#kmcginterview

[jdarm]

Chris Jackson - October 28 2013

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'Miss McGrath isn't here at the moment I'm afraid," says the man behind the desk at the Covent Garden Hotel, mispronouncing it "grath" as in "wrath", as so many Englishmen tend to do.

He directs me toward the avocado-coloured bar where I wait upon a comfy floral print chair as rich olive-skinned guests sip on cocktails and beer at a marble-topped bar, backed by a large fanlight mirror, which seduces shameless stares of vanity from a few.

The wait is short as Katie strides in, searching the tables for me, smiling at strangers, until she finds me. She greets me with a hug and before I have a chance to say anything she's ordered tea, soda and a small bowl of macadamia nuts, which she then devours in not too short order. She's not one to stand on ceremony.

Katie's in London promoting the latest television adaptation of one of fiction's most popular characters, Dracula. From the producers of Downton Abbey, Dracula is a major British and American co-production, primed to capture audiences across the world.

She leans back against the wall pulling her left knee into her body, as if at home on her couch, rather than in the bar of a five-star London hotel. She speaks in a low voice with the soft and steady cadence of a person of some cultivation, save for the odd swear, which only serves for emphasis. I ask her about her Dracula.

"With this Dracula they've taken the story and they've flipped it. They've made it more modern. There's a modern comic-book element to the story.

"The Dracula of this story is playing a role, that of an American industrialist, to exact revenge on those who wronged him."

It is, like others, a departure from Bram Stoker's original, although, as Katie points out, the Dubliner may have warmed to an adaptation where Dracula and two other main characters are played by Irish actors – Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Victoria Smurfit are the other two. (Katie, like Stoker, is an alumni of Trinity). She plays Lucy Westenra.

The Lucy Westenra of Bram Stoker's original was the embodiment of youthful innocence, the counterpoint to Dracula. I ask her what we can expect from her Lucy.

"My Lucy is a complete departure. In Stoker's Dracula she is a paragon of virtue. She is the idealised Victorian woman. She's sweet, kind, soft and gentle. She's the archetype of goodness," she says, stopping shortly before each sentence with a pregnant pause. She is polished in her speech.

"My Lucy, however, well, she's more of a high society 'It' girl. She seems vapid and vacuous at first. Then you see she has problems of her own, problems which will completely change your outlook on her. She's not the sweet girl of Bram Stoker's novel."

Katie is keen to point out that the departure doesn't stop there and that her Lucy is, like herself, an independent woman.

"She doesn't take sh*t from no one. She's the one in control, blonde strumpet that she is," she says.

Stoker's Lucy is a woman pursued by multiple suitors, but Katie is reticent on the subject of her own suiters.

She betrays the discomfort of someone who is not used to attention, someone who is still coming to terms with their success. It's understandable, she never saw such a future for herself when she was younger.

Katie McGrath was not a typical teenager. She had pink hair, listened to Green Day, and worked in a Tattoo Parlour. She was someone who you could imagine in a Kevin Smith or Richard Linklater film – a Goth, an Emo, a Rocker, an outlier. She no longer sees herself in such terms.

"I don't see myself as alternative anymore. You get to a point in life where you're comfortable with who you are and exist in your own world. I'm just me, walking around and trying to do a job without failing, although I do miss the pink hair."

Her path to stardom was unforeseen and unusual. An average student at Trinity (she studied history), she, like so many, did not know what she wanted to do with her life post-graduation. She played with the idea of a career in fashion and worked for Image magazine to achieve her left-field dream of being Vogue magazine's China editor. She then swung a job as a seamstress, though she couldn't sew, on the set of The Tudors, which was filmed near her home in Wicklow.

As she says "they needed a busty wench" for a love scene with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and she was happy to oblige them. Within a year she was cast as Morgana in BBC's Merlin, acting before millions of viewers in more than 150 countries.

The young woman whose life was without clear direction before was now on a path to great fame and fortune. It's little wonder she refers to herself as "having won the lottery".

