The Kid Marvel interviews Starz BLACK SAIL’s Black Beard, Ray Stevenson!

About a week ago, I got to do a phone interview with Ray Stevenson (INSURGENT, DIVERGENT, ROME, DEXTER, THOR, PUNISHER: WAR ZONE) for his upcoming role as Black Beard, for Starz’s third season of BLACK SAILS, a prequel to the novel TREASURE ISLAND.

If you haven’t watched the show already, I highly recommend it. Personally, I’m a big fan of the series and I’ve been following since it first aired, so having the opportunity to speak with a member of the cast, was awesome to say the least. Without rambling too much more, let’s get right to the straight to the interview:

THE KID MARVEL (TKM): What has the experience been like with the cast filming in Cape Town so far and the show as a whole? Like the weather, environment and various elements that have gone into making BLACK SAILS?

RAY STEVENSON (RS): Yeah, yeah the weather is a bitch! We film in the summer time and I’ve got a lot of beardage, I got a lot of hair, a lot of costume, leather and it’s just hot. It’s just one of those things you have to put up with. The cast has been amazing and having been there and established the series over two seasons, they’ve been nothing but gracious and welcoming and delighted actually, to have Blackbeard amongst them. It’s just been a great experience for me. I’m going back there again, I’ve been back down there November. So you know, it’s a great team to be with. The production value as you can see, they put their money where their mouth is. You see the money on screen. Its incredible work, I’m just delighted to be a part of it.

TKM: How much time did you spend on an actual ship this season or was it split between green screen?

RS: Well, the ships are all on the back lot and some of them are huge on electronic gimbles, so the ship walks and rolls, this huge galleon, with huge wind machines. So that’s on the ship, we can’t go on the ocean down there, because if anyone falls in they’ll freeze to death, it’s the South Atlantic and if that doesn’t happen, a Great White will get ya! So umm yeah, Blackbeard gets his time aboard ship and aboard land as well and that’s always great fun. You get to see Blackbeard’s black, his flag. Blackbeard’s flag gets its day.

TKM: You’re playing Blackbeard, who’s an extremely iconic figure in history and fiction as well, are you drawing any specific inspirations or any specific source material for any of the incarnation of Blackbeard?

RS: He’s one of the most documented pirates of his time and there’s no lack of historical documentation but, obviously history is written by scholars and sensationalists. I draw the parallel between the pamphlets that would go back east to New York, from the days of the Wild West. The days of the cowboys and bandits, the James Gang, amongst others and they would sensationalize these outlaws and all that sort of stuff. There’s history in there among it. So you can do your research but, then there comes a time when you have to put that aside, because you have to play a script. You immerse yourself in there, to flesh out the broad, broad brush strokes of the period, of the society and the characters and the world, in which you inhabit and then it’s knuckle down and get on with the script at hand.

TKM: Is there any pressure for you playing Blackbeard then, this iconic figure?

RS: Yeah, yeah I mean there’s pressure that comes from, if sort of say you allow it, other’s expectations and pressure from your end, one’s own expectations to flesh this character out, to bring him justice as well. To bring a character into season three, a character that is of that place, he set up Nassau. He was one of the founding fathers of Nassau and one of the co-creators of the pirate’s charter, with Hornigold and Avery. You basically have to bring a character into something that’s already so established and yet, he is essentially an integral, one of the most integral parts of it. So those are sort of the rigors to bear, how do you develop this character a reality, this existence here and serve the other characters around you and the other actors around you.

TKM: Can you talk then alittle bit about Blackbeard’s interactions and relationship with the other characters, like Charles Vane and the rest of Nassau?

RS: He’s been 8 years, 10 years away in Virginia trying to establish himself as a landed gentry, and leave that life behind him. He takes eight wives in that time period looking for a son, to have a son and heir, to take on his name and his legacy. He was unsuccessful. All girls born or no children. He’s got a calling to come back and reestablish his life and to try and reconnect with the one person, that is the closest thing he ever had to consider a son, in Charles Vane, who he mentored in the early days. He’s come back to Nassau looking for that and he comes back and he sees it ain’t the Nassau that he left, it has changed radically. So he creates a shitstorm!

