Category: Series

The Prague Reporter interviewed Prague born British actress Anna Rust who’ll be playing Fleury in Andrew’s upcoming series Carnival Row.

What can audiences expect to see in Carnival Row?

A great story, brilliant cast and an absolute and utter visual delight. It’s set in a fictional neo-Victorian fantasy world, in which humans and mythical creatures live alike, and follows the investigation of the murder of a fairy showgirl on Carnival Row. It has a somewhat film-noir feel to it. There’s nothing quite like this show.

Can you tell me anything about your character, Fleury?

Fleury is a mischievous fairy living on Carnival Row. You’ll have to wait till 2019 to find out more!

Carnival Row is set in a fantasy world full of mythical creatures; how much of that did you get to experience on set through practical effects & set design?

The majority of filming took place in a studio, which meant most of the sets were built uniquely for the show. The set designers added so much detail to every part of the world – just stepping onto those sets was magical.

Carnival Row shot for six months in Prague. What kept the cast & crew busy when not filming?

A lot of us weren’t permanently in Prague so we shuttled between the U.K. and Prague whenever needed, but when we had downtime, we did lots of lovely dinners, get-togethers, drinks… As we soon realised, Prague has no shortage of great places to go out!

(Source & full interview: The Prague Reporter)

The Austrian online paper “Kleine Zeitung” also reported about the “Amazon Prime Presents” event at the Curzon Mayfair Cinema in London this week (English summary below):

Ganz vorne mit dabei ist sicher “Carnival Row“: Die von René Echevarria und Travis Beacham entwickelte Serie, die kommendes Jahr bei Prime Video starten soll, handelt von einer magischen Welt, in der mythische Kreaturen ihre Heimat verlassen müssen und auch eine gute Portion Krimi mit von der Partie ist. “Mir war einfach wichtig, dass dabei auch gesellschaftspolitische Themen verhandelt werden”, sah Cara Delevingne eine Parallele zwischen Fiktion und Realität. “Immigration ist allgegenwärtig, und man muss darüber diskutieren.”

Ähnlich sah es ihr Co-Star Bloom, könne man mit dieser “Fantasywelt” doch einen “Blick von außen auf unsere Gesellschaft” werfen. “‘Carnival Row‘ ist dabei wie nichts, was ich zuvor gelesen habe.” Viktorianische Einflüsse seien ebenso dabei wie Steampunk-Anleihen. “Und letztlich können wir in diesem Rahmen größere Fragen verhandeln.” Delevingne, die eine Fee spielt, sieht in ihrer Rolle auch eine “Empfehlung” an die Menschheit. “Dieses Volk nimmt nur von der Natur, was es braucht, gibt aber auch etwas zurück. Außerdem ist sie eine Überlebende, sie kämpft, ganz egal was man ihr entreißt.”

Für beide Schauspieler sind es die ersten Gehversuche im Serienfach. “Es war toll, mit vier verschiedenen Regisseuren zusammenzuarbeiten”, so Bloom. “Dadurch bekommst du immer wieder einen neuen Zugang zu dieser Story, was eine echte Entwicklung nach sich zieht. Diese Flexibilität habe ich sehr genossen, es war gleichzeitig aber auch eine Herausforderung.” Nicht zuletzt die an verschiedenen Orten abgehaltenen Dreharbeiten brachten den Hollywoodstar ins Schwärmen. “Was sie etwa in Prag aufgebaut haben, war unglaublich. Diese Detailverliebtheit: Das ist wirklich ein Zeichen dafür, welche Größe diese Serie erzielen will.”

This summary was done by the author of this blog post. Please keep in mind that the quotes have been translated from English to German and then back to English, so we can’t guarantee 100% accuracy:

Carnival Row is set in a magical world where mythical creature have to leave their home, and it also includes a murder mystery.

Cara Delevingne sees a paralell between fiction and reality and says it was important to her that the show addresses social and political themes. “Immigration is omnipresent and we meed to discuss it.”
She also sees her character, a fairy, as some kind of “recommendation” for humanity: “It’s a people who only take from nature what they need but they also give back. She’s also a survivor, she keeps fighting no matter what is taken away from her.”

Orlando Bloom adds that with this fantasy world you get to take a look at our society from the outside. “Within this framework, we can address bigger questions” and “Carnival Row is unlike anything I’ve read before.”

For both actors it was the first time working on a multi-episode show and they enjoyed working with four different directors. Orlando Bloom liked the flexibility and calls it an advantage but also a challenge to access the story with a new perspective with each director. He was particularly impressed by the film sets in Prague, especially the attention to detail. “It’s a sign which greatness the show is goingt to achieve.”

“Der Tagesspiegel” also features an article about the event but Carnival Row only gets a brief mention.

One of Andrew’s upcoming projects we are most excited about is Carnival Row. So far Amazon hasn’t announced a release date yet but we’re obviously not the only ones getting impatient!

Travis Beacham, one of the creator of Carnival Row, replied to a Twitter user’s question on 7 September 2018:

David Gyasi, who plays a character named Agreus on Carnival Row, answered the same question on 31 August 2018:

We’re hoping for more and more detailed information soon, and will keep you posted as usual!