RICHARD MADDEN

 

SEPTEMBER 2021

 

What’s new this month?

 

 

 

Xxx - date

 

 

 

 

Thursday 30 September 2021

 

Next month, October, sees the US/World Premiere of Eternals. It is reported to be taking place in LA on Monday 18 October.

 

The majority of countries around the world will have to wait until the first week of November, before the movie goes on general release.

 

I believe the UK Premiere of Eternals will take place on 03 November, with the general release on 05 November.

 

I’ve seen Shang-Chi at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, and enjoyed that movie … and loved being able to view the latest Eternals trailer on the big screen too!!!

 

Total Film’s October issue featured an article about Eternals … and they also published five different covers!  I’ve managed to track down four of those covers – one being the subscribers issue, as I already subscribe to the magazine.  I needed to order the Sersi and Ikaris cover edition from a special supplier at a premium cost … but picked up the Kingo/Makkari/Druig cover in a local newsagent and the Ajak/Sprite/Thanos cover in Sainsburys supermarket! The missing cover features Thena (Angelina Jolie) and Gilgamesh (Don Lee).

 

 

Empire Magazine’s November 2021 issue featured an article too; here are the photos from it, featuring Richard:

There are better quality copies available to see, now, on social media … but on Monday when I posted on IG, and over two days ahead of everyone else, these photographs taken from my printed edition using my mobile phone were all I had! 

 

In other news … Citadel has now gone on location, to Spain, with Priyanka Chopra, Richard and others members of the cast flying out by private jet on Monday of this week.

 

According to reports, three days of filming will take place at Tous swamp this week, with the team then moving location to film in the El Carmen area of Valencia from Saturday 02 October.  Finally, on 11 October, the cast and crew will head to a mountain village named Villahermosa de Rio; the Spanish location shoot is due to end on 28 October.

 

Presumably Richard will be permitted to take a brief trip to LA, to attend the premiere of Eternals; besides, it will be part of his contract on the Marvel movie, to undertake publicity obligations.

 

Meanwhile, on Instagram yesterday, Priyanka posted a video of herself on the beach in Valencia … and Richard’s stunt-double, Joe, posted a short video from his cycle ride around the narrow streets of the City!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Meanwhile, I’ve resorted to walking to the supermarket to do my shopping … I cannot face queuing for petrol whilst everyone is panicking and creating a shortage of fuel as a result!  I’ve even bought a shopping trolley, as I don’t wish to hurt my back by carrying too much, especially having suffered from severe, acute, back pain for five days last month. 

Tuesday 07 September 2021

 

 

 

The photo above, was published yesterday by the Metro newspaper.

 

 

Oh to have access to the entire portfolio of photographs from this shoot by Paul Scala for Wonderland magazine …

 

It was the same with GQ magazine, with pictures taken by Gavin Bond for the Defy campaign; different photos appeared in different global versions of GQ!

 

 

Anyway, this is the link to the Wonderland site, where there is this overview and the opportunity to purchase the autumn edition, featuring Richard amongst its stars.  The magazine is published quarterly, and features a number of different covers … two of which are due to feature Richard in different poses:

 

Star Of Marvel's Eternals, Richard Madden Covers Our Autumn 21 Issue (wonderlandmagazine.com)

 

Richard Madden is sitting barefoot and cross-legged on an inviting velvet armchair. Outside, it’s the hottest day of the year but inside the air conditioning is so prevalent it’s positively chilly. As a proud Scot, Madden is no stranger to the cold and has neatly wrapped himself up in a rather comfy-looking athleisure-type ensemble, albeit sans shoes.

We are on the set of his Wonderland cover shoot and as everyone breaks for lunch, we find an opportune time to catch up and chat with the Bodyguard star and global ambassador of Calvin Klein’s latest fragrance, DEFY, about the year that’s been for arguably one of the entertainment industry’s most hard-working talents.

“If I’m not doing stuff, I always feel like I should be,” says Madden as he twiddles his thumbs, his eyes wide and alive. Like everyone, the 35-year-old was not accustomed to what the past 18 months would have in store. “I’d just finished shooting Eternals when lockdown happened so it was like, oh OK, I’m forced to not do anything,” recalls Madden. “I really needed that because I’m so used to surviving but here I didn’t feel guilty about not doing something because no one was doing anything.”

