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fellthemarvelous · 5 months

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Staged and Good Omens: The discontinuity of a story within a story within a story.

I'm watching the third season of Staged again right now, and I think I've figured something out.

The discontinuity that people are talking about of Good Omens 2.

Staged 3 was a very modern version of A Christmas Carol. Ep 1. Is there a version? (David and Michael work with Simon again) Ep 2. Who's Playing Who? (Scrooge, episode was a farce) Ep 3. Past (Michael and David are co-dependent af) Ep 4. Present (Michael and David fail to write a script) Ep 5. Future (David tells everyone they are doing a live show) Ep 6. Knock, Knock (Simon gets even, ending is sad but not really because they are just taking a break and breaks don't last forever, and Simon gets a job offer based on his script for Knock, Knock, the one story he didn't write.)

The epic trainwreck that is David and Michael's live version of A Christmas Carol is actually a hit, but everyone else has to convince them to stop the show because it can't go on forever. So they end it with Michael and David agreeing to take a break from working together even though it makes both of them sad.

But the whole premise of Staged was that everything was filmed on iPads, computers and cell phones. And it was submitted to Simon so he could piece it together.

Simon Evans wrote Staged as a love story between David and Michael. Simon writes what he sees and finds ways to incorporate fiction into reality. He saw them on Good Omens together and he saw the chemistry between David and Michael, and he turned it into a comedy about these two eccentric actors who clearly love each other. And they agreed to star in it.

They improvised most of it, but Simon laid out the framework of the plot for them to follow, and then he let them be themselves.

The entire show has layers upon layers of meta weaved into it.

Anyway, my point is...

This post is one of several that covers the different ways discontinuity seems to occur during Good Omens 2. The evidence is very compelling.

I'm not here to point all that out because I don't have the strength of some of the meta writers in this fandom, and they're already on top of it, but if we look to Staged as an example, what is the plotline that Good Omens 2 is following?

Good Omens 2 is a modern version of.... Ep 1. The Arrival Ep 2. The Clue (A Companion to Owls) Ep 3. I Know Where I'm Going (The Resurrectionists) Ep 4. The Hitchhiker (Nazi Zombie Flesheaters) Ep 5. The Ball Ep 6. Every Day

What are the stories happening around Aziraphale and Crowley? They're the focal point of season two, but what else is happening?

Neil Gaiman has said that everything means something. They aren't just showing us these things by accident. There is a story happening outside of Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship. And we are all looking closely for that person doing a very odd thing just out of sight or objects being moved around without knowing how they got there in the first place.

There was literally an entire scene in Staged where they are trying to figure out who is playing Scrooge and Simon is so anxious that he keeps moving his plant between two different spots in the room. It also ends up with Georgia accidentally planning her own birthday party because David is in Tokyo. But then they cut at one point and you learn David was actually in his bedroom and not a hotel room in Japan and Georgia didn't really just plan her own birthday party. That chaos was scripted. David has to change clothes, they have to go several minutes back in the scene they just did, but as Anna points out, the sun is not in the same place it was when they started the scene. And then Michael loses his shit at Simon and storms off.

You think that's the reason Simon left, but then we get the episode where Georgia tells David Michael wants to write the script and then tells Michael that David wants to write the script. She does it so she can get them alone in a room together because people love watching them argue. They find out she set them up about six hours later. They are hungry and hot and annoyed and mad at her so she gets Simon to come back to work with David and Michael. Simon comes back from cosplaying as a dentist, brings the food Michael ordered hours ago, and sits down to write. Michael gets pissed off at Simon again because Simon forgot the prawn crackers, so he throws his food at Simon.

Some of these are of the past. Some are of the present. They were all filmed at the same time though so you don't know what happened when or why.

These scenes are all cobbled together. They tell a complete story though. The order just isn't exact.

The story we are seeing in season 2 isn't the real story. It was happening around Aziraphale and Crowley, but with them at the focal point, you get a romantic comedy and it distracts you from what's going on in the background.

There is more than one story in season 2. It's basically a jigsaw puzzle that we can try to piece together, but we won't know what's actually happening until we get the much needed context of season 3.

There are clues all over the place in Good Omens 2. The story is being told through so many other methods except for the one that makes the most sense to us because someone doesn't want us to see what's coming, so we get distracted by Nina and Maggie, Jim, Aziraphale and Crowley.

We know Muriel and Saraqael are up to something. We know Shax and Furfur are up to something. We know the Metatron is up to something. What we don't know is where God went. We hear God's voice in Companion to Owls and we hear God's voice speaking through and with Jim when Crowley orders him to tell them what is going on. It ties directly to the first time Crowley and Aziraphale ever worked together.

We know that Aziraphale is going to Edinburgh and he knows exactly where he's going because he and Crowley have been there before. It challenges the concept of good and evil because Crowley does the good thing and gets sucked into Hell. Right next to Gabriel's statue.

We know that Aziraphale picks up a hitchhiker even though he doesn't want to, and it turns out to be Shax. She reminds Aziraphale of the time that Furfur caught them working together. There were zombies and human magic tricks and Aziraphale uses sleight of hand to save Crowley from being dragged back down into Hell again.

The episode titles of Staged 3 all represent different chapters of A Christmas Carol. But it was more than that because Michael is upset with David for doing adverts without him after they were both asked to work together at first. They love each other and they love working together, but it's preventing them from doing other things they want to do. Hence the break from working together.

It's a story within another story within another story.

And I think that's what we are witnessing in Good Omens. Things aren't happening in the right order. Beyond the sadness of Aziraphale and Crowley splitting up, there is still the next apocalypse to deal with. The story we are getting in season two isn't happening sequentially. It's being manipulated to hide the signs that things are already underway by giving us a love story as a distraction.

And it works very damn well. Because the love story was beautiful.

Staged 3 ending

Good Omens 2 ending

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens theories #i am in no way saying that this is the answer #but it hit me while i was watching staged #staged #david tennant #michael sheen #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #michael and david

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sixshotsofespressoinabigcup · 9 months

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Oh fuck me. I can't be the first to made this realization but whatever. I have no idea how to include gifs and I can only do discrptions but heck. I need to spill this or I'd explode.

In short: Michael Sheen is a brilliant actor and I now view the whole kissing scene with a lot more hatred towards heaven and Metatron.

Yeah, Aziraphale literally mouthed "no we can't" when Crowley said "Just be an us", and he was shaking his head. The mouthing and the denial are old news, but Michael Sheen, being the master of micro expressions and body language, is one WICKED actor.

Before that when Crowley said Tell me you said no, we got like a blurred shot of Aziraphale's back, framing the fram, and he was turning his head. Only at the bookshop window, at Crowley, then he look down. THAT can't be just requirements of cinematography because the frame had plenty of space, which is the whole shoulder space and more to show Crowley's face. We can afford a slight head-tilt without losing the view of David Tennant, so it's gotta be choice. He looked down in some sort of shame, but he was weary about what's outside the bookshop window. He was not looking for ways to retreat because he is not afraid of Crowley, and if he wanted to look for an escape route he would look to the left(deeper in the bookshop), or over crowley(to the staircase).

Then, when the confession started, Aziraphlae was not listening, his first facial expression can be discribed in one word in capital letters: WHAT. Then when Crowley continues, the meaning of that "WHAT" soon became clear, it's not that he doesn't know, it's "do you really think this is a good time dear?" and "Are you sure you really wanted to continue my love???" He was busy panicking, too scared to listen. he gave way too many side glances to the window, glaced "up" too many times,(In the close up Michael's eyes didn't went still and fixed on David until the "And we spend out existence..."line) and probably hoping fanatically for the demon to STOP. This is not a good time, and he can't react to this confession properly and honestly.

What's outside the bookshop window? News flash, it's not the world now. It's HEAVEN, literally! It's Metatron and Muriel, but especially Metatron.

We can all agree Aziraphale was heavily abused by heaven, he acted like an abused indivisual. and I can only imagine what the admixture of emotions were like when the confession happened. Outside, there's one of his abusers breathing down his neck. Who knew everything, who didn't really approve of it and can hurt both of them if they wanted to. Inside there's the love of his life doing a full-hearted love confession, longing to be loved back, to have response and reassurance.

In the name of the world his choices were limited at best and he needed to react fast.

It's a fucking miracle he managed to look NORMAL when going into that blasted lift.

#good omens #gos2 spoilers #ineffable husbands #ineffable spouses #aziraphale #Michael Sheen I am in your bloody walls #THE SUFFER

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thesherrinfordfacility · 8 months

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https://thesherrinfordfacility.tumblr.com/post/727753998120140800

I was generally asking/ranting. Your ramble made perfect sense and I do agree with pretty much all of it. I have more I must rant about though and I hope you don't mind me throwing this all in your inbox. It's not aimed at you specifically, don't worry.

Why did this fandom decide Neil suddenly thinks Aziraphale and Crowley are not in love just because he said two scenes were not sexual? The oxribs could be taken that way if you want, but it wasn't written to be. The kiss had nothing at all to do with sex and everything to do with a desperate being trying to make the person he loves understand. Neil saying neither of those situations were sexual does not mean Crowley and Aziraphale are not in love. He's said the opposite, along with both Michael and David, far too many times for years now for anyone to believe that. And yet here we are.

Just a few weeks ago we were praising the kiss as smashing the queerbaiting allegations and now half the fandom is right back to saying he's never really thought they were a romance. Insisting that because he thought the idea was odd several years ago it must mean he's lying about it now. That he and Terry didn't plan it this way since at least 2006. Or, even worse, that he thinks gay sex is gross and would never put anything like that in without being manipulated into it.

Because he said sometimes an oxrib is just an oxrib and a desperate attempt at communication wasn't at all sexual.

It's been giving off very strong feelings of "this queer romance doesn't count unless they have sex" goalpost shifting. We've already had more than enough proof that Aziracrow are completely in love, but unless they have sex then Neil's just a queerbaiting liar? Do people not realize how alienating that is to read as an ace fan, even one who wouldn't mind a fun sex scene?

It's also spitting in the face of a man who's been an ardent ally for longer than most of this fandom's been alive.

This rant is about people telling me I'm wrong for supporting this beautiful queer love story because two male-presenting characters aren't having sex and so it doesn't actually count as a queer romance. This is about people telling me I'm wrong for supporting the man who gave us this incredible story because he said two scenes aren't sexual in nature and so he is nothing but a manipulative liar. This rant isn't about defending Neil. He doesn't need me or anyone else to do that.

