Michael Sheen and Tom Payne, who play Martin Whitly and Malcolm Bright in Prodigal Son, have recently been interviewed by Brief Take and ET Canada to discuss the second season, which premiered last week on Fox.
Watch both interviews below and check out screencaptures from them on our photo gallery:
Michael Sheen, the main cast and the writers of Prodigal Son have attended a virtual panel at Paley Front Row, where they discussed the second season, to premiere on FOX next Monday 12. You can watch it here or here.
Paley Front Row presented by Citi (2021). Stars and creators of Fox’s Prodigal Son (Tom Payne, Michael Sheen, Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage, Aurora Perrineau, Keiko Agena, Frank Harts, Chris Fedak, and Sam Sklaver) gather with moderator Kevin Frazier to celebrate their show. Topics include: how COVID-19 affected season one, including their relief at having shot the finale first; the shocking twist in which Ainsley became her killer father’s “child #1”; Jessica and Gil’s complicated relationship; Dani’s father/daughter bond with mentor Gil; Edrisa’s sense of humor in disturbing scenarios; hints about an upcoming moment deemed “the funniest scene so far”; how the “twisted” writers invent unique and creative murders for each episode; Sheen’s encounters with eager Welsh fans while in lockdown; Sage’s study of Barbara Walters’ interview tactics for Ainsley; Payne’s awe at how much the show “can get away with”; the challenge of rehearsing together while safely masked; and assurances that the show won’t be “subtle” with answers and reveals in season two.
Here are some screencaptures from the panel:
Michael sheen has spoken about growing up and becoming an actor in Port Talbot. Read more:
Ler maisMichael Sheen, 51, is a Welsh actor best known for his portrayal of David Frost in “Frost/Nixon” and as Tony Blair in three films, including “The Queen.” He currently stars in the Fox TV series “Prodigal Son.” He spoke with Marc Myers.
The skyline where I grew up in Wales was dominated by steel mills, tangles of pipes and shooting flames. I loved it all. There was an energy and charm about Port Talbot.
But it could be terrifying at times. As a child, I was obsessed with soccer at school. A bus dropped us off to compete locally, but we were on our own after.
To get to the public bus stop, you tied your soccer boots around your wrist and fought your way out. The rival team was always waiting for us—win or lose.
My entire extended family lived in Port Talbot. When I was 5, our family moved near Liverpool for my dad’s work. Three years later, when we returned, I felt a little like an outsider. I constantly wanted to prove myself, to show that I belonged.
Ahead of the second season of Staged, Sheen and Tennant spoke about what it was like to film again and what we can expect from the new episodes. Read more:
Ler maisStaged, the comedy which David Tennant and Michael Sheen filmed from their own homes during lockdown returns to BBC One at 9.45pm on January 4. Here they talk about the new series…
What can you tell us about the new series of Staged?
Michael: David and I are still being ridiculous with and about each other – that’s still very much the tone of it. We have a lot of amazing surprise appearances which I hope people will enjoy as much as David and I enjoyed doing the scenes with them.
David: It’s the same set up as before. Michael Sheen and I talking rubbish to each other over the internet from our respective homes, with Georgia and Anna, our other halves, keeping us from becoming too self-indulgent, not always successfully. But there is a bit of a twist to it all, which I’m not going to reveal here…
In the show you play exaggerated versions of yourselves, are you anything like these characters in real life?
David: I imagine not at all, but probably… quite a lot.
Michael: I think David would say that he’s not at all like his character in the first series. Whereas I would say, I probably am quite like that. But I think between the two series, there’s a slightly more representative version of ourselves emerging, or at least that’s what I would say anyway.
In a recent interview to The Big Issue magazine, Michael talked about how he manages his duties as an activist and as an actor and his hopes for the world after COVID pandemic. He also talked about the second season of Staged and what he was up to during lockdown. Read more below:
Ler maisMichael Sheen, activist and actor. It is in that order these days. And he’s doing rather well in both spheres. He has spent the last few years trying to find a way to balance his twin passions. And, he says, he is slowly getting there.
“A big part of it was shifting things in my head and knowing what the priorities were,” says the 51-year-old.
“I made the shift psychologically to go, right, the acting work and everything that comes with that is going to support the other stuff I’m doing.
“So even though to the outside world, maybe it wouldn’t seem like it – because I’ve been doing lots of acting work and things that have kept the profile up and all that – from my point of view, the priority has been different. Now the acting work fits in around the other stuff.”
That ‘other stuff’ involves supporting the Homeless World Cup and the fight to expand access to affordable credit, campaigning to get the right to a good home enshrined in law in Wales and combating loneliness with the Great Winter Get Together (an idea inspired by the late MP Jo Cox). Then there’s working with Social Enterprise UK, for whom he is a patron alongside The Big Issue’s Lord Bird, helping local journalism and communities get access to trustworthy information, publicising and supporting both foodbanks and theatres and fighting period poverty.
Read the interview Michael has given to the Australian newspaper about the Fox production as it comes to the country by Foxtel:
Ler maisIn Prodigal Son, Michael Sheen plays Martin Whitly, a highly intelligent, charming and cultured medical practitioner. But he’s also a serial killer, kept under close surveillance in a prison where he is visited by profiler Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne), who comes seeking insights into a copycat killer using Whitly’s murderers as a template.
There’s an unmistakable echo in all this of The Silence of the Lambs, and not only because Sheen is, like Anthony Hopkins, who played Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 film, so proudly Welsh.
“One of the useful things about this story is that it touches tropes and little motifs from other shows and stories in the genre,” says Sheen, speaking via Zoom from his home in Port Talbot, Wales, where he is spending – and largely enjoying – lockdown with his partner and young child.
Watch an interview Michael Sheen, co-creator Simon Evans, editor Dan Gage and composer Alex Baranowski gave to Sam Cook about Staged, available on BBC iPlayer (UK residents only):
Alternatively, an uncut version of Michael’s interview has been released:
Yesterday the SAG-AFTRA Foundation released a Q&A session with Michael Sheen recorded virtually in which he discussed the three-part drama Quiz, currently on air on AMC. Watch the full interview below:
Also, check out screencaptures from the interview on our photo gallery:
Read below an interview the Staged stars gave to the magazine, out this week. Staged is going to be aired tomorrow, June 10, on BBC One at 10.45 PM GMT.
The two stars talk about the production, working together again and filming at their homes with their families:
Ler maisDavid, Michael, what can you tell us about the show?
Michael Sheen: What can I tell you about the show? Well, it’s about two young, plucky, upcoming actors David and Michael. We play ourselves – David Tennant and myself – we’re the best casting for it. The premise is that we were going to be doing a play together. Then lockdown happened and the director of the play, Simon, who also plays himself, wants to try and keep things going whilst we’re in lockdown and puts forward the idea that we can rehearse using video calls. Then when lockdown finishes we’ll be ready to go into a theatre before anyone else. That idea goes down better with David than it does with me. The rest of the episodes are about how that plays itself out.
David Tennant: It’s about two actors called Michael and David who are trying to keep rehearsing even after they’ve been locked in their houses due to a global pandemic. It’s got a certain topicality.
The play is being directed by Simon, who is a bit like theatre director Simon Evans.
The two actors are quite like Michael Sheen and David Tennant. They are locked in their houses with their respective partners Georgia and Anna, who happen to be not unlike Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg.