc as well. I could absolutely see us be able to do a film with the same characters. I’ll never give up hope on that. I know that everyone would absolutely come back.
You can read the full interview here.
Let's keep fingers crossed we certainly need more TSCC and Sarah Connor!!! Source: The Sarah Connor Society
13 April 2010
From Winter is Coming we learn that HBO gave some details about the Game of Thrones pilot, they're reshooting some scenes, but nothing major, probably also due to the fact that one of the actresses, Jennifer Ehle, was replaced. Nothing has been said about the possible air date, so no changes there!! The wait won't be longer :)
Here's what HBO president has said:
The David Simon and Eric Overmeyer series will resume production in the fall with season two debuting next spring — about the time another upcoming project, Game of Thrones, will be ready to hit the air. They should be ready about the same time. [...] [The pilot] looks beautiful, the compelling scripts are just fantastic, we’re doing reshoots but nothing major. The show is there.
Shooting of the first season starts in June/July in Northern Ireland and the show should air on HBO in spring 2011.
Source: Winter is Coming
2 April 2010
I think Lena's baby is born!! At least from what we can assume from Pete's facebook page!! So many heartfelt congratulations to Lena and her hubby, wishing her family lots of joy, love and happiness!! :)
And to all the Lenaholics following the blog Happy Easter!!! :)
1 April 2010
Lena's short movie which she starred in and produced won the Best International Short Film Award at the Cleveland Filom Festival!!
This looks like an interesting project, let's hope we'll be able to take a look at it soon, for now you can enjoy the short trailer!
21 March 2010
One of Lena's latest projects, The Devil's Wedding, is going to be shown at the Cleveland International Film Festival, March 23 & 27.
Also showing now in USA and Canada is The Red Baron, for more info click here.
Unfortunately you won't be able to see Lena's latest movie Tell Tale on the big screen instead, as we had imagined in fact it will only be released on dvd in the US too and precisely on May 18 and it's currently available for rental at Blockbuster.
Also available on dvd from June 8 is MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday, Lena has a really small part in it and she's really young.
Source: Imagine Me & You fansite
19 March 2010
Imagine Me & You 16 (47%)
TSCC 9 (26%)
300 5 (14%)
Gossip 4 (11%)
The Jungle Book 4 (11%)
The Brothers Grimm 3 (8%)
St. Trinian's 2 (5%)
The Broken 2 (5%)
Aberdeen 1 (2%)
Possession 1 (2%)
Waterland 1 (2%)
The Red Baron 1 (2%)
Remains of the Day 0 (0%)
Band of Gold 0 (0%)
Loved Up 0 (0%)
I've received this piece of news from Logo TV: "Luce was chosen as one of the Top 50 Lesbian and Bisexual Characters in the AfterEllen.com poll. Nominations were given by fans, and then a very impressive number of people voted on who they thought were the cream of the crop. The fans have spoken and now Luce is officially a member of the Top 50 Lesbian and Bisexual TV, film, or internet characters!"
Many thanks to Logo TV for letting me know about this!!
And congrats to Lena for giving life to this amazing character loved by so many people around the world!
And Luce also won our poll once again, well kind of, since Imagine Me & You is the movie that made most of you discover Lena's talent! Followed by TSCC and 300, probaly Lena's biggest projects so far. Here are our results:
And congrats to Lena for giving life to this amazing character loved by so many people around the world!
And Luce also won our poll once again, well kind of, since Imagine Me & You is the movie that made most of you discover Lena's talent! Followed by TSCC and 300, probaly Lena's biggest projects so far. Here are our results:
Imagine Me & You 16 (47%)
TSCC 9 (26%)
300 5 (14%)
Gossip 4 (11%)
The Jungle Book 4 (11%)
The Brothers Grimm 3 (8%)
St. Trinian's 2 (5%)
The Broken 2 (5%)
Aberdeen 1 (2%)
Possession 1 (2%)
Waterland 1 (2%)
The Red Baron 1 (2%)
Remains of the Day 0 (0%)
Band of Gold 0 (0%)
Loved Up 0 (0%)
Thanks everyone for voting!!
3 March 2010
This time we don't need any question mark, it's official: Game of Thrones has been picked up for a whole series by HBO!!! Here's an excerpt from the article by Mo Ryan (same journalist who announced the news of Lena being cast as Cersei) on the Chicago Tribune:
This time we don't need any question mark, it's official: Game of Thrones has been picked up for a whole series by HBO!!! Here's an excerpt from the article by Mo Ryan (same journalist who announced the news of Lena being cast as Cersei) on the Chicago Tribune:
HBO has given a green light to "Game of Thrones," one of the most hotly anticipated shows the network has ever made. The network has committed to the pilot plus nine additional episodes.The pilot for "Thrones" was shot in Northern Ireland and other European and North African locations in late 2009. Production will resume in June in Northern Ireland. It's expected that the show will arrive on HBO in the spring of 2011, but no firm date has been set.HBO's description of the series: "Based on the series of books by George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones is an epic struggle for power set in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom."
You can read the full article here and see a first promo pic of the series, no Lena though, but it could be the opening scene of the pilot episode.
As you read in the article, the first season should be made of 10 episodes.
Now ready for a blond Lena?! :D
As you read in the article, the first season should be made of 10 episodes.
Now ready for a blond Lena?! :D
1 March 2010
Ok this is getting quite confusing... it's not official yet, but here's the latest news from the Winter Is Coming blog, which reports a comment from someone stating that HBO has unofficially given the pilot the greenlight and is actually preparing for filming the other episodes:
Ok this is getting quite confusing... it's not official yet, but here's the latest news from the Winter Is Coming blog, which reports a comment from someone stating that HBO has unofficially given the pilot the greenlight and is actually preparing for filming the other episodes:
I can confirm without revealing sources, that the pilot has been given the green light, due to HBO activities in Belfast, booking items and services for the next several years. Services that tie in with the set construction(s), they have been asked for a quote for the next year, invoice has been sent, payment has been made. It is happening folks, and it is killing me that I cannot tell you how I know this and what I have seen. I promise, as soon as they announce, I’ll spill. But they are taking their time doing it, I know they have already approved the pilot, and are already getting things in motion for a first season shoot!And also HBO on Twitter replied to a fan asking about GoT saying this:
No news yet on Game of Thrones. As soon as there’s official word it will be announced here and on Facebook. Promise.
And Winter is Coming notes how they say "as soon as" not "if" as if it was just a matter of time... well this is great news after what we had heard just a couple of days ago!! Let's hope all this turns out to be true... still it's a bit early to celebrate maybe :P
24 February 2010
Thanks to my friend SVgal for the heads up on this, unfortunately there are slightly bad news on Game of Thrones, apparently HBO executives weren't very happy and satisfied with the pilot they saw a couple of weeks ago, this is what Winter is Coming reported on their blog:
Thanks to my friend SVgal for the heads up on this, unfortunately there are slightly bad news on Game of Thrones, apparently HBO executives weren't very happy and satisfied with the pilot they saw a couple of weeks ago, this is what Winter is Coming reported on their blog:
HBO just wasn’t as positive as they thought they would be. That doesn’t mean it won’t receive the light, but the show is so expensive that it just doesn’t bode well.