(for anyone that wants it, a direct link to the previous ask anon has copied above)

hi again anon!!!✨ personal thanks from me - im always humbled (and never have any objection to) when someone feels they can come to my askbox with these kind of commentaries, it really does make me so happy that they feel they can!

i just do occasionally worry if sometimes what im reading as an upset/angry tone (not saying yours was, it was just how i read it!) is a direct result of something ive said/done. so again, thanks for calming my anxiety surrounding that, and popping back to clarify!!!

now idk, by nature of this being a rant, if you wanted to get any answers from me or my opinion, but you're on my boat and im the captain, so it's a bit tough-titties im afraid💕 and once again, will probably repeat a few things you've put more succinctly than i have, but fuck it.

honestly? i cant even begin to give you a basic answer, anon, because i just... don't get it. i think from the tweet exchange that (kinda?) blew up, people took neil saying, "Why did you see it as sexual?" a little bit out of context. to my mind, the op of that tweet literally referenced "The very end of season 2", and that's what neil was responding to (and later confirmed in an ask); the kiss was never intended as sexual, exactly as you've said.

i think possibly some have read it as him being shitty about the concept of sex and specifically in reference to aziraphale and crowley, cross-referenced this with other things he has said (again, more than likely never meant in the context they're being interpreted), and arrived at the above conclusion. it's strange to me, because he has categorically stated that their relationship is intended by him as the co-author as a romantic one. at the very least.

now, he (and sir terry) may not have personally intended them to be romantic at the beginning. but a) neil has been very representative of queer culture and identifications in his other work; the queer element in GO is not exactly strange to be coming from him (ie it's not a bolt out of the blue, and therefore would be potentially performative or queerbaity). and b) as i said in the previous ask, there is a lot of queer representation in GO, of all different types, including gay/lesbian rep. it's not just aziraphale and crowley that are queer in the story, and therefore easily deniable - that's literally not the case. so i do not understand, on this basis, where people can draw the inference that he is homophobic. i just can't - that's a pretty hefty con to have played for so long and so diligently.

i think, from what ive seen, that one of the things that people take issue with is neil's assertion that as supernatural beings, any label as to their sexuality or gender (and how one informs the other) is not applicable to them. i think this has been seen as dismissive of aziraphale and crowley being gay and/or potentially having a sexual relationship. in my opinion, this assertion is narratively clever. first of all - no, they are not human, so on a very base level, sexuality and gender as constructs do not apply to them. they are originally gender/sexless. but this i think only serves to show that aziraphale and crowley are multiple things, and none of those things, all at once. they can be anything you want or interpret them to be, until expressly told otherwise in canon.

on screen, their faces and physiques and chosen presentation however, to my mind, present as human males. but, being crass, we do not know what genitalia or body parts they may or may not have at any given time. they have never described their sexualities (although, in aziraphale's case, assumptions have been made by others). so if you want to interpret them as cis, or intersex, or trans, or non-binary (including non-binary, genderfluid, agender, or bigender), arguably all of those are correct! the only confirmations we have had, iirc, are that, between them, they have used "he/him" pronouns, used the title "Mr", crowley has confirmed he is not a 'lad', and he has previously presented as female. no, human constructs do not technically apply to them, but that leaves their gender and sexuality open to interpretation. i personally hc aziraphale as a cisgender, gay male, and crowley as a non-binary, but usually male-presenting, bisexual person. others may agree, others may not. that the beauty of it!

narratively, these are two supernatural creatures that are, however, going more and more native - they have assimilated to and absorbed a lot of how humans present themselves and interact with each other, on multiple levels. as supernatural beings, they are practically alpha centauri itself (genderless, non-human things that are in a constant orbit and relationship with each other - and then throw in the fact that they love each other deeply). as supernatural-beings-that-have-been-on-earth-for-millennia, however, they are arguably becoming more like what i mentioned above - human. this to me, personally, means that they may identify as male and nb respectively, and may identify as gay and bisexual respectively, and (again, imo) i think would - at this stage - be open-minded to the act of sex. but as i said, once again, in my previous ask - it's perfectly valid if others do not interpret their journey this way.

about the above specifically? im really sorry that you're being faced with this, anon. that is grossly and completely unfair. i don't think you necessarily need me to tell you this, but in case you do - imo, you are completely reasonable and justified for reading them as a queer romantic couple that, canonically, have not had sex (and that this has no bearing on their love story). romance and sex are not the same thing, one can and does exist without the other, and the concept of that separation is not deserving of being pathologised. whilst neil certainly doesn't need anyone to defend him, i think it is always still nice to support the author that has written a story this beautiful, symbolic, and illustrative - and imo, not deliberately misunderstand what he has or hasn't said✨

#good omens #ask #big virtual hugs or otherwise reassuring gestures to you anon 💕✨

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shipaholic · 9 months

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Episode 5: “The Ball”

Good Omens S2 Ep5. This is a liveblog, so spoilers!

- ‘Autistic Aziraphale’ this, ‘autistic Muriel’ that, we need to talk about autistic Shax.

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- “Are you actually going through with this?” “Indeed I am.” “Can I watch?” OTP dynamic to rule them all.

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- “Are they going to talk about the Christmas lights? Because I have things to say.” “.......Yes.”

- This entire sequence is too delightful to stop and comment on, but I love all of these shopkeepers, all of Aziraphale’s methods of bribery, all his earnest, stilted French, and all of Crowley’s disbelieving poses in the background.

- On the flip side, Shax is babygirl and so is Eric, but sadly only one of them can live.

---

- Nina is asking Crowley if Aziraphale is his bit on the side and I am being extremely calm right now.

- The thing is! In S1, most of the comments other characters made about A/C being a couple were only said to Aziraphale. The only time it happened in front of Crowley was Sister Mary interrupting the tender moment that was the wall slam. And there was a lot going on then, so Crowley had the luxury of not reacting to it. This conversation with Nina is the first time he has had to nervously vomit up a denial to someone assuming Aziraphale is his boyfriend. Turns out his best retort is, “He’s just an angel I know”. Whoops.

- The ending to this scene is weird, though! Nina says something about other people’s love lives looking much simpler than our own, and Crowley suddenly looks like he’s been given weeks to live. I’d understand a thunderstruck look, but distraught? Why?

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- oh my god a date, Crowley’s set up a date, there’s wine and everything, the restaurant is French, they could have crepes!!!

- “Smitten, I believe.”

...............

SMITTEN, I BELIEVE

OK JUST SAY THAT LIKE IT’S NO BIGGIE

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- Good, Nina deserved at least one of the “fuck”s this season.

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- Ohhh Crowley’s got drunk and angry to talk to Gabriel. This, uh. This could be a whole thing.

- Aaagh they did a callback to “Let there be light” and made it SAD and kind of threatening

- Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit. Crowley’s going to give away that they did the body swap. Gabriel’s going to get his memory back and realise that it wasn’t really Aziraphale he tried to execute and he’ll know they’re not immune to hellfire and holy water. shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

- this scene is amazing and excruciating to watch. Crowley is so drunk and cruel and so recklessly protective. He tries to make Gabriel commit suicide. He’s possibly just endangered himself and Aziraphale both without realising. And then! He orders Gabriel back off the ledge and tries to get real answers, because he knows they’re important!

- David Tennant and Jon Hamm are both being phenomenal rn, and the empty house dialogue is a beautiful piece of writing.

- “Where is your memory then?” “In a matchbox.” AAAAAAAAHHHH.

- NOPE, I need the full dialogue down here:

“In a matchbox. No, I took it out first.”

“You took your memory out of a matchbox?”

“Yes, that’s right. I took it out, and I put it in the box and I brought it here, and it’s...”

“Yes?”

“Everywhere.”

“What else do you remember?”

“If it happens again it will make it seem like it’s an institutional problem.”

- Whaaaaaaaatttt!!! OK, thought: The last line about the institutional problem sounds like a direct quote. Either Gabriel said that, or someone said it to him. It sounds like a Michael line, potentially? And.... it sounds to me like somebody took Gabriel’s memories from him and put them into the matchbox, and then he or someone else stole the memories back from the matchbox and put them in the moving box for him to take to Aziraphale’s. So there might be two people involved here, one trying to harm Gabriel and cover something up, and one trying to help him and protect the lost information. It definitely sounds like he knew something he shouldn’t, and someone wanted him out of the way. The matchbox was found in Heaven, so that suggests an angel is the culprit. I would have pointed the finger at Michael immediately, but I’m possibly more inclined to look at the Metatron instead. I think this goes higher than Michael, somehow? I can see her trying to get Gabriel out of the way so she could be the boss, but it sounds like something bigger than that is going on.

(EDIT: Hang on!!! The whole thing about the matchbox is that it’s a material object! Muriel and Michael were uncomfortable touching it! Gabriel’s memory was taken from him ON EARTH, at the Resurrectionist pub, and whoever was sitting with him is probably the person who did it! But then how did the matchbox get into Heaven?)

And then there’s “everywhere”! Gabriel’s memory is everywhere? Is this because Aziraphale opened the box and let it out?? Also, I’ve been treating the memory Gabriel’s talking about as his entire memory, but maybe it refers to a specific memory? Perhaps the only way to remove the one important memory was to nuke all of Gabriel’s memories at once. I’m just waffling now, I have no clue what Everywhere could mean.

Finally, the line about the institutional problem. “If it happens again.” Could this be Armageddon? Is someone saying, if Armageddon fails for a second time, it will start to seem like an institutional problem? One that could only be dealt with by removing Gabriel?

I got NOTHING, and this is the last episode to figure ANY of this shit out in advance of the finale. My head hurts like Goob. :( I should get a hot chocolate.

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- How about that fly buzzing noise while zooming in the matchbox, huh???

- If Beelzebub is the one who took Gabriel’s memories and put them in the matchbox, but then Gabriel took his memories back out and put them in the moving box, then maybe he went to Earth/Aziraphale under his own power and Beelzebub genuinely is trying to track him down?

- .....I’m AN IDIOT who only just realised Gabriel was humming Everyday because it was playing on a loop in the pub, and it’s probably the last thing he heard before he lost his memory. Sorry, everyone else probably got there in Episode 3, I’m slow >_<

- Muriel repeats the obvious lie A/C told her that you have to wait a few days to see if humans are in love because humans are weird and that’s how it works. Michael, without skipping a single beat: “I knew that.” They. They’re just as dumb as Gabriel. Every angel is an absolute girlfailure.

