I've discovered quite by
accident that breaking the ice in any interview is usually me trying to look
intelligent but having absolutely no clue when it comes to how to master the
simple things in life - such as, trying to understand why I can see Simon on
the screen but he can't see me. It wasn't so much that Skype had updated
everything, it was more to do with me, not removing the piece of paper over the
camera on the laptop!!!
I found Simon to be an absolute
delight to interview, oh how we laughed, and his stories were an absolute dream
to listen to, that I realise now, I need to order a copy of his autobiography.
The interview began with
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Did
you wear a harness for the Great Hall scene as the Friar Ghost?
Simon: Yes, I was strapped to a see-saw. It
was very bizarre. I mean, most of the stuff was done, hanging twenty feet from
the ceiling of a giant studio, but when it came to that bit, they tied me or
harnessed me to a see saw, So when I started the shot I was upside down and a
(tanker) was put on my head and then they raised the see saw and then I came up
and as I came up, I just had to do the (Simon puts on the ghostly friar voice).
I did that about three or four times, made me a bit dizzy.
I'd
imagine it would be a bit sore would it not from wearing the harness?
Simon: Well, it was bizarre when all the blood
is rushing to my head, but it was fine because everything else we were just
hanging - literally.
Are
you as well known for your Harry Potter role as you are for your Doctor Who
role as Dorium?
Simon: I think those that don't know Doctor
Who do know me remarkably from playing the Fat Friar. All I know is that I did
Harry Potter in 2000, and apart from getting the occasional bit of fan mail no
conventions were interested in me at all. But as soon as I got into Doctor Who
of course, I was sailing all over the world, and flying and walking because of
Doctor Who, but the fans who were Harry Potter fans instantly knew what I did
because you all go Googling and whatevering, and many of you go find things
about me that even I can't remember.
So, it's on equal measure,
so sometimes, even at a Doctor Who convention, people are more interested in my
Harry Potter stuff, which is absolutely wonderful. And in fact, in August, I'm
going off to Baltimore for Potterverse! So, I'm going specifically for Harry
Potter which is wonderful.
The
first time I saw you on television was in the series Afterlife.
Simon: Afterlife? Oh my gosh! You have dug
very deep! (laughs)
Now
thanks to Netflix I can watch an entire boxset back to back, and I thought, oh
I remember that, and then 'oh that's that's...' (points at imaginary screen).
Simon: And I must admit, what I liked to see
was the shot they had more of my eyes looking in the rear view mirror. I liked
that bit. I enjoyed that very much. I think we filmed that in Bristol or
somewhere round there.
It
was a sad story that one - Roadside Bouquets.
Simon: Yes, and I liked the twist, that final
shot that gives away the final answer. Oh no I thoroughly enjoyed that. And the
driving was actually done on the main road. It wasn't a side strip. So not only
did I have to remember my lines, but I had to actually drive. I wasn't even on
the back of a trailer.
Oh,
so proper, proper driving.
Simon: Proper driving and speaking at the same
time. I don't know, what's the world coming to?
What
or who inspired you to become an actor?
Simon: As a child, the first sort of theatre
thing I saw of course was panto. And of course, Panto is very glittery and
amazing, and I must have been about five when I saw my first panto. But I've
always watched television and always gone to theatre, and I can always say,
now, that I'm 57, that I always hankered at the idea of being an actor, and I
had some outings when I was at school. I never seriously considered myself to
be a professional actor at all until I was made redundant from my first job. I
had a bag of money and what to do, what to do? So, I decided to use the money
to do a post graduate drama course and it was the best decision I made.
So,
what was the first theatre production you were involved in?
Simon: If we go back to school, the first
thing was a production of Oliver. And because of my size I was automatically
cast as Mr Bumble - I fit the prop - but
I thoroughly enjoyed it, of course. I had no real idea, although there was the
thought of 'oh I wish I could do that' there was no real idea. So, I couldn't
perform properly, until I did that.
My first professional
production i.e., when I left college, was a tour of Alice in Wonderland and I
played the Griffin, so there we go. My first professional line was with the
mock turtle.
Your
autobiography My Dalek Has a Puncture - where does the idea for the title come
from?
Simon: It's fully explained in my book, which
people can get from Fantastic Books Publishing - but in simple terms I was
asked to write an autobiography, and I sort of fumbled a lot because I couldn't
think of a title. I gave up on the idea of 'On the Cutting Room Floor' because
a lot of my TV and film work to start off with was all cut. It was my
experience with Harry Potter as well. A vast majority of what we did was cut.
I was an actor at some
convention where Daleks were being paraded around and part of their competition
was they had to go around the whole arena that we were in and the celebrity
guests were asked to judge for who's the best. And there was this young girl in
the corner crying and when I asked her what the problem was, she just said
"My Dalek's got a puncture.' (sobby voice) And then Ping that was it
The first edition has done
very well, and I've been commissioned to write 'My Dalek Has Another Puncture'
and then 'Let Zygons be Zygons'. And hopefully they're both out this year
through Fantastic Books Publishing.
So,
it's not available in the shops, you have to order in online?
