Posts tagged History Channel
Wil Willis Talks About Hosting New History Show “Forged In Fire”
As a former Army Ranger and elite pararescueman with over a decade of service in the Army, Wil Willis has hands on experience with a wide range of weapons in real battle situations. With his extensive involvement in high-risk operations around the world, Wil understands that a well-designed weapon used properly can make the difference between life and death. Throughout the series, Wil offers invaluable insights about our bladesmith’s weapons from a practical combat informed perspective.
This knowledge will come in handy as he hosts the new show “Forged in Fire” that is coming to the History Channel on Monday, June 22 at 10pm ET/PT
The most talented bladesmiths in the world will test their mettle in “Forged in Fire,” a cutting-edge competition series coming to History this summer. Hosted by Willis, the series will feature world-class bladesmiths creating many of history’s most iconic edged weapons, from the Japanese katana to the medieval broadsword to ancient throwing blades like the Chakram. Production has started in Brooklyn, New York.
In each episode, four master bladesmiths will put their skills and reputations on the line, trying to avoid elimination while using traditional and state-of-the-art tools and machinery to turn raw metal into authentic working versions of classic bladed weapons of yesteryear. In the hands of these gifted craftsmen, every weapon is not just a lethal instrument of war, but also an elegant work of art. The colorful histories of these weapons will be told throughout the forging process. Then the weapons will be assessed and tested by a panel of internationally recognized judges.
Joining Willis will be a judging panel of renowned experts: J. Neilson, a Pennsylvania-based Mastersmith who has been making knives and edged weapons for more than 20 years; Doug Marcaida, a New York-based hand-to-hand combat specialist who has studied and mastered fighting styles and techniques around the world; and David Baker, a California-based authority known for replicating period-accurate weapons, from submachine guns to samurai swords, for both museums and films.
Jun 15th
Clive Standen Interview
Clive Standen and his fellow actors on the hit History Channel series “Vikings” are now into their second season. Fans are loving the series and if you have seen the show you know why. Clive plays the role of Rollo Lothbrok, who is the main character’s brother. Rollo is based on the historical figure, who was the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conquerer.
I was able to talk with Clive about the success of “Vikings,” fans obsession with the crew’s hair extensions, fight choreography, and more.
Art Eddy: Season 2 is now here for “Vikings.” I loved Season 1. You guys got a lot fans of the show. As an actor do you feel more pressure to live up to the hype for this season?
Clive Standen: Oh definitely. The pressure really came from Season 1. We didn’t know if anyone was going to watch it. As soon as we got picked up for Season 2 some of that pressure was taken away. The reason is that you have that faith underneath you. You are riding into battle so to speak. You have a responsibility to get it right. You have to be thankful for the fans because they are the ones that made another season come about.
There are nerves and trepidation obviously, but a lot of it has been okay lets knuckle down and make this story explode. Judging by the first episode this season anyway people will hopefully agree with me and say it is bigger than the first.
AE: Speaking of fans. I see that you do some interaction with fans on Twitter. Do you like having social media as a way to chat with your fans?
CS: I do, but sometimes it can be your worst enemy. (Both laugh.) You can sometimes hear just as many bad comments 
as good comments. You can’t please everyone, but it is nice to have that sort of feedback. With social media these days it is good in a sense that you can switch things up a bit if you can get a handle on what people think of it. Producers of the show I am sure listen to everyone’s comments on Twitter. We give people a show that they want to watch. So I think it is a good tool to have.
AE: I want to know who is talking bad about the show. (Both laugh.)
CS: It is not necessarily who is talking bad about the show. Some people aren’t a fan of Rollo. I think that sometimes is a good thing. When people say, ‘Rollo is such a whatever,’ I tend to favor those comments. That is what people should be thinking. Hopefully by the end of this season people will feel sorry for Rollo. I think he is going to surprise some people.
AE: Rollo is based on a real historical figure so how much research did you do for the character of Rollo?
