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BONUS EPISODE! Mark Lewis Jones/Captain Canady interview | 008.2
29 Plays13 days ago
Tying in with this week's episode delving into The Last Jedi, we got to catch up with the fantastic Welsh actor, Mark Lewis Jones, who we in the Star Wars fandom know as the dedicated (but sadly short-lived in the movie!) First Order officer Moden Canady, captain of the Fulminatrix. Enjoy our interview with him, where we were gifted with so much behind-the-scenes insight about shooting these intense moments in a Star Wars film, and hear first hand what a great actor's director Rian Johnson is.
Sisters of the Force is a weekly, UK-based, Star Wars podcast, produced with joy and love by Seah and Branwen.
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Transcript
Introduction to Bonus Episode
00:00:03
Speaker
So
00:00:19
Speaker
Well, well, Sisters of the Force listeners, welcome back. You have a special bonus episode this week to tie with our Last Jedi coverage.
Mark Lois Jones: Casting Experience
00:00:27
Speaker
and We managed to sit down with the incredible Mark Lois Jones, who played Captain Kennedy, the boss of the First Order dreadnought, Fullmanatrix, that you see at the beginning of the film.
00:00:38
Speaker
um It was such a pleasure to talk to Mark and find out all about his experience with Rian Johnson filming these epic scenes for a Star Wars movie. Enjoy.
00:00:56
Speaker
Thank you, Mark, so much for coming on Sisters of the Force. You're thanks such an inspiring Welsh artist for both stage and screen and we're really excited that you got to be in a Star Wars film, which is just mind blowing.
Popularity of Captain Kennedy
00:01:06
Speaker
I literally fell off my cinema seat when... when you appeared Speaking of, we love Captain Modan Kennedy. He seems to be like a fan favourite all over Reddit. Like people are saying, he's one of the only truly competent and brave officers of the First Order.
00:01:23
Speaker
Can you tell us a bit about how you got the part? Like, was there an audition process or were you just did you just get that call? How
The Star Wars Audition Process
00:01:30
Speaker
did it come about? yeah It's a nice, circuitous route to get in that role.
00:01:34
Speaker
As you can imagine, when you go up for anything in the Star Wars world, you don't get any information whatsoever. You get script, you don't get character descriptions, you get nothing. Yeah. And also every single person I knew around my age, or even younger and older, were all going up for various parts. But this was in the previous film, The Force Awakens.
00:02:01
Speaker
Oh, And so I went up, ah go it went into a room in London, and there was a whole bunch of people there, and you're given a piece of paper yeah with a couple of lines on it, which is not from any of the Star Wars films, and certainly not from, at that time, certainly not from Force Awakens. And the casting lady said, this is not from the film, but you're still not allowed to keep it.
00:02:30
Speaker
Yeah. Just learn these two lines, go in there and say them to the camera. And that's what we all did. So you just have go, i one and they can find a quiet corner and and go in and say the lines.
00:02:47
Speaker
And then you hand the piece paper back, even though the lines aren't from the phone. Yeah, well... but And walked out of there and thought, well, that's probably the last contact I'll have with them. and Because there were hundreds of people going for, you know, and you're not even told what part you're up for, you know. So nothing happened. Force Awakens came out and it was great and da-da-da.
Getting the Role Without Audition
00:03:10
Speaker
Anyway, they obviously kept some form of list of people they liked, but couldn't put into Force Awakens. Because when Last Jedi came, i was just offered a part.
00:03:24
Speaker
Amazing. That's so cool. So once you once you found out that you did have that part, ah did they give you any background for your character or did you see a division? nothing. no, no. no it Still not given anything at all. Wow.
Keeping Character Details Secret
00:03:39
Speaker
and i Still in the dark about what I was playing. i was just awfully proud. I was told, I think I was told the character's name. i think I was told he was called Captain Kennedy.
00:03:48
Speaker
So then then I went up to London to Pinewood to do a costume fitting. yeah And again, you know, like ushered through and not told, you know, don't pick up any pieces of paper. Don't, you know, yeah and don't look at anything. So so I was, saying so I was again given a pad this time, like an iPad, but it's not an iPad. It's just a thing.