The blog also posts a message from the author himself, G.R.R. Martin who doesn't seem to know much more about HBO plans and is getting a bit nervous about it:
Meanwhile, March creeps ever closer, and with it the HBO decision about whether or not to greenlight the Game of Thrones series. I am pretty much out of the loop on this, so there’s nothing I can do to impact it either way… but as much as I have tried to adopt a “que sera, sera” attitude, I’m growing increasingly anxious. All sorts of rumors swirling around the internet, both good and bad.
It's not great to read this with March being so near, especially after reading so many positive news about this project, but let's hope that with some tweaks the pilot will work... The pilot not being perfect might mean a lot of different things, maybe HBO simply expected the pilot to be near perfection (having invested already a lot of money into it) and that little work was required, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're not interested in this story or will not go on with the project, so again fingers crossed!
10 February 2010
More Terminator news. I'm not sure how much this has to do with Lena herself, as she's now involved in a new tv project, but anyway the rights to the Terminator franchise, including the tv series, have been bought by Pacificor, as Deadline Hollywood reports, you can read the full article here.
What this means for TSCC and whether it could be brought back to tv or if a direct-to-dvd movie will be made to give it a proper conclusion is still unclear... so as always let's just wait and see! If you feel like voting and supporting TSCC you can go over to the SciFi Squad website and suggest that they bring back the tv series ;)
With all these TSCC news it's time to enjoy a fabulous TSCC vid, so go to the videos page for a new fantastic Sarah Connor vid by SVgal!!
Update: Sony and Lionsgate are trying to get a deal with Pacificor to be involved in the making of the future Terminator movies, read more on The Los Angeles Times.
Update: Sony and Lionsgate are trying to get a deal with Pacificor to be involved in the making of the future Terminator movies, read more on The Los Angeles Times.
6 February 2010
Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but it's been really quiet in Lenaland... and not many news regarding Game of Thrones either. All we know is that by now a rough cut of the pilot has been viewed by HBO executives but we probably still have to wait till March to know for sure whether it will be picked up or not. Apart from that Lena has been mentioned by Linda Hamilton who originally played Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator movies in a recent interview she gave for Digital Spy:
Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but it's been really quiet in Lenaland... and not many news regarding Game of Thrones either. All we know is that by now a rough cut of the pilot has been viewed by HBO executives but we probably still have to wait till March to know for sure whether it will be picked up or not. Apart from that Lena has been mentioned by Linda Hamilton who originally played Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator movies in a recent interview she gave for Digital Spy:
She was very good, very good. I know how difficult it is to step into someone's shoes, or to fill someone's shoes. I would never want to be the standard. I guess it's great that I'm the standard, but each one of us has our own special gifts that we can bring to a part. She wasn't trying to be Linda Hamilton, she was trying to play Sarah Connor. Her version is just as valid as mine.
As you all probably remember the choice of Lena for the character of Sarah Connor in the tv series had been harshly criticized mostly by Terminator fans and it's great to see Linda Hamilton talking in positive terms about Lena's performance, which she had done before too actually. Lena did an amazing job portraying this character, probably one of her strongest performances. I hope by now no one doubts anymore that she was by far the best choice for this role!
25 January 2010
With her fair English skin and shock of dark hair, Headey--most recognizable as the sultry Queen Gorgo from last year's sword-and-shield-fest 300--is delicate and slightly vulnerable looking; she's more Audrey Hepburn gamine than the Linda Hamilton tough she was cast to re-create in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Yet beneath the foppish locks, the thick, arched eyebrows, and the high, alabaster cheekbones is a stubborn independence born of protecting her soul in a complicated family and defending her pride in bare-knuckle street brawls.
Born in Bermuda, Headey moved with her parents to Somerset, in southwest England, when she was 5. At age 11, the family moved to blue-collar Yorkshire in northern England. At her working-class mother's behest, Headey took elocution lessons to learn "to speak like a lady." But her newly manufactured upper-class diction seemed only to get her into trouble in a town where being unique was unacceptable. "I remember asking this boy where the playing field was, and he was like, 'Where are you from?' Then he literally smashed me on the head with his cricket bat because I was different," she says, and then contemplates, "or maybe he just wanted to kiss me."
It was the first of many rows for Headey, who insists she throws punches only to protect someone she loves--her younger brother, Tim, for instance, now an air steward for British Airways. "He stood out in school because he played the violin and painted his nails and his friends wore Lycra T-shirts," she remembers. "He got picked on, and I was like, 'Don't touch my brother.' I'm small but quite tough. When incensed, I can swing a punch."
Headey confides that she has always carried a quiet rage that can detonate at the slightest injustice, real or imagined. "I have a scary side of me," she admits. "I f--king yell and shout and I'm horrid and then it's gone. My poor husband."
She won't pinpoint the origin of some of her own issues--that wild temper of hers, or a certain conversational self-consciousness that melts away when she lapses into one of the many accents she uses to animate an anecdote. But one can guess that it might have something to do with what she will only call her "tricky" relationship with her mother. "It always comes down to the mum, now doesn't it?" she asks rhetorically. "Since being quite young, I've had a very strong sense of independence and survival. As a child, I was on my own two feet emotionally," she says. "I have an internal protectiveness where it's like, if it comes to just me, as frightened as I am of losing someone I love or things going sour or simply being alone, there is a dark place in my brain where I'm like, It could happen and I'm okay, I'm prepared."
But as independent as she paints herself, Headey has meticulously arranged her life in such a way that emotional support is always on call. For one, she has never not been in a romantic relationship. And she rarely trusts anyone she hasn't known for, say, most of her life. "If all this [TV and movie stuff] f--ks up, I still have these people I love in my life, and that keeps me stable and that's my reality," she says. "I could quite happily run a florist or a bake shop."
Interview for Men's Health from the period Lena was shooting TSCC, so she talks about the character of Sarah Connor, handling guns and also a bit about her personal life, her relationship with her family and also about being a mother.
British bombshell Lena Headey fights terminators for a living. It's the perfect role for a girl who grew up defending herself with a smart mouth, a sharp wit, and a mean right cross
British bombshell Lena Headey fights terminators for a living. It's the perfect role for a girl who grew up defending herself with a smart mouth, a sharp wit, and a mean right cross
The first time Lena Headey shot a man in the balls, she cried. She wasn't even looking when she fired the gun. But the sheer brutality of it all--the hard steel against the interior of her knuckle, the violent shudder in her groin after pulling the trigger, and the sound, that deafening, ear-breaking sound--was too overwhelming. At the very moment she should have focused on her target's chest, she turned away, the marauder in front of her suddenly a eunuch.
"It scared me," says Headey, 34, in an accent that glides between British working-class and the Queen's English. "I thought, My God, here's a gun and there's a life, and you shoot the gun and there ends the life." The target in this case was a paper assailant at the shooting range where Fox Television sends its action stars in training, and where for the last many weeks the actress has tried to appease her fear of weaponry. At the very least, the instruction has taught Headey to look like she knows what she's doing: On Fox's midseason entry Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a prologue to the Terminator movies, she wields pistols, shotguns, and heavy artillery like a modern-day Bonnie Parker. As the embattled mom protecting her son--and the human race--from killer robots, Headey seems completely at home, albeit not at all at peace.
