Ray Stevenson Talks Blackbeard In 'Black Sails' Season 3 Premiere On Starz! [INTERVIEW]

Starz is just days away from airing the highly anticipated Season 3 premiere of Black Sails. In an exclusive interview with MStars News, actor Ray Stevenson discusses his role as the infamous pirate Blackbeard, who becomes a major player in the original series.

As we previously mentioned, in the wake of the destruction of Charles Town, where the world lives in fear of Captain Flint (Toby Stephens). When his campaign of terror crosses over into madness, it falls upon John Silver (Luke Arnold) to locate the man within the monster. Meanwhile, with Eleanor Guthrie gone, as Jack Rackham and Captain Charles Vane struggle to secure Nassau for the ages. Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, returns to settle some unfinished business.

Before the third season of Black Sails premiere at 9pm Saturday, January 23 on Starz, actor Ray Stevenson (Thor: The Dark World) talks about playing the legendary role of Blackbeard, his character's motivations, and comparing the iconic pirate to a Marvel superhero.

MStars News: Tell me how the role came about?

Ray Stevenson: Well when the offer came through I was very excited. I was aware of the series. I try to keep myself abreast and catch one or two episodes, so I was very excited when it came through. I read the episode and they sent me a few more, but the one thing that did it for me was I watched the making-of.

You see the production values and you see the quality with which costumes are made; hair and make-up. The production values, the actual build, everything about it. Also the actors talking about it, the cast and crew talking about it. You saw that they put the money on screen and it was a tremendous investment, tremendous production values, and you think, "This is why we get out of bed. This is what we do." So I was very excited to actually get involved!

MS: What is it about the character that interests you?

RS: Well, it's Blackbeard! [Laughs] I mean we could leave it at that but I'll try to expand. Also, there is so much written about Blackbeard, so many histories as well not just from that particular period. So there are many different ways, views, and ideas about him. So there's a lot of information.

Obviously, we aren't doing a documentary on him. So we could sit through all of that, try and construct the essence of the man, then build a character of Black Beard that sits within the Black Sails world. He was one of the founding fathers of Nassau itself. Him and Avery, and also one of the original authors of the Pirate Charter.

MS: In the end, was it more about keeping with the legend? Or keeping it grounded?

RS: So you've got a man that's not only of that world, but a creator of that very world that Black Sails is operating within. He's been away for the last eight or nine years, so when he turns up, it's almost like a ghost turned up. It's like this legend walks in and you know he's separate, but he's not detached. So creating a character that is both separate of the world, but not detached from it is very exciting to approach. And also the effect that he's going to have on that world. He basically turns it on its head.

MS: Like you were saying, since there's so much information about him and he's already been portrayed by others, was that a challenge to create your own spin on the character?

RS: No, everything is a challenge but it's an exciting challenge. I've never worried about repeating something else. You have to look at it from a classical acting perspective as well, because Hamlet's been played by so many actors; would that be a challenge for playing Hamlet? It's got enough challenges in it. The difference is, in the instinctive qualities and the personality of whoever is playing it.

MS: When I was a child, the first thing I did was dress up as a pirate for Halloween. Does this feel like a childhood dream come true?

RS: Yeah, definitely in more ways than one! The weird thing is that I've done it myself, dressed us as different characters. The wonderful thing about these sort of productions is that when you dress up, the costume wears you. Putting the costume on you adopt this crazy personality. With this you wear the costume, it's made for you as well. It's a whole different element going on. You don't feel ever as if you are dressing up as a pirate. It's not that because it's how the man dressed. It's who the man was. So, you quickly lose any sort of idea of dressing up.

MS: What I loved about the trailer and the footage is the sword play. Tell me about that. Did you have to train?

RS: Yes, of course! The sword fight is basically a really tightly choreographed dance because you basically end up learning your dance and the other person's dance. Otherwise, you still have piece of metal flying around and you work very hard at making this look real and spontaneous. A lot of time is spend on that, more so for safety measures and when you get to film these fights you have to do them again and again and again. All day long, maybe sometimes over two or three days you are filming the same fight scenes. Tremendous amount of discipline goes into that and the scene is similar to a dialogue scene. There's a dialogue but with swords; in the way that a dramatic scene is sometimes a fight but without blades.

MS: With the wardrobe and the finesse of the sword play, tell me about creating the physicality.

RS: Well the man was like 6'3 6'4 in that period so he would have been colossal. So you got to trust the fact that you've done your work and when you are in Blackbeard's skin as it were. Sometimes just turning up is enough. You don't have to overact anything. You allow this person who has a tremendous amount of presents and prowess to do a lot of the work for you. Try to not over do things and trust the work that's been done around you. Hair, make-up, costumes, all this stuff. Script writers, all this. You know you find that it's all there. And it's all about that trust.

MS: You've played The Punisher and now Blackbeard. I feel like these characters are anti-heroes. What is it about them that you gravitate towards?

RS: I think partially because there's been a lot of misconceptions about these type of characters. People make a lot of assumptions about them. So if I can in any way humanize them, and bring a humanity to them and basically through that, hold a mirror up to the audience. They will gain access and a little insight into these larger than life characters. Characters that not many people get close to, so in the playing of these characters give people access, to let them inside a bit and relate. And therefore, make the passage of time deeply entertaining and engaging.

Season 3 of Black Sails premieres at 9pm Saturday, January 23 on Starz.