It’s double the trouble between Miranda as aeronaut Lee Scoresby and his daemon Hester.
Most people probably wouldnt consider acting in a sprawling fantasy television saga as a vacation.
Most people arentLin-Manuel Miranda.
HBO
This, he reiterates of filming the show, is the holiday.
Arctic hare Hester, voiced by comedian Cristela Alonzo, is Lees better half.
Obviously, I knew the musical, I knewHamilton, but we were there, we were seeing it.
HBO
It was incredible, she says.
I do, youre right.
This is the holiday.
Its all exciting and they are all very different muscle groups.
I feel like each strengthens the other and thats how I think of it.
I know youre a big fan of the books.
It was a pretty overnight [process] from the offer of Lee Scoresby to yes.
So, its actually been wonderful.
No one is more Sam Elliott than Sam Elliott.
I have to tell you, I wouldnt be the first person to cast me in this role.
Theyre not the Texas that is usually represented on screen.
They dont sound anything like Yosemite Sam.
They live in San Antonio and Corpus Christi and further south.
Im channeling a bit of my cousins and my uncles.
You hadtweetedthatHis Dark Materialsmade you a better actor.
What was most challenging about this role?Theres a number of technical challenges to it.
Working with Dafne [Keen, who plays Lyra] was enormous fun.
Shes incredibly grounded and a wonderful actress, especially for someone her age.
I guess the biggest challenge was just really staying grounded in a very heightened world.
I think the daemons, too, are an interesting narrative exercise.
What couldve been an internal monologue now becomes a conversation between two characters.
Its such a great end run around a Shakespearian soliloquy.
Its cool that a Latino actor playing a Texan aeronaut also has a Latina voice actor.
When youre on set, what are those conversations like with the voice actor?
Is it mostly blocking or are you trying to get in the same headspace?Its both.
Youve got a voice actor, youve got a puppeteer.
They should show you a picture of the arctic hare puppet.
Thats enough to get me there and the puppeteers are so talented…
I dont think I saw any artwork until about two weeks before I started filming, which was exciting.
Im thrilled with where they landed.
It feels not of this world, but adjacent to this world.
His Dark Materialspremieres in the U.S. on HBO this Nov. 4.