"It scared me," says Headey, 34, in an accent that glides between British working-class and the Queen's English. "I thought, My God, here's a gun and there's a life, and you shoot the gun and there ends the life." The target in this case was a paper assailant at the shooting range where Fox Television sends its action stars in training, and where for the last many weeks the actress has tried to appease her fear of weaponry. At the very least, the instruction has taught Headey to look like she knows what she's doing: On Fox's midseason entry Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a prologue to the Terminator movies, she wields pistols, shotguns, and heavy artillery like a modern-day Bonnie Parker. As the embattled mom protecting her son--and the human race--from killer robots, Headey seems completely at home, albeit not at all at peace.
"[Playing with guns] is not something I'd do on a day off," she says over a salad of prosciutto, melon, and figs served al fresco at Pace, a stylish organic Italian eatery in Los Angeles, where Headey and her groom of six months have set up house since moving from London in July. "I don't really understand why Americans have such access to them and why they shoot them for sport." Headey's father, I point out, was a police officer: You'd think having a cop for a dad might have inured the actress to the general idea of firearms. "Are you kidding?" she asks incredulously. "He was a British cop. He didn't have a gun; he had a f--king stick. He'd run after people, and it was like, 'I'm going to hit you with my four-foot stick, so you better be scared and give up that lady's handbag.'"
With her fair English skin and shock of dark hair, Headey--most recognizable as the sultry Queen Gorgo from last year's sword-and-shield-fest 300--is delicate and slightly vulnerable looking; she's more Audrey Hepburn gamine than the Linda Hamilton tough she was cast to re-create in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Yet beneath the foppish locks, the thick, arched eyebrows, and the high, alabaster cheekbones is a stubborn independence born of protecting her soul in a complicated family and defending her pride in bare-knuckle street brawls.
Born in Bermuda, Headey moved with her parents to Somerset, in southwest England, when she was 5. At age 11, the family moved to blue-collar Yorkshire in northern England. At her working-class mother's behest, Headey took elocution lessons to learn "to speak like a lady." But her newly manufactured upper-class diction seemed only to get her into trouble in a town where being unique was unacceptable. "I remember asking this boy where the playing field was, and he was like, 'Where are you from?' Then he literally smashed me on the head with his cricket bat because I was different," she says, and then contemplates, "or maybe he just wanted to kiss me."
It was the first of many rows for Headey, who insists she throws punches only to protect someone she loves--her younger brother, Tim, for instance, now an air steward for British Airways. "He stood out in school because he played the violin and painted his nails and his friends wore Lycra T-shirts," she remembers. "He got picked on, and I was like, 'Don't touch my brother.' I'm small but quite tough. When incensed, I can swing a punch."
The last knockdown she chooses to share took place in the early 1990s after she returned from London to Yorkshire. Already she had appeared in the critically acclaimed films Waterland and The Remains of the Day, and she had just been cast as Kitty in The Jungle Book. "My girlfriends and I were drinking, and these girls from a lower year who we always had trouble with asked, 'What are you doing here?'?" Headey recounts, her throat tightening at the memory. "I said I was having a drink with my mates, and one girl said, 'Oh, you think you're so f--king good coming back here, don't ya?' Then she punched me in the eye, and I showed up on my first day of a Disney film with a real shiner."
Headey confides that she has always carried a quiet rage that can detonate at the slightest injustice, real or imagined. "I have a scary side of me," she admits. "I f--king yell and shout and I'm horrid and then it's gone. My poor husband."
Headey's atavistic compulsion to be both open and honest and yet always on guard clearly inspires her in her current role. "I love Sarah Connor. There's a complexity in her that's great for an actor, because you're not just being a smiley face or a sad face," she says. "She has so many f--king issues, past and present."
She won't pinpoint the origin of some of her own issues--that wild temper of hers, or a certain conversational self-consciousness that melts away when she lapses into one of the many accents she uses to animate an anecdote. But one can guess that it might have something to do with what she will only call her "tricky" relationship with her mother. "It always comes down to the mum, now doesn't it?" she asks rhetorically. "Since being quite young, I've had a very strong sense of independence and survival. As a child, I was on my own two feet emotionally," she says. "I have an internal protectiveness where it's like, if it comes to just me, as frightened as I am of losing someone I love or things going sour or simply being alone, there is a dark place in my brain where I'm like, It could happen and I'm okay, I'm prepared."
But as independent as she paints herself, Headey has meticulously arranged her life in such a way that emotional support is always on call. For one, she has never not been in a romantic relationship. And she rarely trusts anyone she hasn't known for, say, most of her life. "If all this [TV and movie stuff] f--ks up, I still have these people I love in my life, and that keeps me stable and that's my reality," she says. "I could quite happily run a florist or a bake shop."
Or be a mom. Headey is drawn to her character's hyperdeveloped maternal instinct, almost as though she were informing her performance with a fantasy of the kind of mother the actress wishes she'd had herself. "The bottom line is that her own life isn't even about her, it's about her child," she says, going silent for a moment, her lucent green eyes looking skyward. "I guess when you become a mother, it's like that." Headey says she wants a baby "sooner rather than later. We'd have to work out the bump on Sarah Connor," she says, "but at least I'd have the boobs they want me to have."
Still, the maternal and nurturing side of Lena Headey can stay on the surface for only so long. As anxious commuters interrupt our meal, their car horns honking their way home along Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Headey sets down her fork and politely asks, "Do you mind if I go out there and punch them?"
Source: Men's Health
Interview by Jennifer Wolff
17 January 2010
Good news for the American Lenaholics: The Red Baron is going to be released sometime this year in the US too, as announced on the FirstShowing.net! The movie produced in Germany will be distributed by the indipendent studio Monterey Media. On their official website the movie is listed under the section "Coming Soon", there you can also read some really positive reviews. In Germany the movie was released to theatres in April 2008 and it is available on dvd and blu-ray. If you haven't yet, check this movie out, it is really good overall and there's an amazing and very intense performance by Lena. She has a pretty important role as the nurse Käte, with whom the red baron Manfred von Richthofen played by Matthias Schweighöfer, falls in love.
Here's the movie trailer:
Here's the movie trailer:
You can also find the trailer on the Apple website under the category "Indipendent". Even if it's an indipendent movie (though with a budget of about 18€/22$ million is of one the most expensive German movies ever made), let's hope it will get a good theatrical release! And if while you wait you want to check out a little music video I made, go to the videos page :)
15 January 2010
Source: SerienJunkies, Winter is Coming
Things look really good for Game of Thrones as HBO programming chief Michael Lombardo said in a short interview with The Hollywood Reporter during the TCA Press Tour:
Everything looks fantastic. [...] The director got great performances. Unlike a lot of projects like this, everything was shot on location. It has such a rich texture that it looks more expensive than it actually was. [...] The fantasy is so incidental, it has a very adult tone. You forget it's fantasy while you're watching it, and that's what I love about it. [...] I would be surprised if it doesn't [get greenlit]. It has everything going for it.
Lombardo also said that HBO executives will be able to view a rough cut of the pilot in just two weeks!! From The Hollywood Reporter we also learn that the network spent between 5$ and 10$ million to produce the pilot alone, that also involved some use of CGI. Everything looks very good for this new show which, as Lombardo said, if everything goes well could possibly air around March/April of the next year, so plenty of time to get used to the idea of a blonde and evil Lena :P
And even before that we might get to see some promos and have a preview of Lena's new role on this show!!