- Muriel: “It’s just Aziraphale -” Uriel: “The traitor.” Michael: *odd little sideways frown at Uriel* What’s with that...? Does Michael just feel Uriel spoke out of turn, or is she a little bothered by calling Aziraphale a traitor? It’s a weird expression on her face, can’t quite read it.

---

- The bookshop! Everyone gets a magical transformation! Mrs Sandwich looks fabulous! Aaah

- One concern I had going into S2 is that most of the main characters appeared to be angels/demons, and it seemed as though humanity would be deemphasised, which struck me as out of keeping with the themes of the book. And, to be fair, no humans have got to drive the main plot this time around (so far). But I still love the fleshing out of Wickber Street and all the shopkeepers, and the various interactions our boys have with humans in the minisodes. Maybe humanity isn’t saving the world this time, but we are a vital part of what makes the world important.

---

- ...Oh dear. Ms Cheng. Who (or what?) are you...?

---

- This is enchanting, everyone looks beautiful <33 Love the magic shop owner and his spouse, those are some amazing tattoos.

- BEHOLD THE MAJESTY OF GOOB

- He is doing so well distinguishing the key differences between selling books and handing round canapes!

- Nina did get to say “fuck” again!

---

- PROTECTIVE CROWLEY STRIKES AGAIN and he’s protecting HUMANS, he’s protecting the people Aziraphale cares about 😭😭😭

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- The “seamstress” conversation is delightful. Maybe nothing’s up with Ms Cheng? Don’t know why there was that weird shot of her entering the bookshop, then.

- This is just the Pride & Prejudice dance, isn’t it.

- Aziraphale is the soppiest old romantic, look at his faaace

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- Aw yyyeah, everyone wants to fuck Goob

Goob: *does that thing with his face*

The People no longer want to fuck Goob

- “Tell me while we dance” IT’S HAPPENING

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- Shax still does her funny bobbing little walk in full battle armour. I love her.

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- OK, it’s not that all demons are vampires, it’s that the bookshop has its own demon-repelling forcefield. After the zombies I was fully prepared to accept anything.

- GOOB IS HEROICALLY SACRIFICING HIMSELF OH NO

- THAT OUTFIT IS MAGNIFICENT ASDKLGASD

- “T - O - S - T - ........... - E! TOAST!”

- This scene is somehow actually threatening, despite the fact that it is just Shax with a woeful army of scrub demons, none of whom can spell, demanding something that she is incapable of seeing even when it literally walks out and hands itself to her on a silver platter. Beelzebub was SO setting her up to fail.

- Crowley/Mrs Sandwich pals 4 life please.

- “You’re a good lad.” “I’m not actually. Either. But thank you!” NB Crowley canon dialogue, I never thought I’d see the day

- Nina: “Why don’t you stand up for yourself? Make your own plans!” Aziraphale: “Oh, I am. But rescuing me makes him so happy.” aaaaaAAAAAaaahhhhhhhhhh

- oh my god it’s the end of the ep, I’m not ready

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- Swing band theme song, you are my only comfort in this stressful time

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens 2 liveblog #good omens s2e5 #The Ball

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agent-snowflake · 7 months

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What are your expectations about the eventual 3 season of GO? Do you think it’ll have a happy ending? Neil said it won’t be romantic and i’ve seen a lot of queerbaiting and retcons before in other shows so…

Thanks for the question! :)

It‘s not that easy to find an answer and I hope you didn't expect a short one, because while I was writing some thoughts down, a lot of other things came to my mind that I would like to share.

So:

On the one hand, I would like to get surprised so that I don't have the feeling of being disappointed because I had imagined or wished for something different, but I think by now everyone has come up with one or more theories for themselves.

Of course I want a happy ending, I think we all do, but unfortunately I don't yet know what that happy ending should contain for me.

I’ve seen several posts in which it was stated that some people have the fear that Aziraphale and Crowley could lose their immortality and become human. I wouldn't be very enthusiastic about it myself, but I trust Neil and the ending that he and Terry came up with.

Even though it may not be the ending we want, I'm still sure that it will fit the characters and the story perfectly.

In my opinion there is nothing to worry about as Neil hasn't given us any reason to be upset.

He always makes decisions in the interests of the characters. Whether these are decisions that fans like or not is an open question.

And mostly I trust the abnormally good acting talent of Michael and David:

You bet, they will act their hearts out…and give us so much more than we‘re prepared for!

I want to be completely honest. The point: queerbaiting has of course now become a big topic (rightly so). However, I would like to keep it short: everyone who has seen the series knows that it feels different and there is no need to be afraid. You can tell that everyone who works on this show puts their whole heart into it and is very protective of it. For me it would be a huge surprise if it came anywhere near queerbating.

The second season felt like a break to breathe (let’s just forget about the last 10 minutes of episode 6 for a moment) and, in my opinion, was also very different from the first season.

The final season will be about so much more than just the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley. It's about the ‘relationship’ between good and evil and the war between heaven and hell, with Aziraphale and Crowley as representatives in the center.

It’s about the story and the show coming to an end.

As you said, the third season, which is still up in the air, isn't supposed to be romantic and frankly, after what happened at the end of the second season, it wouldn't make any sense. Neil said that the story of the second season is a transition into the third and that's exactly how it will feel if we are lucky enough to experience it.

That's why I think the third season (story-wise) will be very similar to the first season and everything will fall into place in the end.

It will again revolve more around external events than just focus on Aziraphale and Crowley.

A lot of things that happend in the second season will definitely make more sense and become clearer when we see the third one.

It would feel wrong to have a completely harmonious season 3 because there is a lot that needs to be resolved between Aziraphale and Crowley. Only then there is a possibility for the romance that we want so much. For this reason, I hope that even if the third season is not romantic, we get to experience at least a small part of the romantic relationship between the two before we say goodbye to the characters and the show.

Instead of an open ending, I’d like the last twenty minutes of the last episode to be an insight in what life could be like for Aziraphale & Crowley without their responsibilities from Heaven and Hell.

Just them

I also want both of them to be successful independently of each other but of course also with each other.

That would be my personal wish.

There are so many possible scenarios for the third season and I've read so many theories but there wasn't anything that made me think to myself: This is exactly what will happen in the new season. And that's what I love about the show! You can't prepare for it and still the expectations will be exceeded.

I'm looking forward to experiencing everything with an open mind and seeing what lies ahead of me. There are so many directions you could take this show that as a fan you can't do anything but think up theories yourself.

I also have a few scenarios that I could imagine, which I would like to explain again in another post if anyone is interested.

I hope that answers your question a little bit. :)

I guess it’s like Neil said:

We really have to wait and see

#thanks for coming to my ted talk #feel free to add your thoughts #good omens #Good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens 3 #aziraphale x crowley #aziraphale #crowley #michael sheen #david tennant #neil gaiman

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fuckyeahgoodomens · 3 years

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Ineffable Con 2020 Fun Facts

Fun facts from the Ineffable Con 2 (2020) guest panels :):

Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

David G. Arnold (the music composer)

Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

1. Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

What do they have from Good Omens:

Rob has the statue from St. Beryls, all four motorbikes from the four horsemen, Crowley’s Devon watch, box signed by David Tennant with Crowley’s sunglasses and Aziraphale’s cocoa mug with Michael Sheen’s DNA :).

Douglas has the playing cards from Episode 1 and heavily annotated Good Omens book they used for filming with inscription by Neil: ‘For Douglas, make us love, make us cry, 3rd August 2017’.

Neil has Aziraphale’s chair from the bookshop that he bought from the BBC and he uses it for Zoom meetings.

What is their favourite thing that was not in the book and was added to the TV show:

Neil: all of the first half of Episode 3 - an absolute joy.

Rob: also the beginning of Episode 3.

Douglas: David Arnold’s music and Peter Anderson’s front titles.

Could Aziraphale get out of the Bastille easily if he wanted to?

Neil: if he could: absolutely. Did he have any conception of the mess he was in: probably not. It’s one of Neil’s favourite pieces of acting - the absolute delight on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that Crowley’s there and then he turns around and rather petulantly, grumpily goes oh it’s you - that moment of joy on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that he’s been rescued is one of Neil’s favourite things.

Neil and yoghurt starter: I had this slightly mad thing where I would explain to everybody that fans were yoghurt starter. And I said, ‘Basically you start out with yoghurt starter and you put it into your warm milk and you leave it, and the yoghurt starter goes off and turns the entire thing into yoghurt.

Neil realized that there was a cat in his house (Neil doesn’t have a cat :)). After the panel Neil said that he was going to look for the cat with a can of sardines and Douglas joked that he would find Michael Sheen in a cat costume.

What was the best and worst about making the series:

Douglas: the best - the camaraderie, getting to know the people, the cast and crew.

Rob: the best - realizing that the book could be translated to the screen and watching it happen. The worst - coming to the end of the shoot and saying goodbye to everybody.

Neil: the best - the amount of love from everybody, the worst - fighting budget battles (producers wanted gone all of the cold opening and the death of Agnes Nutter).

Did they expect that Good Omens would attract so many LBGTQ+ people and how they feel about that:

Neil: Yes, absolutely. There are definitely people out there who seem to think that I accidentally wrote a love story with all of the beats of a love story including a break-up halfway through, without somehow noticing that I’d written a love story. And I may not be the brightest candle on the candelabra, but as an author who’s been doing it for a long time, I’m very well aware of when I’m writing a love story, thank you very much. And so from my perspective I knew that the love story would be one of the driving things that would get us from the beginning to the end. And I also made a bunch of decisions about our angels and our demons in terms of casting, in terms of gender that everybody backed me up on, which I loved. You know, the idea that the archangel Michael is played by Doon [Mackichan] is something that is... or Beelzebub is Anna Maxwell Martin, whatever, there’s... it’s not like we are going: these are women, there are men, we are going: these are demons, these are angels. They... this is not a thing. And also doing something like Pollution, where you go in and go: okay well if we were doing this in... if 1989 was now, if there were they pronouns, we probably would have done that. We didn’t think of it at the time but that’s no reason why we can’t do it now. And we did and I remember having a... not exactly a battle, but a... my very tiny skirmish with one of our execs who was very nice and very bright and was like: ‘Why are you saying they?’, and I’m like... and I... explaining, and he’s like: ‘Well I’ve never heard of that before.’, and I’m like: ‘Oh, okay, but trust me, just trust me, it’s all fine, just trust me.’

