Lara Pulver: Acting opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman was "thrilling"

RADIO TIMES
Susanna Lazarus
3:46 PM, 06 March 2014



For Lara Pulver, the role of Irene Adler was a "gift". Not only did it afford her the chance to play opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman - "no mean feat" - but it gave her the opportunity to show exactly what she could do. A performance we're still talking about, two years on.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-03-06/lara-pulver-acting-opposite-benedict-cumberbatch-and-martin-freeman-was-thrilling

“Hugh Bonneville has a fine arse” Lara Pulver on the Sherlock effect, why she’s embracing more sex and violence in Da Vinci’s Demons and the lure of Bond

By PAUL SIMPER
Last Updated: 19th April 2013

FORMER Sherlock actress Lara Pulver plays Clarice Orsini, the seductive wife of Lorenzo Medici, in David Goyer’s violent, raunchy fantastical imagining of the life of the young Leonardo Da Vinci, Da Vinci’s Demons...

Lara, last time we spoke you had just finished Spooks and were flying back to LA when you got a call from a certain [Sherlock co-creator] Steven Moffat.

Mr Moffat. I did indeed. I wrapped Spooks then read the episode of Sherlock — A Scandal In Belgravia — on the plane back to LA. They said to me: “Come back” but I’d literally just landed so I managed to persuade them to let me tape myself in Los Angeles and send it over. I said: “Let’s use the fact that I’m eight hours behind you. You watch it and tomorrow if you still want me to fly I will wake up at 7am and I will get on the first plane.” [Laughs.] And that’s what I did.

Has it been a life-changing role?

It really has. It’s been a catapult into the big world of the industry.

Have fantasy fans been excited about you being cast in Da Vinci’s Demons from the moment it was announced?

I think David Goyer has such a loyal fan base that there has been that, but there’s been a lot of mystique about this show and what it actually is. There’s a lot of humour — dark humour as well as wit. Then there’s a childlike element. David Goyer has managed to create this mystical world where anything is possible. We’re challenging everything we thought we knew about this man — Leonardo da Vinci — and saying there’s a huge part of his history [between the ages of 18-33] that we don’t know about. So David Goyer is showing him as a Renaissance superhero.

People do also get their kit off, don’t they? Firstly Hugh Bonneville...
He stepped up.

With a fine arse.

Yes, very well put. It’s a fine arse!

Do you also have your moments?

I think the show isn’t unflinching in any way. Whether it’s sex, violence, religion, politics — we face everything head on. It’s bold. And yet not for one second did I feel uncomfortable with any of the subject matter. Actually it was just thought-provoking.


READ MORE: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/tvmagazine/celebqanda/4893789/Da-Vincis-Demons-star-Paul-OGrady-Hugh-Bonneville-has-a-fine-arse.html

Sherlock's Lara Pulver Stars In 'Da Vinci's Demons' - Full Of 'Sex, Violence, Religion, Philosophy' In David Goyer's Fantastical World Posted: 16/04/2013 15:55 BST | Updated: 16/04/2013 16:33 BST (HUFF POST)

The last time Lara Pulver removed her clothes, to show Sherlock Holmes who was boss (the whip helped), the Broadcasting Standards Council had to go and have a lie-down.

So when Pulver warns us that her new show is "extremely bold, it's no 'Downton Abbey'", we should probably feel duly warned. The 'Spooks' star plays Clarice Orsini in David Goyer's new ball-busting, brain-aching TV epic 'Da Vinci's Demons' which, according to Pulver, contains "sex, violence, religion, philosophy, it's all there".

With breakthrough star Tom Riley in the title role, and a roll-call including such names as Hugh Bonneville and Laura Haddock, Goyer (writer of Christopher Nolan's 'Batman' trilogy and the forthcoming Superman reboot, 'Man of Steel') has created a world set in the Renaissance of Florence, following the story of the young Leonardo Da Vinci, with the city's battle with Rome throwing up a florid backdrop.

As for her character Clarice Orsini, Pulver describes her thus: "A devoted wife, she loves and supports her husband to the nth degree, she's an all, confidante and to a certain degree the power behind the throne. She's an all-round good egg."

With the huge and diverse cast, all decked out in Renaissance punk costumes, swords flashing and clothes dropping to the floor, 'Da Vinci's Demons' sounds as though it may appeal to the same huge fanbase currently clamouring for 'Game of Thrones'.


READ MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/16/lara-pulver-stars-da-vincis-demons-david-goyer_n_3092714.html?just_reloaded=1

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville to star as naked Duke in new Fox drama Da Vinci’s Demons! April 12th, 2013 by Anna Howell. (UNREALITY TV)

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville is to drop his heirs, graces and, um, trousers, in his new role as the Duke of Milan in new Fox drama Da Vinci’s Demon’s, the Daily Mail reports!

Bonneville, who plays the highly sophisticated Earl of Grantham in the hit ITV period drama Downton Abbey, says he has no reservations about appearing naked for his new, controversial role.

Da Vinci’s Demon’s is a television drama series about Leonardo da Vinci’s early life, written by David S. Goyer for Fox and Starz networks, with the first of eight instalments due to premier on April 12 2013.

The historical fantasy, filmed in the Welsh coastal city of Swansea will explore the untold story of da Vinci “inventing” the future at the age of 25, and is also rumoured to involve the mystery cult known as the Sons of Mithras.

Bonneville, who appears in the series alongside his former Lost In Austen co-star Tom Riley, filmed the part shortly before filming for the fourth series of Downton began earlier this year and said of his casting:

“When Tom Riley calls and says, ‘How do you fancy playing a naked, hungover git who gets assassinated?’, you tend to say, ‘I’m free on Thursday next week.’”

MORE: http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/downton-abbey-star-hugh-bonneville-to-star-as-naked-duke-in-fox-drama-da-vincis-demons/

Hugh Bonneville in Da Vinci's Demons clip (yet another bare bottom shot)

Hugh Bonneville's bare bottom, a treat few of us will ever see...click below

CLIP FROM DA VINCI'S DEMONS

Hugh Bonneville bares all in 'Da Vinci's Demons' 'Downton Abbey' star reveals a side of himself fans won't see on PBS By Mekeisha Madden Toby Tue 10:31 AM (SOCIAL ENTERTAINMENT)

"Downton Abbey" fans will see actor Hugh Bonneville like they've never seen him before when he appears in Starz's new series, "Da Vinci's Demons."

The drama, which debuts in April, will feature a pants-free Bonneville in the beginning of the first episode, no less.

We know Lord Crawley has hit a financial rough patch in Season 3, but nudity? That is not suitable behavior for an Earl. What would the Dowager Countess say?


READ MORE:http://social.entertainment.msn.com/tv/blogs/tv-buzz-blogpost.aspx?post=fde48b19-c5d8-4dc3-9fa0-b0fdaa465249