10 January 2010
Lena Headey: Sarah Connor Laid To Rest
Friendship and a strong work ethic are core values for Sarah Connor Chronicles star Lena Headey. The Bermuda-born actress, who was raised in the working-class town of Huddersfield in the North of England, has come a long way, but she remains very down to earth.
Since her film debut opposite Jeremy Irons in Waterland back in 1992, Headey has built up a lengthy list of credits. Her breakout role didn't arrive until 2006 however, when she played the heroic Queen of Sparta in director Zack Snyder's highly stylized retelling of the story of the Spartan's epic battle with Persia. Having worked to protect her husband, the King of Sparta, in 300, Headey was then called on to protect her on-screen son, John Connor, from the Terminator in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
While working on the Fox TV series, Headey forged a close bond with special effects guru Robert Hall (whose credits also include Buffy, Angel and Pineapple Express) and his partner in slime, producer and actress Bobbi Sue Luther. So when Robert and Bobbi decided to branch out and make their own blood and guts genre horror flick, Headey was more than happy to jump on board.
Though made on a beyond-low budget that was supplemented by friends and favors, Laid To Rest, which was the first film to be shot on Panasonic's new HPX-3000 high-def DV camcorder, has a polished analog look despite its bargain digital price tag. Shot on location at a deserted psychiatric hospital in Maryland, the film exemplifies the DIY methodology of Hollywood's next generation filmmakers.
With Season 2 of Sarah Connor coming to a close, and the fate of a follow up season still hanging in the balance, Headey ultimately hopes to join their ranks. Over the past couple of years, during downtime on TSCC set, the actress worked on her own project, which she describes as a "quirky ensemble comedy." Having penned and prepped it, with The Chronicles behind her for the time being, she now hopes to direct and produce it. If all goes Headey's way, she'll soon be the one making calls to friends for favors.
SuicideGirls called up Headey while she was enjoying a rare moment of rest, surrounded by her dogs, on the couch at her Los Angeles home.
Nicole Powers: I wanted to start at the very beginning, because you've had an interesting life, I mean you were born in Bermuda!
Lena Headey: I was. I was there till I was five.
NP: Do you have any memories of Bermuda?
LH: I don't really. I look at books on it, photographs, and I do that thing like everybody, it's that sort of edited memory where you think, 'I sort of remember,' but you don't really have a physical memory.
NP: In a way it might be a good thing, because going from Bermuda to Huddersfield might have been I bit of a shock.
LH: Yeah. Quite traumatic!
My mom and dad were in the [police] cadets in Yorkshire, and I don't know what it was about Huddersfield and Bermuda, if it was a twin town, but they took trainees out for a year to Bermuda. They went out there for a year and I came along as a treat midway through.
NP: I can imagine, if it was a twin town thing, no disrespect to the North of England, because I'm from there, but I think someone maybe got a raw deal there.
LH: Yeah! Huddersfield! [laughs]
NP: So your family moved back to Huddersfield and you were there until you were seventeen?
LH: Yeah. I moved to London and worked and lived on various sofas in various houses for about two, probably three years. Then when I was twenty I moved properly down with my friend and we got a flat, and I lived there until two years ago when I moved out here.
NP: Couch surfing being an important skill in any actor's early career.
LH: Yeah. I was a really good couch surfer, but thankfully I had lots of lovely people who really looked after me.
NP: Did you develop a preference for any particular kind of couch?
LH: I liked to have a couch with a dog. I stayed with one friend who had three animals, so I quite liked staying there.
NP: Your online bio says you were in a school play at the Royal Nation Theatre, and someone spotted you and you ended up in a movie opposite Jeremy Irons.
LH: That's actually the truth!
NP: So what kind of school production was it?
LH: Well they did this thing at the Royal National Theatre every year -- I hope they still do it because it's a great opportunity -- where they take youth theater groups and high schools...and they pick about nine to go and do a performance over three nights. So three schools a night get to perform on the Olivier Stage which is pretty magnificent for people who come from a normal high school. And that's what we did. We did this play, which was a fabulous idea from my drama teacher who was like, "Let's do a musical about Vietnam."
NP: A musical about Vietnam?
LH: [laughs] Yes. Fabulous! And that begun my illustrious career.
NP: You have to tell me about a couple of the musical numbers from Vietnam: The Musical.
LH: We were all kind of running around with guns, and then we would stop and sing sad songs about lost sons and weeping mothers. So it had a good sentiment.
NP: Was there any tap dancing involved?
LH: No tap dancing. Just lots of sort of kneeling and singing earnestly about death.
NP: So that makes the story about you being spotted in this production all the more remarkable.
LH: I wasn't spotted in the production...You had to put pictures of the cast up in the foyers, and [my drama teacher] took pictures of us all at school kind of standing around. A casting director called Susie Figgis, who cast Waterland, which was my first film, saw the picture and though, "Oh, she can come and read." And that was it. It was kind of bonkers. It was a little Kodak print picture, and that's how it started. It was mad.
NP: Since then you've worked a lot. You've got a really impressive résumé that was, for the most part, under the radar.
LH: It's not been constant. I wish it had. I've had a couple of years when it's been scary, but it happens to everyone. It's not the most stable career...It's such a weird thing acting. There are jobs you do for love and, I always thought that would be the way, and then you get a mortgage and you get responsibilities and sometimes you've got to do something that will pay the bills because it's too stressful.
NP: So what would you consider your breakthrough role?
LH: I think it was probably 300. If you're talking about something that changed things, I guess it was 300 because it was so huge...
It's a funny thing, I had no deathly ambition to become super famous. I just want to work. I want to be able to put a roof over my head, and make great films and also create a path for me to make movies as a director...I consider myself a working actor and not a famous actor.
NP: In 300, as with Sarah Connor, you're the woman behind the man, working to protect the man, and fighting alongside the man. Does it frustrate you that there's so few strong roles for women?
LH: Sometimes. Sometimes it's frustrating. But throughout Sarah Connor, I've been writing a lot. It's inspired me to write pieces for me and other women and men I know who are great actors who don't necessarily get the chance to do the things they're capable of. I just think it is really frustrating that the great roles for women are given to the top cream of actresses. But that's just the way it is. If you are famous and a great actress, and you bring money in, that then allows you to get the cream of the crop in terms of scripts and characters.
NP: One of the reasons I like the part that you play in Laid To Rest , and also the part that Bobbi plays, is that although it's a genre horror movie, neither of your characters dissolve into the usual pathetic girly hysterical archetype.
LH: Absolutely. I think Rob's a really smart filmmaker. He's just beginning, and I think he's super capable. And I love with Bobbi's character, with the amnesia and kind of really not knowing what's going on, that she was never like a dizzy fool. I enjoyed that, and also they're my mates -- number one -- I'm up for doing anything creative with friends. It's always really good fun and satisfying.
NP: Did you talk about the character beforehand and make the choice that you didn't want to be archetypical screaming girlies?
LH: Well I didn't. I'm sure Bobbi and Rob talked about it for a long, long time. I know Bobbi was nervous about doing it and she pulled it off amazingly well, and I think she's great in the movie.
I'd just done a movie in Rhode Island, and then flew the night that I finished to Rob and Bobbi in Maryland to the mad fucking psycho ward they were filming in. And we just did it. I mean they were shooting for 28 days and nights, straight through pretty much, and I just walked in and did it. It was fun for me. It was a character, instead of playing some pretty girl or someone's girlfriend or something. It was nice to play this woman who was simple, and wanted to take care of someone, and that's really all she was.
