Kevin Durand Vikings Interview
Canadian-born actor Kevin Durand joins
the upcoming season of Vikings, premiering February 19th.
Last Summer, after being hand-selected by director Guillermo del
Toro, Kevin was on the hit FX series The Strain, reuniting him with
Lost executive producer and writer Carlton Cuse. The Strain is set to
return this June. Currently, Durand can be seen in the independent
thriller Dark Was the Night that premiered at the 2014 ScreamFest
Film Festival. Earlier this week Kevin popped in for a conference
call to talk a bit about the series.
Kevin Durand plays HARBARD – A
wanderer who turns up unexpectedly in Kattagat when Ragnar and most
of the men of the town are away raiding. Harbard will have a profound
effect on Queen Aslaug, Siggy and Helga, all of whom have had the
same dream, presaging his arrival.
Can you first just talk about how
you got involved in the project and what you like about it?
I’m a big fan of the show. I’ve
watched the first season before I first heard of Michael Hirst. I was
interested in coming and applying in the character and when I started
hearing that I just began watching the second season and its become
one of my favorite shows on television. They started sending me some
pages and - I mean the words were so alluring that we’re on the
page and I thought, wow, this is really interesting. I’ve never
played anyone like this and how great to be a part of this great
show.
We have a chance to see the first
three episodes and see you coming in to the village now in the first
couple of episodes. Can you tell us a bit about whether or not you’re
going to have any contact with the men when they come home and kind
of what we might see with that interaction?
You know I think the interaction with
the men from the show is more something of a reverberation of the
action that will take place in the next episode which I cannot
divulge to you at this point, but I can guarantee you that all the
major characters in this show will definitely feel the impact of
Harbard’s actions.
You know I think she remained quite
skeptical of what Harbard’s intentions are. She remains unimpressed
in the long run. Aslaug, she’s a soft one, especially where her son
is concerned. She keeps her opinion right or wrong you’ll probably
find out in the next episode. [Laughs]
As a fan and an involved cast member
now, what do you think separates Vikings from all the other shows on
TV right now? What makes you stand out?
Well you know it being the type of
period piece it is where there's all of this mysticism and it almost
feels sometimes like it’s completely fantastical kind of like Game
of Thrones would be but then this is all like rooted in true beliefs
and the Vikings believed such - had such grand beliefs about the
world that they’re living in. It teaches you to kind of get behind
the looking glass and see how they actually fought and how they lived
in this pagan way of life and Ragnar especially struggling with this
newfound Christianity and struggling with his beliefs in both. I
think it’s just a really interesting take, a really interesting
angle on that time and these people, you know. Michael Hirst has been
such an incredible showrunner and creator of this show. He always has
a history like right there at his side. He’s not straying away from
historical facts. They stretch a couple of things but it’s more of
like kind of timeline, like Rollo and Ragnar in different times but
these people all truly existed and it’s just a really amazing trip.
You mentioned working with Michael
Hirst, can you talk about your interaction with him and what kind of
guidance he’s given you about the character?
Um, yeah. You know, in our initial
conversations we talked a lot about the characters. The influence
that Rasputin has on these characters while the couple of other
figures that I can’t really mention because as you know you if you
have to watched the first three episodes and you’ve read about him,
he’s a mysterious character and nobody at this point knows who he
is. I can’t divulge who [Laughs] the other people are but
Rasputin was definitely a big influence in his creating this
character and then me playing him.
What episode should people really
look forward to as far as your character and why? I mean if you could
give us a hint. [Laughs]
Well I have to say the fourth
[Laughs] episode is probably the most impactful one. Harbard’s
actions will pretty much change the course of action for all of the
other characters in that episode and he leaves a pretty deep kind of
a wound I guess - a deep mark and I would say that that’s probably
the one that probably has that - has the most impact.
I have a question about the
dialogue, the cadence of the dialogue and the way you’re doing your
voice and was there discussions with Michael or anything? It matches
what others are doing on the show or have been doing for two seasons
and I was wondering if that is something that was conscious or set
up?
You know I’m really kind of
experimental. That stuff I love - I love accents and voice and I love
what these characters are doing on the shows. So I think Harbard’s
speech is very, very strongly influenced by Floki and Ragnar and at
times he kinds of veers off and becomes a little more Floki at times.
Sometimes he sounds a little bit more like Ragnar. It’s kind of a
part of who this fellow is which you’ll kind of find out in due
time. [Laughs]
I really heard the Floki in there.
Awesome. Awesome. Thanks.
At San Diego Comic Con this past year Kathryn Winnick said that she has some really challenging but
inspirational lines in Norse. Did you have anything like that?