CS: I never stop researching any role that I take on. Even if it is not a historical role I try to do everything I can. I need to immerse myself in that world. I like to lose myself. I am still doing that now. Michael (Hirst) can write anything. This world is so unworldly. It is so visceral and fantastical that anything can feasibly happen. Any of these sagas Michael can latch onto and say this is the way we are going to go with an episode.
I want to feel like I am at least ahead of the game. I want to know what I am doing here. I want to be in that world instead of something hitting me from left field. So I am always researching Rollo. What is different from Rangar and Rollo is that Ragnar was a real Viking. He really did live it. A lot of what is documented of him is in the sagas. Some of those are fantastical. They are almost like Arthurian legends.
For Rollo in history books a lot of what happens with him is in France. It is all there. There is so much documented there. He is the great, great, great, great grandfather of William the Conqueror. There is a lineage there that I can draw
off of.
AE: Your fighting scenes are intense on the show. I take it your background as a Muay Thai boxer and fencing has helped you out with those scenes.
CS: Definitely, but the people that should be given credit for that is Franklin Henson and Richard Ryan. They are our stunt coordinators. They have worked on films like “Troy” and the modern “Sherlock Holmes” movie with Robert Downey Jr.
We all sat down and talked about things. There are a lot of things on TV and film where the battle scenes look like they are too choreographed. They are almost like a dance. It works for “Lord of the Rings.” He can spin around and do all sorts of things because he is an elf. It is fantasy.
We want to bring the audience into the shield. We want to bring them right into the action. We want to make the audience feel like these characters can die at any minute. It has to be brutal. It is a land of kill or be killed. These characters might not come out of it alive. They are not superheroes. Lagertha (Lothbrok) is not “Xena: Warrior Princess.” She is going to get smacked in the face. If she is going to take on these guys she is going to go down fighting. You got to feel that.
We work on the choreography. We work tirelessly with Richard to kind of choreograph the scenes. When it comes to the day the weather in Ireland is always changing to say the least. What you learn in the comfort of a studio you suddenly are out on the landscape and it is pouring and the mud is up to your shins. You are slipping and sliding. That choreography that you learned on your feet now might be done on your knees. You just carry on. You do not want to be that guy that puts his hand up when there is a 100 stuntmen running around behind you and say, ‘Hey can we do that again?’ You just adapt and overcome.
AE: I have been checking out the press for this season. It seems like a lot of people are infatuated about you and your fellow actor’s hair extensions. Did you ever think that would be a topic of conversation for the show?
CS: I know exactly, but it is also a thing where you are an actor. I am filming a movie called “Everest” at the moment. It is set in 1996. We are all mountain climbers and I had to get my hair cut short for the role.
Sometimes people are like, ‘Whoa.’ “Vikings” is six months of my year and I got the other six months of the year to fill up my calendar. I can’t go around looking like a Hell’s Angel all year. I have to adapt to the character I am playing. The only way around that is to keep my hair long enough to be able to have hair extensions. Otherwise I have become easily typecast as either a Hell’s Angel, a Viking, or an 80’s rock star.
I do understand the questions though. Some people might not understand that some of this stuff is not real. We finished filming this in November of last year. It is very weird when you see a guy and he has long hair and then the next moment he has short hair and then back to having long hair. I understand why it doesn’t add up.
Mar 6th
Lisa Kelly talks about her return to “Ice Road Truckers” on the History Channel
The original hit series “Ice Road Truckers” on the History Channel returns Sunday, June 9 at 10PM ET/PT This season, old rivalries hit an all-time high as two different companies with legendary truckers go head-to-head and try to put each other out of business. Also, after a year on hiatus, the queen of the road, Lisa Kelly, returns and chooses a side.
Throughout the season, the rivalry between the companies reaches to a boiling point as every load delivered means money out of the other team’s pocket. No assignment is off limits, no road is too dangerous and no ice crossing is too thin in this battle for winter roads supremacy.
Lisa Kelly sat down with me this week to talk about her return, broken wrists, and what she did last year when she took a break from the show.