Douglas: And you know I have to say, just following on what Neil’s saying, I’ve been directing for quite a while, and I tend to notice if characters are falling in love, I tend to notice a love story happening in front of me, and I think it’s there, and everything is meant, guys, everything is meant.

Neil added: I would just say, there are some things that you do while you’re writing a script intentionally. The fact that... I wanted to do this, well, it was a thing I did that I really enjoyed doing... where whenever people accuse them of being a couple: they don’t deny it, they don’t argue, there’s no flustering on their part. They absolutely… you know, everybody… what I’m trying to say is: yes, other people in the story are perceiving them as a couple too. And here is Uriel perceiving them as a couple, here is wonderful Dan [Starkey, playing the passerby] …and you know, you do scenes like that because that’s... you are trying to make a point here and you’re trying to make a point on how people are perceived.

Season 2, yes or no [fiends, all three of them!]:

Douglas: What’s that?

Neil: Of what?

Rob: Is it muted for me as is for everyone else?

Neil confirmed that they are going to be Funko Pops. [yay!]

2. David G. Arnold (the music composer)

He didn’t read the book before he was approached to do the music. He was asked to do it by Douglas Mackinnon he knew from the Victorian episode of Sherlock and he said yes before even knowing what it was about because he wanted to work with Douglas again.

The first piece of music he wrote for the show was the brass band doing the Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon [Episode 6, in the park before the kidnapping].

The second piece of music he wrote was the lullaby that Crowley sings to Warlock. He always liked the lullabies like in Mary Poppins so he said to Neil: Why don’t we do it like Walt Disney, but if Walt Disney was possessed by Satan? That was about 7 months before he needed to write anything again while they were shooting and it kept going round his head the whole time - the melody stuck with him and when it came to the Opening Title of the show, this became the middle bit.

The original opening title was Everyday by Buddy Holly and each episode was supposed to be closed with a different version of it: a death metal version, an angelic choir version, a carmina burana version... and he actually made all those. But he likes to find the musical identity of the show and put it in the opening titles because it’s important and it tells you: ‘This is the word you’re going to experience’, so he wrote his own opening title with the lullaby in the middle and played it to them [probably Neil and Douglas] with Buddy Holly as the backup and: Neil just turned around in his chair and said, ‘That’s Good Omens.’. From that point the instructions were with no rules, just to create whatever he wanted: the further you can go the better, the weirder and the stranger you can think the better. It’s a rare thing to be shown a world like Good Omens and be let free to run around in it.

His favourite ending title is the Queen one in Episode 1.

One of the reasons he didn’t do a theme for Crowley and a theme for Aziraphale is that the theme of the show is theirs - it’s theirs and they share it and it’s both of theirs and there is no separating in that regard.

About Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship reflected in the music score: It’s interesting isn’t it, because the relationship changed in a way slightly frequently and majorly infrequently. It seemed right from the start that their relationship was somehow seeded and planted and had begun by the time we saw them even though they may not have realised it themselves, you know, with the pair of them on the wall, considering one is a demon in the Garden of Eden and one is an angel. They act very charitably towards each other and they act with a lot of things you might not expect. And underneath that there is a sort of sense of togetherness and support even though they both know that their paths are going to diverge and they have different responsibilities. So I always felt like, right from that moment, when the wing came up on the wall, that there was something special about their relationship. Three moments that stuck with him: in Episode 3 saving the books in the church when they completely rely on the other for survival in the way that they were very open about, one in the car outside the nightclub in 60s Soho - the Holy Water, you go too fast for me, that genuinely tearing, that there was reluctance in those words that he spoke and that sort of things as a composer is gold, it’s about making those moments more, and in the last episode in a scene they’re not event in when we see Adam and Dog in the fields and Anathema that music there which celebrates Crowley and Aziraphale’s music which is the theme of the show - their shadow has passed over everyone’s emotional journey, and everyone’s emotional journey is theirs as well. The argument in the bandstand was important as well.

His favourite leitmotif from the series is the lullaby.

About the scene in the car in episode 2 when Thomas Tallis changes into Queen: Terry’s favourite piece of classical music was the Thomas Tallis piece [Spem in Alium] so Neil asked if they can go from Thomas Tallis - a choral piece from 16th century - to We Will Rock You, and: ‘You never say no. You don’t say that you can’t do it. What you have to do is to be the first person who solves the problem.’ In the end it was a two-days work just for this little bit and he mentioned that he never had these sorts of challenges anywhere else before.

His favourite non-musical detail in the show - the crucifixion, how the scene was shot, how it was upsetting, and how it was made more effective by Aziraphale and Crowley’s inability to stop it, that they had to observe and watch it, that it had to happen. I remember seeing that at the time and thinking, I wasn’t expecting that level of brutal honesty, in terms of the pictures that I was looking at and what they chose to show. And I think all the more effective for it.

3. Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

When creating the costumes for the characters she started with mood boards.

Aziraphale - she knew that he needed to have something winglike in his collar so that’s why there are sweeping lapels very often. Using velvet [for the waistcoat] because that was nice and soft and had all the appropriate qualities. His watch and fob that has little gold wings hanging from it and other tiny bits of symbolism. Tartan bow tie. Beautiful cashmere checkered trousers - not quite tartan but a nod to it. A mid to late Victorian coat, Michael only made his decision on the coat a couple of days before the filming. Aziraphale in the present settled on a ring with angelic symbol and harp cufflinks, earlier his ring in ancient times has got a much more roughly hewn set of wings on it, so before jewellery making became sophisticated he modernised slightly - he magicked it up to be a bit more modern, more gentleman signet type of ring, but he never modernises entirely. His heart is much more in the past.

After they began to define Aziraphale they started to look at how the Heaven army of angels might look - the element of tartan came sort of from Aziraphale and the angels have a not-tartan kilt with a semi military type jacket and a military band across that might hold arms or not, because they are not really violent. She used spats to make them look quite neutral and genderless so hiding fastenings and concealing little details like that seemed a way to do that.

Gabriel doesn’t wear spats because he’s on Earth such a lot. His shoe has a cover with two buckles on the side giving the same neutral element. He wears a cashmere light-as-air suit.

The other angels are all in bastardized versions of what era they may have died in, so they could have died in the 1930s or the 1800s and the costume would have an element of that era about it - though of course as an angel you can change things.

The Quartermaster Angel - the costume is a combination of slightly Indian type military, maharaja pants, longer spats from another era, all combined pieces of military tailored to be magical and slightly nonsensical, as Heaven might be.

Crowley - she felt that he wrapped around like a snake sheds its skin so she wanted something double breasted because that seemed to envelope his snakey charm. David wanted to be more casual than wearing a suit. Under his collar he always has a flash of red like the snake that he comes from - the red belly. They put a red seam into the sole of his boots so always there is a hint of where he came from. The red tie in the blitz. He was more rock and roll than Aziraphale and modernised more to a snakehipped rock and roll star really. His present jacket - the fabric there is quilted, they found an 80s jacket that had elements of things they enjoyed - part of that was that it had a slightly quilted quality to the fabric which was like a textured snakeskin. It took quite a long time to create the fabric and then to make the jacket from that - they quilted some fabric and washed and whooshed it repeatedly to create a bit of puckering in it. He has a snakey scarf around his neck like a chain mail linked scales of skin scarf that he wore that complemented his neck chain. The trousers he wore in Victorian times are the same he wore in the 60s when he meets young Shadwell. His present trousers - slightly waxy denim - we just were looking for a slithery finish. Crowley’s neck chain - there is only one in the world - her tailor has a Gothic church full of interesting stuff like busts and drapes with old things, this chain mail scarf was there and David was looking for something to complete his costume and liked it.

Hastur and Ligur are her favourite characters - they were so enjoyable to create. She had an amazing book of 1920s and 30s criminals and they used that as a starting point, because they were all quite worn out and bedraggled and poverty stricken and like hell might be ideally. They burnt and decayed the bottom of them as if they were rotting from the Earth and rotting back into the ground - all demons have sort of gators as if they were rotting from the ground up.

One of the most difficult things was the demons - when they realized they had a few days to create hundreds of demons in South Africa (4-5 days for almost 200 demons). It was as if I had been dissolved in holy water when they asked me for another 150 costumes.

The sleeves of Anathema’s coat have been inspired by a Victorian cycling coat.

The historical costume that Newt’s ancestor wore influenced his and Shadwell’s costumes - they used elements of the historical costume to put a little cape on Newt and Shadwell and their wax coats to give them the quality of that look. Newt's costume has a lot of mustard to make him feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable - it's not the most flattering colour on a northern European complexion.

The nuns’ headdress needed to look a little bit demonic - she bought a whole book on nuns’ headdresses for research. They also used the V in the nurse's apron because that was nicely demonic. The nurses' watch has got this Satanic symbol at the top - a little take on the medical since old nurses’ uniforms used to have watches.

For Madame Tracy she went back into the 70s, slightly Biba-esque makeup and a cape. They had only one pair of her goggles so it was always a nightmare to find them.

Which part of the cold opening is her favourite: I love ancient Rome because there is at least 6 to 12 metre of fabric in a toga and that was quite fun wrapping that around the boys and creating those., and her favourite was the Globe.

The lapels represent wings in every way and every shape and every form. Wings are very important.

4. Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

The first thing that the director Douglas Mackinnon (with whom he worked on Doctor Who and Sherlock) said to him was: for all the graphics, for all the title sequence, for everything, I want you to promise me one thing, and that is very, very simple, promise that you send me emails that say: ‘this might be absolutely nuts, but my idea is...’.

The opening title it’s full of easter eggs - it’s a type of sequence that’s been designed to watch a thousand times, for example: on the escalator down to Hell there is one character running up deciding that he doesn’t want to go to Hell or the sea is full of plastic bags because we don’t look after the planet.

Every single face in the title sequence is either Crowley’s or Azriphale’s, they are repeated all the way through - inspired by Neil saying that there’s good and evil in all of us, so there is a grand procession of people of all the characters from the story - marching towards Armageddon - but all the characters have been taken over by good or evil. And along the way our two heroes are kind of playing tricks on each other, doing good, doing evil

The opening title combines multiple elements - two dimensional animation elements, three dimensional animation elements, CGI and live action (the people in the procession were created by live action on a travelator). So the result is a kind of strangeness - such as 3D figures with 2D animated tracked heads - which makes it unique.

