"Da Vinci's Demons" Season 2 - Diva Gets Character Insights From Laura Haddock and Gregg Chillin

There is just one episode left in Season 2 of "Da Vinci's Demons" for the folks in USA.

The good news is that, before Season 2's finale is being aired, Starz TV has already announced the renewal of the fantasy-drama series! Whoopee!

Season 2 has taken Leonardo (Tom Riley) and his mates, Zoroaster (Gregg Chillin) and Nico (Eros Vlahos) on a strange and very bloody journey to the other side of the world - South America. Once there, they had to grudgingly rely on their nemesis Count Riario (Blake Ritson) concerning the Book of Leaves.

In another storyline, Lucrezia Donati (Laura Haddock) makes a trek to Constantinople with her Asian guard in a bid to save her father.

At NYCC 2013, Red Dot Diva was at a press roundtable with Gregg Chillin and Laura Haddock to find out more about their characters in the series. Gregg Chillin, with his curly mop of hair and delightful dimpled smile, was as chilled out as his last name suggests. At one point, he even distracted Laura because he had a sudden bout of the giggles. As for Laura Haddock, she was absolutely stunning in person. Red Dot Diva thought her beautiful cheekbones were to die for. Throughout the interview, the passion she has for the character Lucrezia was quite evident.

(For a previous interview article with their co-stars Blake Ritson and the lovely Carolina Guerra, head to this link!)

Here's what Gregg Chillin and Laura Haddock shared about their roles in "Da Vinci's Demons":

So smiley!

In Season 2, Florence has become a dangerous place for Lucrezia to stay in, so she embarks on a huge journey that is not just physical but also emotional. In addition, Laura revealed that there is a flashback sequence. "We got to go back in time, and got to check out Lucrezia seven or eight years ago, and something had happened in her life that was so huge and epic, that affected everything," Laura said.

When another journalist mentioned to Gregg about Blake hinting that Zo may not be back in Season 2, Gregg scoffed and said that that was Blake being "a naughty boy".

"At very early on the season, Nico gets kidnapped and Zo doesn't care about the Book of Leaves. He hasn't seen it and he doesn't want to risk his life anymore. So there's an interesting thing that happens very early on that says 'I don't care about your book but I'm going to come with you. We are going to get Nico back, and then after that, we're over. I'm done. I've been through enough.' There's an interesting dynamics when we go to the New World. We are at odds with each other and knowing where we both stand but the only people who know each other in this strange, scary new world. And having to stay alive essentially, and help each other."

Gregg continued, "The intriguing thing this season is that many of the characters we know from Season 1 are thrust together in weird situations."

At least he was being honest!

"Yeah. We got quite a few scenes where we got to work together and discover each others' habits," Laura chimed in. "That was cool. We got wet."

"We got very wet," Gregg said. "A couple of days in water. In my speedos and your cozzie..." Of which that last comment and the memory of the experience made Laura laugh out loud.

"It was fun. Really fun!" she said, "It was good. We didn't work together that much last year so at the end of last season, David said, 'I really want to throw characters together who haven't experienced each other yet.'"

Both actors were then asked what kind of mental tools they brought to the table in this constant game of chess that goes on in the series, check out the video clip below to see what they both said:




When asked if there was anything else that Laura would like to do when in character, she had some problems trying to think of something appropriate. "I never feel that there was something I'm missing. We could get to bungy-jump... Water ski? I'm joking."

Laura continued, "We have such good actors on the show, and some of the most enjoyable, satisfying scenes are where we are just having a conversation. All the physical stuff are great. And all the crazy journeys, fantastical stuff is brilliant, but actually, putting two actors and giving them some really lovely words and really sentiments and a story and to be able to sit there and just talk. One of my favourite scenes are where Da Vinci and Lucrezia are in that room and talking."

What if their Zo and Lucrezia could have a reboot in the series, what would they change or do differently?

"I'm talking from Lucrezia's point of view. There were opportunities with Leo to tell him more. If Lucrezia were to have a do over of a night with Leonardo, it would be to say more," Laura said.

"What would you say?" Laura asked Gregg.

"I would say nicking a coin from Vlad's castle might have been a bad move, so we'll see what happens there," Gregg said, cryptically.

Somehow that sentence made Laura laugh as she recalled a particular incident when she was shopping at Sainsbury, and the guy at the till went 'Oh my days! You're Lucrezia of Da Vinci's Demons! I love that show!' Then, he said to her accusingly, "You killed Juliano, man!"

"And I was like, er..... yeahhhhhh. Sorry," Laura said, as all of us at the press table started laughing. "So maybe don't kill Juliano! Don't try! He was angry with me and didn't even put my stuff through the till."

---------------------------------

Trailer of Episode 2x04:



---------------------------------

Red Dot Diva has one more "Da Vinci's Demons" interview article to share with all of you.
Can you guess who the interviewees may be?? :)

Check back on the blog again soon!

---------------------------------

In this region, "Da Vinci's Demons" Season 2 airs on FX Asia (SingTel mio TV Ch. 310, StarHub TV Ch. 507) every Sunday at 10 PM Singapore time, with repeats of previous episodes during the week. The penultimate episode "The Enemies of Men" (2x09) aired a few hours ago.