NP: How did it come about? How did they convince you to do it -- because it was a very low budget independent movie?
LH: Well, friendship goes along way with me, especially good friends. And I'd seen Rob's first movie he did called, Lightning Bug, and I absolutely fell in love with it. It really charmed me as a film. I just think he's got great potential as a filmmaker and Bobbi's amazing, and can convince anyone to do anything. She's got a producer's persuasion down pat. And then we've got a group of mates and everyone does their own stuff, and then they go, "Do you mind coming in to make cups of tea?" And I'm like, "Absolutely." That's what it's about for me. You can go and make your money and do all of that stuff but then you get back to basics, and it's really exciting and it fills a void perhaps.
NP: I understand that originally you were begging Robert to give your character an eye patch.
LH: Yeah. It's kind of an obsession.
NP: Why the eye patch obsession?
LH: Well, it started a long time ago. I read a script, like ten years ago, and it never got made. Maybe this is why. It was about this crazed, inbred woman, who has one eye and she wore an eye patch. It was a black comedy, and I loved it. I'd love to play her and go full hog with prosthetic teeth and all that. I've been obsessed with having an eye patch...But sadly this wasn't the role for the eye patch.
NP: Hopefully one will come. So you're in Maryland, in an old mental institution, running around with piles of gore. It must have been surreal.
LH: Yeah. I mean the night when I arrived, I got picked up at the airport and we drove to the location, and, honestly, it was quite amazing this place, really bizarre, and kind of interesting and weird. This mental hospital was fucking huge, like vast. As we drove in, there was this massive thunderstorm. It was pitch black, and then lightening would go, and it would light up the entire place. There were two kind of big buildings and then tons of outbuildings where the staff would live and the patients would live.
It was so strange. Just sort of being in that place. There was a morgue downstairs, though I don't think any bodies were in it anymore. But it was the place where they would keep people. They also performed lobotomies until just before it closed, so it's got a huge history. Being there -- I'm a complete believer in other beings being here -- not aliens obviously...
NP: The supernatural?
LH: Yes. So, there were a couple of times when you were sitting there and you're not being used, and you've got a couple of hours, and you'd just go and sit in the main wing of the hospital. It was a long corridor with lots and lots of rooms off it. It was really weird --- really weird. I had my little dog with me, and she would run up the corridor to a certain point, and I would throw a ball and she wouldn't go and get the ball. Every time she'd stop at a door. It was a closed door...and it kept happening.
NP: Where you glad to be out of there by the end?
LH: I was, but I tell you, to make a film of that genre, it's a great place to be. If you're making a horror movie and you've got somewhere like that, it's pretty fantastic. You've got millions of rooms you can dress any way you want. Everything's there for you and it's got a definite tense feeling about it.
NP: Having seen the end result, with all the effects completed, what surprised you the most?
LH: I think it's always surprising when you've got no budget. No budget filmmaking can look very basic when you're watching it being done. I just think visually it's really incredible. All the big crane shots they did outside. I love that one shot where the crane just keep moving and it's all one take, and the guys runs out of the barn, and keeps going, and the mist is curling around -- things like that I'm just impressed by. I think there's no right or wrong in filmmaking. I think you can't really judge too harshly. People are laying out their brain and their heart and experimenting, and it's a complete lesson to try and make movies and see your mistakes and learn. I just think anyone who gets up and actually makes a film deserves some respect. It's a tough thing to fucking do, to pull off.
I think it looks great. I think Bobbi's really great, I think she should be proud of herself. You know, it's a smart horror movie, and their aren't a lot of those, even though I enjoy all of them.
NP: You're working on producing now?
LH: Yes. I've got a script I've written that's a comedy. I've had it for a year, and I've now finished Sarah Connor so I've got time. My heads opened up a little, which is nice. So I finished my script, and I've got a trailer which I shot and I'm editing that, and I'm going to send them on out and see what happens.
NP: What kind of comedy is it?
LH: It's a quirky ensemble comedy about a group of slightly mad but connected people in Los Angeles. It's kind of a caper with slight odd romance. Everyone's very strange but very amusing. It'll be easy on the eye, and it'll hopefully make people laugh.
NP: And your were writing this while you were doing Sarah Connor?
LH: Yeah. I wrote a short, and I shot it last year, and I somehow managed to get Piper Perabo and John Cleese and various other people to be in it.
NP: Wow. You got John Cleese!
LH: I did. I somehow managed to persuade John Cleese to come hang out and be silly, and, as always, he was wonderful.
NP: Did you know him prior to that?
LH: I did Jungle Book with him years and years ago, and he's a lovely man and we became friends. I hadn't seen him for a long time, and I rung him and I just said, "Would you do me a huge favor." And he said, "I don't usually do this, but for you I will."
NP: I notice the cool people, who are like that, are the ones that continually work. You can do something that shoots you into superstardom, but at the end of the day, if you're not a pleasant person to be around, people aren't going to want to work with you moving forward.
LH: Absolutely. It's true, it's true. That's what I mean about being a working actress. This is my job. I don't see it as a bestowance of greatness. This is just what I do. I pay a mortgage with it, and I also have immense fun and enjoyment in it. When you come up with people that you like and support you, and you can pay that back to other people who want to make movies and help them out, it's a really cool way to live.
NP: Hollywood divas exist, but often only for a very short time in the grand scheme of things.
LH: I think that divas do exist, because people who bring in money box office-wise, they're allowed to behave like that. There is a sort of tolerance for it because it equals money. It's a tricky one. I just hope I can stay in the industry and learn as I keep working either as an actress or, god willing, be able to make my own movies. It's an amazing arena to be in, and yet it needs to be treated with respect. You're always learning, you can never think, "Right! I'm done. I've done it!" There's always things to do, and always people to learn from. All the directors I've worked with -- it's the best university in the world.
NP: Coming from the North of England too, there is this real Northern value of "being down to earth." There's no greater compliment that you can pay someone "up North," than saying, they're great, cause they're "really down to earth."
LH: It's very true. Also, I was brought up with a massive work ethic, like nothing comes for free, and you do it, you commit and you do it. I still believe in that.
NP: When you stop working, what do you do for fun?
LH: I drink. I do a little bit of that. I've literally just finished, Monday I finished work at 10 p.m., and it's been pretty much two years of my life. I'm tired but I'm also so excited about what potentially could happen in the next few months. I've got four dogs, and so I'm walking them, and I'm hanging out with my husband, and seeing mates, and just sort of enjoying my house, which I love. It's sort of a holiday for me. When you don't see something a lot of the time, it's just enjoyable just living instead of just working.
NP: We'll you've traveled so much with your career, I'm sure you're enjoying having a holiday at home.
LH: Exactly.
NP: I understand that you have quite a lot of body art.
LH: Yes.
NP: You don't really see it on Sarah Connor.
LH: Well no, because they hate that I have it. The powers that be say she would never have them... So they cover them up. I don't really mind them doing that because they're my tattoos, they're not Sarah Connor's. It's just part of being an actor.
I personally love them. I find them charming and I feel that they're part of me. A lot of people don't like them, especially in the industry, but everybody has them now. I tell you, if you could find the perfect chemistry for covering up a tattoo, you'd be a billionaire.