00:04:14
Speaker
yeah And on that were Captain Kennedy's lines, only his lines, everything else was redacted. wow yeah And I was told so so the the costume fitting was about ah a few weeks, if not months, before I was going to be filming.
00:04:31
Speaker
So they gave me this thing and they said, there's your little Winnie Big. He's going to change him and we'll call you in a minute. But you only have those lines today.
00:04:42
Speaker
So you won't be able to see them again. okay until your day of filming. Now, it was only about 14 lines, but I was still i'm still thinking, this is like, because it's all sort of Star Wars speak as well. It's not normal conversation. Yeah, yeah.
00:05:00
Speaker
So I cheated, I did. And yeah i can I can say this now. I took a photo of it. then i don't play my answer so I took a photo of it. And then when I got home, printed it out. I didn't show it to anyone. You I kept to the rules, as it were. I mean, but, you didn't show anybody the lines. I didn't share them with anybody. I had them in my phone, I printed them out here, and I loved them.
00:05:22
Speaker
And I'm really glad I did, because, you know, come the day, there was a lot going on, as you can see from, you know, there was a lot a lot of people in and out, sort of standing there and storming through to there and stopping there to talk about, you know, I mean, I don't know if I'd have been able to do that on the day, because I wouldn't have not i would not have remembered those lines from... yeah five or six weeks previous but i was given for 10 minutes yeah you know so don't have a photographic memory funny enough um and so you know that was the first day i met ryan johnson that day filming day as you probably know we all have to wear in star wars if you move about if you go from your winnie bagel to the studio you have to wear a a cloak
00:06:08
Speaker
yeah follow Yeah.
Secrecy and Reshoots at Pinewood Studios
00:06:11
Speaker
Cover up cloak to stop all the um long lenses getting pictures and things. So, yes, very secretive. You know, very um kind of strange, really, in a way. But I kept being called back as well. So I had a couple of days to do that bit that that you see in the film. yeah It was all in Pinewood.
00:06:30
Speaker
They took over all the stages in Pinewood back for that film. There was nothing else was behind.
00:06:39
Speaker
But they kept calling me back. to that i I was living Cardiff now. I'd moved to Cardiff. and um So I'd go back to London, stay in the hotel, get picked up, taken to the studio, done the usual thing, you know all the ID stuff and everything. yeah And they'd do one more shot, a little shot, and that'd be it. And I'd go away again and come back few weeks later. That's wild. Obviously, you know when they were coming to the edit, they were kind of putting a scene together and it would be nice if we had a... you know We need a close-up.... or a look there. or you know So it was like... I've done kind of like big budget films before where you play sort of smaller parts and things generally, and big budget films. I do anyway. and
00:07:22
Speaker
But this was kind of, it was kind of special, even though, and I always feel a bit of a fraud when I'm on anything Star Wars-y, because I'm not a Star Wars fan. I'm not, I don't dislike Star Wars. I've just never been, yeah you know, so so in a way it was wasted on me, to be honest.
00:07:37
Speaker
Well, I don't know. I mean, I think like what you put into it, like came across. So it felt very Star Wars. So even if it's not in your background, like you somehow tapped into that. You knew how to play it.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah, well, well i I mean, I did watch, you know i watched Force Awakens and and of course I was aware of yeah the ah the earlier films, you know, the young Harrison Ford films.
00:08:00
Speaker
And but when when it came out, my son was, gosh, when did this come out? By 2018 or something, was it? Yeah, it was around then, 2017, I think,
00:08:12
Speaker
Okay, well, in that case, he was, um so eight years ago, he was, suddenly you know, 13-ish or something like that. Yeah. And he had a group of friends and the dads, and we all went to watch it together.
00:08:23
Speaker
it was kind of like, you know, i think I think it was kind of like a bit strange, right? I'm sure. Everybody else's dad, you know you know, mechanics and engineers and teachers and bankers and accountants, there's my dad.