With a cast that comprises Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek and Kumail Nanjiani alongside Madden who plays Ikaris, it’s no surprise that Eternals is the most anticipated film of the year and as a big fan of comics himself, Madden too is beyond excited for it to be out.

“They’re all very complicated people in Eternals, but hopefully that can also help us bring a lightness to some heavy subject matter in terms of the story because I think when you live that long you’ve got to have a bit of a smile to yourself. You’ve got to laugh at life.”

Indeed, laughing is something Madden hopes to do more of in the future, both personally and professionally. Given the majority of Madden’s roles have been on the serious side, we talk to him about finding his happy place, about how he comes to terms with feeling self-conscious in front of the camera as well as what he has planned for Christmas this year.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Olympian Tom Daley is also featured in the issue … his knitting and crochet creations are absolutely amazing and I wish I was brave enough to design my own knitwear!

Having said that, I did attend a knitwear design evening course, many moons ago at my local college … and, somewhere, I probably still have the much-loved cardigan I created on that occasion. It was inspired by the NFL … and, in particular, the Cincinnati Bengals!

I’d really like a knitted sweater inspired by Ikaris’ super-hero costume!!!

Monday 06 September 2021

 

 

 

'It was just physically f**king draining':

Richard Madden details the strain of shooting Marvel's Eternals

and confesses he's 'dying to do comedy'

following legion of serious roles

 

PUBLISHED: 10:44, 6 September 2021 | UPDATED: 13:01, 6 September 2021

 

 

Richard Madden has discussed the physical strain of shooting Chloé Zhao’s Marvel movie, Eternals, where he plays alien leader Ikaris. The Scottish actor, 35, who is the face of Calvin Klein's new fragrance DEFY, spoke to Wonderland Magazine about the role and also admitted he is keen to explore comedy roles due to his serious typecasting.

 

Due to Ikaris being able to fly, he explained he was left drained, saying: 'There was a lot of time on wires because my character flies, which was just physically f**king draining', before discussing his comedy aspirations. 

 

Alongside his chat, Richard posed for a series of smouldering snaps for the fashion bible as well as detailing his Scottish roots and wellness routine. 

 

Richard joins an all-star cast on the new movie, with his co-stars including Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek and Kumail Nanjiani. The movie follows the titular race - The Eternals - a group of immortal beings with superhuman powers who have lived on Earth in secret for thousands of years and are made to reunite to battle the evil Deviants.  

 

Speaking about the exhaustion of filming, he said: 'There was a lot of time on wires because my character flies, which was just physically f**king draining'. 

 

'They're all very complicated people in Eternals, but hopefully that can also help us bring a lightness to some heavy subject matter in terms of the story because I think when you live that long you've got to have a bit of a smile to yourself...

 

'You've got to laugh at life.'

 

On playing a more lighthearted role with comedy injected, following a history of serious parts, he said: 'I'm dying to do some more comedy, I want to do something fun...

 

'In Eternals, we tried to get moments of lightness all the way through it, being that we're dealing with the end of the world type feelings and atmospheres...

 

'It's hard to get that lightness but that's what's so important, to get these lighter moments when we can. I'd love to do some more comedies. I do feel like I end up playing a lot of serious things...

 

'I think it's not representative of me but you get affected with what you do, what you spend all your day doing, so that's why I'd love to do something lighter so my day is affected with lighter things rather than the end of the world stuff.'

 

Speaking about Marvel humanising superheroes, he continued: 'Yeah, that's the whole thing. That's what we want. In this, you get to see me in these huge costumes and in this kind of mad, superhero detached way..,

 

'Then we get to play with the element of just being people who have known each other for a long time, who, when you've

experienced everything in the world, what is it they can learn? That's what we found interesting and humanising... 

'Then we got dress up in there, the fun, which is real life isn't it?'

 

On loving his career and work, he went on: 'I'm very lucky to be doing different things. My whole thing is just entertainment, whether it's amazing action, drama or a mad superhero movie that my nieces and nephews can have costumes of...

'In fact, maybe I'll make everyone dress up as me for Christmas this year.' 

 

Speaking about life grinding to a halt when the pandemic hit 18 months ago, Richard said: 'If I'm not doing stuff, I always feel like I should be...

 

'I'd just finished shooting Eternals when lockdown happened so it was like, "Oh OK, I'm forced to not do anything"...

'I really needed that because I'm so used to surviving but here I didn't feel guilty about not doing something because no one was doing anything.' 

