spotlight versailles
seeing a same-sex relationship, who ends up getting invested and can see a little bit of themselves in it, then I feel like the entire show is worthwhile.” “I couldn’t ask for a better scene partner in Alex,”
Evan opined. “Partly because he’s a fabulous guy and a brilliant actor. Beyond that, there is a certain chemical component—he moves me and he irks me—and I know that I do the same thing to him. If we didn’t have so much respect and love for each other, it could be a negative. We made an agreement to shoot from the hip and to be honest with each other and we sort of see through each other’s bullshit. As characters and as actors, that’s a brilliant recipe because we can shoot for the jugular and meet each other where we live.” Alex echoed the sentiment in regard to the relationship between the two actors and their characters, on screen and off. “I feel very blessed to have Evan as a costar, because we both jumped in with two feet and gave it our best shot. If there is one thing I am proud of in the show, it’s the way Philippe [Monsieur] and Chevalier are presented. That specific time in history, being a homosexual was frowned upon massively because of the Catholic background. The show represents that relationship in really sort of a truthful, very lovely way.” History books are often written with a revision-
ist’s pen, portraying good and bad with the colors of those who dominate. When asked about how they found their characters’ voices in light of that limitation, Evan explained it this way. “It presented both a challenge and an opportunity. What I did find, was pretty one-sided and that’s mostly because King Louis so heavily doctored history. He was the king of propaganda and was not very fond of Chevalier, because he was such a huge thorn in his side through almost his entire life. Chevalier had Louis a bit hamstrung, he couldn’t really get rid of him because then he would basically be at war with his brother. He couldn’t really embrace him either, because at the time it was still a very Catholic state and homosexuality was still a death sentence.” Evan continued, “The things we hear about Cheva-
lier tend toward the dark side: He was greedy, without scruples, cunning, ruthless and whatever descriptor you want to use. The opportunity was to find the heart of the character and to merge the brain to it. If you look at any villain, they are never one dimensional, they are human beings and each one thinks they are doing what they have to do.” Alex took up the conversation from there, “To be honest with you, I didn’t do a lot of research at all. I guess I come from
24 RAGE monthly | OCTOBER 2016
the cast of versailles.
alexander vlahos as philippe, duke of orléans [monsieur], evan williams as chevalier de lorraine.
that school of acting where the script is the bible that informs you and research is not really helpful. Some people love to read about their character and it helps them massively to get a handle on them. But for me, I just sort of trusted in David Wolstencroft and Simon Mirren’s writing and their vision.” The entirety of the show conveys life’s chal- lenges, reflective of any period in time, because it and the characters continuously evolve. The writing is excellent, the costuming and locations are exquisite and the relationships are truthful, strong and deeply intimate. Alex explained the magic of it all, “It’s a lot down to hard work, to vision, to hoping for the best and that all of the compartments come in to place. We were so lucky to be able to film in Versailles and all of the beautiful castles, which was some of the hard work done for us. The costuming was incredible, as well and that is a very quick way to paint a character.” He added, “The scripts are tight and taught, brutal in some respects and very romantic in some others. You look for a good cast and good directors and then just hope for the best. We were very fortunate.”
Evan summed it up this way. “It takes a great risk,
in exploring what Versailles actually could have been like versus what we hear about in the history books and from the propaganda from Louis XIV. What we are told is very one-dimensional and it takes a leap to jump into the true humanity of what it must have been like. Not only having the balls to do that, but also having the budget to do it, is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing. All of the actors are very young and this is really the biggest thing we’ve done so far, so we are all very excited to be in it together. We’re all pushing for the same thing and we all believe in it. I think that makes it on to the screen, too. There is a certain energy with such a young, vibrant cast, I am thrilled to be a part of it.”
Versaillesis a part of the Ovation network and is currently available. For more information on where to view it, go to
ovationtv.com/Versailles.
For much more of our interview with Evan Williams and Alex Vlahos, go to
ragemontly.com.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64