BAFTA HOPES HIGH FOR MORFYDD
PENARTH-RAISED actress Morfydd Clark is one of the talented performers in the running for a Rising Star Award at this weekend’s Bafta ceremony.
The Welsh-speaking actor’s dual language skill is definitely something she’s brought to the set of new TV show, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings.
Currently in New Zealand where she’s making the new adaptation of Tolkein’s classic, a relaxed and chatty Morfydd is nothing like the roles which have so far garnered her such attention.
Over the past year she’s been lauded for her unnerving portrayal of Maud in the equally unnerving Rose Glass film, Saint Maud, a cold minion, Sister Clara, of the Magisterium in BBC and HBO’s His Dark Materials and as a young version of Sally Hawkins’ character, Jane, in Welsh film, Eternal Beauty.
Being the other side of the world in New Zealand has its benefits – they are Covid-clear after effectively closing their borders – but Clark is definitely homesick, but she seeks out her Welsh co-stars – actors Owain Arthur and Trystan Gravelle are also listed as part of the cast – to bring some Cymraeg to the set.
“I’ve been here since October 2019, I came back for Christmas 2019, which felt like a fever dream, it was so brief, I wondered if I actually came home,” she said about missing home.
“And I’ve been here ever since, which is an incredible place to be at the best of times and, also it seems at the worst of times. It’s very bizarre but I feel very lucky.”
Her parents and sister still live in Wales and she’s missing them for sure, but that’s not all she’s missing from her home country.
“I’m missing my parents, yeh,” she added. “And I’m also missing my second lambing season.
“My aunty and uncle still run the farm that my grandad was born on, near Corwen. And It feels more weird being away at that time than Christmas. It’s so fun, we go up to help with lambing and when all your family is working doing the same thing it’s quite amazing.”
On the other hand, Morfydd, who is rumoured to be playing a younger version of Galadriel in the Tolkien adaptation for the streaming service, still gets to flex her Welsh muscles, something which she says has helped her during her acting career.
She said: “I’m very lucky there are two people in the cast, and a costume designer, who speak Welsh. But I am missing speaking Welsh. Being bilingual also helps in terms of learning
lines and going to Welsh language school you do so much singing and reciting. As well as my dad singing Irish folk songs to us. It sets me up well for Shakespeare and stuff.
“I’m very lucky to be in a quite big cast so it’s like a little village. But the homesickness is real. But I would be more happy here if I knew back home you were all happy. There’s only a certain level of happiness you can have when all your friends and loved ones are having a rubbish time.”
She has, though, been lucky enough to film in Wales, namely for Eternal Beauty (written and directed by Maesycwmmer’s Craig Roberts) and, at the same time, the hit BBC series, His Dark Materials, based on Phillip Pullman’s popular novels.
“Filming in Wales was brilliant, it was great to be filming a small production with a small crew and this amazing young director (Roberts) and then to be doing Dark Materials also in Wales.
“Some of the episodes I was in were directed by Euros Lyn, a Welsh-speaking, Welsh director. I was in my favourite books, being done by HBO and I’m in Wales speaking Welsh to the director; those worlds I never thought would collide.”
A worldwide recognition for her role in Saint Maud – described by critics as “a hallucinogenic, holy nightmare” and “one of the best British debuts of all time” – has been a long time coming for the 31-year-old, who, since leaving school at 15 has been a part of National Youth Theatre Wales, trodden the stage at the Royal Court and Donmar Warehouse and now is awaiting tonight’s Bafta awards, which she’ll be watching with her home friends via Zoom.
“I felt very weird,” said the actor, who also appeared in the Armando Iannucci film, The Personal History of David Copperfield.
“I couldn’t really process it. When I saw who I was nominated with and all their little faces on Zoom and I thought ‘I’m one of those faces and all these people are great! Wow, I can’t believe it’s come to this.’ It feels really amazing.
“And I’ve felt so grateful for this year, Saint Maud and Eternal Beauty and David Copperfield, three dream projects, so without any awards recognition I was living my happiest life.”
She’s happy, too, that the horror industry is at a point where the more diverse stories are rising to prominence and fighting for ground against the age-old tropes of cinema.
“I am often in horrible – well, not horrible! – films, when I first started I was often a victim of something horrible, but there’s that exciting thing that’s happening in horror, the doors are being opened to more diverse stories,” she said.
“For example, people of colour would have a terrible time, women being mutilated, would be used as a plot point, and now that’s not happening as much.
“I do feel lucky that I’m coming into the industry and things are a lot better, but I still have noticed change and I’m excited looking at the films the people in my category are in, they are not the films of 10 years ago.”
The EE Rising Star Award winner will be announced at the EE British Academy Film Awards today. The awards are on BBC One at 7pm.