Ciaran McMenamin: The ARC Knight
Monday 10 January 2011
In series four of Primeval, Ciaran McMenamin takes charge as new ARC team leader Matt Anderson, appointed following the disappearance of Jason Flemyng’s Danny Quinn. The Irish actor, who first worked with series co-creator Adrian Hodges on the TV adaptation of David Copperfield in 1999, sat down with Paul Simpson on set in Dublin during filming of episode four…
... What were your first thoughts on getting the role of Matt?
CM: "When they asked me to do it, my initial process was getting my head around what it was. I tend to do very gritty, realistic, naturalistic dramas, and the odd period thing. It was instantly appealing because it was something different.
I’d seen a very early episode, possibly even one of the very first ones, but I hadn’t watched anything else. I had to decide whether to sit and watch 10 hours of it, or go into the world in my own imagination, which is pretty much what I’ve done, so I can keep it real. I can jump in and keep it all inside my head.
I was over the moon and I thought it was going to be a completely different challenge: “I’m going to be spending the next seven months chasing a man with a stick and a tennis ball pretending it’s a dinosaur!” I haven’t done a lot of green screen work; there are always a couple of bits in anything you do now, but this is pretty extensive.
It’s a physical challenge as well. When I read the first two scripts, I could really imagine myself doing it. I could see myself as Matt, and I could see the whole process piling out. I was excited about the whole idea. You kind of know instantly when you read something. You might go, “That’s not really right, I wouldn’t watch that; it’s not my cup of tea.” And there was a bit of me that thought that might be the case originally because it’s not something I would watch. But I really responded to the scripts. I thought it was going to be a lot of fun, and I’m just enjoying every day...
Primeval is currently airing on ITV1 on Saturday nights (UK) and in the US on BBC America at 9pm.
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