Simon: I think you can buy it on Amazon. You
can buy the paperback on Amazon and an eBook through Amazon, but if you want a
hardback copy, you just have to go to Fantastic Books Publishing.
How
long were you in make up for when you were playing Dorium Moldovar?
Simon: It's difficult to tell because the
first day of course, they shaved my head but overall for costume and makeup it
was about two hours.
I
wasn't sure if you wore a cap over your head initially.
Simon:
Well let's be honest,
when we did the first read through Steven Moffat came to me and asked if I'd be
happy to have my head shaved. Using the excuse that HD reveals all and a skull
cap looks like a skull cap! And of course, you don't say 'No' to Steven Moffat.
When they first shaved my head, the extraordinary thing was I discovered the
shape of my head and the back of it looked like the dark side of the moon. So,
to some it looks like I'm wearing a skull cap anyway.
Are
you still touring with your Dalek autobiography?
Simon: I did the first tour of which I was
very pleased broke even. Since then I've been doing them mostly at Conventions
when asked but I haven't gone on another theatre tour yet. But you never know!
Well
if you ever come towards Carlisle it'll be fantastic.
Simon: Yes, I know Carlisle. I'll let
everybody know!
When
you're not acting or touring, how do you relax?
Simon: I think it's fair to say and I think my
husband would agree, that I rarely relax. (laughs) I'm always doing something,
and because I do all the travelling, I have to record a lot of stuff on TV. On
the rare occasions when I can say that I'm not going to do anything else, I
will have a feast of what I've recorded, even then it's a challenge, as I'm
thinking, I shouldn't be watching this or, there's something I've got to be
doing.
And the spin off from
doing the plays and that, I've been asked to do my autobiography and also to do
my bits of writing, so I've always got that ticking over in my head. I try to
spend as much time of my spare time with my husband as I can, because I'm
always off travelling.
So,
it's always good to catch up kind of thing - time out.
Simon: So, I'm sort of torn. I have my agent
Kim Barry at Jaffrey Management company and I also have my event manager
Matthew Campbell of M and M Famous Faces and he's continuously keeping me busy.
Simon
was surprised when I told him we'd interviewed Matthew last year for the
website. I told Simon I found Matthew an interesting person - a lad who started
with nothing and now had a business and a list of famous names on his books.
Simon: Oh, no he's very good, and he did
literally just start, and in fact I have to thank Ian MacNeice for that because
Matt was looking after me and Ian could
see what Matt was doing for me and Ian said, 'Do you think the boy would do
something for me?' and that's where I first sort of trickled the idea to Matt
that he should start up his own booking agency and he's done extremely well.
He's very young and much younger than most bookers. He's hard working. He can
be a bit like a terrier with a bone.
He gets very chuffed when
the fans ask him for an autograph. For me, he's an example...you're always
hearing in the Press how teenagers and young people today are lazy and things,
which they're not. They work as hard as any of us and Matt is a perfect example
of that.
I
liked your profile photo the other week - would you ever sport a Brian Blessed
beard again?
Simon: (laughs) Will I? Well I suppose...I
naturally like to shave and to be honest when I do grow a beard it looks a bit
moth eaten because there are holes, there are patches. It looks as though a
little mouse has burrowed in. So, I tend to keep myself clean shaven but if I
had to grow a beard for something, I'm quite happy to try. It's better than
having stick on and then it drops off half way through a scene. (laughs)
I just dug that photo out
because there was this thing you know Your First Head Shot, and alas I can't
find my very first head shot, because of course when I first started out people
were chipping things out on stone, so the idea of having a jpeg was very
difficult. But I did find that photo, which was a good 26 years ago
Were
you a fan of Doctor Who before you took the role of Dorium?
Simon: Yes, absolutely. I was born in '61 and
so I do remember the latter part of William Hartnell and changing into Patrick
Troughton, and so I always say that Troughton is my Doctor and of course, Matt
Smith is my Special Doctor because I got to work with him, but yes I've been a
fan and now that I'm associated with it, it is quite extraordinary and the
response to Dorium is marvellous and I thank and adore the fans and I always try
to follow up any fan mail etc.
I mean, what I've been
doing, is some people as you know sort of ask the same sort of questions, so
I've started vlogging. I did it for a while and then one or two things
happened, and I sort of kept a low profile, but I've started up again. And I
will admit that sometimes I'm deliberately provocative, but I like to stimulate
a conversation. I had a lot of people say - when are you going to do some more
vlogs, we enjoyed that, so I now have my own sort of Youtube channel. Please
feel free to subscribe!
I will be vlogging more.
I've done two now so I will probably do another two in a few weeks’ time. www.fisherbecker.info
website - links etc will be on there.
When
you first got the script, what drew you to the character of Dorium?
Simon: It was very fortunate that the
instructions were very short and clear. It just said - Dorium, large blue man,
think Sydney Greenstreet. And those who don't know who Sydney Greenstreet is
he's American.
