BY DEBASHINE THANGEVELO
AT 1.96m, Tom Hopper dwarfs most of the people around him. The 31- year-old has had a few doors open for him since bagging the role of William “Billy Bones” Manderly in the prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.
In an EXCLUSIVE interview with Tonight, Hopper, fresh off a plane from Cape Town to attend A+E Networks’ Africa Upfront, spoke about reprising his role in the Michael Bay’s period adventure Black Sails as well as bagging a lead in the History channel’s docu-drama, Barbarians Rising.
“It’s the fourth year that I’m here shooting Black Sails,” he says.
Reflecting on his journey, he offers: “I was in a show called Merlin. It provided me with a lot of fun. People felt it ended abruptly. In the last month of shooting that, I had a meeting for Black Sails. So it was quite a nice transition.”
Given the heavyweight backing for Black Sails, the exposure helped to give Hopper’s career a boost.
“It also helped me clinch the role of Arminius, the stolen son of Germany, in Barbarians Rising, an eight-part docu-drama series that tells the story of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire from the perspective of the barbarian rebel leaders.”
In regaling viewers with the story, the writers home in on the journey of Spartacus, the slave-turned-rebel who led a bloody revolt; Boudica, the Celtic warrior queen; Attila (the Hun); The Goths and The Vandals.
Hopper offers: “My character is a lot more mature than Billy Bones. He is a hardened warrior leading a huge part of the Roman Empire into battle.”
Interestingly, this is the first time he is doing a series set in Roman times.
He laughs: “The barbarian outfit, which was actual bear fur, was heavy. The Roman outfit, as it was made of leather, was lighter. I think my horse was in shock every day.”
A lot of what he had already done in his career had prepared him for this role, in terms of the horse riding and battle scenes – and there are epic battle scenes in Barbarians Rising.
Amid juggling his duties as a father – he has a one-year-old son with actress Laura Hopper – he also did a film, The Fixer.
He says: “I’m open to anything as long as the project is good. I never want to pigeonhole myself.”
SA TO HOLLYWOOD
MEANWHILE, Sean Cameron Michael, who plays Richard Guthrie, splits his time between Los Angeles and South Africa.
Completely unassuming, despite his impressive work in 24: Redemption, Strike Back, Safe House and The Salvation, the 46- year-old has also landed a few impressive projects since moving to LA last year. Aside from getting his green card, he is also an official member of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
He says: “After I had done season one and two of Black Sails, that helped to open doors for me in LA. I got myself an agent and manager there. In Hollywood, you need a whole team behind you to get your name out there. In SA, if you have to audition for a TV or movie shoot, I would probably be competing with about 10 guys in my age group. In LA, you are up against about 1 000 other actors.”
Not only is it more cut-throat working in a bigger playground, actors who fall into the 40 to 60 age group often receive direct offers for shows as the hundreds of casting agents in Tinseltown are familiar with their work.
Cameron Michael admits: “It takes about a year, two and even three to build those relationships. When I arrived in LA, it was pilot season. The competition is really, really big.”
Thankfully, he got to play Noah Coetzee in an episode of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, the spin-off series of Criminal Minds, which helped him gain traction in the casting circles.
He laughs: “When I arrived for the audition, there were about four other British actors sitting there. I was like, if I didn’t get this role, I must really suck. And the writer, producer and director was there. I was a bit nervous and changed one or two lines of dialogue into Afrikaans as it was a scene where Noah’s daughter was being very disrespectful. After the audition, I apologised to the writer. But he went (mimicking the American drawl): ‘Oh my god, that was amazing! I loved what you did.’”
He then came back to South Africa to shoot Last Broken Darkness, an independent sci-fi movie in which he plays the lead.
He continues: “After that, I did Lea to the Rescue. I play one of the baddies and speak fluent Brazilian Portuguese. And I got blond hair and blue eyes, which is a far cry from the character you expect. Luckily, we had a dialect coach on set and I would phonetically learn things on the spot.”
A crowning moment of glory, though, was when he got his first “direct offer” for Scorpion 2.
His character? Shane Copley (he laughs at the inference to the well-known South African actor), a South African smuggler.
He recalls: “They asked my agent: ‘Can Sean do a South African accent?’ And he said: ‘Well, he is South African.’
“The following morning when I walked on set, I had an AK47 put in my hand and was told: ‘You know how to fire this, right?’ The strange thing is that I’ve done quite bit of TV and film action stuff. But have never fired guns and rifles. At one point on day three of the shoot, I was firing off 20 rounds at a time and the black shells where flying past my face, leaving gun powder residue.”
As for what can be expected of his dastardly character on Black Sails 2, he reveals: “Richard Guthrie is a hard, cold bastard. He is ruthless and self-centred. But in season two, he arrives in town to help. And, for the first time in his life, he tells the truth.”
In fact, fans of the series can expect a profound exploration of their favourite and least favourite characters. Of course, this gives birth to myriad dramatic moments amid the unfolding misadventures as blood is spilt and tensions rise.
Black Sails airs on History (DStv channel 186) on Tuesdays at 8.30pm. Barbarians Rising is set to release next month. Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders airs on M-Net, June 23 at 9.30pm.