RICHARD MADDEN
APRIL 2019
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Wednesday
24 April 2019 |
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There are
further offerings from ‘Madden World’
today. Richard attended the Time 100
Gala in New York City yesterday evening, and here is my favourite photo from
the event:
And, if
this isn’t enough, Richard is featuring in the April/May edition of Jackal
magazine (this photo-shoot took place on 09 Febuary,
the day before the Film BAFTAs). Here are
my favourite three (of 10) ... I think these are stunning: |
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Tuesday
16 April 2019 |
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Another offering from ‘Madden World’ ... Audio Only
- Apple Podcast - Awards Chatter - Bodyguard 15 April 2019 - 45 minutes of
pure magic! The
Scotsman, one of Hollywood's hottest young actors (in more ways than one, in
the eyes of many), reflects on playing Robb Stark on 'Game of Thrones,' his Golden Globe-winning turn as a
PSTD-afflicted bodyguard protecting the British Home Secretary and those
pesky rumours that he may be the next James Bond. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/richard-madden-bodyguard/id1039032256?i=1000434934574 |
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Monday
15 April 2019 |
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Visit to the BFI and Radio Times TV
Festival ... The BFI & Radio Times TV Festival takes place
every two years, over a 3-day period; the inaugural event having taken place
on 2017. The venue being the BFI on
London’s Southbank. This year’s Festival took place on 12-14 April,
with two events of particular interest to me – ‘How we made Bodyguard’ with Jed Mercurio,
on Friday 12 April and ‘Midsomer Murders’
with Neil Dudgeon, Jane Wymark, Nick Hendrix and
Annette Badland on Sunday 14 April. I booked both in late February, choosing seat E27
on both occasions. Obviously I was working
on Friday 12 April, so travelled up to London in the evening, after work;
this meant a direct journey from Luton to London Bridge Station, before
changing onto the Jubilee Line to travel to Waterloo station. It’s always a little disorientating, when one
emerges from the underground but, having taken a few steps in the wrong
direction and seen a sign indicating the Imperial War Museum, I did a 180
degree turn to head in north-westerly direction instead. My route took me past the Imax roundabout and
along Concert Hall Approach to the Royal Festival Hall. Knowing exactly where the latter is, might
help me should Richard Madden attend the TV Baftas
on 12 May; although he is a glaring omission from the nominations, especially
as Bodyguard has been nominated for a number of these awards. Anyway, I decided to climb the steps leading to
the Hayward Gallery, but ended up upon Waterloo Road once more and heading
towards Waterloo Bridge! Anyway, I
found steps leading down a level, and then down again to the rear entrance of
the BFI; you can’t get me lost … even if I don’t have a map to hand!!! I arrived at around 18:45 and collected my
tickets for Friday and Sunday at the box office. The event was taking place in NFT1,
starting at 19:30, so I headed back down the corridor to this theatre and
waited outside until the attendees from the previous event departed. Having found my seat amongst the audience, I was
able to relax in comfort until the event commenced ... apart from when I had
to stand in order to let people reach their seats to the left of me!!!
There were five chairs on the stage; the
attendees being writer Jed Mercurio, Executive
Producer Simon Heath, Special Effects Supervisor Toby Stewart and Visual
Effects Director Drew Jones. The fifth
person being a lady radio presenter, who is also a super-fan of the show. Jed has a very interesting career background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_Mercurio Anyway, the topic of the event was ‘How We Made Bodyguard’ so the focus
was upon the Sniper and the Explosion scenes.
