THE INSIDERS: CLAIRE FOY AND ROBERT SHEEHAN

It's an oldie, but it's a goodie!! Check out this old interview we found from 2011 from Nylon Magazine!

Erinn x

"The next installment of Paranormal Activity won't hit  theaters for a  while, but a spooky period piece will keep you jolted in the  meantime.   It's Season of the  Witch, the  film about medieval knights who transport a young - and  possibly demonic  - woman to her Witch Trial.  And it's scary / creepy /  gross / all the  things that make going to a big action movie with a pack of  Gummi Worms  fun.

We sat down with the movie's two young British stars,  who share screen  time with Nicholas Cage and a lot   of fire, blood, and dirt.

Robbie, do  you want to be Robert or  Robbie?  You're listed as both on IMDB. 
Actually I'm Robert  Michael Adam Sheehan.  My confirmation name is Adam.  I did pick it, but  only out of the confines of the Bible.  They went, “Look, it has to be  from the Bible because they’re holy names."  Ezekiel doesn’t roll off  the tongue as well as Adam, though.  Or Barabus, that would be a good  one, but he was evil in the Bible, wasn’t he?  What if I was like, “I’d  like to be Robert Satan Sheehan, please?”  I’m from Ireland, obviously.  Claire is from Merry Old England!
Claire:  England, Ireland,  Scotland, Wales!  I’m from England.  The easy one.

Lots of readers are interested in Hollywood.  How did you get cast in this big mega-movie?
Robbie:  I did a terrible,  terrible audition!  It was one of those things where they tell you that  you have an imaginary sword and you’ve got to fight evil with it, and  then they stop you and say, “Okay, now pretend that the bad guys are  here, here, and over there and do it again.”  I was mortified.  But somehow they called me back, and I met Dominic Sena, the director, but  we didn’t really talk about the film.  We talked about his life in  Hollywood, like, how he directed John Travolta in Swordfish.  
That must have been  interesting.  It was, but I don’t want to get into it. Those Scientologists are  always so lawyered up!  I don’t want to get on the wrong side of it.  I  love you, Scientology; you are the new  light!”
What would your Scientology Confirmation name be?  It would be like, “Glog.”  Glog Tron  Sheehan.  

Claire: I went into the  audition, and I swear it was the worst audition of my life.  I had to  pretend to be possessed by several objects in the room, in an American  accent.  I was so upset when I left the audition that I almost  considered quitting. That’s so melodramatic!  But I  swear, I said, “Never again!”  But then they called me back!  Dom came  over to England, and I remember thinking, “Why do I have to go to an  audition on a Saturday?!”  That shows you where my head was at.
But you got the part. 
Claire: But I  kept thinking they were kidding, that they  would realize they wanted a  big famous American actress.  I mean, why  would they want me?  I think  it’s amazing that they gave an unknown, at  the beginning of her career,  this part.
Robbie:   And from then on, I  started calling the movie “The Claire Witch  Project.”

What was your first day on set  like? 
Robbie: Dominic  said, “All actors lie when they get asked this, but  can you ride a  horse?”  I said “Yes,” but of course I had no clue how to  do it.  So  that was the first order of business.  Now I’m really  good!
Claire: That was one thing that  was amazing about this project, is that even though I ride a horse for   like four seconds of the movie, we all got trained in horseback riding  in  Hungary!
Robbie:  I was  good!  I was  cantering.
Claire:  Yes Robbie, you were  very good.

You spend most of the movie covered in  dirt...
Robbie:  Not only that, we had hair soldered onto our  scalps!
Claire: You were  the worst.   When I saw Robbie, we had to get extensions put in, and I was  like, “Oh  my god, I’m gonna die.”  But it didn’t hurt.  I couldn’t  feel a thing.  Robbie’s just a wuss!  And  you had much more makeup...   I had four months of mud, and dirt,  and white face, and hair  extensions.  It was like, four months of  foulness.  It was freezing some  days, and you have really red, raw  hands.  I can’t believe we managed  to get out there every  day.
Robbie: They served us lots  of  really good Hungarian food, I think that’s how we survived.

When it's so cold and you're on a huge  set, how do  you keep from getting nervous or distracted when they call   "Action"?
Claire:  You  just feel it.  It’s  our jobs.  Sometimes you’re so hungry, or tired,  or cold, or bored, or  beaten up, that you go on auto pilot.  But a lot of  times that’s when  you get the best performance.  The people who end up  doing this job  successfully can get to a point where they’re okay with not  knowing  what’s going to happen when the camera comes on. 
Robbie:   Sometimes it’s months of  work and rehearsals, and you’re really ready for the  scene. 
Claire: But weirdly,  that  doesn’t make it any better, necessarily.   I’ve been on set  where I  don’t even know my lines, because they’ve just rewritten them, and they   turn the camera on and yell “Action!”  and I just go.  And  afterwards,  I’m almost stunned, like I’ve just woken up from something.   And I  think, “Wow, that was really good!”
Robbie:   We came onto set once,  and it was a forest they’d completely covered in  fog.  And they go,  “Okay, get on your horse!  Now, on action, turn  the horse, and now you  see this guy being eaten by wolves!  And now freak  out and go fucking  mad.”  They do it once, they yell, “Cut, that was  great,” and then you  go home!  And you’re like, “Wait, I worked five  minutes today.”  But  that’s part of it, too.

What's  your favorite scene in the  movie? 
Claire:   Oh no.  I can’t even  tell you if the movie is any good, because  I’ve seen it so many times  and I can’t separate the movie from the experience  of making it. 

And next? 
Robbie:   I made a film called Killing Bono,  which hopefully comes  out in America soon!  Watch for it!
Claire:  Upstairs  / Downstairs is coming out  in America really soon, and I’m so excited  about that.  We never know  what you get over here – now even if I’m on  Skins you won’t know, because you’ve  got your own American Skins!"


 Source: http://www.nylonmag.com/?section=article&parid=5651

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