As Morgana, Katie became a favourite of fantasy fanboys (the polite term for nerds), who can be quite obsessive. Often some of them live their lives vicariously through shows and their characters. She's experienced it first-hand, receiving, among other things, penned stories, pictures and dolls of herself as Morgana. She came face-to- face with many of them at San Diego's annual Comic-Con, a Mecca for fans of fantasy, sci-fi, and comic books, one of whom was Katie herself.

"It was amazing, it was like a place of joy, it was like a giant air-filled hangar of joy" she says with a broad smile, in between eating more macadamias. "They're all pretending to be someone, be it Princess Leah or Green Arrow, but at the same time that is who they are.”

"It's both bizarre and wonderful to see all these people pretend to be others and be so comfortable doing it."

Not all the parts she's played have been as successful. Take Madonna's directorial debut, W.E., in which Katie was cast. W.E. was panned by critics and was barely seen by anyone, taking less than $900,000 at the box office (The King's Speech, a similarly themed film, took more than $400m the year before).

"I think W.E. was a good film. I think critics were always going to be tough on it because it was Madonna's film. If it had been any other first time director I think they'd have been far more supportive of it" she says sincerely.

In spite of the failure of W.E. Katie's career has kicked-on, and last year she was cast in Channel 4's Labyrinth, an adaptation of Kate Mosse's best-selling novel of the same name, in which she was again required to wear a corset, a requirement made of her again in her latest ole, which, in one way, sees her career come full circle.

"I started as crew with Johnny, when I first met him I worked in wardrobe, now I'm starring opposite him. Sometimes I stop and think 'sh*t, I won the lottery'."

Her friendship with him means much to her, both personally and professionally, particularly given his extra experience.

"It was great having him there. This show is a big deal, with big money and big networks behind it. When you walk into a room with 20 high-powered producers it's great to know you're walking in with a friend, one who's got your back."

It's understandable that she seeks such support. Her acting apprenticeship was served in front of an audience of millions and it wasn't until she started to shoot Dracula that she felt confident in what she was doing.

And yet, in spite of the depths with which she has been cast, she has emerged. Katie is not one for the future anymore, she is one for the present, although there is some downside.

"People have great difficulty pronouncing my name. I've given up correcting people" she says. I say nothing of the man behind the desk.

[justforkmcg]

Do you wear silver or gold jewellery?

Both. I always wear my grandmother’s gold pocket watch chain with two rings on it – my family ring and a Victorian mourning ring that someone gave to me. I always wear my diamond earrings, too. My mum’s amazing – every time I achieve something in my career she buys me a diamond earring.

2010 Interview

Images

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25 October 2012 Merlin interview photo.

(Katie confirmed 24th not her B-Day)

[justforkmcg]

https://fy-katiemcgrath.tumblr.com/biography

KATIE MCGRATH BIO

FAMILY

Katherine Elizabeth McGrath was born on January 3rd 1983 in Dublin but grew up in Ashford, Wicklow (Ireland).

(There are interviews that list age and she’d need to be born in the fall of ‘83 or Jan ‘84 for the math to work out, assuming the interviewers were right about her age in the first place.)

EDUCATION

Katie studied at St. Andrew’s College in Dublin with extracurriculars activities drama and debating and graduated in History at Trinity College.

PREVIOUS JOBS

Receptionist at a piercing and tattoo studio, make up artist, cocktail barmaid, shop assistant in a vintage clothes shop, fashion journalist at Image and wardrobe assistant on the set of The Tudors.

ACTING CAREER

The crew of The Tudors suggests Katie to send her headshot and letter of presentation to different Irish acting agencies and within three months Katie lands her first TV role.

2008 is a key year, Katie has her first read-through for the role of Morgana Pendragon in the BBC series Merlin, which will successfully run for five series and help her achieve International fame.

Dates below are released dates, not when filmed. For example Katie always had a project lined up in between seasons of Merlin. And most work in 2008 was actually filmed in 2007.

2007:

Pebble | Damage | La Marea

2008:

Eden | The Tudors | The Roaring Twenties | Freakdog | Merlin S1

2009:

Merlin S2 | The Queen

2010:

Merlin S3

2011:

Merlin S4 | A Princess for Christmas | W.E.

