Transcribed from audiotape as best as I could — English is not Marcus'
first language (his accent is just like his fellow Austrian, Ah-nold
Schwarzenegger) and often his voice went from a deep boom to a mumble
in the space of a couple sentences. So though there are gaps in
his talk, I hope you can still enjoy what's there. Please send any corrections
or clarifications to me at AdamMethos@aol.com
or leave a note in the Guestbook.
[Square brackets] indicate either (1) my paraphrase of parts of the tape that weren't
clear, (2) proper names where I'm not sure of the spelling, or (3) explanatory
notes or commentary to make the text more readable.
[laughter] indicates laughter from the audience.
[?] indicates I don't have a clue what was said.
Ellipses indicate quotes dropped because they either weren't clear on the tape or they
were repetitious/redundant and don't add any new info.
All audience questions are paraphrased for brevity's sake (some people took a while to get
to the point) and because many of them weren't clear on my tape.
Now here's Marcus...
You didn't know how to swordfight before "Revelation"?
I have a little bit of experience through my aikido work. But aikido work is completely
different.... And for the fight with Adrian I had to get used to a dagger
in the left hand and a sword in the right hand.... It's totally weird;
you have to use both hands. And [Adrian?] was so nice. [He] teached
me more than three hours, bits of choreography you have to learn —
and I forgot.
On the bridge there was a little mistake... I ended up cutting Adrian's [arm?] twice. Not
only once — twice. It was this movement where I had to [demonstrates]....
I forgot that one. It went like [demonstrates]. Swish. "Uh, excuse
me. Sorry, sorry." [But Adrian's] a really neat guy. He went, "Okay.
Do it again. Do it again."
Was it also your first time riding a horse?
It was not the first time riding a horse. It was the third time. It was the third time riding
a horse and [I had] a very nice horse this time. Big huge tall FAST
horse. I know Valentine told you yesterday that I wasn't quite where
they were. When they were there, I was there. [laughter] But the horse
knew what to do with me.
Do you miss playing Caspian?
Not at all. I mean, not the character. I'm not missing Caspian. I'm missing the fun of work.
Caspian's not a character to miss.
Would you like come back on Highlander?
He's dead. If there is a — to go into politics — the Four Horsemen and what they
represent, and the idea of the Four Horsemen, my personal point of view
is that they are there to show us how far gone we are today. Because
if you look around, the economy, the ecology... whatever, there are
more than Four Horsemen.
I heard you're studying to be a paramedic?
I am a paramedic. Well, there are a few stages to being a paramedic.... This is my third
part. I won't feel good without it but I won't feel good without making
music either. I won't feel good without acting. It belongs together.
If you are working in a job that is artistically somewhere in the sky, making music or
painting or acting, you leave reality. And if you want to know what
you are talking about, you need to know what life is about. And I think
being a paramedic shows you what life is about, life and death.
I already work as a paramedic. It works like that: You have to go to school for a certain
amount of time. Then you have to go into service for like a year and
a half. Then you go back to school and you finish that in two and a
half years.
What do your patients think of the tattoo on your head?
Yeah. They were like AAAAHHHHH!!! [laughter] Actually, there's one little funny story.
We were called to a chemical plant where there was a little gas accident.
Two of the guys... were inside of a huge tank thing. They were unconscious.
[Later] in the ambulance, he came conscious again slowly, [looked at
me and said], "Am I dead?" [laughter]
That's one of the reasons why I decided to [grow out my hair over the tattoo]. Because
they already [are in] a stressy situation and they have to think that
they are going to be rescued. And to be saved by someone who looks like
that, it might... scare them.
How did you get cast in Highlander?
When little Marcus was making music with a wedding anniversary, I met a guy who became
a friend of mine in Paris. I left Vienna to go living in Paris. He left
Paris to go living in [a German city]. He's a painter. He's making a
living painting storyboards.
He used to work for Gérard Hameline, who was the director of "Comes a Horseman."
He was painting the Horsemen for him... [and he thought that I could
look like a Horseman]. And that's what I did to get a job. We made the
photo [of me on horseback], send it there, Gérard liked it, and it had
to pass the producer. The producer said, "Oh yeah, we need to do
a casting video." And that's what I did, a casting video [with]
a hand camera in the backyard. And the band's bass player [played] Silas
[in] the casting video.
[I] couriered it over to the crew who had already been working. And the next day [I got
the job]. This one call I'll never forget — Wednesday, 11 o'clock
in the morning. [The Highlander people called me up. I said,]
"What? Tomorrow?"
What other acting have you done?
Theater stuff. Mostly theater stuff in Germany, small little theater things. But hopefully
I will be acting [more] on screen.
What shows are you interested in doing?
There are a few series coming up that seem to be interesting but I don't know how they
work, or when they work. It's Total Recall, The Crow....
Q:
Boring. It's really really boring. It's the same when you do TV. You do have the chance
to get rid of all the mean things you do. You do have the chance to
be mean and nasty....
Q:
I'd like to play a mean guy... but not a psychopath like totally crazy and out of it,
but much more intelligent, but still a psychopath. This is what I like.
[something about music]
I'm much more a singer than anything else. A natural. It's easy.
What are your favorite movies?
[The] first Highlander is one of my favorites. Twelve Monkeys is one I like.
Q:
Well, both Peter and Valentine had met a little bit earlier than the rest of us came
together, but there was something magic between us. It just developed.
Within the first day we were — well, within the first time we were
in makeup — [laughter] I don't know what it is, but there is something
between us that is a strong friendship.
