Josh Dallas hit the jackpot getting the role of Price Charming himself in ABC’s incredible drama Once Upon A Time, which has put both American and British audiences under its spell with a cracking opening series.
The smash hit show returns to UK screens this Sunday and in preperation we grabbed a few minutes with Josh to have a chat about the show, his time in the UK and something else.
Season two starts this Sunday for us Brits, what do we have in store?
It’s a game changer. As we left of in season one, there was this big purple cloud coming in to Storybooke. This changes everything; we now have magic in the real world as it were. What does that mean for the residents of Storybrooke? Well, they’re going to remember who they are.
David’s going to remember he’s Charming, Mary Margaret’s going to remember she’s Snow. They’re going to have this life though that they’ve lived for 28 years in this town though, so there’s going to be a lot of disruption happen in Storybrooke and there’s going to be a lot of questions asked by all the people there. What is this smoke and what does this mean for us? If the curse is broken, why are we still here? What’s fairy-tale land like, we’ve been away for 28 years, what’s going on there?
We’re going to find all that out in season 2. We’ll see present day fairy-tale land is like and there’s going to be a lot of chaos happening in the town as people want answers. They’re frightened and scared and it’s a whole new world for them. Literally.
The show’s been such a massive success, but did you think it was ever going to be this enormous?
Well, you can always hope, but you never really know what’s going to strike a chord with people. I mean, it definitely did with me when the script came to me. I read it and it was nothing like any other pilot I’d seen.
It was totally different, it felt like it was something that hadn’t been on the air for ages in the terms that it’s something the whole family can sit down and watch. It really has something for everyone. I felt that was a real selling point of it. That as well as the storytelling, the writers weave these tales is super unique and really, really creative. For an actor, to have the opportunity to play all these different characters within the same body is awesome. It was definitely something I wanted to be a part of and hey, I’m glad it all worked out!
It must be a bit of an ego boost to have people wanting you to be Prince Charming?
There are worse things I can be called for sure. People ask what it’s like playing Prince Charming, but it’s not something you really think about when you go to work. That really defeats the purpose, you’re there to play the man as he’s written on the page and that’s what’s so interesting about the writing of it and what’s so great about what Eddie and Adam have done.
They’re taken these iconic characters that we all know and love and said “OK, but this is what you don’t know about them”. I think what they’ve done is make these characters more relatable, especially in the case of Charming. They’ve made him someone who is both that brave, honest, courageous guy, he’s more relatable than usual I think. Especially when he’s put to the juxtaposition of David Nolan in Storybrooke, who can’t be everything that Charming is.
You’ll see in season two a moment with David where he speaks to the town and says that they’re all both of their characters and their bad and their good sides make them what they are. There are just so many great things in this season that you’re going to love and it goes in places you just don’t expect.
The show’s chock-a-block with great characters, but are there any you’d love to see come in?
Another great thing with this show is that they’ve set it up so that we don’t have to stay in fairy-tale land. As we’ve already seen, we can go into all sorts of literature, as you’ll see more in this season, which I think is really exciting. I’d love to have Ariel and Prince Eric and I think we could even go into totally different areas and get characters like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, Jack and the giants. Hopefully we’ll seem those sort of characters come in.
You get lots of people sending in fan art of Charming, what’s that like for you?
First of all, it’s a huge surprise that they’re interested in me at all (laughs). It’s awesome though and a testament to the show and how it excites people and gets them involved. We wouldn’t be doing the show unless they were watching and when they send in drawings they’ve done of Charming, Snow White or whoever, it’s a huge compliment. It’s a huge compliment to the show and to us personally.
You’ve acted in both America and in the UK, do you think there’s a different style between the two?
No, I don’t think so. I trained as an actor in London and went to Mountview Conservatory as it was called then and lived there for eleven years. The acting training there I think is the best in the world., but the style’s not different. Everything you do, no matter what it is, be it musical theatre or a movie, the pieces that go into it and the subject matter brings its own style and you learn to adapt to that. It’s a little sunnier, but that’s probably about it (laughs).
If you’re lucky enough to work with great actors and creative people, they’re always just going to be who they are, so I don’t think there’s a difference between the Brits and the Americans. We have a lot of British people on the show though, which is awesome too.
We’re not arguing on the weather, it’s been snowing pretty heavily over here.
Are you kidding me? That’s insane! It’s kind of magical in London though when that happens, there’s this weird kind of quiet that goes everywhere. I remember walking miles and miles from the West End to near Swiss Cottage where I was living at the time in the middle of the roads because everything had been shut down by this crazy snow storm.
It was this great sense of community coming together as hundreds of people were just out on the roads walking to where they needed to go. Everyone was just in the same boat and it was a really cool moment.
You came to a lot of people’s attention in the Thor movie, do you regret not being able to reprise your part for the sequel?
Definitely, that was my first part since I came back home from London. To work with Ken Branagh was amazing; it was always a dream of mine to work with a man as creative and talented as that. To be on a Marvel movie as huge as that was awesome too. There are some regrets, but I’m going to be first in line to see the sequel and I’ve got the best day job in the world now, so it’s a win-win for me.
So, finishing off, is there any news of a third season being confirmed yet?
Nothing’s confirmed, but if I was a betting man I’d say it would be something we could look forward too, where hopefully we’ll be seeing more of these characters’ backstories and have more people come in and play with us.
Once Upon A Time returns to Channel 5 this Sunday at 9pm.
Tagged in TV Josh Dallas