Art Eddy: So the new season starts this month. You are back. Fans of the show are psyched that you are back. Are you excited to be back on the show?
Lisa Kelly: I am so excited to be back on the show. I had fun doing it. (Laughs)
AE: What did you do while you were away from the show?
LK: Oh it is a big, big secret. (Laughs) No, not really. Just working and living life like normal people do sometimes.
AE: So do you consider yourself not normal when you are doing the show?
LK: Sometimes it gets pretty not normal. It is pretty crazy.
AE: Did you get a lot of mail or tweets from fans wanting you to come back on the show?
LK: Yea the fans are great. It was a great support system, but that was the number one asked question. It tells me that people care so that was awesome, but yea tons of that.
AE: The show is very interesting, but you guys are just doing your job. Some of the stuff you guys have to do is amazing. Does it feel weird to you that people are so involved with what you do for a living?
LK: I am just amazed that people are interested in it. You say what we do is amazing and I think it is amazing that you guys think it is amazing.
AE: What can fans of the show expect from you and the rest of the gang on the show?
LK: I am not entirely sure because it is a whole new ball game. Everything has changed this year. I am not in Alaska. I am in Canada now. I am not working for Carlile. I am working for a different company. Just for the show. I took time off of Carlile for show. I am back at Carlile now. I am literally in my truck right now.
Other than that I don’t know. There is a new show runner. It is a whole new thing. I had a lot of fun. I didn’t throw caution to the wind I would say, but I would say because I wasn’t working for Carlile I didn’t have to be so focused on safety and not getting fired. I had fun with it. I don’t know how that will come off, but I had a lot of fun with it.
AE: During this season I heard you broke your wrist. How did that happen and has that affected your driving?
LK: I didn’t break my wrist on the show. I broke it racing motocross last summer in June or July. I was racing and over jumped a jump and impact fractured it. I don’t know what happened. All I know is that I am doing okay. It took forever to heal. When I tried to shift at international 13 speed it just aggravated it to where I didn’t know at first what to do.
So I trained my camera guy on how to shift for me. So I would tell him what gear I had to shift into. I was like okay this aint going to last long. Then I am like oh I got duct tape. So I started duct taping it. The whole show it was wrapped up. It was really bothering me. It just won’t get better. I can tell I am getting old. I don’t heal.
AE: In what ways has the show changed your life?
LK: It has just changed it period. It changed it from top to bottom. It has taken over. It’s become my life. I can’t talk to anybody without mentioning the show or some interview because that is my life. I’m not bragging. It is just you want me to talk that’s all I got.
AE: You and Hugh Rowland have a bit of a rivalry. Will we see more of this transpire on the show this season?
LK: I didn’t know that we had something going on until I saw the preview. So I guess we have something. I don’t know. I just do my job and whatever happens, happens. Things did happen. I didn’t see it as a big deal of anything more than I would normally handle somebody that’s difficult.
To listen to the entire interview to find out what other bones Lisa has broken click here!
Jun 5th
Rick Dale from American Restoration talks about new season on History Channel
Rick Dale is the owner of Rick’s Restorations in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now he has a show on the History Channel called “American Restoration.” Rick and his crew take rusty, beat-up items and restore them to their original glory. Whether it’s a giant gas pump from the 1940s or a Hopalong Cassidy bicycle from the 1950s, every restoration is a high-stakes business project where worthless rust is transformed into a valuable collectible. However, these restorations aren’t easy. Every project presents unique challenges for Rick and his team, who develop inventive processes to finish each job flawlessly and on time.
May 28th on the History Channel starts a whole new season and the first episode features music legend Billy Joel. Dale needs to help Billy restore a rare BSA 850 motorcycle for the pop superstar. The singer has a passion for classic bikes and loves to make new models look old. After trying out an old Steinway spinet in Rick’s “boneyard,” the crate is opened. Inside is a 1967 BSA Royal Star or rather, a bunch of parts including a cracked engine that happens to be irreplaceable. Rick and his crew try to get the bike to look like new.
