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Designer Cloaks and 'Merlin' Chainmail with Anthony Stewart Head
by Troy Rogers
 Any
fan of the former series Buffy the Vampire Slayer
knows actor Anthony Stewart Head from his role
as the school librarian and moonlighting mentor,
Rupert Giles. Any fan of the BBC series Little
Britain knows Anthony Stewart Head as the Prime
Minister. Any fan of fantastical medieval history
and literature knows the tale of the famous sorcerer
Merlin, his magic, and the Arthurian times of
legend from where he dwells. Now both Anthony
Stewart Head and Merlin are meeting at a fantasy
fork in the road on NBC in the new series Merlin,
which makes its two-hour debut on June 21 from
8-10pm.
In the new and updated Merlin, the viewers travel to the mythical city of Camelot, in a time before history began, to a realm of beasts and mysterious figures in a perilous world where magic is outlawed by the ruthless tyrant, Uther Pendragon, played by Anthony Stewart Head. Starring Colin Morgan as Merlin, the New NBC drama sees Uther and Merlin pitted against each other in the name of freedom of magic, as Merlin finds his way with the help of Uther's wise physician Gaius who helps Merlin unlock Camelot's mystical secrets. As Merlin advances, he soon learns that his destiny and that of the kingdom’s young leader-in-waiting, Arthur, are inter-connected.
With Merlin on NBC's magical horizon, we caught up with Anthony Stewart Head on a recent conference call for a couple of quick questions where the former Buffy actor filled us in on his knowledge of the legendary Merlin tales and working in period wardrobe.
THE DEADBOLT: How well did you know the story of Merlin before you signed onto the project?
 ANTHONY
STEWART HEAD: I’ve seen lots of versions.
I mean, basically they’re all landmark - there’s
The Sword in the Stone, there’s the Lady in
the Lake, there’s, ‘Oh, Lancelot is turning
up. Who’s got those troubles for Arthur? And
oh, now Morgana is getting ready. Oh, Mordred
is going to ruin everything.’ And right in the
middle of it all, Merlin is stirring things
up.
I think in England we know the story very well, which is why I say it’s been told in so many different ways, they dress it up. But they just tell the same tale, which is why I think this has caught the public’s attention, because it’s refreshing to see a different spin, which allows the audience to be more knowledgeable than the protagonists. We all know when we see Excalibur created, we know how it’s going to end up. But it’s fascinating to know how in our story it’s created and how we see it.
When you see a character turn up like Lancelot, you know that it’s going to have repercussions, but it’s fascinating to know. It’s a very clever reworking. It gives you an opportunity to be a bit of a voyeur as an audience. You get a sneaky sort of a laugh, because you know how it’s going to somehow end up and it’s fun. I mean, exactly the same way as Smallville. There are specific characters that have been introduced throughout the seasons and you know that somewhere along the line he’s either going to be trouble or he’s gong to be helpful to Superman.
THE DEADBOLT: Was the wardrobe, since it’s from that period, heavy and hard to work in?
 STEWART
HEAD: It’s interesting. Charlotte [Morris],
who is the designer, has managed to put together
[the period], because there is no period, actually,
to Camelot. We’re in the indefinable sort of
medieval time. You know, we eat with knives
and forks and we eat off of plates, but there’s
all sorts of macronistic elements. But the beautiful
costume design - Initially the problems I’ve
had; I mean we have cloaks, for instance, and
cloaks have a strange habit of falling off backwards,
unless there’s a certain way that you can wear
a cloak with a belt that sort of ties around
behind you that holds it in place.
But if you can’t do that for one reason or another, and a couple of mine I couldn’t, and I wear half a cow at one point, I have a cowhide cloak and ... I made an idiotic suggestion. I watched The Lion in Winter and at one point Anthony Hopkins, as a young Richard, wore half a sheep as a cloak and he wore it with the wool inside. I went, ‘Now that makes sense. That would actually be warmer. So why don’t I wear it with the cowhide outside and the fur inside?’ Of course it was really, really slippery and it choked me, and with every step I took it was pulling off of my shoulders.
Another thing that I rather stupidly suggested was that I would wear chainmail. We had a tournament at one point and I suggested the full arsenal at the feast in honor of the winner I would wear chain mail, because I am a warrior king and I want to remind people at all times that I’m pretty good at battle. So I wore chainmail, which looks fantastic and actually feels very real, because it’s actually proper chainmail, but it’s made out of aluminum instead of steel. It’s obviously not as heavy as steel, but it's bizarrely restricting.
 After
you’ve worn it all day, your shoulders at the
end of the day - It’s weird, they’ve sort of
pulled into this shape so that when you finally
take it off, it’s like taking this heavy yoke
off. And after all of that it’s worth suffering
for because it looks absolutely stunning. So
the costume designer, if she doesn’t win an
award for it there’s something very wrong in
the world. That and the production designer
on this is just stunning, absolutely stunning.
THE DEADBOLT: So when you’re playing Uther Pendragon and you have to be firm with someone, do you ever get the urge to say, ‘Computer says, no.’?
STEWART HEAD: [laughs] Often, but strangely nobody would understand me.
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