Their first idea and version of the opening title was based on tapestries of old, subverting them, but then they wanted something more new and fresh.

Both Douglas and Neil were an important part of the opening title creation process.

The opening title sequence took about a year to make from the creative start with four intensive months towards the end.

One of things that inspired him was a Bauhaus theatre image from 1930s.

Question if the hand-drawn font for the graphics will be a purchasable font: no, because it was original and it’s unique and it was created just for this - it was for the love of the show and the story and it will be kept there.

In the scene where there are three photos of witchfinders - Neil and Douglas revealed in the DVD commentaries that two of them are their grandfathers - the third one is Peter’s great uncle.

Originally the signs telling us things like ‘Thursday’ or ‘Mesopotamia’ - were done as if somebody (who was living inside the television screen) ran up close to the screen and showed us the sign. In the end they simplified it, only showing the signs. The one time that it was sort of left in the show was when in Episode 5 a little demon in the video game shows a sign ‘GAME OVER’.

Outside of his work on it, what was his favourite thing on Good Omens: spending time with Douglas and Neil, and also working with Milk VFX - I think I can honestly say it's the best job I've ever worked on with the nicest people.

5. Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

He first read the book when preparing for the audition - the character wasn’t in the book but he got into it, loved it and couldn’t put it down.

He didn’t know about the name Eric until the script was published and people started calling the demon that, he really likes the name and thinks it fits.

There was a version of the script where the demon was going to be dressed in different costumes each time he was discorporated (for example one in long hair wearing a dress) - they would be all the same but different incarnations, in one version they had different accents.

The first scene he shot was the one where the demon goes to Heaven to deliver the Hellfire (and also wants to hit ‘Aziraphale’ which was cut). That first day was also his favourite moment of shooting because there was an immediate welcoming atmosphere and everyone was lovely and in love with the production.

Disposable Demon is like a permanent intern, running errands for the higher ups in Hell.

His favourite part of the costume were the eyelashes (though he loved the whole costume).

If he could change anything about the costume he would also want cool contact lenses - some brightly coloured ones.

Question what animal (like other demons have on their heads) comes to mind when we see the Disposable Demon: he didn’t think about it at the time, but later he saw people talking about his horns as bunny ears and found it interesting, and also the facts that there are so many of him and that he is quite happy and friendly for a demon so the bunny makes sense, so he might be a sort of a rabbit. Or perhaps something goat type because of the horns.

Question if there is another role in Good Omens he would have liked to have played: he always thought that the four horsemen were very cool and Pollution was his favourite so probably Pollution (also was the most jealous of Pollution’s contact lenses).

If there were a season 2, he would be there in a heartbeat.

Question about Eric’s feelings on Crowley, if he’s a bit of a Crowley fan: I think he might be. There is something about Crowley and how he is somehow a little bit different from the rest of the demons. - and the Disposable Demon has, much like Crowley, interest in the human world. He could well be 6,000 how many years old, the same as everyone else, but he seems to have this younger vibe and I think he thinks that Crowley is quite cool.

Good Omens fandom is his first experience with a fandom of this scale. It speaks a lot, the fact that this kind of very, this minor character, a character who is only on screen for a very short amount of time gets any kind of attention at all, it's quite amazing really, it goes to show how big and enthusiastic the fans are. I never experienced anything like that.

6. Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

When Crowley used a miracle to switch off the Bentley lights in Episode 1 at nuns manor it was done by: there was actually a very small guy called Louis turning on and off the switches quickly.

David Tennant was allowed to wear the snake eye contacts for only 3 hours a day otherwise they could damage his eyesight.

For Mary, the Bentley, it was the second time she was ‘blown up’ on film - first being in the Endeavour with Inspector Morse about three years earlier.

He was a bit nervous during filming the bookshop fire scene because the Bentley was so close to a real fire - not wanting the paint to blister. The car was moved off after a few minutes of filming but still.

About the damage to Mary: Unfortunately, we overran, and Rob my stunt driver had already booked a holiday and off he went and so when he returned in January, on the 10th of January, I had this new driver who really had no clue how to drive old cars, so I showed him around, I showed him to go around corners. He came around the corner, the door was not closed properly for some reason and the door flew open as he went around. And instead of slamming on the brakes which is extremely efficient and would stop him straight away he kept on going, hit another car and really smashed the door quite badly. It did take the car off the roads for 10 months. The door was completely remade because of this accident and it cost the total of £24 000 to rebuild the car to get it back to running as it is today.

The Bentley’s part most difficult to maintain and service is the engine.

Would Mary be available for a potential season 2: definitely!

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ademonandherbentley · 5 years

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Queer Coding =/= Queerbaiting (A Defence of Good Omens)

So. Good Omens is here, and I’ve seen more than a few people dismissing it as yet another round of the queerbaiting we’re all so used to. I’m not trying to override anyone’s grievances, but I do think that we’re starting to fling the word queerbaiting around a little too freely, and I worry that it'll make the term lose it's impact. Queerbaiting is not just any relationship that doesn't end exactly the way we want it to. There's a worrying tendency to be very black and white in our judgments, which ignores the nuance present in... well, everything. On top of that, I think we've all been burned by shows in the past and have a few trust issues when it comes to this sort of thing.

For the uninitiated, queerbaiting is when a show continually teases and/or hypes up a queer narrative that it has no intention of delivering. Perhaps the most famous example is Supernatural, which has spent the last fifteen years portraying a textbook example of a bisexual character and twelve years crafting an epic m/m love story on a cosmic scale... only for all the cast and writers to continually laugh off and brush aside both these things whilst constantly shoehorning Dean and Castiel into chemistry-less and underwritten heterosexual relationships. The subtext (and any understanding of narrative) is the fish hook in your mouth, tugging and tugging, but the show has no intention of ever reeling you in or releasing you.

Sherlock is another one. Damn near everyone who watches the show sees a love story playing out between Sherlock and John. Meanwhile the writers take every opportunity to have John remind us that he's not gay, goddamnit, and as soon as the subtext hit a peak that had every meta writer posting theses about holy shit this is happening, season 4 came around and sank it all without trace. Not to mention so many people embraced Sherlock as asexual, only for Moffat to outright deny any chance of that being canon because it's "boring". Tug tug, goes the fishhook. The writers sit around asking why everyone’s so worked up about a few breadcrumbs, ignoring the fact that they’ve been building the entire loaf for years.

Which brings us round to Good Omens. Take a second. What were we promised, exactly, that we didn't get? Neil Gaiman said the show would go into more depth regarding Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship. It did that. He also said that nothing in the show would contradict the book.

Pretty much all the most leading comments came from the many interviews in which Michael Sheen (and to a lesser extent David Tennant) described the relationship as a love story. Now, whether you think the show delivered on that or not, we’ve got to keep in mind that Sheen and Tennant are not the writers, producers, or directors. They’re the actors - they have no part in crafting the story, they just bring it to life. Any opinions expressed in interviews about the nature of their characters’ feelings are just their interpretations. And really, can you watch the show and say with any sincerity that those interpretations didn’t translate into their performances? As far as I’m concerned, both actors made good on everything they promised.

Like a lot of other shows, Good Omens hits all the markers in a romantic story arc (from awkward first meeting, to blossoming feelings, to Third Act Breakup, to ending the story finally free to be together) but stops just short of anyone acknowledging the romance in explicit words or actions. Unlike a lot of other shows, Good Omens makes no move to ever deny the validity of said romantic arc. There's no forced sexual tension between any third party characters. There's no "it's not like that" or "we're just friends" (and the characters themselves referring to each other as their best friends doesn't count, especially when said characters are quite obviously stewing in denial and/or repression). To the best of my knowledge, no one behind the scenes has denied a romantic element to Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship since the show aired. Quite the opposite, in fact:

It’s one thing to have wanted more form the show. But I don’t think there was anything that could have lead any of us to reasonably expect anything more, and there’s been no move to negate any of the (imo pretty undeniable) love story between Aziraphale and Crowley. Just because a story doesn’t end with the characters sucking face doesn’t mean that it isn’t inherently romantic in nature.

#good omens #good omens tv #amazon good omens #good omens spoilers #go spoilers #go tv #ineffable husbands #aziraphale x crowley #air conditioning #queerbaiting #queer coding #michael sheen #david tennant #aziraphale #crowley #good omens crowley #meta

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janthonyashtoreth · 4 years

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hi!! this is kind of a weird question, but do you have any tips on making art more expressive? I've always been really rigid and perfectionistic with my art and I'm just starting to venture into a looser, "cartoonier" style. I'm having a lot of difficulties pushing my art to be really exaggerated though. I really admire your style and how well you can communicate emotion!! thank you so much in advance!!

@crawlyqqeen Hello!! I’m so honored that you’re coming to me for art advice lksdsjfs

I just want to preface this by saying that everyone’s process is different! this is just what works best for me, but you may have success with different methods. with that being said, ill talk about my tips for a bit!

good omens is the first fandom that i’ve done art for that is live action (fancy way of saying i just did anime art all the time fbjgfkg). im really glad i decided to start drawing for gomens because, among other reasons, it’s been great practice for drawing from life (or screenshots in my case)

the first thing i did way back in august was get some paper and my pencil and just start drawing from references! on one of my many watches of the show, i screenshotted a bunch of frames of david and michael making exaggerated faces from different angles and a couple of them making neutral faces just to get a feel for the shapes of their faces/facial features.

they’re not perfect by any means, but they were good to get the feel of drawing michael and david! they’re all pretty rigid and stiff because i wasn’t comfortable drawing them yet and didnt really know how i wanted to fit them to my style. also this paper is huge sorry for poor lighting alkdfj

once you feel comfortable with the subjects you’re drawing, you can start thinking about stylizing them a bit. the way i did this was by going back and looking at all of the life drawings i did and trying to pick out some key features of david and michael’s faces, while also keeping in mind some features that i already had in my head based on crowley and aziraphale’s characters. i came out of this phase with the basic ideas of crowley having sharper angles, high cheek bones, and a squarer jaw, while aziraphale would have rounder angles, smaller eyes, and a softer jaw.

i still use these basic shapes in my art now, but the way i draw them is much different from my initial practice pages and even my first posts on this account. once you get into the groove of drawing them fairly accurately, it gets much easier to stylize their features more and find a style that works for you

something else that helped me make my art more fluid/expressive is utilizing wrinkles and creases in the face! they help to emphasize facial expressions sooo much. for example, here’s a few drawings of mine both with and without wrinkles/creases:

all of the emotions that they’re portraying feel more subdued/don’t come across at all without the creases to add emphasis. also, body language definitely helps to keep things more fluid! think of the emotion you’re trying to have a character convey before you even lay pencil to paper so you can match not only their face but their overall pose to that emotion

i struggled a lot in the past (and still now sometimes) with my art being very rigid like you said, and the only thing that’s really worked well for me is practice with drawing references! i know a lot of other artists have success with gesture drawing but i never really got the hang of it and it just frustrated me to no end. if a certain technique isn’t working for you, don’t push yourself to make it work- it may be better to spend that energy finding another method

im sorry if this is really long and rambly, but i hope i got the point across!!