I didn’t have any Norse lines. I mean
I spoke of different places that the enunciation of these words took
a couple of runs that - before I could get them right but I didn’t
have any or no parts of my speeches or anything where I really had to
dig in to the Norse itself.
Did you have really memorable lines
that kind of stuck with you?
Well there’s really lot of - the
speech that Michael wrote for Harbard when he’s first taken in by
Princess Aslaug and when I basically kind of tell the them story and
kind of enchant them – well, at least I enchant Aslaug and Siggy’s
still a little bit skeptical of me but that speech that - when I
first read that I was so excited to get a chance at saying those
beautiful words that Michael wrote. [Laughs]
Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate that.
What was it like joining this crew -
you know the cast? Because we hear there are a lot of jokesters and
pranksters on set. Did they get you? Is there any memorable story?
[Laughs] You know what? They didn’t
get me because most of my work was with the girls. So the guys didn’t
get a chance to torture me but the one thing that I did notice is
that I hadn’t really experienced before was this crew and this cast
they’re so tightly woven and so tightly knit and have such a great
chemistry. It’s really like kind of being accepted into a family
and it was [Laughs] really kind of - just such a wonderful
experience to kind of be welcomed in and what a pleasure to work with
such a great bunch of folks.
Your character Harbard, would we
describe him as a Laplander - as a native indigenous person to the
Nordic - you know Norway or Sweden. Is he a Laplander?
Well, there’s an element to Harbard
that I think he can be many different - I can’t get too far with
that without divulging too much information and getting in trouble -
getting my hand smacked - but he’s kind of mystical. He’s - Man,
I don’t know how to get around this without - just spelling it out
for you and getting in trouble but I am not what you just said.
[Laughs]
How many episodes are you in as this
character?
I am in three.
Three episodes. Did Dee Corcoran ever braid your hair like she
does the rest of the cast? [Laughs]
Yes. My gosh! It’s amazing. It’s
amazing what they did. I don’t have - like that’s not my regular
beard either. I can’t grow a beard like that in a hundred years so
when they take the beard off at night and I kept those extensions -
my huge braids, I felt like I was like - I feel like I was in Avatar
or something that I was going to plug it into some magic dragon and
fly away. It was kind of incredible - just amazing group of artists
over there, you know.
One word to describe your character.
What is it? What is he? Just one word to tease people.
You know at this point? You know it’s
exactly the way that each show has been pushing it. It’s
mysterious. I mean even for me - I’m not even 100% sure. You know
what I mean? I have a very, very good idea but it will be interesting
to see what you think as the episodes move along and I’m really
interested in seeing what people think. [Laughs]
So Vikings is, just kind of by its
nature a violent culture. Is that something that Harbard comes into
contact with? Do you get to have any fight scenes?
At this point, no, but it doesn’t
mean that we don’t feel that violence is a part of his nature as
well which I guess you’ll [Laughs] see more often in episode
four. No, I don’t take out an axe and go into the field and charge
against a bunch of - yes, a bunch of the English or the Northerners
or anything like that. Not yet. [Laughs]
Michael Hirst loves the mystical
side and exploring the mysticism that the Vikings believe in and your
arrival is sort of foretold through the three women’s dreams. I was
wondering what you think about the power of dreams.
Yes. Yes. I mean those dreams were
obviously foreshadowing my arrival. He’s kind of a - he’s a
mystical character. He’s a healer. Where do these powers come from?
Why does he seem to have kind of a hold over some of these characters
and as you’ll see in episode four that mysticism I think plays into
why he ends up being so impactful on many of the lives of the main
characters. So yes, I really enjoyed that aspect of it and Michael
does it so brilliantly. I’m so glad that I could help them tell
that side of the story.
Harbard seems to have even rattled
the regular seer, as the women tell him what they have foreseen. Do
you have any scenes with him?
No. No. No. I get so excited when
people are asking questions like that because a lot of that stuff
will be answered in due time but literally - I so don’t want to
ruin it for anymore, but yeah, it’s more of dealing with that
mysticism with Harbard definitely and hopefully more in episodes to
come. Hopefully.
You had said earlier that Rasputin
was kind of an influence on the character. Did you do any additional
research on that or any other research on the timeframe the Vikings
is set in?
Most of what I did was read about
Rasputin and along with a couple of other figures that I cannot
mention. Yes, I read about his life. I read about - he’s such an
interesting character and such a walking circus of contradiction.
[Laughs] It was really fun to get to play with those extremes with
Mr. Harbard here. I’m so excited to see you what you all think of
Harbard in the episodes to come and hope you enjoy the show.
HISTORY’s Hit Drama Series Sails Again for Season Three Thursday, February 19 at 10 p.m. ET
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