“I know how to do it. So that just helps in terms of finding ways to make the fights unique and personal in style, so we avoid generic fighting if [we] can.
“It’s just about using your experience to be as helpful as you can.”
Eddie Marsan, who stars as Edward the Confessor in the series, says he knew very little about his character beforehand but was drawn to his religious obsession.
“I find people who have a kind of religious obsession fascinating,” says the 57-year-old London-born actor.
“So I was really interested in playing that. He had a lot of faith and a lot of fear, those two things and the dichotomy of those is what attracted me to playing him.” “In this story he is so powerless which I found really interesting. I’m a member of the British Humanist Association. “But I find religious thought fascinating, of why people believe what they believe, and why they choose that narrative. “And he was choosing a narrative, I believe, and I don’t think it will be all religious people [who] do it, but Edward in this story is choosing a narrative based on desperation, and that is fascinating.” Marsan jokes that he thinks King Edward was possibly asexual and would have chosen to be a monk if he hadn’t married. “You’ve got James and Nikolaj and they’re sexy and macho and then there’s this asexual man in the middle who can’t make his mind up. I think that makes great drama.”
“It’s about men’s pursuit of power, and when ego gets involved, it can be a very dangerous pursuit,” adds Norton.
“So not only did it feel absolutely, very important, vital in terms of looking back and honouring this moment in history, but also it feels a very relevant story as well.”
King & Conqueror is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Photo: James Norton as King Harold and Indy Lewis as Margaret.
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