00:08:43
Speaker
he's kind of I think he preferred to kind of be, you know,
Creating Bridge Scene Energy
00:08:46
Speaker
normal. to So when you, the the main shoot day, which is where I guess they got the bulk of the shots with um like the whole bridge and you can see everybody running everywhere. Like the energy is incredible. And obviously a lot of that is your performance. Like you're just bringing that strong leader kind of energy. But was it how did you in the cast kind of create that? Were you given like specific direction as a collective? um I mean, the lighting's really intense. It's got that kind of like full on vivid red. Did that, like, how do you get that energy as a group and maintain it?
00:09:22
Speaker
The thing i I always say to people about that particular day and that scene is it did look like that. you know The inside of the bridge was just like that. There's no CGI or anything. it was that big. It was that color. There were that many people.
00:09:38
Speaker
you know it was the out The outside bit was um was, of course, a green screen. grey Green screen, yeah. you know but so domino gleason he actually came in for the day even though in the scene he's a he's a hologram he actually came in and stood next to the camera so you know i even though you know because we sort of we're talking to each other through sort of hologram in the scene but he came for the day which is i thought was wonderful ba so good
Rian Johnson's Direction Style
00:10:03
Speaker
Yeah. No, I think that the credit really goes to Rian Johnson, I think, because, you know, with all of that stuff that goes on, you know, all the sort of secrecy and the cloaks and, the you know, the whole thing of Star Wars, whole world.
00:10:18
Speaker
When we came to doing the scene, it was like working on anything else then. Yeah. It was just, you know, he just worked with the actors and he gave me some lovely direction because because you've got no background. you've got no Yeah, no context. to No backstory. And, you know, if you're someone like me who isn't a Star Wars kind of, you know, historian, that i I don't really know where he...
00:10:40
Speaker
He kind of fits in on where First Order are right now, you know. So he really helped me without overloading and without over-egging it. He kind of gave me, you know, enough to work with. And so we all kind of picked up on that, really. And, you know, the kind of all the technical side was really top-draw stuff. You know, the camera people were just, you know, the camera was moving like that's in with just such an energy. But what's funny, of course, is that, you know, when they say cut, all the kind of guys with the masks on, they all sort go, you know, they're all... Yeah, of course. They're all, you know, they're all... Because it's hot, you know, and they all go, you know, and you're kind of like the whole...
00:11:25
Speaker
pain suddenly collapses you know the the thing we've created suddenly is like these frightening creatures with masks that yeah yeah suddenly they're like normal guys who are hot yeah but you know so you know what what what happens you know with good directors it doesn't matter about all that world sure now let's just do the scene what's the scene about what who are these people yeah You know, what's that what's what's the connection between you and and Donald Gleeson's character and, um you know, the characters that are tailing behind him and yeah yeah on on the bridge, you know? So it's kind of credit goes to him, really, that it wasn't just shot as a sort of general Star Wars scene. We actually, you know, it was really kind of given detail and given a bit of backstory without it being...
00:12:17
Speaker
without being too much, you know what mean? it was so i thought and I kind of watched him, and you know to because I happened to have a friend who was in the makeup department, and she said, oh, all everybody loves Ryan. Everybody loves Ryan Johnson. He's just so lovely. you know And I watched him go around, you know because the days I kept going back, I kept bumping into him. He said, oh I'll see you in a minute. I'm just off to...
00:12:40
Speaker
stage two to do better and he was in a little golf buggy and he was being he was being he was but being ferried from one stage to the next you know totally unflappable can't imagine how yeah you know what mean must have had this huge yeah you know what's going on in stage two what's going on on stage three and stuff that he needs doing that little tiny things yeah i mean amazing but completely unflappable you know what i mean so it's always the case isn't it the case in in anybody's business If the head people are, you know, got that air about them, then nobody else panics, you know what mean? Nobody else, everybody kind of gets on with their bit.
00:13:20
Speaker
yeah And so was it was, you know, even though it was like a massive, huge takeover of Pinewood, it was really kind of a nice atmosphere there, you know, it was kind of... Yeah. so so But, you know, it wasn't just any job, obviously. You know, I was aware that there was this huge industry behind it, you know, and history. Yeah, of course.
