As soon as people really get into the swamp - the scary swamp that is 'Fortitude' - there's no getting out of it. You need about six to seven episodes in to really go, 'This is what it's about.'
— Richard Dormer
'Fortitude' is like the world in microcosm. It's like watching America or Russia, only you're isolated. Once you're inside, you can't escape.
When I was 16, my friends were in a drama group, and they asked me to join. I said no, I'm not interested, that it's not really for me.
Sometimes you even start to sound like the character because you're living and breathing them every day on the set. It gets into your bones.
So much Western storytelling comes from Scandinavia. I've read that in the past, storytellers would travel to Iceland and exchange stories. It's kind of the birthplace of great storytelling.
I grew up with the idea that someone might hate you if they knew what religion you were; being afraid to open my mouth because my accent might make people think something about me. Or even if they didn't, would they understand me?
In scale, 'Fortitude' is just as big as 'Game of Thrones.' It's equally as epic - it's just starting out.
I met David Croft. He was a man of few words. But he had great charisma.
The first director I ever worked with on 'Thrones,' he had a big hand in casting me. He said he cast me because there was a bit of an Alec Guinness about me, but a very dangerous Alec Guinness.
I think, as a writer, you see the big picture, and as an actor, you're thinking of all the minutiae, all the very small details.
Gene Roddenberry is one of the greatest guys who ever lived because he gave us hope that the future might be bright and we could accept one another for whoever we were, even if we were alien. That's an amazing message, don't you think?
I could live in a community like 'Fortitude.'
If you close one eye and imagine a bright light constantly in front of the other eye, your vision is compromised. You can only see about 30 percent of what you should be able to see.
Having a weapon like that means you're pretty much in control of events. Nobody's going to argue with a flaming sword.
I think the benefit of being a writer is that I'm looking for the subtext on the page, because all good writing has subtext. And as a writer, you look at the big scope of things, the big story, rather than just your individual story line, because I think it's important to know what you're in and how you fit into it.
There was that sense that as soon as a Northern Irish person opens their mouth, you go, 'Ah, terrorist,' so I refused to do TV and film. Instead, I did theatre for 20 years.