NP: What do they use on you? Just heavy foundation?
LH: There are lots and lots of products for tattoo coverage. It's a very laborious process to get them done, to get them covered. I know people are constantly working on ways to do it quickly. If you can find the right ingredients so the skin doesn't wrinkle and it doesn't go dry and it doesn't change color, I'm telling you that's the secret billionaire's ingredient. If you can get that, you're fucking laughing.
NP: What's your favorite tattoo?
LH: I like them all really. I've just had my back piece finished and I love that. It's a big piece on my back with peonies and swallows. It's got a lot of movement in it, and it's just something I'd always wanted to do. It goes from my lower back, it sort of curls around my womanly shapes, and then it just comes up around my shoulder.
NP: Where did you have that done?
LH: I had that done in Brooklyn in New York, by a friend of mine called Chops who has a shop called Hold Fast. He's now moved to Portland, but he came to stay with us, and he finished it off for me here in Los Angeles.
NP: How many hours under the needle was that?
LH: I'd say seven, on and off. But I fell asleep during the last one. I find it incredibly relaxing.
NP: The pain doesn't bother you at all?
LH: Sometimes, on various bits, on various parts of my body it does, but Chops is really wonderful. He's very fast and he's one of the most lovely men in the world. He did Rob's arm, and he did a couple of tattoos on Bobbi. We all went round to Bobbi's for dinner and he brought his tattoo kit. We had dinner, and then we had a little bit of ink.
NP: I told our Twitter followers that I was going to be chatting to you, and I got some questions from them that I should ask you. @clairaudience wants to know what scares you about the future and technology?
LH: I'm already scared by technology because I'm rubbish at it...That's what's funny about it. Literally, I'm rubbish...That's why it's called acting -- I'm so far from Sarah Connor it's not even funny.
NP: Next question from Twitter: @trevor31u wants to know how you feel about following in the footsteps of Linda Hamilton?
LH: Like I say, I don't consider my legacy, or anything like that. I did my job. I did my job as best I could and I committed to playing her and that's it really. It's not rocket science. I can't explain anymore than that.
NP: I think because you make things so simplistic, that's why your characters are so real. You don't have this formal training that says you need to walk in certain ways and project your voice, you're not putting all these things on top of what you're doing. Your MO is that you just want to make it believable.
LH: Absolutely. I think for example, you take Sean Penn in Milk and you take Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Two brilliant performances but very different ways of acting. I mean Mickey Rourke, very real, very raw, a very honest performance, and moving and open. Sean Penn became this other person. It was like he inhabited someone else's body, and it was a fucking amazing performance. So there's lots of different ways of acting, but for me, I'm not playing a historical character, I'm playing a mother who is a single parent, bringing up a teenage son, who also happens to save the world -- as a byline to her life. And the way I would play that is someone who's passionate and scared and angry and a mother, all these things. So I approach that just trying to be honest within the boundaries of her...There are different ways to be angry, and there are different ways to show excitement, and different ways to show lust, and all these things, and I just think, with all these people, how would it come through them.
NP: The final Twitter question is rather bizarre, but here we go: @bob_hope wants to know if you like pound cake?
LH: What is pound cake.
NP: It's one of those generic spongy things.
LH: Not really a massive sponge fan to be honest. Do you know what I love? My friends bring it out -- Angel Delight! As bad as it is, on those cold mornings I think, "Oh, I'm going to whip up a bowl of Butterscotch Angel Delight." It is the most pikey, white trash desert you could ever have, but occasionally that's good.
A very long and interesting interview with Lena from Suicide Girls, where she talks about a lot of things like her life and career, Laid to Rest, The Sophisticates, the supernatural, her tattoeos and she also replies to some twitterers' questions. Enjoy! :-)
Lena Headey: Sarah Connor Laid To Rest
Friendship and a strong work ethic are core values for Sarah Connor Chronicles star Lena Headey. The Bermuda-born actress, who was raised in the working-class town of Huddersfield in the North of England, has come a long way, but she remains very down to earth.
Since her film debut opposite Jeremy Irons in Waterland back in 1992, Headey has built up a lengthy list of credits. Her breakout role didn't arrive until 2006 however, when she played the heroic Queen of Sparta in director Zack Snyder's highly stylized retelling of the story of the Spartan's epic battle with Persia. Having worked to protect her husband, the King of Sparta, in 300, Headey was then called on to protect her on-screen son, John Connor, from the Terminator in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
While working on the Fox TV series, Headey forged a close bond with special effects guru Robert Hall (whose credits also include Buffy, Angel and Pineapple Express) and his partner in slime, producer and actress Bobbi Sue Luther. So when Robert and Bobbi decided to branch out and make their own blood and guts genre horror flick, Headey was more than happy to jump on board.
Though made on a beyond-low budget that was supplemented by friends and favors, Laid To Rest, which was the first film to be shot on Panasonic's new HPX-3000 high-def DV camcorder, has a polished analog look despite its bargain digital price tag. Shot on location at a deserted psychiatric hospital in Maryland, the film exemplifies the DIY methodology of Hollywood's next generation filmmakers.
With Season 2 of Sarah Connor coming to a close, and the fate of a follow up season still hanging in the balance, Headey ultimately hopes to join their ranks. Over the past couple of years, during downtime on TSCC set, the actress worked on her own project, which she describes as a "quirky ensemble comedy." Having penned and prepped it, with The Chronicles behind her for the time being, she now hopes to direct and produce it. If all goes Headey's way, she'll soon be the one making calls to friends for favors.
SuicideGirls called up Headey while she was enjoying a rare moment of rest, surrounded by her dogs, on the couch at her Los Angeles home.
Nicole Powers: I wanted to start at the very beginning, because you've had an interesting life, I mean you were born in Bermuda!
Lena Headey: I was. I was there till I was five.
NP: Do you have any memories of Bermuda?
LH: I don't really. I look at books on it, photographs, and I do that thing like everybody, it's that sort of edited memory where you think, 'I sort of remember,' but you don't really have a physical memory.
NP: In a way it might be a good thing, because going from Bermuda to Huddersfield might have been I bit of a shock.
LH: Yeah. Quite traumatic!
My mom and dad were in the [police] cadets in Yorkshire, and I don't know what it was about Huddersfield and Bermuda, if it was a twin town, but they took trainees out for a year to Bermuda. They went out there for a year and I came along as a treat midway through.
NP: I can imagine, if it was a twin town thing, no disrespect to the North of England, because I'm from there, but I think someone maybe got a raw deal there.
LH: Yeah! Huddersfield! [laughs]
NP: So your family moved back to Huddersfield and you were there until you were seventeen?
LH: Yeah. I moved to London and worked and lived on various sofas in various houses for about two, probably three years. Then when I was twenty I moved properly down with my friend and we got a flat, and I lived there until two years ago when I moved out here.
NP: Couch surfing being an important skill in any actor's early career.
LH: Yeah. I was a really good couch surfer, but thankfully I had lots of lovely people who really looked after me.
NP: Did you develop a preference for any particular kind of couch?
LH: I liked to have a couch with a dog. I stayed with one friend who had three animals, so I quite liked staying there.
NP: Your online bio says you were in a school play at the Royal Nation Theatre, and someone spotted you and you ended up in a movie opposite Jeremy Irons.
LH: That's actually the truth!
NP: So what kind of school production was it?