 

As a comic book fan, he confessed to being as excited as others, saying: 'I've always loved the Marvel universe and superhero movies so to be able to do it in the way that we did with this script and this film is really exciting...

 

'It isn't just pixels versus pixels, we went on location so much and really tried to find a depth to these characters and the joy of them....

 

'They're all thousands of years old so rather than just being like, "Hey, I'm a comic book hero and that's the thing", the film has a story and delves into the complexity of what happens if you're alive for thousands of years.'

 

He detailed moving into a different universe following the roaring success of Game Of Thrones saying: 'I'm excited by it and I also know I have a huge responsibility because a lot of these fans have owned the characters before you have...

 

'They're theirs before they're yours so you don't want to f*ck it up for them. But also you want to do your own interpretation...

 

'Hopefully what you're bringing to life is going to be something that they enjoy. I mean, everyone has got their own idea on it and I'm an interpreter just like the director is. Everyone is an interpreter, It's all a collaborative thing. 

 

Speaking about his work with Calvin Klein, he went on: 'The whole thing with Calvin Klein started when we met in New York five years ago and we were just like, 'We want to work together!'...

 

'We don't know how we're going to do it or what we're going to do but we want to do something together and that was how Defy [fragrance] was born....

 

'This kind of concept of striving to be better, to exceed your own expectations of yourself is something I've always had from being younger...

 

'I must do better, I must risk failing, pushing myself. That's what's behind this fragrance and campaign, the idea of pushing yourself to be better than you think you can be, defying your own expectations of yourself.'

 

He expanded: '[I always feel like that]. Just constantly feeling this might be the last time you're doing anything. You're always wondering if this is your last job, trying to be better and just only doing things that I feel I can fail in, like the fragrance campaign...

 

'Can I pull this off? I'm a working class guy from Scotland in double denim doing a very American brand. Can I pull this off?

 

Can we make something together that's honest despite where you would normally put me in a box ... 

 

'I suppose you'd probably put me in a whiskey commercial and not in a Calvin Klein fragrance thing. So it's about how I can live up to that? How can I achieve that?'

 

Discussing representing Scotland and visiting his home country, he said: 'Yeah it's good, it's again this character thing...

 

'That's where you straddle the lines. It's something new for me is straddling the line between… modelling and stuff is not my strong point, to manipulate my face and my body without a character objective...

 

'I can do that but when it's stills I become hyper-self conscious. So again, I suppose that's part of me challenging myself. Today, I had to pull off these looks. How do I pull these off to get the best out of their vision when it goes against all my instincts, which is like ' You're a little guy from Scotland who's not good enough to do this.'

 

'I managed to get up and just hide out in the middle of nowhere in the countryside with some friends and be up there in the best month of the year when the sun doesn't go down til midnight. It's stunning up there. It really kind of f*cks with your head because it's so out of this world. I love it.'

 

On how he relaxes, Richard said: 'A lot of the time it's when I'm hiking especially in LA, where I'm based now. I love that in 30 minutes I'm up top of a hill and in the middle of nowhere...

 

'Then I can come back in the city and get a green juice in five minutes. That's where I'm at my happiest, I think. Or when I'm up in Scotland and hiking around up there, I like to be out in nature. It can be part of my whole prep for a job but it's also like a meditation. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Here is the link to this online article, which the Mail Online has taken from Wonderland magazine … and it contains more photos:

 

Richard Madden details the strain of shooting Marvel's Eternals | Daily Mail Online

 

I shall now lie down ... to recover from seeing these photos.  And I look forward to my Autumn 2021 copy of Wonderland dropping onto my doormat next month, with a thud!!!  It’s a weighty magazine, around 2 centimetres thick, containing articles and fashion.

Wednesday 01 September 2021

 

 

 

 

There has been another special treat today, with Calvin Klein posting a behind-the-scenes video from its Defy campaign which Richard shot in Autumn 2019:

 

Calvin Klein (@calvinklein) • Instagram photos and videos

 

Hopefully this will also make an appearance on Calvin Klein’s YouTube account in due course!

 

 

And, we also have an interview (translated from Portuguese) which appeared in the Brazilian version of Harpers Bazaar!