#sorry this took so long for me to answer sldfkg #crawlyqqeeen #art advice #ask me anything

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chaoticneutralwriter · 4 years

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Intermission: The Demon In Detail

You think a great way to enhance your experience in watching anything supernatural related is to have an actual demon beside you but.... that’s just your opinion.

guardian demon! Jimin x reader

word count: 2.6k

genre: fluff, romance, supernatural, slow-burn, comedy

Related Works: see Masterlist under guardian demon!Jimin

A/N: An intermission! Can you guess what I’ve gotten myself into recently? LOL I thought it’d be cute to have something like this happen since once we get the ball rolling...not so many cute moments later on 🤐🤐🤐 (and the next chapter I have a feeling is going to be CHUNKY so...a little treat for you before that ;)) So anybody who hasn’t watched Good Omens yet but were planning to, some spoilers in that chapter! And as such, I don’t own anything related to Good Omens the show or the characters involved. Otherwise, enjoy!

“I thought you were supposed to be napping?”

Your gaze only shifts marginally away from your laptop screen to the sound of your sudden guest before flitting back.

“I was gonna just watch one episode….” You mumble petulantly but it was the honest truth. You really were planning on watching one episode of this series you picked up as a way to get you started and use it to give you that final push to knock out from being so tired.

Clearly that’s not gonna happen anymore.

Jimin gives a shake of his head, a little exasperated from your antics, not really annoyed but he does have to wonder; why are you lying on your bed like that? From his place by your doorway, all he sees is a mound of blanket that had been wrapped up into a lump with no doubt you underneath it. You’re using the giant plush calico cat shaped like a bean as a pillow, the one he got you on a whim one day and he hasn’t seen you without it since. He thinks its cute but there’s an actual, perfectly good pillow that you could use just laying not even two feet away, in fact, there’s plenty of room for you to be laying comfortably in and yet for some reason —

You’re curled into a ball, at the very end of your bed, your desk chair facing you, laptop propped onto the seat.

It’s like you MacGyver-ed your way into making things a lot more difficult for you.

You feel your mattress dip, causing you to shift with a grunt, pausing the episode so that you don’t miss out on anything as you turn your attention fully to your supernatural guardian. He’s taken a seat beside your head, one muscular thigh resting temptingly close to you. You bury your cheeks further into the plushness of your stuffed animal in hopes of hiding a creeping blush and smother the urge to jump ship with your pillow for something better.

“What are you watching that’s so interesting you forget the need to sleep?” Jimin asks, dark eyes staring inquisitively at the paused screen which has David Tennant and Michael Sheen bickering about what to do once they find the antichrist.

“It’s called ‘Good Omens’ — it’s about a demon and an angel who’s trying to prevent the apocalypse from happening when the antichrist, who’s a kid, realizes his true powers.”

You miss the way Jimin blinks, brows furrowing and absolutely flabbergasted at you when you push play again to continue the episode. He cocks his head from left to right like a puzzled puppy before he’s able to finally let the synopsis settle.

“I’m sorry what now?”

“So there’s a demon named Crowley, right? He’s the one in black there and an angel named Aziraphale who’s the one in white and they’ve somehow became really good friends throughout the years so they’ve like — oh you know what,” You pause, getting distracted yourself and not being able to re-explain the plot up until now while also taking in new developments. “Just rewatch the last two episodes, the series is only like six episodes long anyways.”

Jimin goes to complain, thinking how utterly ridiculous it would be from your paraphrased explanation alone but you’re already clicking back to the first episode. He clamps his mouth shut, purse his lips and exhales a quiet sigh through his nose, leaning back to might as well get comfortable. He’ll never quite understand a human’s obsession with his kind and angels to the point where they’ll come up with a million different ways to interpret their image — from monstrous looking creatures (on both sides) to simply more human-like supernatural entities, he thinks he’s seen them all over the years.

Oh whatever, he thinks, it’ll just be one episode and that way, he can at least say he didn’t give it a shot.

Four episodes later, you’ve somehow managed to sprawl out over each other, both equally as invested in the show. You had to hide your smile every time you glance over at Jimin who, every so often, tilts his head and then either snorts or hums noncommittally at the show’s interpretations. It also piques your curiousity on what Jimin finds approving or disapproving so whenever that happens, you usually ask him a question, even if you do sound like a two-year old discovering the world for the first time.

“So are there really four horsemen of the apocalypse?”

“There are…. Or were. They’re like Greek Titans now…. It’ll take a lot to summon them all at once.”

“Like the anti-Christ?” 

“I can probably assure you that Satan won’t be having a son any time soon.” Jimin replies and as an afterthought, his nose wrinkles. It’s weird to imagine one of your bosses having a kid, let alone imagine him to be the father type.

“…Huh.” You leave it at that, flopping your head back to rest against the mounds of pillows. Halfway through episode three, Jimin started to scold you in the way you’re laying on your bed and took it upon himself to actually drag you to the head of the bed so he can prop you on the pillows. Well…For the most part you were resting on the pillows behind you but with Jimin’s arm thrown out in the mix, you find at times you’re lying on the pillows and using Jimin’s arm as one too.

The stranger thing is that he hasn’t said anything about it.

“Have you ever met Beelzebub before? Are they like the ‘celebrities’ of demons?”

“They work in a different office division than mine, so I never see them — heard they’re not that great though.”

“Office division?” You laugh, tilting your head to shoot him an incredulous look. “So Hell runs like a corporation?”

“Where do you think concepts like capitalism come from?”

You let out another boisterous laugh, head flinging back and knocking lightly against his forearm. “Well, damn…”

His own lips curl into a smile at the sound.

It’s late into the evening by the time you get to the last episode where Crowley and Aziraphale help Adam have the confidence to tell Satan that he’s not his dad (always wanna hear something, ugly ass fucking…). You were very taken aback by the scene when it happened, finally seeing Satan for the first time, the big reveal but you found yourself more interested and far more amused by Jimin who had bursted out laughing so hard he was squeaking and creasing over himself. It then goes on to Adam restoring the world but then Aziraphale and Crowley get captured to be punished for treason.

“Is there such thing as ‘The Great Plan?’”

You vaguely feel Jimin’s fingers idly twirl and comb through strands of your hair as he thinks. Normally you’d feel embarrassed and shy away but the sensation is so nice and relaxing that you’re practically melting into his side. Plus, you’re very warm and cozy next to him.

“No, not that I’m aware of. I think angels already have too much of a superiority complex to instigate a war on Earth just to prove that they’re better than demons.”

“Well, that’s reassuring to hear I guess…”

You hear him chuckle breathily. “If it does happen though, I’ll save you…I guess.”

You scoff playfully, “Oh don’t worry, you won’t be able to get rid of me even if you tried.”

“And strangely, I don’t doubt that.”

It makes you smile smugly. The scene plays out in front of you as Crowley, disguised as Aziraphale and vice versa, gets their appropriate sentences (death by hell fire and death by holy water bath tub) but come away unscathed thanks to their switched disguises. You’ve long since learned holy water does in fact, harm demons the way its portrayed in the show (at least common demons, Jimin had explained killing someone like Satan with holy water would probably require a whole tank full and a soak for seven days) as well as other confirmed myths, like how demons and angels are actually supposed to look like.

“Demons and angels both have the ability to take on any sort of appearance they wish, as proven.” He cups one hand against his cheek and bats his eyelashes at you. You shake your head with a roll of your eyes but point taken.

“But how do they really look like? No glamour or anything.”

Jimin pauses, face slipping into a sort of rueful pensive look before he says, “Not pretty, I’ll tell you that. Demons are creatures deprived of the light, so they lurk in the dark, twisted by their very nature and obsession to corrupt. Only those who are foolish or wish to die would stand in the true face of one.”

You blink, taking in his words completely entranced even though he’s explaining something that should be terrifying and sounds a lot like a warning. Well, you suppose it would’ve worked if you didn’t already have your fair share of encounters (and would also help if you weren’t currently snuggled up against one). Besides that, you could’ve also sworn that you had seen Jimin in his ‘true’ form before, right when you first met him in fact. But then again… You pause, correcting yourself by recalling back the memory — he had been shrouded in shadow so the most you had seen of him were his striking, glowing red eyes.

So in conclusion, you hadn’t seen his true form.

Your lips purse; call it morbid curiosity but you’re a little disappointed. You’re pulled from your thoughts by a tap on your nose.

“Don’t get any funny ideas.” Jimin reprimands and though it sounds lighthearted enough, you hear the underlying seriousness of it.

“I wasn’t.” You say defensively, but then add, “What about angels? Do they fit the stereotypical halo and wings image?”

Your guardian smiles but it comes off more like a grimace and simply says, “I think you’re better off not knowing.”

Well that doesn’t sound ominous at all.

You voice as much however Jimin never goes into further detail than that. You begrudgingly drop the topic.

The episode closes with Aziraphale and Crowley changing back to their original selves and going on a lunch date. You let the credits roll, too comfortable to move otherwise. Jimin doesn’t bother moving either, that or maybe it’s the fact that you have his arm trapped underneath your head.

“How’d you find the series?” You ask, turning slightly to Jimin.

You see him shrug, angling his face towards you as he says, “It was…interesting; got a few things right surprisingly. But an angel being friends with a demon….” He shakes his head, “Yeah, that will never happen.”

“Hey now, I’m sure not all angels are assholes…” You argue, “Just like how not all demons are either…”

“Oh? And how are you so sure of that?”

“Well, I’ve met you and Jungkook and you’re both not that bad.”

