Michael Hirst
Michael Hirst
information
When I did 'The Tudors,' there was massive information available and a ready-made market.
difficult director friend god passion position welcome wrote
When you're a screenwriter working on a film, you're not really even welcome on set, even if you know... When I wrote 'Elizabeth' and Shekhar Kapur was a friend of mine, but I wasn't really welcome on set, because the director is God and it's a very difficult position for a screenwriter who's put so much passion into that, into the writing.
people
With 'Vikings,' I had the task of making these people interesting and, to a point, sympathetic.
almost bit huge normally outside
For 'Vikings,' we have to do so much outside shooting, and it's normally - I think with American shows, it'll be 60 or 70 percent inside and a little bit outside, but with us, it's almost 70 percent outside, and that's huge and really difficult.
good love people
People love cliches. If you can give people cliches, that's very good TV, then.
loads love maybe might offer people sort
People offer me loads of stuff, and some of it I like, but I just can't do it because I can't write it all. So I might get in the position where I have some sort of company and just write maybe the first episode, but these are love projects, in a way.
america pass
If you're in America or Europe, walk for three blocks, and you'll pass about 14 Vikings. Their reach was immense.
democratic exercising far felt popular social structures time
I felt that a lot of Viking culture had been caricatured and misconstrued. After all, they were far more democratic than the Saxons and the Francs, who were exercising really hierarchical social structures at that time. The Vikings had popular meetings where everything could be discussed.
anyone characters love sure towards
I couldn't give 'Vikings' away - I mean, I love these people. And I'm not sure anyone else writing it would necessarily have the same feeling towards the characters that I do.
writing thinking comedy
I think comedy is the hardest actual form of writing there is.
idols lennon
I only have one idol: John Lennon.
character interesting perfect
It works better if your lead character is complex and interesting and not perfect.
love reading age
Once I engage in something, I really engage in it, and I love the process of reading and researching because I come from an academic background.
bit characters goes hemingway historical honestly human knowledge material writers
The key for me with historical characters is they're interesting because they're human beings. A little bit of Hemingway goes a long way here, but journalists and writers should honestly look at their material and have a real interest, a real passion in what they want to write, and they should also have a lot of knowledge as well.