He's an English actor who did extremely well in America and in
one of my favourite films, Casablanca, he plays a black marketeer. And also
another thing about Sydney Greenstreet is he keeps very still on screen and
mainly because he's large. And when you're large, and if I show you (Simon
rocks from side to side) I only have to make the slightest movement and it
looks as if it's a strike 12 earthquake, a seismic shift. So, I keep very still
and keeping very still helped with the dramatic effects with Dorium, and then
when the scripts came along there were some very funny lines as well as some
very disturbing ones. Thank you, Steven Moffat, for writing a full 3D character
for me to play with and it was absolute fun!
Was
it claustrophobic between takes when Dorium's head was in a box?
Simon: It was a little. The worst time was
when they were getting ready to do a take and they'd go, Right,
Ready! (laughs) and then they'd close the door and I'd immediately
within seconds was sweating cobs, and the sweat was very salty as well and if
it dripped into my eyes it was like...So, they closed the door and on more than
one occasion they then decided to have a continued conflab, so I was just sort
of stuck there.
I remember on one occasion
Matt said: Oh, we've forgotten Simon! And you could hear him coming over and I
was stuck in this giant box with my head out the top and then put the Dorium's
box on, so it was claustrophobic. And I can definitely say that on one occasion
when they opened the door there was a definite psshhhhh (sound of escaping air)
(laughs). But it was alright, it was good fun.
And I had the good fortune of course with the Wedding of River Song, and
then it was just me as Dorium and the Doctor. So it was just me and Matt Smith
who was utterly kind and delightful
and respectful and I thank
him very much.
Did
you get a fit of the giggles when you were on set?
Simon: Yes! I mean we can, always can. I know
Dan Starkey is very funny! Neve McIntosh (check Spelling), very funny indeed.
And it's just something that happens on the spur of the moment. In the past
when I've tried to give examples they sound very boring, but to us at the time
it was hysterical.
There is a little bit of
subconscious tension - none of us want to mess it up. Television and film are
really a technical medium and so the idea unless you're a big, big star, you
could do take after take after take. If there's a take and they're happy with
all the lighting and sound and everything else, the fact that you did a duff
one they'll just print it anyway. (laughs) See it's lovely paranoia. I do
understand why some actors say they don't watch themselves on television
because you always and I find this, that you do watch yourself and you're
always saying 'Oh, they chose that one.' or 'I could have done that
differently'.
And then in another
scenario at least in Doctor Who we had a read through, so all of us knew
exactly what the story and what the arc is because sometimes everything is
always top secret. You only get the pages that you're involved in and nobody
will tell you what's happened before and nobody's going to tell you what is
going to happen afterwards and there's been many times when I've just seen the
whole thing that I thought 'Well if I knew that I would have delivered my lines
in a slightly different way.' There we go that's show business, lovey!
There's
a couple of new productions you're involved at the moment - Humber City: The
Rising Tide, you play Cllr Arthur Boyd, can you tell us anything about that?
Simon: Humber City is a futuristic sci fi
detective story, in simple terms. Peter Goundrel (check spelling) is the
chappie who directs and produced it and wrote it and full credit to him. He
saved up every penny can for us to do it, and it's taken years. He gets
together a bag of money, he says 'I've got a bag of money to do a scene. Can
you do this month, that month...', and so over the years, and of course he's a
huge sci fi fan, so he's got a lot of Doctor Who actors involved.
I
read that Terry Molloy and Sophie Aldred are in it as well.
Simon: Ah yes, the lovely scene with Sophie
was that it was really very, very good, it was excellent fun as well. When it's
out we'll be thinking 'Oh my gosh!' You know, I'm talking years. Years and
years. I've been involved with it for about four years I think, and I would
like to give full credit to people. So, Peter is a perfect example of 'Well if
nobody will back me I'll back myself.' So, I'll raise the flag for him and say
'Tally Ho!'
You're
also in the post production of The Great Director playing Alfred Hitchcock.
Simon: Oh yes! It came up very quickly. I got
a call from my agent and I was abroad at the time. I literally landed at
Heathrow airport and had to go to a studio to do a casting and I was the chosen
one. And the same thing happened when they eventually got around to filming - I
was abroad, came back, through to the studios. It was really good fun, I'm
really looking forward to this when it comes out.
That
sounds absolutely fantastic, I mean, Hitchcock himself has written so many
brilliant stories.
Simon: It's so very exciting, it is! (Simon
puts on his best Hitchcock impersonation). (laughs)
Will
these films come directly to the television or to the cinema, or straight to
DVD?
Simon: I very much hope that The Great
Director gets a proper distribution because it's a very good film indeed.
You're
also in another film, Indie film with Nicholas 'Buffy' Brenden.
Simon: Oh yes, Richard Calvert is the writer
and director of the Indie. I did a short with him called Pundemic for which I
was nominated for Best Actor in a Short. Very good film. I haven't yet done my
bit. I know I'm contracted to do it.
Filming
starts in August. Are you able to divulge what that may be about?
Simon: (laughs) That's all I know!
Thank
you so much for the opportunity of the interview
Simon: Thank you! And can I just say Thank you
again because you've asked some difficult questions that caught me out!
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