To set the scene, we were treated to a viewing of one of the Bodyguard
trailers. It was explained how the scenes were created and
put together; the sniper scene car interiors were shot against a green
screen, with the separately filmed background melded together to form the
scene. They explained that the amount
of ‘blood’ used, resulting from the
driver (Terry) being shot, was far more than would actually be produced
during such an incident; it was all there for effect! The special effects guy (Toby) had sat in the
mocked-up car during the effects trials, whilst the ‘bullets’ were being shot at it, to prove that it was safe for the
actors to do the same. There was glass on the outside of the windows, which
would shatter, but plastic on the inside to provide protection. There was no sniper on the roof because, as Bodyguard
was filmed not long after the Las Vegas terrorist incident, they were not
permitted to place a fictional sniper on the roof for this scene. To facilitate this, the screen on David
Budd’s mobile phone was also a green screen. It proved more difficult than usual to get
permission to film the action where the car is reversed during the sniper
scene … because the road crossed the boundary between the Metropolitan Police
jurisdiction and the City of London Police area; but the Director was keen to
film in that location. Once again, during the preparations for the
bombing scene, the special effects guys would stand close to the action so as
to work out exactly how near or far the actors and stunt team could afford to
be to the mock explosion. We saw
footage of Richard Madden being tugged backwards to simulate the effects of
the explosion, with a green screen behind him. It was explained that there were two choices with
regards to locations for this explosion scene – either build a set in a
derelict location and totally wreck it, or use the University of London plus
a studio mock-up; they chose the latter as it was cheaper. Bray Studios were used where necessary. Here is more background information which I found
online: Jed praised Richard’s dedication to the role of
David Budd. The most expensive constituent part of Bodyguard
is … the actors of course!!! Talks are continuing regarding Bodyguard 2 … and
they realise it is going to be far more difficult to shoot the follow-up than
the original, because everyone now knows who they are; it will be impossible
to do it incognito!!! As Bodyguard was filmed in late 2017 / early
2018, the filming conditions were cold.
Evidently there were a few snow flurries whilst shooting the opening
sequence to Bodyguard; it was shot at the Mid Norfolk Railway in Dereham in Norfolk, permission having been revoked to
film at Waterloo Station. The opening
sequence was, in fact, the final major sequence of the series to be
filmed.
I’m not sure if I’m coming out of left-field on
this one … it may be solely my imagination … David Budd will feature in
Bodyguard 2 but not as a bodyguard, he will have moved on to a different
professional role in life? This outlines a number of the locations used
during the filming: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/bodyguard-filming-locations/ And there is going to be dance-mix version of
Ruth Barrett’s Bodyguard theme too! There was a 15-minute questions and answers
session at the end, with around half a dozen or so people asking theirs. I didn’t ask a question, as I felt it would
have been far too Richard Madden-related … besides, I really cannot speak in
front of so many people!!! I’m far too
self-conscious and shy ... Here’s more background to the discussion on the
evening, as reported by the Radio Times: All in all, it was an interesting 60 minutes … Facing a 90-minute journey home, I decided to
join the long queue in the ladies loo before departing. I left via the same door as I’d arrived
but, this time, I continued along the roadway towards the Royal Festival Hall,
before heading a short distance along Belvedere Road and returning down
Concert Hall Approach, heading beneath a railway line and entering Waterloo
station by the main entrance. I headed along the concourse, following the
signage to the underground. I returned
to London Bridge, and waited upon platform 5 for a northbound Thameslink train back to St Albans. I then walked home, arriving back at
22:05. If you wish to read the Bodyguard scripts, they
are available on the BBC’s Writers Room page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/bodyguard
Before turning in for the night, I spent time
watching ‘Oasis’ - a pilot from
Amazon Prime; it never became a series but stars Richard Madden of course … a
fellow fan told me about the link, which had been published on a facebook Appreciation page. It’s worth a watch … especially as he’s
very pretty in this one … and you’ll be able to appreciate rather a lot of
him too!!! |
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Sunday
14 April 2019 |
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This is today’s offering from ‘Madden World’ and a great deal of fun: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/video/richard-madden-absurd-fan-theories/vp-BBVT8DF This must
have been recorded before his hair was coloured to auburn, although that is
his natural colouring! Red is
difficult to colour, and fades quickly too; I think the original colour may
need to be stripped first too, before being completely successful. I understand Richard is worried about
turning grey ... although he does have a very attractive ‘Madden streak’ already. |
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Thursday
11 April 2019 |
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Here is today’s offering from ‘Madden World’ … an interview in ‘Interview’ magazine; Richard is being
interviewed by Elton John, ahead of the release in May of Rocketman: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/elton-john-goes-inside-the-mind-of-bodyguards-richard-madden Those are nice photos … although he should really
have had a horse too … but I prefer this one, along with others taken at last
Sunday’s Deadline event held in LA.
He’s full of boyish charm! I also love the way that the pink background sets
off his naturally auburn hair!!!
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Wednesday
10 April 2019 |
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Richard
Madden has been participating in a couple of events in LA, relating to being
a contender for an Emmy Award later in the year ...
and this is today’s offering; I could watch and listen to him forever: Richard Madden from 'Bodyguard,' Emmy Contenders chats with the Los Angeles Times It’s such
a shame Bafta didn’t nominate him for a TV award
this year; the ceremony of which takes place on Sunday 12 May. |
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