Backstage With… Rosamund Pike on the ‘risk’ of bringing a written character to screen
She’s played the manipulative Amy in Gone Girl, has portrayed real people including the war journalist Marie Colvin, and was nominated for a Golden Globe just last year for her performance in black comedy thriller I Care A Lot.
But the new adaptation of The Wheel Of Time sees Rosamund Pike in a fantasy role, leading the cast of a series based on the bestselling novels by Robert Jordan.
She told Sky News’ Backstage podcast it’s nice to be doing something unexpected.
“I do like to surprise people, but I don’t go for the element of surprise at the expense of choices I believe in,” Pike said.
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“So it just seemed like this character came into my life for a reason, it sounds a bit sort of like mumbo jumbo, but I’d had a fairly tough ride with some of the big lives that I’ve played in recent years, like Marie Colvin and Marie Curie, and I thought this world that’s striving for balance in Wheel Of Time with this woman, who is kind of connected to the universe in quite a profound way and can channel elements, I thought, ‘this is going to be a role that I grow differently with and acquire some new skills through’.”
With any adaptation comes a weight of expectation from fans – but despite Jordan selling more than 90 million copies of the Wheel Of Time books, Pike isn’t just unphased by that expectation – she thrives off it.
She said: “I do like the responsibility of taking a much-loved character and fleshing them out and because I’m quite dedicated, I think as an actor, I do delve deeply and I think deeply and I like the responsibility.
“And I think there’s a risk involved because obviously you know that you won’t please everybody, and I think that little bit of danger of the fact that you could so easily fail, I think that also appeals to me.”
Pike’s co-star Daniel Henney admits he did wonder how fans would react to the cast.
Daniel Henney and Rosamund Pike in The Wheel Of Time. Pic: Amazon Studios
“In the beginning, there was some trepidation because of how many books have been sold and how beloved they are,” he told Backstage.
“But I was pleasantly surprised once we started and once we got to know The Wheel Of Time fans and the fan base, and how lovely they are, and how supportive they’ve been.
“I think that we’re just so lucky because it feels like they’re just an extension of us, a team, and they’ve been more of a support system than anything, which is not what I sort of anticipated in the beginning when you sign on to something that’s so beloved and there’s a lot of pressure, but it’s turned out to be a real asset for us, to be honest.”
Rosamund Pike in The Wheel Of Time. Pic: Amazon Studios
Pike and Henney’s characters are extremely close – but the relationship is purely platonic.
The actress said that meant developing “a kind-of shorthand” between the pair to show how well they know one another.
“They hardly have to make a tiny meeting of the eye to know what one another’s thinking, and it’s important that when they’re fighting together they don’t have to be in one another’s eyeline to know what the other one is doing,” Pike explained.
“So things like that, which is perhaps not immediately obvious, but often we are back-to-back, but we’re completely aware of one another in space and anticipating the other person’s move.
“It’s a lovely thing Robert Jordan wrote in the development of this bond, it’s a really cool thing to play with, and one I think the audiences will really, really enjoy.”
Henney said it meant straying from the norm when it came to filming certain scenes, saying: “I remember the stunt guys when they choreographed the sequences initially, they’d done a great job, but there were some moments where they included moments for me to look directly at her and to sort of make those moments stand out.
“And I said, I didn’t want that, I wanted it to be much more sort of on an unspoken level, that we don’t have to look at each other, we could feel each other.”
Rosamund Pike in The Wheel Of Time. Pic: Amazon Studios
Pike’s character can use magic, harnessing light in order to cast spells, and she told Sky News she drew from the practices of Tai Chi and Qigong in order to make the performance feel authentic.
“I want to feel that when she’s pulling these threads, there’s something that she’s actually getting hold of… And I wanted to just avoid at all costs something that doesn’t feel connected, the kind of relying totally on visual effects to make me look cool,” Pike said.
“I just thought ‘I’ve got to believe because surely the most interesting part of this character is the cost to her of channelling – what is the physical toll of these massive elemental forces coming through your body?’ That’s what’s surely interesting about the one power.
“Robert Jordan stresses that if you’re not trained in it, it’s so intoxicating to use it that you draw more and more until finally, it burns you through and through, like an incredibly strong narcotic.”
The Wheel Of Time is out on Amazon Prime Video – hear our review in the latest episode of Backstage – the film and TV podcast from Sky News.
Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.
Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.
Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.
Tom Cruise said ‘I wish you well on the next journey’. Pic: AP
Val Kilmer in 2017. Pic: AP
His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.
“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.
“I wish you well on the next journey.”
The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.
Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.
Tom Cruise at Caesars Palace on Thursday. Pic: AP
Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.
He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.
Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
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He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.
In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.
The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.
Bruce Springsteen is to release seven albums of mostly unheard material this summer.
The US singer said the songs, written and re-recorded between 1983 and 2018, were being made public after he began completing “everything I had in my vault” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a short video posted on Instagram, Springsteen said the albums were “records that were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released”.
The 83-song collection is being released in a box set called Tracks II: The Lost Albums and goes on sale on 27 June.
Some 74 of the tracks have never been heard before.
Springsteen first teased the release on Wednesday morning with a short social media video accompanied by text which said: “What was lost has been found”.
Tracks II is the follow-up to the star’s first Tracks volume, a four-CD collection of 66 unreleased songs, released in 1998.
Bruce Springsteen at New York’s Carnegie Hall at a tribute to Patti Smith last month. Pic: PA
The New Jersey-born rocker, nicknamed The Boss, last released a studio album in 2022.
Only the Strong Survive was a collection of covers, including songs by Motown and soul artists, such as the Four Tops, The Temptations, The Supremes, Frankie Wilson and Jimmy Ruffin.
The late soul legend Sam Moore, who died in January and was a frequent Springsteen collaborator, sang on two of the tracks.
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Springsteen is coming to the UK in May to launch a two-month tour of Europe with his E Street Band.
The shows will include performances at the Co-op Live in Manchester and Liverpool’s Anfield stadium.
The singer-songwriter has sold more than 140 million records since his debut on the music scene in 1973, according to his website.
Entertainment
Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail
A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.
Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.
“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.
The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.
Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.
He also set up social media accounts in his name.
Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.
Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.
The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”
Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.
Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”
Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”
Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”
The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.
‘I know where you live’
On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.
The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.
Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”
Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA
Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.
“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.
“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”
Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA
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Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.
He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”
Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.
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