Mark Hadlow: From a teenage bully to a dwarf…

Interview – 2014

Actor Mark Hadlow made his television debut as a teenage bully in Children of Fire Mountain. Later he joined the sitcom version of The Billy T James Show. Hadlow's flair for comedy earned him starring roles in Just Me and Mario and TV series Willy Nilly. He has also worked director Peter Jackson — from providing voices for a hedgehog and a hippo on Meet the Feebles, to playing a troll and a dwarf in The Hobbit trilogy.

In this ScreenTalk, Hadlow talks about:

Turning disappointment into triumph with Children of Fire Mountain
Being hospitalised after an accident on set
Working hard in the starring role of film Just Me and Mario,
Having fun playing a dopey Australian on Bill y T James Show
Being nominated for a 'best actress' award after playing a hippo and a hedgehog in Meet the Feebles
Never having a bad day on the set of Willy Nilly
How co-star Sean Duffy influenced him on the show
The best six weeks of his life: rehearsing with Naomi Watts for King Kong
Bringing Bert the Troll to life in The Hobbit
Being teased mercilessly by fellow actor Martin Freeman

This video was first uploaded on 21 January 2014, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

I keep using the word "amazing" because there's no other way to describe it. We had the grey suits with, you know, the balls, so that they could get us in mo-cap, and we had to put the voices to it. And how extraordinary to see what was put on top of you when the film came out: this troll, this huge troll, who was a chef...
– (Mark Hadlow on acting in a motion capture suit for his role as Bert the troll in The Hobbit)

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