The actor-turned-director opens up about stepping behind the camera, on-screen representation and giving back to the fans. <\/p>
Alexander Vlahos is best known for starring in series including Merlin<\/a>, Versailles, Sanditon<\/a> and \u2013 most recently \u2013 Outlander<\/a>, but over the past few years he has also been busy establishing himself as a director, helming a string of short films.<\/p>\n His back catalogue to date \u2013 including the films Lola (2020), Watchtower (2021), I Am One (2021), and Here We Are (2022) \u2013 will be screened at London\u2019s Prince Charles Cinema on 12th August as part of An Evening with Alexander Vlahos<\/a>.<\/p>\n The event \u2013 which will also include a Q&A and a meet-and-greet \u2013 is being described by Vlahos as a \u201cgift to the fans\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been blessed in my career to have four very strong fandoms \u2013 Merlin, Sanditon, Versailles, and Outlander,\u201d he tells RadioTimes.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn the last couple years, I have been\u2026 not stepping away from acting \u2013 I\u2019ll always be an actor \u2013 but directing is where my passion lies, and I am so honoured that the fans from each fandom have taken it upon themselves to be interested in my directing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI do a lot of conventions \u2013 some are really small and intimate and you get to spend a lot of time with fans, and some are juggernauts and it\u2019s kind of at arm\u2019s length. So this is my gift to the fans.\u201d<\/span><\/p> It was while filming the third and final season of the historical drama series Versailles that Vlahos first started to feel unsettled in his role as an actor and began searching for something more.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d think by that point, having lived and breathed the character for 20 episodes, that by season three there would be a sense of ease with it. What I actually found was quite the opposite.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe first season felt really liberating and by season three I was getting frustrated. I was finding the process of filmmaking, and my role in that as an actor, to be really detrimental. I was not enjoying the process at all, because I was finding that decisions were, obviously, being taken out of my hands.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBeing a director \u2013 being able to have control in the edit, being able to make casting decisions\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say it was a specific epiphany moment, but it was a sort of progression of feeling uneasy about acting and and wanting to give [directing] a go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Read more<\/strong><\/p>\n His experiences with directing have, for the most part, enabled him to collaborate more effectively as an actor.<\/p>\n \u201cSome directors just want you to be an actor and I\u2019ve struggled with that, because I love being able to converse with directors. I found especially on something like Outlander, it\u2019s such a juggernaut, you\u2019re a <\/span>tiny cog in a huge wheel and\u2026 [it\u2019s like], \u2018Just keep it going.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019ve worked with amazing directors and I\u2019m able to have conversations with them beyond just the actor\/director conversation. <\/span>It\u2019s not, \u2018I\u2019m an actor, this is my mark, you work around me\u2026\u2019 I\u2019m able to facilitate shots for them, because I know what they\u2019re trying to do, and that saves time, and that means the crew get to go home on time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n