2012:

Merlin S5 | Trid An Stoirm | Labyrinth

2013:

Dates S1 | Dracula S1

2014:

Leading Lady | From Eden (Mv)

2015:

The Throwaways | Jurassic World

2016:

Slasher S1 | Frontier S1 | Supergirl S2

2017:

Supergirl S3 | Frontier S2 | King Arthur: Legend of the sword

2018:

Supergirl S4 | Buttons

2019:

Supergirl S5 | Secret bridesmaids' business |

2020-2021

Supergirl S6

2023

John Wick: Continental 

[jdarm]

In our first instalment of interviews with the cast of Slasher, McGrath talks Canada, her character’s relationship and getting Merlin’s Morgana out of her system.

Welcome to Canada.

Katie McGrath: Thank you. The weather here isn’t that different from Ireland, but it is hot. And there are the bugs. Apparently, I’m delicious because they are eating me alive!

How did you get this role?

My agent called me up and said she’d been approached by Shaftesbury about this project. She was a huge fan of Being Erica and said, ‘I want you to sit down and read it because I loved Being Erica and I really respect this creator.’ I sat down with my cup of tea and went through it. I had the whole thing done in 30 minutes and I got on the phone with everyone on my team and we all loved it. That’s never happened. It’s just really good writing and that’s rare, especially when you’re a woman. Female characters can be very much a caricature in a horror project. I see a lot of them and they are very genre-specific and typecast and Sarah wasn’t, and I liked that. I spoke to [creator] Aaron [Martin] and [director] Craig [David Wallace] about we all thought.

I was petrified by it because we were going to shoot all eight episodes at once. That scared me. But I figure that if something scares the hell out of you, you should do it because it means it’s important. I said, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s go to Canada.’

Are you at the point in your career where you’re starting to look towards writing your own characters, producing and directing?

Oh god, I can barely string a sentence together! My brother is so talented when it comes to words and I love them because my whole life is words, but when it comes to doing it everything becomes verbose. Completely overwritten and I just have to step back. I’d very happily employ somebody else to write. I love the idea of being in control but then I think that my ideas aren’t that good! [Laughs.] I don’t know if it would be a good idea if I thought that I was right all of the time! I guess at some point I should think about it, because I can’t rely on my eyebrows and distracting jawline forever. [Laughs.]

Slasher interview [x]

[justforkmcg]

Merlin’s Katie McGrath joins SUPERGIRL cast

Raven-haired Katie McGrath has been cast to play Lena Luthor in season 2 of SUPERGIRL!

By LESLIE August 6, 2016

A couple of days ago, it was revealed on TVLine that Merlin‘s Katie McGrath is signed on to play Lena Luthor in season 2 of the CW’s Supergirl. This is a pleasant addition to the show that was on wobbly ground after the first season on the major network CBS.

But with the switch from CBS to the CW, the show looks to be more interesting and exciting than it had been prior to its debut season. Plus, it just seems more appropriate to have Supergirl on the same station as its fellow DC characters Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow.

The series is looking to really amp things up for Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) as she finally meets her cousin, Kal-El aka Superman (Tyler Hoechlin.) Now with the addition of McGrath as Lena Luthor, this news will turn people on their heads. It should be a lot of fun.

“Beautiful, powerful, and enigmatic, Lena arrives in National City on the heels of brother Lex’s incarceration hoping for a fresh start. Lena has taken over as CEO of her family’s billion-dollar-tech company, Luthor Corp, which has been tarnished by Lex’s evil infamy. Her goal? To re-brand the empire as a force for good. Lena wants to be seen as her own person, separate from her brother. Kara is drawn into Lena’s sphere and must determine if she is friend or foe.”

Not much is known about how Lena Luthor’s existence in the show will play out. Who knows if she’ll even have dark hair or blond hair like Lena’s character in the graphics calls for. But either way, McGrath can certainly pull off the blond as she had done for her role as Lucy Westenra in NBC’s short-lived Dracula.

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