I was able to talk to Rick about the new season on the History Channel and how he got started in the restoration business.
Art Eddy: On May 28th the new season of “American Restoration” starts up. In this episode you have Billy Joel on your show. He was looking to have a motorcycle restored. When Billy came to your store did you get a little star struck?
Rick Dale: I don’t get star struck, but I was definitely nervous. It is Billy Joel for God sakes. I would watch him when I was a kid. It is pretty incredible to see him roll in and send me that bike to get restored. It was pretty cool.
AE: Billy Joel said, “I’ve seen Rick’s work and he does a great job. He does it the old fashioned way, he does it by hand. It’s also done with care.” When you hear a compliment like that does it make all your hard work that much more rewarding?
RD: Yea it does. I restore a lot of stuff for people and a lot memories. So to have a person of that caliber who actually builds bikes to come in to say that he has actually seen my work was a gigantic one. So that means Billy Joel is actually a fan or someone that likes what we do with the originality stuff. It really made me feel good that he allowed me to start this. The pressure was there while we were doing it I can tell you that right now.
AE: This can be for any project, but especially when you are doing work for a celebrity. Do you ever get overwhelmed with a restoration project?
RD: Yea I do. Someone sent me in this 35 foot slide that was from a park. It came in a million pieces. I think I can handle almost anything, but when that intimidation comes in it really shows up on screen. I was really freaking out. They will say cut and I will say ‘Oh my God, are you kidding me?’
I think they test me. I think they find the biggest pile of junk. It goes all the way back to Rick Harrison. He would find the biggest pile of junk he possibly could and bring it in just to test me. I am up for the challenge. That is what sort of made my business and my life a little more creative. It allows me to really, really get into something and go deep.
AE: This season not only do you do work for music legend Billy Joel, but you do a project for another well-known musician with Jason Mraz. What did you do for Jason?
RD: Jason’s project is coming up. It is a sign out of his grandfather’s garage. This is one of those projects that I almost didn’t do. I didn’t want to say no to him. Him and his dad came in and brought in this old sign. The sign is literally paper thin and the paper is full of rust. Finally after doing a bunch of different things figured out how I could finish the sign. It is not totally done so we are not out of the woods yet.
It is just one of those things where people see the show and think I can do anything. I am up to the challenge, but man some days I am definitely tested. I have thrown stuff, freaked out, and ran home. I have done it all.
AE: What can viewers expect from this season?
RD: Toward the end of the season we are going to be doing some high end projects. We are doing something for the Dodgers. We are doing this big hot dog cart. It was a design back from the Sixties. I get to go and meet Tommy Lasorda, which means more pressure. (Laughs)
We are doing a lot of motorcycles. We are doing this Ducati that they only made a hundred of them and so how do I find the parts for it? There is a lot of fun and really, really cool projects coming up.
AE: How did you get into this business?
RD: Back in the day in the Eighties I actually was in construction. It really got bad here in Nevada. I had an old Coke machine in the back of my house. Somebody said to me that I could take that down to the Rose Bowl and people overseas buy them. I needed to make my house payment.
So what I decided to do was paint it all up. I needed to make enough money for the house payment and not just the electric bill. We cleaned it up and took it down there. A Japanese man bought and told me that he needed more of these.
That same day people were coming up to me since they literally saw that one machine and said to me if I wanted to buy other things. So it turned into a business. I thought I will just buy it from this guy and go home and restore them and then I will sell them. The business just took off.
To listen to the entire interview click here.
May 22nd
Interview with VIKINGS Actor Travis Fimmel
VIKINGS is a new show on the History Channel that takes a look into the world of the Norseman and how they learned to travel to different places looking for treasures to bring back to their people. The series looks at how they worshipped ancient gods like Odin, Thor, Freya and Loki.
