'Lord of the Rings' star Morfydd Clark: ‘As women, we’re given shame early on’

Imagine devouring JRR Tolkienrsquos books in your childhood and then becoming a part of its onscreen universe as an actor Morfydd Clark laughs saying that as ldquocheesyrdquo as it sounds being a part of The Lord of The Rings The Rings of Power has been a dream come true for her Having been drawn to the world of fantasy since childhood playing Galadriel in the Amazon Prime Video series was both exhilarating and challenging for the actor In conversation with midday Clark sheds light on the character getting to know the Tolkien community and the joy of seeing her favourite books come aliveEdited excerpts from the interviewHow many of JRR Tolkienrsquos books have you readI read The Hobbit when I was little and then I listened to The Lord the Ringsrsquo audiobooks throughout my teenage years So theyrsquore a part of my psyche Since doing this I have discovered The Silmarillion series and everything in Appendices of The Lord of The Rings As a child I always escaped into fantasy There was a longing for this other world where things made more sense even though there were fairies and elves I always hoped that Irsquod be in a fantasy one day and then to be in Tolkienrsquos world was unbelievable Itrsquos cheesy to say it but playing Galadriel was like a dream come truePeter Mullan as Durin III and Sophia Nomvete plays Princess Disa the first Black female dwarfDid you go back and read up on Galadriel when you got to know that yoursquore playing herYes We were in New Zealand for the first season and we had a lot of prep time because lots of decisions had to be mademdashfrom the look to the body language We in the cast had a little Tolkien group where everyone would chat about everything and we all learned together I continue to learn since doing this series Irsquove also got to know quite a few Tolkien experts through thisWhat was your first impression of GaladrielWhen I was 10 or 11 and had watched The Lord of The Rings The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 I remember feeling this sense of awe when she came on the screen It has been fun to find out that before she was living a peaceful life in Lothloacuterien the vast woodland realm of the Galadhrim where the elves are located she did loads of wild thingsItrsquos interesting to see women play such powerful roles be it yours or Sophia Nomvetersquos especially when the story talks about an era of men How important do you feel it is to put women in positions of powerI feel if yoursquore writing fantasy you should flip everything Why not write a world where the rules arenrsquot the same Galadriel is obviously an elf but even if she was a human in this world she hasnrsquot been brought up with the idea to shrink or to be pleasing to others As women wersquore given shame quite early on and she doesnrsquot have that That has been liberating for me People who are watching her may feel lsquoShe is quite sure of herselfrsquo and have a little think about itHow much of the script changed on the setNot much The outline remained similar but the showrunners and writers will change some bits because there is a huge amount of physical stuff to figure out So yoursquove got your grounding in the script and occasionally you can wiggle about and it all feels so collaborativeHow did you break down the scene when Galadriel realises Sauronrsquos true motivationsSauron is a shapeshifter master manipulator and he gave exactly the right performance to Galadriel I was lucky to be acting opposite Charlie Vickers I had never seen him switch until we shot that sequence I was amazed at how Halbrand disappeared at that moment from his performance She is angry with him and more importantly with herself I was focusing on that feeling of lsquoHow could I be so stupidrsquoDid any stunt wearing the 15kilo armour scare youI was more scared watching the stuntmen do wild things Sometimes it felt like I was in Cirque du Soleil laughs As an actor you are kept so safe like in a cotton wool box but getting on a horse is always tough I feel a lot better about that nowWas it tougher in the water or climbing the mountainThe water The gown I was wearing on the raft sequence was made of wool It became heavier the longer I wore it especially after I was in the water And we were in the water for ages I was to use only my arms to climb the raft but obviously I had to also look graceful all the time