Mike Vogel about Karellen/Childhood'end

Mike, those meetings with Karellen where we can’t see him, was that tough to shoot? I mean, was Charles Dance around or was this all kind of using your imagination?

 

Mike Vogel: Yes, you know, it’s interesting because when I read that script and was preparing for it, you don’t… when you’re reading it on the page you’re seeing two characters interacting. But it didn’t really dawn on me until I got there and was talking over with Matt, and was talking over with Nick Hurran about how we were going to shoot it.

It was then brought to my attention, you realize that you’re by yourself here standing in front of a mirror that there’s no one physically there that you’re acting against. And, you know, there’s just this – there was this instant feeling of vulnerability and nakedness that, “oh crap, I have to somehow hold this thing”. Now don’t get me wrong, the voice of Charles Dance demands – the man yawns and everyone snaps to attention.

You know, that was a great help. We had him – Charles was actually off stage and we piped him through a loud speaker that was hidden on stage there with me. So I had his voice to respond to. But it’s a lot of time kind of sitting there in front of a mirror which was great, and as Matt pointed out it’s sort of this thing with Ricky where part of the reason they choose Ricky is because he’s not a guy that’s too worried about appearances, and his ego doesn’t play a huge part in who he is.

But then all of a sudden he’s kind of thrust into this world stage, thrust into this spotlight. And he’s having that moment of, you know, a bit of that start to creep in, and he start to believe his own presence for a second, and kind of like – kind of like the power and the position that he’s finding himself in, and here he is in front of a mirror basically playing to his vanity, and constantly everywhere he looks is reminding him of this other world.

So I thought it was a really great touch but, yes, it was an interesting switch that I went through of when I finally realized that, oh man, it’s just me kind of out here by myself doing this whole thing. And you don’t… it’s funny how your mind doesn’t connect that when you’re reading because it just reads like a normal script until you realize that wasn’t the case at all.

http://mike-vogel.com/2015/12/04/the-childhoods-end-terview-with-the-cast-and-crew/