LH: Well they did this thing at the Royal National Theatre every year -- I hope they still do it because it's a great opportunity -- where they take youth theater groups and high schools...and they pick about nine to go and do a performance over three nights. So three schools a night get to perform on the Olivier Stage which is pretty magnificent for people who come from a normal high school. And that's what we did. We did this play, which was a fabulous idea from my drama teacher who was like, "Let's do a musical about Vietnam."
NP: A musical about Vietnam?
LH: [laughs] Yes. Fabulous! And that begun my illustrious career.
NP: You have to tell me about a couple of the musical numbers from Vietnam: The Musical.
LH: We were all kind of running around with guns, and then we would stop and sing sad songs about lost sons and weeping mothers. So it had a good sentiment.
NP: Was there any tap dancing involved?
LH: No tap dancing. Just lots of sort of kneeling and singing earnestly about death.
NP: So that makes the story about you being spotted in this production all the more remarkable.
LH: I wasn't spotted in the production...You had to put pictures of the cast up in the foyers, and [my drama teacher] took pictures of us all at school kind of standing around. A casting director called Susie Figgis, who cast Waterland, which was my first film, saw the picture and though, "Oh, she can come and read." And that was it. It was kind of bonkers. It was a little Kodak print picture, and that's how it started. It was mad.
NP: Since then you've worked a lot. You've got a really impressive résumé that was, for the most part, under the radar.
LH: It's not been constant. I wish it had. I've had a couple of years when it's been scary, but it happens to everyone. It's not the most stable career...It's such a weird thing acting. There are jobs you do for love and, I always thought that would be the way, and then you get a mortgage and you get responsibilities and sometimes you've got to do something that will pay the bills because it's too stressful.
NP: So what would you consider your breakthrough role?
LH: I think it was probably 300. If you're talking about something that changed things, I guess it was 300 because it was so huge...
It's a funny thing, I had no deathly ambition to become super famous. I just want to work. I want to be able to put a roof over my head, and make great films and also create a path for me to make movies as a director...I consider myself a working actor and not a famous actor.
NP: In 300, as with Sarah Connor, you're the woman behind the man, working to protect the man, and fighting alongside the man. Does it frustrate you that there's so few strong roles for women?
LH: Sometimes. Sometimes it's frustrating. But throughout Sarah Connor, I've been writing a lot. It's inspired me to write pieces for me and other women and men I know who are great actors who don't necessarily get the chance to do the things they're capable of. I just think it is really frustrating that the great roles for women are given to the top cream of actresses. But that's just the way it is. If you are famous and a great actress, and you bring money in, that then allows you to get the cream of the crop in terms of scripts and characters.
NP: One of the reasons I like the part that you play in Laid To Rest , and also the part that Bobbi plays, is that although it's a genre horror movie, neither of your characters dissolve into the usual pathetic girly hysterical archetype.
LH: Absolutely. I think Rob's a really smart filmmaker. He's just beginning, and I think he's super capable. And I love with Bobbi's character, with the amnesia and kind of really not knowing what's going on, that she was never like a dizzy fool. I enjoyed that, and also they're my mates -- number one -- I'm up for doing anything creative with friends. It's always really good fun and satisfying.
NP: Did you talk about the character beforehand and make the choice that you didn't want to be archetypical screaming girlies?
LH: Well I didn't. I'm sure Bobbi and Rob talked about it for a long, long time. I know Bobbi was nervous about doing it and she pulled it off amazingly well, and I think she's great in the movie.
I'd just done a movie in Rhode Island, and then flew the night that I finished to Rob and Bobbi in Maryland to the mad fucking psycho ward they were filming in. And we just did it. I mean they were shooting for 28 days and nights, straight through pretty much, and I just walked in and did it. It was fun for me. It was a character, instead of playing some pretty girl or someone's girlfriend or something. It was nice to play this woman who was simple, and wanted to take care of someone, and that's really all she was.
NP: How did it come about? How did they convince you to do it -- because it was a very low budget independent movie?
LH: Well, friendship goes along way with me, especially good friends. And I'd seen Rob's first movie he did called, Lightning Bug, and I absolutely fell in love with it. It really charmed me as a film. I just think he's got great potential as a filmmaker and Bobbi's amazing, and can convince anyone to do anything. She's got a producer's persuasion down pat. And then we've got a group of mates and everyone does their own stuff, and then they go, "Do you mind coming in to make cups of tea?" And I'm like, "Absolutely." That's what it's about for me. You can go and make your money and do all of that stuff but then you get back to basics, and it's really exciting and it fills a void perhaps.
NP: I understand that originally you were begging Robert to give your character an eye patch.
LH: Yeah. It's kind of an obsession.
NP: Why the eye patch obsession?
LH: Well, it started a long time ago. I read a script, like ten years ago, and it never got made. Maybe this is why. It was about this crazed, inbred woman, who has one eye and she wore an eye patch. It was a black comedy, and I loved it. I'd love to play her and go full hog with prosthetic teeth and all that. I've been obsessed with having an eye patch...But sadly this wasn't the role for the eye patch.
NP: Hopefully one will come. So you're in Maryland, in an old mental institution, running around with piles of gore. It must have been surreal.
LH: Yeah. I mean the night when I arrived, I got picked up at the airport and we drove to the location, and, honestly, it was quite amazing this place, really bizarre, and kind of interesting and weird. This mental hospital was fucking huge, like vast. As we drove in, there was this massive thunderstorm. It was pitch black, and then lightening would go, and it would light up the entire place. There were two kind of big buildings and then tons of outbuildings where the staff would live and the patients would live.
It was so strange. Just sort of being in that place. There was a morgue downstairs, though I don't think any bodies were in it anymore. But it was the place where they would keep people. They also performed lobotomies until just before it closed, so it's got a huge history. Being there -- I'm a complete believer in other beings being here -- not aliens obviously...
NP: The supernatural?
LH: Yes. So, there were a couple of times when you were sitting there and you're not being used, and you've got a couple of hours, and you'd just go and sit in the main wing of the hospital. It was a long corridor with lots and lots of rooms off it. It was really weird --- really weird. I had my little dog with me, and she would run up the corridor to a certain point, and I would throw a ball and she wouldn't go and get the ball. Every time she'd stop at a door. It was a closed door...and it kept happening.
NP: Where you glad to be out of there by the end?
LH: I was, but I tell you, to make a film of that genre, it's a great place to be. If you're making a horror movie and you've got somewhere like that, it's pretty fantastic. You've got millions of rooms you can dress any way you want. Everything's there for you and it's got a definite tense feeling about it.
NP: Having seen the end result, with all the effects completed, what surprised you the most?
LH: I think it's always surprising when you've got no budget. No budget filmmaking can look very basic when you're watching it being done. I just think visually it's really incredible. All the big crane shots they did outside. I love that one shot where the crane just keep moving and it's all one take, and the guys runs out of the barn, and keeps going, and the mist is curling around -- things like that I'm just impressed by. I think there's no right or wrong in filmmaking. I think you can't really judge too harshly. People are laying out their brain and their heart and experimenting, and it's a complete lesson to try and make movies and see your mistakes and learn. I just think anyone who gets up and actually makes a film deserves some respect. It's a tough thing to fucking do, to pull off.
I think it looks great. I think Bobbi's really great, I think she should be proud of herself. You know, it's a smart horror movie, and their aren't a lot of those, even though I enjoy all of them.
NP: You're working on producing now?
LH: Yes. I've got a script I've written that's a comedy. I've had it for a year, and I've now finished Sarah Connor so I've got time. My heads opened up a little, which is nice. So I finished my script, and I've got a trailer which I shot and I'm editing that, and I'm going to send them on out and see what happens.
NP: What kind of comedy is it?
LH: It's a quirky ensemble comedy about a group of slightly mad but connected people in Los Angeles. It's kind of a caper with slight odd romance. Everyone's very strange but very amusing. It'll be easy on the eye, and it'll hopefully make people laugh.
NP: And your were writing this while you were doing Sarah Connor?
LH: Yeah. I wrote a short, and I shot it last year, and I somehow managed to get Piper Perabo and John Cleese and various other people to be in it.
NP: Wow. You got John Cleese!
LH: I did. I somehow managed to persuade John Cleese to come hang out and be silly, and, as always, he was wonderful.
NP: Did you know him prior to that?
LH: I did Jungle Book with him years and years ago, and he's a lovely man and we became friends. I hadn't seen him for a long time, and I rung him and I just said, "Would you do me a huge favor." And he said, "I don't usually do this, but for you I will."
NP: I notice the cool people, who are like that, are the ones that continually work. You can do something that shoots you into superstardom, but at the end of the day, if you're not a pleasant person to be around, people aren't going to want to work with you moving forward.
LH: Absolutely. It's true, it's true. That's what I mean about being a working actress. This is my job. I don't see it as a bestowance of greatness. This is just what I do. I pay a mortgage with it, and I also have immense fun and enjoyment in it. When you come up with people that you like and support you, and you can pay that back to other people who want to make movies and help them out, it's a really cool way to live.
NP: Hollywood divas exist, but often only for a very short time in the grand scheme of things.
LH: I think that divas do exist, because people who bring in money box office-wise, they're allowed to behave like that. There is a sort of tolerance for it because it equals money. It's a tricky one. I just hope I can stay in the industry and learn as I keep working either as an actress or, god willing, be able to make my own movies. It's an amazing arena to be in, and yet it needs to be treated with respect. You're always learning, you can never think, "Right! I'm done. I've done it!" There's always things to do, and always people to learn from. All the directors I've worked with -- it's the best university in the world.
NP: Coming from the North of England too, there is this real Northern value of "being down to earth." There's no greater compliment that you can pay someone "up North," than saying, they're great, cause they're "really down to earth."
LH: It's very true. Also, I was brought up with a massive work ethic, like nothing comes for free, and you do it, you commit and you do it. I still believe in that.
NP: When you stop working, what do you do for fun?
LH: I drink. I do a little bit of that. I've literally just finished, Monday I finished work at 10 p.m., and it's been pretty much two years of my life. I'm tired but I'm also so excited about what potentially could happen in the next few months. I've got four dogs, and so I'm walking them, and I'm hanging out with my husband, and seeing mates, and just sort of enjoying my house, which I love. It's sort of a holiday for me. When you don't see something a lot of the time, it's just enjoyable just living instead of just working.
NP: We'll you've traveled so much with your career, I'm sure you're enjoying having a holiday at home.
LH: Exactly.
NP: I understand that you have quite a lot of body art.
LH: Yes.
NP: You don't really see it on Sarah Connor.
LH: Well no, because they hate that I have it. The powers that be say she would never have them... So they cover them up. I don't really mind them doing that because they're my tattoos, they're not Sarah Connor's. It's just part of being an actor.
I personally love them. I find them charming and I feel that they're part of me. A lot of people don't like them, especially in the industry, but everybody has them now. I tell you, if you could find the perfect chemistry for covering up a tattoo, you'd be a billionaire.
NP: What do they use on you? Just heavy foundation?
LH: There are lots and lots of products for tattoo coverage. It's a very laborious process to get them done, to get them covered. I know people are constantly working on ways to do it quickly. If you can find the right ingredients so the skin doesn't wrinkle and it doesn't go dry and it doesn't change color, I'm telling you that's the secret billionaire's ingredient. If you can get that, you're fucking laughing.
NP: What's your favorite tattoo?
LH: I like them all really. I've just had my back piece finished and I love that. It's a big piece on my back with peonies and swallows. It's got a lot of movement in it, and it's just something I'd always wanted to do. It goes from my lower back, it sort of curls around my womanly shapes, and then it just comes up around my shoulder.
NP: Where did you have that done?
LH: I had that done in Brooklyn in New York, by a friend of mine called Chops who has a shop called Hold Fast. He's now moved to Portland, but he came to stay with us, and he finished it off for me here in Los Angeles.
NP: How many hours under the needle was that?
LH: I'd say seven, on and off. But I fell asleep during the last one. I find it incredibly relaxing.
NP: The pain doesn't bother you at all?
LH: Sometimes, on various bits, on various parts of my body it does, but Chops is really wonderful. He's very fast and he's one of the most lovely men in the world. He did Rob's arm, and he did a couple of tattoos on Bobbi. We all went round to Bobbi's for dinner and he brought his tattoo kit. We had dinner, and then we had a little bit of ink.
NP: I told our Twitter followers that I was going to be chatting to you, and I got some questions from them that I should ask you. @clairaudience wants to know what scares you about the future and technology?
LH: I'm already scared by technology because I'm rubbish at it...That's what's funny about it. Literally, I'm rubbish...That's why it's called acting -- I'm so far from Sarah Connor it's not even funny.
NP: Next question from Twitter: @trevor31u wants to know how you feel about following in the footsteps of Linda Hamilton?
LH: Like I say, I don't consider my legacy, or anything like that. I did my job. I did my job as best I could and I committed to playing her and that's it really. It's not rocket science. I can't explain anymore than that.
NP: I think because you make things so simplistic, that's why your characters are so real. You don't have this formal training that says you need to walk in certain ways and project your voice, you're not putting all these things on top of what you're doing. Your MO is that you just want to make it believable.
LH: Absolutely. I think for example, you take Sean Penn in Milk and you take Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Two brilliant performances but very different ways of acting. I mean Mickey Rourke, very real, very raw, a very honest performance, and moving and open. Sean Penn became this other person. It was like he inhabited someone else's body, and it was a fucking amazing performance. So there's lots of different ways of acting, but for me, I'm not playing a historical character, I'm playing a mother who is a single parent, bringing up a teenage son, who also happens to save the world -- as a byline to her life. And the way I would play that is someone who's passionate and scared and angry and a mother, all these things. So I approach that just trying to be honest within the boundaries of her...There are different ways to be angry, and there are different ways to show excitement, and different ways to show lust, and all these things, and I just think, with all these people, how would it come through them.
NP: The final Twitter question is rather bizarre, but here we go: @bob_hope wants to know if you like pound cake?
LH: What is pound cake.
NP: It's one of those generic spongy things.
LH: Not really a massive sponge fan to be honest. Do you know what I love? My friends bring it out -- Angel Delight! As bad as it is, on those cold mornings I think, "Oh, I'm going to whip up a bowl of Butterscotch Angel Delight." It is the most pikey, white trash desert you could ever have, but occasionally that's good.
Interview by Nicole Powers
Apr 8, 2009
Apr 8, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Facebook
Lena Headey Online
SVgal1098
Lena Pics