Jimin hums, a low sound that vibrates from his chest and you barely register the flex of his arm beneath you before you’re hauled up from your spot. A squeak escapes past your lips as you’re suddenly chest to chest with Jimin, face mere inches from each other and those gleaming red ruby eyes staring straight back at you.

“Such sweet words, but I’m afraid that’s how you get killed my cherub — if not by them,” His voice drops until it’s nothing but a husky whisper when he says, “then by me.”

You think you stop breathing for a second, so caught off guard from how close you are to this unnecessarily gorgeous demon. His warm breath tickles your cheeks and you can practically count each long lashes over those mesmerizing eyes, and how full those pretty pink lips are….

You swallow nervously, only hoping that he wouldn’t notice but who were you kidding, being this close to him — if that doesn’t give you away then no doubt the rapid beating of your heart would’ve. You turn away, no longer able to withstand eye contact lest you want to end up drowning in those crimson depths and in a last ditch effort to distract him by any means, you mumble weakly, “D-Don’t be a such Crowley….”

Jimin blinks, confused. You think he’s going to laugh at you until his brows furrows, completely displeased. “I’m not a Crowley… at all.”

“Yes, you are.” You shoot back, grinning at the way he pouts. He scoffs, rolling you off of him in disgust and you laugh as you go, plopping back onto the bed.

“Be grateful I don’t have big creepy snake eyes. I could if I wanted to you know, but that would completely ruin my aesthetics.” Jimin argues, arms crossed.

“…What about wings?” You ask, blinking owlishly to meet Jimin’s eyes which had faded back to a warm brown. When he quirks an eyebrow at you, you elaborate. “You never really told me if demons have wings like in the show. Or if it’s even possible.”

His mouth opens as if to respond to you but then after a brief thought, he stops himself. You don’t mean anything by asking, simply curious is all but the way Jimin looks off, deep in contemplation has you a bit concerned. Just when the thought to break the sudden tension crosses your mind, Jimin exhales through his nose.

“To be honest, I don’t really know the answer to that one cherub. Maybe we did or maybe not at all — demons were once angels after all, or so I was told.”

You think he sounded a bit wistful near the end, the quiet sombreness of his tone tugging at your heart strings. However, Jimin doesn’t let you linger on it as he abruptly gets up, stretching his arms over his head and letting out a loud, exaggerated groan, effectively erasing any traces of it. “Anyways, I’m off. Your roommate should be home soon so I’ll see you whenever.”

Jimin turns to walk out of your room but you’re overcome with the urge to ease whatever emotion you unintentionally triggered for him. So you find yourself blurting out, “Well whether you did or not, I think wings would’ve looked p-pretty cool on you regardless…”

Your face feels like it may as well be on fire as you tense in trepidation, seeing Jimin halt in his steps. You can’t tell what his reaction is with his back turned towards you, so you wait, teeth chewing on your bottom lip and your calico plushie clenched in your hands like a stress ball. Then, you see him tilt his head, throwing you a look over his shoulder and that infamous smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

“Well, obviously that’s a given.”

The breath you’d been holding wheezes out in a silent laugh. You shake your head and watch Jimin disappear, obviously very pleased with himself if the swagger in his step is anything to go by.

He might deny that he’s anything like Crowley, but to you, Jimin is more like the fictional demon than he realizes. Perhaps that was why he was your favourite character in the series. However when it comes down to it, you'd choose Jimin over Crowley being your guardian demon any day.

With or without wings.

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ingravinoveritas · 9 months

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Hi! Sorry if this is too nosy but,the pride.com interviewer just like you. Would be so awesome interview then

Hi, Anon! I'm not sure that I fully understand your question, but are you saying the interviewer from Pride.com reminds you of me? If so, that is very sweet, and thank you! I did get to watch that on Thursday and was completely dying over both Michael and David's reactions/body language and the way the interviewer phrased certain questions. I think there was something about this interview in particular--perhaps because it was specifically for a queer media outlet--that made it different from the other interviews, and allowed something to emerge from Michael and David that we didn't necessarily see elsewhere.

I've made gifs of a few highlights, which I'll now discuss:

We know Michael has a tendency to pretty much give the game away with his face, but when the interviewer asked this question, it was incredible to me to see Michael get that little smile on his face and immediately stare adoringly at David. "A demon who's starting to figure out what love means" plus that reaction just speaks volumes, in my opinion.

Then we have this moment, which again is more of David stammering his way through an answer trying not to reveal anything, and Michael's face doing it for him anyway:

There's also the fact that we have David saying "allows him to maybe confront some truths he's been denying" and then looking directly at Michael, which right away gave me the same feeling as the season 1 interview they did with the "I certainly love him. Does he love me?" / "He wouldn't possibly comment on that" moment. That distinct sense of this perhaps being about more than just the characters.

Said feeling was only further augmented by this last bit, which I imagine might have been what you were talking about, Anon:

I noticed (and I am sure others did, too) that the interviewer very specifically said "to see you both get together." Now, of course the logical inference is that she's talking about Aziraphale and Crowley, but I would not be at all surprised if this phrasing was deliberately ambiguous--or, if it wasn't meant to be, that Michael and David took it that way. Especially when you look at their body language as they answer.

David clasping his hands just so, and again sitting so far over on his chair to be closer to Michael. And Michael who is ineffably fidgety, picking at his fingers, biting his hand, and then later on, entirely unable to fight his natural instinct to again look lovingly at David. He looks at David without even thinking about it, and then a second later it's as if you can hear him thinking "Oh! Right. Don't look at David" because he knows he's not supposed to/has perhaps been told to tone it down. But the very fact that he can't, and that every instinct in him is screaming out to look at David pretty much says it all. (As does David looking at Michael for validation/confirmation a moment later.)

Beautiful. So, yes, I would absolutely love to interview Michael and David someday (either about GO or just to hear their thoughts in general), and I am flattered that you thought of me when watching this interview. Thanks for writing in! x

#anonymous #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #good omens 2 #at this point the subtext might as well be a billboard #bisexual disasters the both of them #thank you Pride.com interviewer for your service #bless #life imitating art #or vice versa #or both #tell me again that they're not a couple #ineffable lovers #discourse #gifs by me

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nihilnovisubsole · 4 years

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Hey man, do you have any advice for describing body movement? I remember your Crowley and Agent 47 (using them as examples that stand out) both had very expressive and true-to-character body language, and I've honestly been killing myself for the past 2 weeks trying to figure out your style, but I either focus on the wrong body parts or choose wrong words - what do you consider to be focal points in mannerisms.. or maybe words/phrases to think about when describing a character's body language?

sorry to hijack your question, anon, but a quick order of business: i’ve noticed something about how i’ve been receiving asks lately. i only tend to get them directly after i post/reblog stuff, like people aren’t sure whether i’m around or don’t want to bother me [which some of them have said outright]. don’t worry about it! trust me, i lurk on tumblr all day. i’ll see it. i’m grateful for the distraction. just because i don’t hate writing doesn’t mean i don’t love to procrastinate.

anyway, body language. i think, without having seen your writing, you’re probably being too hard on yourself. if you’re for-real-for-real using my writing as a style reference, i’m very flattered. if you message me off anon, i’d be happy to chat about it. let’s also not rule out that my style might just be nonsense and you’re struggling to figure it out because it’s, well, nonsense. let’s not forget we’re human here.

but in general, it’s an inexact science - like many things with writing, you kind of just have to feel it out. i don’t follow any body language rules that i don’t make myself follow with the rest of my narration, too. “stay in active voice,” “stay in third-person objective as much as you can,” and “use a verb only once per scene unless you’re really struggling.”

if finding focal points on a character’s body helps you, let’s look at it that way. which body part is changing? what were they holding still, but are now moving? which part of their face is communicating their expression the most? i notice that people emote a lot in their eyebrows, which may be where eyes get their reputation for being “windows to the soul.” some people talk with their hands or interact a lot with the furniture around them. some people are more self-contained.

more importantly, what do you notice? what do you like to think about? your sense of human observation is what will make your writing yours. do you find yourself paying attention to people’s hands a lot? or maybe their posture? you’re not doing it wrong if you’re not doing it exactly like me.

if you want some more detailed thoughts, i’ve included one of my usual tl;drs below the cut. these are less a direct answer to your question and more ideas i have about writing body language in general.

1. acting helps

if you’re writing a character that somebody has portrayed onscreen, you’ll have a big advantage when you try to write how they move. skilled actors are able to give their characters a distinct physical presence, and it’s all just sitting there for you to study and work from.

this is the big reason i like modeling my characters on famous people. i mean, well, mainly i just love movies and daydreaming about what filmed versions of my stories would be like. but when you have that base, you can look up videos of them and analyze everything from their physical habits to the cadence of their voice. how do they sit? what kind of roles have they performed well in? certain people just fit into a time period or aesthetic like a glove. i was completely lost with marcus until i made the connection between him and henry rollins, and then it all fell into place. that stiff, over-disciplined posture and tamped-down nervous energy were perfect for a career military man with a lot of inner turmoil.

in crowley’s case, david tennant is a very physical actor. anyone who writes good omens fic has a treasure trove of lanky, rubbery body language to work with. [aziraphale, my favorite, is kind of the underdog here. i love michael sheen’s performance, but aziraphale’s whole thing is restraint, so i guess crowley ends up being the one who jumps off the page.] on the opposite end, agent 47 is extraordinarily still, with bursts of extraordinary brutality done with extraordinary precision. where crowley is swooshy, 47 is about no wasted movements. his body is wired to be a predator even when he’s off the job. i know it’s weird to compare a video game character to a live actor, but i assume 47 was mocapped, so just… bear with me.

once i have that frame of reference - or i don’t, and i have to come up with my own - i start to act out the character myself. i’ve talked about this before: i feel more comfortable writing a character when i can “embody” them, imitating their body language as i read their dialogue. i must look pretty eccentric when i do it, but it works.

P.S: of course you don’t have to limit yourself to trained actors. you can just as easily reach into your personal life. a lot of authors get incredible results from going back to their mother, or a friend, or some tragic first love.