 

FOR RICHARD MADDEN, "ETERNALS" BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS HANGING BY STEEL CABLES

Actor talked to Bazaar about career, future projects and how it was to star in the campaign of the new fragrance Calvin Klein Defy, which arrives this month in Brazil

 

ANDRE ALOI 30/08/2021

 

https://harpersbazaar.uol.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/richard-madden-20190930_CK_GB_Shot_01_0247-1016x1024.jpg

 

In London, it was a Sunday of recordings of "Citadel" (Amazon's new series) when, in the interval, Richard Madden exchanged words with Bazaar to talk about future projects, career, memories of Brazil and, also, how it was to star in the campaign of the Calvin Klein Defy fragrance. First perfume in almost 10 years of the label, the launch arrives in Brazilian stores on Monday (30.08). Around so many projects, film or TV, the actor will be in the long-awaited film "Eternals", marvel, with a casting beyond starry.

 

The film premieres in November and takes place after the events of "Avengers: Ultimatum". Again, the group promises to protect humanity from the forces of evil. For the Scottish actor, the biggest challenge when playing a superhero is one: "I get stuck by too many cables, hanging from the ceiling of the studio, and it physically depletes just because you have to pretend you're not hanging by these wires or pretend you're flying (laughs)." From your repertoire, you can't complain. He was in the cult "Game of Thrones", appeared in the TV series "Medici: Masters of Florence" and in the movie "Bodyguard", and had lived the businessman John Reid in the biopic "Rocketman", about Elton John.

 

The actor's calendar continues to be stuffed in this 2021, with the adaptation to the small lines of the sci-fi podcast From Nowco-host alongside Brian Cox, in addition to the project of the Russo brothers (Anthony and Joe, directors of Avengers: Ultimatum), to be released on Amazon soon, by which is with the booked schedule until the end of the year. Below, read the full story.

 

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How did CK Defy perfume resonate at you?

We try to go beyond "just" launching a fragrance. We were able to bring together this concept of challenging our own limits, the limitations imposed by ourselves. At the same time, being brave and bold. I've always tried to do that in my career and in my life. I worked harder than I could have imagined to reach other levels.

 

What smell sit back to your childhood?

That one, right after the heavy rain, always makes me think about when I was younger. It was raining a lot in Scotland and it's going to rain again.

 

Calvin Klein Defy has a wooded tone with notes of bergamot, lavender and vetiver. On which occasion is it best to use the fragrance?

We have wood, amber and a very nice citrus mix. If you use it in the morning, you'll be fresh for the rest of the day. If you are going to wear it at night, you will understand the beauty, the warmth, feel attractive, and a freshness.

 

Can you tell me what was the most challenging thing about recording "Eternals"? Is wearing that tight outfit or acting in front of chromakey (green screen)?

One of the most challenging things is the fact that my character can fly. I get stuck by too many wires hanging from the ceiling of the studio and this can physically exhaust just because you have to pretend you're not hanging by those wires or pretend you're flying (laughs).

 

https://harpersbazaar.uol.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/richard-madden-20190930_CK_GB_Shot_02_0710_v1_F-915x1024.jpg

 

His character in the Marvel film, Ikaris, has the power to project lightning and owns a overhuman force. If you were a superhero, what power would you like to have?


I'd love to be able to stop time to take a day off. I'm recording Citadel,this new TV series with Amazon right now in London. And my schedule is pretty full of this footage because it's a huge show. That's why we had to talk on a Sunday.

 

Can you tell me more about this project?

Honestly, there's not much to tell. It's unlike anything I've ever seen or been a part of, because we're building a huge world and it has the best elements – both action and suspense films. But it also involves terror, complexity and drama around the characters. TV movies are usually one thing or the other. This is the first time I have participated or seen a series – at the same time so great, fun and also interesting from a dramatic point of view.

 

When a day off, what's the script?

I love cooking and eating. I really do!

 

You hosted the sci-fi podcast From Now with Brian Cox. Are you a regular consumer of this platform? What do you like to hear?

I don't have as much time as I'd like to listen to podcasts as much as I can, and my preparation still comes a lot from television series. It's a world to be explored, so it's been nice to be a part of (this universe). You used to listen to a lot of radio when I was younger, like the BBC and the like. It's great to be able to go back to the radio age, I'm passionate about this world, and I only have the voice as a platform. So summarizing the performance of the screen with just my voice is the big challenge. And I like it!

 

What is the best memory in Brazil? (He came in 2012 to disclose GoT)

I loved the climate, the green (vegetation). It's vibrant! People are beautiful and friendly. So life should be... I want to go back!

 

 

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