Welsh speaking cast members helped new Lord of the Rings star feel at home in New Zealand
Having Welsh-speaking cast members helped the star of a new Lord of the Rings series feel at home in New Zealand, she said.
Morfydd Clark is rumoured to be playing a young Galadriel, the character portrayed by Cate Blanchett in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films.
Owain Arthur and Trystan Gravelle are also listed as part of the cast, and she said that having Welsh speakers on set had made her feel less homesick on the other side of the world.
“I’m very lucky there are two people in the cast and a costume designer who speak Welsh. But I am missing speaking Welsh,” she told WalesOnline.
“Being bilingual also helps in terms of learning lines and going to Welsh language school you do so much singing and reciting..
“As well as my dad singing Irish folk songs to us. It sets me up well for Shakespeare and stuff.”
She said that the fact that New Zealand looked like Wales had been helpful in that regard, too.
“It’s like Wales on steroids – it feels familiar but enormous. It has the dark green hills and grey sky, the Kyffin Williams colours, which I find very comforting,” she told i.
‘Lucky’
However, she said that the homesickness had still had an impact on her during the pandemic.
“You know they say you’re only as happy as your unhappiest child? I know I must make the most of being here. But you can’t. This isn’t quite my world and I know that my world isn’t doing this.
“They’ve made sure we’re all physically fit and ready. Doing stuff you find physically hard is a real bonding thing. I’m rarely idle here, which is good for me. They always tell you if you get fit, it’s good for your mental health and it’s happened this year.”
She has previously said that she was “lucky” to be sent to a Welsh language school as it put her on the road to being an actress.
“Luckily, I was sent to Welsh language school [where] the arts are so respected,” she says. “There’s a right to be a performer in Welsh language and in society, and I really wasn’t good at anything else, really couldn’t put my mind to anything.”
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