Sunday, April 18, 2010

Silence, s'il vous plaît!

In other words, "Quiet on set!" That's right! On Wednesday we finally made it out to Pierrefonds. The castle is straight out of a fairy tale, perhaps why it was chosen to represent Camelot, and it looms high over the town. Sarah won major friend points all day for putting up with all my squealing and grabbing and going, "A big car! I wonder if it's Bradley and Colin!" Just so there's no further confusion, Bradley James plays Arthur and Colin Morgan plays Merlin.

The Château de Pierrefonds was closed for lunch when we first got there. As we waited to go inside all these vans kept pulling up and all manner of film equipment was being unloaded. I've never witnessed a film set before and it was absolutely fascinating. If any of the crew are willing to switch jobs with me, make yourself known! At 2 o'clock I wandered into that oh-so-familiar-looking courtyard where Prince Arthur had slayed so many mythical creatures. No sooner had I paused to take a picture of mammoth structure that I turned and saw Bradley James and Colin Morgan walk right by me. Arthur, I mean Bradley, was in his chainmail and I have to admit I was struck speechless. It's a very weird thing. I've never been around an actor before, but seeing him dressed as this character I couldn't distinguish between the two!

Once Sarah could finally snap me out of la la land and what was apparently some intense blushing, we toured the castle. La la la, yes it was enchanting, but I was distractedly peeking out of every window to see any signs of filming. After walking through the parts of it that we could (some of the rooms were closed for filming) we sat outside with the rest of the tourists, all English speakers and fans of Merlin. I only just started watching this show since coming to France. And I've generally referred to it as a guilty pleasure, but apparently this little quest has turned me into a groupie. Bradley and Colin came down to talk to the fans, but when I was one person away they were called back on set. Oh well! It was still really neat to get to see them and be on a working set. I'm not sure which episode of season 3 we were there for that day, but I can tell you to watch for the episode where there's what looks like a saracen attack on Camelot, possibly a dismembered skeleton, and Arthur having a sword fight in the stairwell. Ah! It was just such a unique opportunity! I can't believe they were actually filming and I'm so glad we got to go!

P.S. There's almost nothing funnier than seeing the knights of the roundtable taking pictures of each other with their camera phones! Except maybe "Prince Arthur" lounging on the front steps of the château, rocking his Oakleys.

7 comments:

  1. SO COOL! So glad you got to go. And you know that was only the beginning of your film-set experiences. Ahem, ahem. :)

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  2. :O It's YOU! Ok that sounds completly stalkerish.. BUT I was checking up on the Merlin season 3 set report and stumbled across this and then went ":O THAT WAS ONE OF THE GIRLS I MET!" .. I was british and qued next to you to get rejected one person away from Colin Morgan :( , oh well Bradley James going "Fine then, if no-one wants me I'll be over there!" was kinda worth it still :P

    By the way my friend (who also needs major friend points for putting up with me) and I have nicknamed you and your friend "The Life savers" because we woulda been screwed without your amazing French skills :) So Thank you! :D

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  3. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!! This is the biggest surprise! Hello!!!! Well you were a life saver to me for standing in that line with me so I didn't feel like a total teenie (even if we kind of were)! What a great day (even if the buses were totally crazy and old men got to meet Colin and Bradley instead of US)! Can't wait for season 3 and finding out what episode we were there for!!

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  4. Nah! You kept me company in that line too!! And I know! It's rather unfair old men got to meet them and we didn't!! And you know we saw that skeleton... I think they might actually be fighting skeletons.. a little 80s Clash of the Titans but well I still can't wait to see it all :D I'm going to force Becky (my mate) to watch that episode and be like "We were there!! We were there!!! :D :D :D" ^^

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  5. I've been going through season 1 again and every 5 seconds I'm like, "Oh my GOSH I was THERE!" It makes it very difficult for other people to watch it with me- haha. Fighting skeletons, huh? Ahhhh!!!!! I don't even know! I'm so excited!

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  6. Same! I've been sitting here going ":O I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THAT IS! I'VE BEEN THERE!!" There's way more of Pierrefonds in then I thought, or rather you just notice it more now :P Becky (who was my friend who cam with me) started watching it when we got back and after every episode I'd just get a text saying "GOD! It's just used so much!!!" I have to go back there again!! It was so pretty!! And you know, the attractive men didn't really hurt :P

    I just can't wait till September!!

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