By Colleen Bement, Aug. 31st, 2018
Natalia Tena walked on to the stage with confidence and grace. Her smile and sense of humor delighted the audience who had sat in line to see her. She shared her experiences filming both “Game of Thrones” and “Harry Potter” as well as her huge love for books. Funny story, she actually lives on a canal boat in London and in order to move to the new home she needed to get rid of most of her stuff; including books. The actress hosted a few parties where guests were required to leave with at least 15 books!
It was interesting watching a panel in an old Wet Seal store at the Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs, yet ironically the backdrop was perfect. Check out some of the highlights of Natalie’s Q&A from last week’s Colorado Springs Comic Con, Aug. 24-26, 2018.
Known of course for her role as Tonks in the “Harry Potter” films and the wildling Osha in “Game of Thrones”, fans can also catch Natalia in her new series with “Origin” alongside Potter alum Tom Felton.
Audience: Tell us about your audition for “Harry Potter”.
Natalia Tena: For the audition, I went into the hairdresser like make me look like a funeral. It was all black. I told the director this, and I was really bad. It was a really bad audition. I walked out and told the girl and she said they always say that, and I said but no, this was really bad. And she rings me and said you’re right; it was terrible. I said told you! I’m on the way to do a play, and she no, no, no, they want to see you again, and I was like what? I spoke to the director and I rang from a payphone, and he was like, I just have a feeling it was you. The next audition I’m going to give you a two-hour audition so we can play around in. If it doesn’t work, maybe I’m wrong. I read “The Order of the Phoenix” first and I was like oh my God this is amazing. I wanted in and sat down and did it once, he was that’s it! We filmed it and it was actually like a 20-minute audition.
I read all of the books. I even lied to one of my friends. She had a show that I was meant to go and see, the seventh book had just come out, and I just lied to her; I’ve got something to do. I was at home with my cat reading my book.
Audience: What is your favorite scene from “Game of Thrones” whether you’re in it or not?
Natalia: There are too many. Little Finger has some amazing speeches. I do love when the Dragon Queen becomes the Dragon Queen, and it’s like this bitch is gonna win. I mean she’s got dragons, and she’s kind of stripped herself of the men who were repressing her.
She added:
I was kind of jealous of the people who got to go to Croatia because it was like winter in Belfast in the forest. It was very cold.
Audience: A sweet young Wonder Woman asked how long it takes to learn lines.
Natalia: Line learning is actually the easiest part. I find it very easy. If you’re finding it really hard to learn lines, it’s sometimes a symptom that it’s not well-written. It’s very easy to learn something if it all makes sense. The hardest thing is learning how to say them. You can go crazy trying to analyze the line and understanding why you’re saying it and how to say it.
Audience: What advice to give to an aspiring actress.
Natalia: Have a plan B. Any creative job; an actor, or musician or an artist, you need to have a plan B. A big plan B. Obviously be relentless, but have a plan B. That’s why I’ve got Molotov Jukebox. Have options. Don’t assume that that’s going to work out. Keep going for it, but have something else if it fails.
Audience: What type of music does your band play?
Natalia: It’s kind of tropical gypsy music, there’s six of it and when there’s a bit more money, there’s nine with a brass section, but we always have one trumpet player with there’s six of it. I play the accordion. The music’s kind of- very Latin rhythms, I’m Spanish, and dancing music. Some Eastern European melodies. Themes are about death, sex, and time and love, but play it to happy music, which is what they do in South America. Wow, this is great, no it’s about my mother dying. I kind of like the fact that they do that. Life is bad and we need to dance to get through it. Juicebox? (Pineapple Girl good song)
Audience: One of the parts in the “Game of Thrones” books is where Tyrion had a dream of riding a dragon. Thinking in the future, do you think that Tyrion or Jon Snow will end up on one of the dragons with Dany?
Natalia: Yeah. Why wouldn’t they? Especially now that Jon and the Dragon lady are getting it on.