The main character Ragnar Lothbrok played by Travis Fimmel feels that he is a direct descendant of the Norse god Odin, who, as well as being the god of warriors slain in battle, is also the god of curiosity. The nine part series centers on the curious and compelling Norseman who is always looking to break through barriers and discover new worlds to conquer.
Lothbrok has a family and is a farmer, but he is deeply frustrated by the unadventurous policies of his local chieftain, Earl Haraldson, who is played by Gabriel Byrne. Haraldson continues to send his Vikings raiders east every summer, to the Baltic States and Russia, whose populations are as materially poor as themselves. VIKINGS looks at Lothbrok’s stand against Haralson and his mission to go west and explore new lands.
I was able to chat with Travis about the show and talk about his character and that he hopes fans will love the show as much as he loved filming it.
Art Eddy: First off can you tell me a bit about your character Ragnar and what viewers can expect from the show?
Travis Fimmel: Well Ragnar is based on a historical character. He is very adventurous and he is one of the first people to sail west and discover England and do what Vikings do when they discover places. Say good hey to the ladies and beat up people.
AE: Your character is based on the real life Viking leader Ragnar. What type of research did you do for your character?
TF: Well I was very lucky, the writer and creator, Michael Hirst is an amazing guy and he gave me a lot of information. My job as an actor is to make it relatable to the audience. He has got a family, brothers, and he had got his wife and his children and has the same conflict that any family does even in this day and age.
AE: Ragnar’s brother, Rollo seems to be a wild card in the show. He takes whatever he wants and he looks to have eyes for Ragnar’s wife Lagertha. How would you describe the relationship between Ragnar and Rollo?
TF: It is a real power trip between Ragnar and his brother Rollo. Both of them want to be the leader, but there can only be the leader and that causes conflict between them and jealousy. You know I am sure at one stage they certainly will be against each other.
AE: I have seen a few episodes so far and I have to say you guys to a great job of portraying that time in history. Where did you guys shoot the series?
TF: We shot in Ireland for five months. It is an amazing country and it is so beautiful. Very bloody cold there man, very cold. The people were amazing. The crews are amazing. It was a really good experience. We all enjoyed making it, so hopefully the audience will sure enjoy watching it.
AE: You challenge your local chieftain Earl Haraldson, played by Gabriel Byrne, who always wants to travel east, while you think going west is the way to go. Why is Ragnar so curious about the east?
TF: He is so curious. He thinks he is a direct descendant from a god named Odin, who was a god of slain warriors and curiosity. Legends say that the god Odin killed himself just to see what death felt like. Ragnar has that same curiosity about stuff. Nothing is good enough for him. He wants to know what is out there. It is not just for the raping and pillaging stuff. He wants to learn about people and the gods they worship, what the look like, and their customs. He is just a curious person and his curiosity doesn’t end.
AE: I love the character Floki, who is played by Gustaf Skarsgard, and how he sees himself as the Norse god Loki. Gustaf seems like he would be cracking people up on the set. How was working with Gustaf and shooting the scenes with him?
TF: He is just a great actor in a role that he was playing. He is a funny guy and he made a great character and he is very interesting to watch. I think my character really enjoys his company so you will see plenty of Floki.
AE: In one of the upcoming episodes you guys raid a monastery in Lindesfarne and these monks get a firsthand look at what the Vikings are all about. You also save the life of Athelstan played by George Blagden. What does Ragnar see in the young monk to save his life?
TF: I think they definitely will and they do actually. He is very intrigued by Athelstan the priest. George is a great actor. He can learn so much from him. He can learn where the other settlements from the priest. The priest is a wealth of knowledge for him and it would have been silly for him to kill him.
AE: What can we expect to see in future shows of the Vikings series this season on the History Channel? Will there be a second season?
TF: There are nine episodes. It really keeps building. It gets better and better and I look forward to seeing the finished show. For the second season I don’t know. That is the producers job and I stay out of it.
To listen to the interview, click here.
VIKINGS premieres Sunday, March 3 at 10 p.m. (ET) on the History Channel.
Feb 24th