00:13:41
Speaker
and You've kind of answered our next two questions, actually. very Tell me what they are, just in case I can put something out there. you put some in there.
Kennedy's Background Influence
00:13:49
Speaker
Our first one was ah talking about how many of the First Order Navy are incredibly young, according to Wikipedia, which is the Wikipedia for Star Wars. Yeah. I am aware of that. i You become aware later. So says that Kennedy was an officer for the Empire years before some of them were even born. and Did that feed into your character for you at all? It did, really. You know, he kind of like he is he's sort of old, old order. You know i mean? He's kind of like he comes from
00:14:19
Speaker
Yeah, so you can can easily apply that to yeah the world outside of Star Wars. You know, you can say we could say this is a guy, he's born and bred military, he's been through the ranks, you know, he's worked his way up, he hasn't come from...
00:14:37
Speaker
a posh school, gone straight in as an officer. You know what I mean? He's actually done the work. 100%. Seen it all, done it all. And in a way, that's all you need because then you just apply that to the Star Wars world. And you know and that's why, my opinion, that's why Star Wars works because you can still...
00:14:57
Speaker
people can still relate to it even though it's yeah they're relatable characters always yeah exactly you know and certainly with kennedy he's old school and he doesn't you know he doesn't put up with the kind of nonsense of you know the kind of younger the younger ones who think you know the young bucks you know think you know that's not just in military it's in you know it's in yeah and king it's in it's in whatever is it's in my industry you know yeah yeah yeah Okay, so like your most epic line, fire on the bass, which you deliver to perfection. I read somewhere that, I don't know if it is Ryan or might have been J.J. Abrams, because both of them have talked about all of the films that have come out in that era.
00:15:35
Speaker
One of them said that they were surprised that nobody had ever sampled it for a dance music track. Did you ever hear anything about, like, I mean, I'm not saying my history of knowing you as an electronic music producer. Did you ever hear any rumours of that kind of thing? No, I didn't, but I would have loved to have heard it.
00:15:54
Speaker
would have loved to have heard that. maybe one day. Maybe one day. Maybe one day. But it's just me. It's crying out for it. Like the tone that you give is so full on and so like high energy. It's brilliant. Yeah. But you with the the lovely one as well, which we did quite a lot of times, and I think it's one of the ones I went back to kind of redo, I think, was the moment he knows he's going to die, you know, ah that moment. That shot. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. It's like a push in. Yeah, yeah. And, well, exactly what what I said earlier about the camera guys, you know storming towards me, you know. and you just hope that you've got, um because it's it just, you know, when you play a character that's a small piece in a big film, the detail still has to be there, you know, you mean especially, and it's the right at the start of the film, because it kind of sets the tone a bit, you know, and those who know the Star Wars world know what this means, you know, they know they know what that explosion means, you know, yeah and and and its consequences, you know.
Upcoming Role in Agatha Christie
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, well, finally, before we get before we finish, is there anything that you've been working on that you want to tell our listeners about? Anything like acting-wise? Because I'm sure they'd love to check it out.
00:17:16
Speaker
Well, there's something I always wanted to do, which is Agatha Christie. ah And um there's one coming out quite soon called Seven Dials. It's on Netflix.
00:17:26
Speaker
And I'm one of the characters, you know you know, potentially one of the... Amazing. the murderers it's not one of the more common Agatha Christie stories no I've not come across it but but it's a really good one and it's beautifully done and it's same in three parts I think and it's got great cast and you know you end up in the drawing room you know where they go through each one yeah yeah I've just always wanted to do that so yeah that's coming up quite I think that's coming up in January so that's great amazing We're a big Agatha Christie fans in this house, so we'll... Oh, there we are. Oh, there we are. Seven dials on Netflix. I think it's January the F, I think, maybe.
00:18:11
Speaker
Anyway, early January. Just what we need. Keep an eye out. Amazing.
Conclusion and Farewell
00:18:15
Speaker
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. And um I'm not sure if it's the right thing right to say to an officer of the First Order, but may the force be with you.
00:18:23
Speaker
you too Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. It's been an absolute pleasure. Take care both. Nice to see you again and nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. See you again. Bye. Bye. Bye.