Sauron Charlie Vickers and Celebrimbor Charles Edwards talk about Rings of Power | Web series

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Charlie spoke about his transformation from the “human” Halbrand to Sauron’s righteous form, Annatar, in the second season. His approach to depicting pure, unbridled evil on screen and not judging his characters by their actions.

LOTR mega fan Charles takes us back in time to discuss a piece he wrote about the revered fantasy series and the doomed fate of Celebrimbor this season.

Excerpts from the interview:

My first question is for you, Charlie. In India we have an actor called Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He plays a lot of evil characters, basically gangsters, serial killers and murderers.

Charles: So he gets all the good parts.

Yes. He’s one of the most brilliant actors we have. And he’s often talked about his approach to these characters and says that He never judges them as good or bad. They are humans and he has to approach them as such. If he judges them, that will affect his performance and the way he sees them. Now that Sauron has become completely evil and is having a lot of fun with it, what is your approach to playing him?

Charlie: I think it’s very similar. I think you have to understand the character’s role in the story, right? I know that Sauron is the villain in this story, but I don’t find it helpful to approach it that way. I think I approach it from the perspective of what is the core of the character, what does he want, and what is stopping him from achieving what he wants.

And often it’s the obstacles that are in the character’s way that determine their behavior. So sometimes you have to act irrationally to get what you want. Some people will. And it’s always hard to think of Sauron as a human being because he’s not. But I think we look at him from the perspective of humanity. But I don’t find it helpful to think of him as good or bad. I think it’s just about trying to get what I want to get.

Charles, I was watching some of your interviews even before the first season premiered, and you were talking about writing a play about JRR Tolkien. What was it about?

Charles: There was a movie when I was a kid, in 1978, an animated version of The Lord of the Rings.

Bakshi’s.

Charles: Yeah, exactly. And I was very, very obsessed with it. I bought a little book that was like a comic book of the movie. It had stills from the movie and little speech bubbles. And the dialogue from the movie was in the speech bubbles, so it’s like a comic book. I just copied all that onto a typewriter and wrote the play.

Has it ever been done?

Charles: Haha, no.

Charlie: Who was the main character? Is it just a movie?

Charles: It’s the movie on stage. It’s Lord of the Rings, the story. Well, I was going to play Sam and all that, and he became the main character, of course. His role was slightly expanded.

The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power Trailer:

And fans will know that Celebrimbor isn’t having a great time in the future. If you could rewrite his fate, how would you like it to go?

Charles: If you could rewrite his destiny? That’s a good question. Without specifying, of course, what his destiny is. Um… I think I would probably keep him on this path, but with some resolution. I think I like the fact that he’s become shady as a character. I think it’s interesting.

Charlie: Like on earth.

Charles: (laughs) Yeah. Yeah, in the mud. I like that. I mean, it’s morally murky. I think it’s interesting to interpret and observe, but I would like to see it resolved in a different realm perhaps, with a different outcome.

When the trailer was released, many people had different reactions, but the most surprising thing was how good Charlie looked as Annatar. I read one comment… it was hilarious… “My mother asked me, ‘Why did they replace the actor?'”

Charlie: That’s good. A few people have told me that and I love it. I think it’s great.

Charles: But you know what? It’s the same as acting with Charlie. It feels totally different.

Charlie: Thank you. I think that’s what I’ve always liked about acting, it’s like not being myself at all. And I think that’s quite fun.

But were you ever afraid that it might have the Clark Kent effect, that you’d just put on a blonde wig and be assumed to be someone else?

Charlie: That’s how the showrunners planned it, because yes, I look and feel quite different, but my face is more or less the same. But I think the fact that the showrunners wrote it is that Celebrimbor doesn’t know anything about what I did. Because Galadriel has enormous shame, and she’s the only one who knows about Sauron and she couldn’t bring herself to tell him.

People were confused, wondering how they would manage to bring a new form of Halbrand and not have the elves realize it was him. But I think the logic of it all is very well done in the first episodes.

Charles: Yes. Once you see how they did it, yes.