2. simple, but specific verbs

i’ve heard that a lot of creative writing teachers find their students are timid about the strength of verbs. they’ll bend over backwards to “soften the blow” with gerunds or other unnecessary clutter because they’re not confident that they’ve chosen the right one. “he was sitting on the stump and starting to carefully carve a bar of soap when she came over and he pressed a kiss to her hand.” that kind of thing. my preference is, own it. choose a good verb and leave it naked. let it speak for itself. be declarative. be more forceful in your personality. fight. WIN!

for the record, i’m not averse to using a thesaurus. i think they get a bad rap because of writers who shoehorn in SAT words to make themselves sound more intelligent. did your character walk across the room, or did they pace? did they stroll? did they stride? did they lope? did they run, or dash, or scamper, or bolt? they all feel different, don’t they?

counterpoint: some people add flourishes to their body language so that you’ll really linger on the feature in question. the first thing that comes to mind is romance, where they want you to think long and hard about, i don’t know, the hidden strength in the love interest’s folded hands. this is… i feel… a matter of artistic discretion. it’s not my thing - i prefer to describe more neutrally - but many people love it. it’s something my producers at voltage lovingly bap me on the head about, because lovestruck games are all about zesty High Romance™ and i always wish i could play it down with my plain, unromantic prose. i used to rail away about it in other people’s work. now? whatever. i’m not here to judge you. writing is hard.

3. on the other hand, don’t be afraid to get colorful

if, in the process of writing, you discover some quirky figurative twist that nails dead-on what you’re envisioning, i say go for it. especially if you’re not trying to be wholly detached as a narrator. if i tell you a character “scooted across the bed like a seal,” it gives you a pretty clear mental image, doesn’t it?

if you have a distinctive voice - and i’m sure you do - i think these are the times where you, the writer, as a character are really going to come out. the reason we keep coming back to, say, mark twain is because nobody “prose talks” quite like he did. whether you like it or dislike it, it’s unique.

full disclosure: this is a potent spice, so you may want to use it in moderation. the most fanciful comparisons may work better in comedy, when you have a little more room to be out-there. my mother defines humor as “associating two unlike things in a way that highlights the absurdity of how similar they actually are.” it may not be a coincidence that a curious case of miracles and death and orchids are less serious stories, so i felt comfortable being sillier with my figurative language, and that may have made crowley and 47 seem more expressive. YMMV!

#anon #asks #writing #long post #sorry lads on mobile it's like 1300 words

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problematicwelshman · 4 years

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Michael Sheen on Good Omens, sex scenes, and why Brexit led to his break-up

28 NOVEMBER 2018 • 4:18PM

Michael Sheen may be 49, and sporting a grey beard these days, but mention Martians and the actor reverts to a breathless, giddy teenager.

It all stems back to one evening when Sheen was about 12 years old. “It was a significant moment in my life,” he tells me over coffee in a London hotel. “My cousin Hugh was babysitting, and he put on Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds.

“I remember us lying there, listening in bed in the dark. It absolutely terrified me, but I got obsessed with it. I’m worryingly into it. I know every single note, every word.”

Wayne’s 1978 rock opera has had a similar effect on countless fans, even if it prompts a bemused shrug from non-converts. Without ever topping the charts, it has slowly become one of the best-selling British albums of all time, and this Friday begins a stadium tour featuring a 35-foot fire-breathing Martian and a 3D hologram of Liam Neeson. It’s a geeky novelty, but one of epic proportions.

When Wayne asked Sheen if he would star in a new radio drama-style version for the album’s 40th anniversary, alongside Taron Egerton and Ade Edmondson, the Welsh actor “bit his hand off”. It had always been his dream. For decades, whether doing serious political dramas such as Frost/Nixon or the great roles of classical theatre – Hamlet, Henry V – the one part Sheen really wanted involved Martians saying “ulla-ulla”.

“When I was doing Caligula at the Donmar [in 2003], I was filming The Deal during the day – which was the first time I’d played Tony Blair,” he says. “I’d be so tired, to wake myself up [before the play] I would do whole sections of War of the Worlds.” He can even beatbox the sound effects, he adds proudly. “The other guys in the dressing room would all be really pissed off with me - but I was playing Caligula, so they had to put up with it.”

Enthusing about an outtake on a collectors version of the album where you can hear Richard Burton coughing, Sheen briefly slips into an impression of the late actor. It’s eerily spot-on. Burton played the role he takes in the new version, which feels apt; growing up in Port Talbot, Sheen was aware of following in his footsteps.

“Coming from the same town as him really helped,” he says. “It’s place you wouldn’t necessarily think would be very sympathetic to acting – it’s an old steel town, very working class, quite a macho place – but because of Richard Burton, and then Anthony Hopkins, there’s the sense that it’s possible [to be an actor], and people have a respect for it.

“Ultimately, though, we’re very different actors - Burton was very much a charismatic leading man, and I’m probably more of a character actor. He wasn’t known for his versatility.” Sheen, by contrast, is a chameleon, as he proved with a remarkable run of biopics from 2006-9, playing Tony Blair, David Frost, Brian Clough, Kenneth Williams and the Roman emperor Nero on screen in the space of just four years.

He concedes that he may have made a “partly conscious” decision to avoid biopics since then. “I’ve been offered quite a few I didn’t do. I did feel, for a bit, it was probably good for me to move away from it – certainly from playing Blair at least, because that’s the one I became synonymous with. I’d quite happily play real people again, but it’s hard to find good scripts and it takes a lot of homework. With some parts I’ve been offered, you might only have a few weeks to prepare for it - and you can’t do that with Clough or Kenneth Williams.”

Despite his best intentions, Sheen is playing another Blair in his next film – The Voyage of Doctor Doolittle, where he’s the nemesis of Robert Downey Jr’s animal-loving hero. “I don’t know if they did that as a joke or not,” he says. “He’s Blair Müdfly – there’s an umlaut that he is very specific about. He was at college with Doolittle, and hates him, and becomes the antagonist because of his jealousy of Doolittle. Müdfly is employed to try and stop him from finding... what he wants to find.” As the film isn’t out for 13 months, Sheen is tight-lipped about further plot details – but he hints that Müdfly is “a villain in the tradition of Terry-Thomas villains.”

It’s the latest in a series of quirky, eyebrow-raising roles. After playing a vampire in the Twilight films and a werewolf in the Underworld franchise, Sheen says he would often be asked in interviews why a “serious classical actor” was wasting his time on fantasy films.

“There’s a lot of snobbishness about genre,” he says. “I think some of the greatest writing of the 20th and 21st centuries has happened in science fiction and fantasy.” While promoting the films, he would back up that point by citing his favourite authors – Stephen King, Philip K Dick, Neil Gaiman. “Time went on, and then one day my doorbell rang and there was a big box being delivered. I opened the box up and there was a card from Neil saying ‘From one fan to another’, and all these first editions of his books.”

It was the beginning an enduring friendship, which recently became a professional partnership: Sheen stars in Gaiman’s forthcoming TV series Good Omens, based on a 1990 novel he wrote with the late Terry Pratchett. Set in the days before a biblical apocalypse, its sprawling list of characters includes an angel called Aziraphale (Sheen) and a demon called Crowley (David Tennant) who have known each other since the days of Adam and Eve.

“I wanted to play Aziraphel being sort of in love with Crowley,” says Sheen. “They’re both very bonded and connected anyway, because of the two of them having this relationship through history - but also because angels are beings of love, so it’s inevitable that he would love Crowley. It helped that loving David is very easy to do.”

What kind of love - platonic, romantic, erotic? “Oh, those are human, mortal labels!” Sheen laughs. “But that was what I thought would be interesting to play with. There’s a lot of fan fiction where Aziraphale and Crowley get a bit hot and heavy towards each other, so it’ll be interesting to see how an audience reacts to what we’ve done in bringing that to the screen.”

Steamy fan fiction aside, it’s unlikely Good Omens will match the raunch levels of his last major TV series, Masters of Sex (2013-16), a drama about the pioneering sexologists Masters and Johnson. In the wake of the last year’s #MeToo revelations, HBO has introduced “intimacy co-ordinators” for its shows - but, Sheen tells me, Masters of Sex was ahead of the curve in handling sex scenes with caution.

“It was a lot easier for myself and Lizzy [Caplan, his co-star], as we were comfortable in that set-up, because we had status in it. But for people in the background, or doing just one scene, it’s different,” he says. “It became clear very quickly that there needed to be guidelines for people who didn’t have that kind of status, who would probably not speak up. We started talking about that, and decided there need to be clear rules.”

Sex scenes, he continues, “should absolutely be treated the same way as other things where there’s a danger. If you’re doing stage-fighting, or pyrotechnics, there are rules and everyone just sticks to them. Whether it’s physical danger, or emotional, or psychological, it’s just as important.”

Despite having several film and TV parts on the horizon, Sheen says he is still in semi-retirement from acting. In 2016 he hinted that he might be quit for good to campaign against populism. “In the same way as the Nazis had to be stopped in Germany in the Thirties, this thing that is on the rise has to be stopped," he said at the time. But now things are less cut. “I have two jobs now, essentially,” he says. "Acting takes second place."

While many celebrity activists limit their politics to save-the-dolphins posturing, Sheen has been working with a range of unfashionable grassroots groups aiming to combat inequality, support small communities and fight fake news. As well as supporting Welsh credit unions, and sponsoring a women’s football team in the tiny village of Goytre, he tells me that he's been “commissioning research into alternative funding models for local journalism”.

If he returns to the stage any time soon, he says it’s likely to be in a show about “political historical socio-economic stuff, a one-man show with very low production values”. It’s clear he’s not in it for the glamour.

Sheen was inspired to become more politically active by the Brexit referendum – which also indirectly led him to break up with his partner of four years, the comedian Sarah Silverman. At the time, they were living together in the US. “We both had very similar drives, and yet to act on those drives pulled us in different directions – because she is American and I’m Welsh,” he explains.

“After the Brexit vote, and the election where Trump became president, we both felt in different ways we wanted to get more involved. That led to her doing her show I Love You America [in which Silverman interviewed people from across the political spectrum], and it led to me wanting to address the issues that I thought led some people to vote the way they did about Brexit, in the area I come from and others like it.”

They still speak lovingly of each other, which makes their decision to end a happy relationship for the sake of politics look painfully quixotic. Talking about it, Sheen sounds a little wistful, but he’s utterly certain they made the right choice. “I felt a responsibility to do something, but it did mean coming back here – which was difficult for us, because we were very important to each other. But we both acknowledge that each of us had to do what we needed to do.”

#michael sheen #dolittle #the voyage of doctor dolittle #he got so irrationally mad at this article on twitter #but hey bringing it back because people wanted to read it #and it had info about dolittle #but it's locked behind a paywall #so here u go fam

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