Valentine told us that he referred to Peter as Squadron Leader Wingfield?
[Marcus laughs] Well, funny stories here.... Richard Ridings [Silas], very [?] guy,
and he made these people[?] till four o'clock in the morning. So we
passed by after shooting, maybe two o'clock in the morning.... Four
of us, or just two of us — it depends upon the schedule —
we were sitting, drinking, singing Irish tunes till five o'clock in
the morning. [starts singing]
There's this one thing when we were in the pub and we decided to rehearse the scenes
that we had to do for the next day. We were talking quite normal [then]
one second it was, we were in the role. I was like [crazy laugh]. And
you can imagine that when Valentine is friendly like you, all of a sudden
he is like [evil look]. "Excuse me, sir?" But after half an
hour, I was in my role too.
One of the dialogues we had: "What is the first rule of great drama?" We rehearsed
it, then all of a sudden Peter was like, "Suck your cheeks in."
[laughter] From that point of time, what was the first rule of great
drama was [sucks in cheeks]....
There's tons of stories like that. As you may know, I was known as the party-type. Quite
funny.
[ To top ]
What is your impression of conventions?
I don't know yet. This is only the second time. I don't know what my real impression is.
I think it's interesting that people dedicate themselves that much to
an idea, a whole series of ideas. There are so many things about it....
You may know more than Val and I, for example.
There's the [?] side again. I think you come to a point of awareness that you are a
power, political power, already, just because you come together. You
can do something good. You can do something good for this planet. Then
I'd say, yes, this is good for something.
Just because you are a fan, it gives you something to make you happy, and what I like
about it is the direct contact between [actor and audience]. Like at
this thing, I come a little bit closer to the audience and I know what
the audience is thinking.
Can you see the conventions continuing even though Highlander is
finished filming?
I think that the idea of Highlander, and everything about it, will go on. I think
there will be tons of conventions.
Are you going to the big Anaheim con?
If I get invited, yes. [evil voice] You know what to do!
In case of being invited, I will be [?] because there's no point coming to — I mean,
I have to take my paramedic exam too. If I go to LA, I will stay for
a week or two. That means one or two weeks without learning.
Can you see yourself playing a vampire?
Vampire role? It depends on which vampire. If it's a vampire like Interview with a
Vampire —
Audience: Lestat.
Well, I could imagine to be something like that. It depends what it is about. As long as I
don't have to drink blood. Red wine's okay.
How do you manage to balance the acting with the paramedic life and your
band?
It's a permanent fight. Well, I do have my stuff to learn here [but] I didn't [up to]
now. I think I have to learn on the plane back because tomorrow there's
another exam.
If you have a 24-hour day, there's enough time. It just means you have to concentrate on what
you're doing at this certain moment. You have to be very focused.
[something about the cause that his band is involved in, Mother's Torch]
Nothing's really happened by now. There is one web site under construction since a year....
I want to see how it goes on in the next couple months.
You know what I want is, I want small groups all over the world getting into contact
with each other over this web page.... I'd like them to create a consciousness.
As always, if one of them starts recycling trash back home, this is
already something. This is what I want. I don't want anybody to freak
out and become a green warrior over the Earth. There's no use. Just
awareness, that's all....
There'll be information over the net.... The more e-mails I get, the more I can respond. And
if people are interested in doing a regional/local Torch, we have to
discuss it.
What type of music does your band make?
M.E.L.T. makes kind of guitar, alternative, independent rock. If you have seen "Modern
Prometheus," we have three songs from M.E.L.T. in "Modern
Prometheus." My record company is a small label, very small actually
— too small. [laughter]
Have you been to the U.S.?
Only for pleasure. Holidays. I don't want to live there.... I can't imagine living in Los
Angeles just because it's happening there. Or living in Vancouver because
it's happening there, and this is the way to get a job.
[something about his tattoo?]
... And because I feel very close to the Celtic culture.
[something about a crystal he's wearing]
This one in fact, only two months. But I had another one finished the same. I gave it
to a person who means a lot to me because I thought she needed it. But
I've been wearing the crystal two years. It came about the same time
as the tattoo.
Would you like to play hero roles — like be the Duncan MacLeod, save
the day and get the women — [laughter]
Well, I don't mean to be Mr. MacLeod, you know. [laughter] You know, playing the goodies
is pretty boring and the huge roles are mostly [?]
What kind of theater work have you done? And do you get the same kind of
feedback as at conventions?
It's another kind of feedback, but it is feedback. It's something similar to a rock 'n'
roll concert. Yes! And it's always the same. I'm always gonna be [?].
It's what I did last year.
Do you ever see yourself becoming a politician?
... Somebody stands up, saying what he is thinking, and trying to get other people thinking
the same way, he's already a politician. But [being in public office]
is such a huge responsibility. I don't know if I'm able to [do that]...
I'm sure one day Mr. Schwarzenegger will be president of the United
States. [laughter]
Do you think the Horsemen are actually a gang of two leaders and two members?
It is a gang of two leaders and two members but somehow they all need each other. All
four are necessary to be the one big apocalypse.... I don't know if
characters like they are able to like, actually like each other. They
need each other somehow.
[someone asked a question in German]
It's a question that's related to the Bible because when you're talking about the one
episode, people were afraid because they knew ever since ages the Horsemen
were feared. Somewhere in the world, if they did something bad, they
had the rumors.... It's a good question why and how people could have
forgotten, and now they appear again. That is interesting, something
I have to think about. I can't give you a straight answer.