TKM: How large is his role this season then and the impact he’ll cause overall for the show?

RS: Basically he’s no fly on the wall, he comes in there and nothing is going to be the same again.

TKM: Why do you think the reason is Black Sails feels so authentic, at least for you? You’ve talked alittle bit about the beard and the leather, so why do you feel the show comes across as feeling so real?

RS: I think because it comes down to the writing, without that, you’ve got nothing. No matter how flashy you make a show, if the characters are not well drawn out, not complex and the relationships aren’t there, you can’t flesh anyone out. So I think, for me it’s emotional intelligence brought to these characters, amongst this tremendously complex and visually amazing world, violent times and exciting. There’s that, humanity which is drawn so beautifully, that you connect with everybody. I think that’s one of the greats of the show and you really do engage them with everyone involved.

TKM: This is a prequel to TREASURE ISLAND, I was wondering if you read the book?

RS: I have, I’ve read the original version, which even for me was tough to get through. It uses a lot of phraseology of old English, which at times I had to re-read sentences again and again. I didn’t read it for this, I read it many years ago but, it’s a dark, dark tale that one, ole Treasure Island, Blind Pew and all them. Bunch of cut throat renegades.

TKM: Did having already read it, prior to the role, did that help at all?

RS: Well, to a certain extent but, then again there’s all that other material you read through that are basically, because like I said you have to put it to one side, basically you’re playing the script, we’re not doing Treasure Island. We’re not doing the historical tales of ye old pirates of the Bahamas. You know, were doing BLACK SAILS, which has this wonderful interweaving of history and new or created characters, to flesh this world out. Which I think is quite dynamic, that it enhances the telling of the story and engages and habilitates the passage of history. It feels like a historical, epic drama about contemporary’s in their day, again, which comes down to the intelligence of the writing.

TKM: The show’s been an extremely successful franchise so far, which you attribute to the writing, how much do you feel Black Beard now attributes to that for this season?

RS: Well back in 1710, Edward Teach himself was 6 foot 4 and was literally larger than life, an amazing leader and navigator, captain, as well as being quite handy with a sword. I think that what I bring to it is, I don’t abuse the position of being the size I am, I don’t go out there and play him as menacing, even if he is. Being able to, express and pull other aspects of the character and bring that. You’re already confident in the fact, that you know what you’re bringing, so what I’m bringing is the fact that when he steps into a room, everybody looks at him, everybody turns their head and it’s like having that presence, having that stillness and that latent sort of power. And yet, being allowed to express this humanity and relatability, that’s what makes it so rich for me to get up every morning for the work and hopefully that’s going to come across in the season.

TKM: What has been the most difficult thus far working or acting for the past season and what’s been the most enjoyable?

RS: Well I mean, on the practical level, we do film in Cape Town, South Africa at the height of their summer and it’s breathlessly hot and it’s an amazing multi-layer leather and metal costume and the beard, I mean, it’s arduous, it’s brutal. But, in saying that, he looks cool as fu….well, cool as cool as a costume can be, you gotta put up with it for that. So on a practical level, it’s a tough 12 or 14 hour day but, I’m not working everyday so you get on with it. One of the best aspects of this is, apart from taking all that off at the end of the day, is to work with these other actors and these directors. Working with Toby and Maggie Smith and Zach, it’s just a delight. Everybody’s relishing their characters so much, their chewing up the furniture as well, it just really is a delight to go to work. It tests you, it challenges you and it rewards you.

TKM: I want to thank Ray for his time, as well Kristin and Starz who set up the interview. I really appreciated Ray speaking with me and the opportunity given for the interview. The new season of BLACK SAILS premieres on tonight, January 23rd at 9pm on Starz. Again, if you haven’t watched the series already, I would highly recommend checking it out and catching up before the premiere.