David Arquette, Solomon Stewart & Rebecca Bloom On ‘Sigmund And The Sea Monsters’ [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]
David Arquette, Solomon Stewart and Rebecca Bloom are starring in the remake of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, a show that originally ran from 1973-1975. The group sat down with uInterview to talk a bit about their roles and what it’s like to film.
DAVID ARQUETTE, SOLOMON STEWART, REBECCA BLOOM ON SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS
The rebooted kid’s series was brought to life by Sid and Marty Krofft, who also produced the original. In it, the children find a sea monster named Sigmund and take care of him, but have to be careful because the overzealous Captain Barnabus is on a mission to prove that sea monsters are real.
“I play Johnny,” Stewart told uInterview exclusively. “He’s basically the ringleader of the group and he loves a good adventure. My brother scotty [played by Kyle Breitkopf] and I are the ones who find Sigmund and basically have to take care of him and hide him from Captain Barnabus,” he said, pointing to Arquette.
“I play Robyn,” Bloom said, “she’s new to the series, she was not in the original one, which is retty cool. She’s very open minded, and her cousins Johnny and Scotty bring her into this hiding Sigmund.”
“And I play Captain Barnabus,” Arquette added. “I’m also new to the series. Sigmund has a villain now, so I got to play Captain Barnabus like a slaty sea monster hunter.”
The child actors recall they had a blast working with Arquette. “Working with David is really fun, he taught me a lot, like how to get into character really well, he’s really good at that,” Stewart shared. “He’s just an overall great person and really fun to work with.” Rebecca agreed. “It was really a great experience, he definitely taught us how to get into character because he plays Captain Barnabus so well, and it was really fun on set.”
And of course Arquette returned the favor. “It was awesome working with these kids, they’re so talented and they’re just great, and throughout the series I had sorta different episodes where we had storylines that interacted so we all got to work together.”
Arquette has two children, so he was excited to work on a children’s program, and he was “absolutely” excited to share his work with them. “In the pilot, my character was a little scary for my three year old son Charlie,” the actor laughed. So in series he’s a little calmer, I think he’s a little more crazy than scary.”
As preparation for the show, the actors all went back and watched the original from the 1970s. “We got to see the original when we were doing table reads, and it was really cool, and now the puppets look the same but they’re just a lot more advanced,” said Stewart. “There’s actually somebody inside the puppet that’s like moving the body, and then there’s someone outside who’s controlling the facial movements and doing the voice.”
“I saw the original when I was their age,” Arquette chimed in, but he agreed about the technologically advanced puppets. “They look very similar to the old ones, although there’s more now. In the series there’s a mama, which is really fun,” he said. “But they’re just really advanced the way these puppeteers are all mic’ed up and they’re controlling the facial expressions with a remote control and everything, so you can literally have a real-time conversation with them, which is bizarre.”
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters is produced by Amazon Studios. The pilot was released in June, and the remainder of season one became available on Oct. 12.
Full interview transcript below:
Q: What characters do you each play in the series?
A: [Solomon Stewart]: “I’m Solomon and I play Johnny. He’s basically the ringleader of the group and he loves a good adventure and my brother Scotty and I are the ones who find Sigmund and we basically have to take care of him and hide him from Captain Barnabus.”
[Rebecca Bloom]: “Hi my name’s Rebecca, I play Robyn. She’s new to the series, she was not in the original one which was pretty cool. Um, she’s very open minded and her cousins Johnny and Scotty bring her into this hiding Sigmund.”
[David Arquette]: “And uh I play Captain Barnabus, I’m also new to the series uh Sigmund has uh um a villain now. So haha I got to play Captain Barnabus, like a salty sea monster hunter.”
Q: What were the best moments on the set with David?
A: [Solomon Stewart]: “He-he taught me a lot, it’s really fun working with him. He taught me
how to like get into character really well, he’s really good at doing that. And he’s just overall a great person and really fun to work with.”
[Rebecca Bloom]: “Mhm yeah, working with David it was really a great experience like
Solomon said. He definitely taught us how to get into character because he plays Captain Barnabus so well uh and it just was really fun on set.”
Q: David, what was it like to work with young actors?
A: [David Arquette]: “It was awesome working with these kids, they’re so talented and they
they’re just great and uh throughout the series I had sort of, different episodes where we had
storylines that interacted so we all got to really work together.”
Q: David, have your kids been able to see the show?
A: [David Arquette]: “Yeah ahha absolutely. Um in The Pilot my character was a little scary for my three year old son, Charlie, ahah so in series he’s a little calmer, I think he’s more just kind of crazier than scary.”
Q: Did you get to see the original ‘Sigmund’ before filming?
A: [Solomon Stewart]: “We got to see the original when we were doing table reads and it was really cool and now the-the puppets are like basically they look the same, they’re just a lot more advanced and like there’s actually somebody inside the puppet, moving the body and there’s someone outside who’s controlling like the facial movements and doing the voice.”
[Rebecca Bloom]: “Yeah, we got to see the original which helped because you could see like what was in the original and what’s in the new which is really cool.”
[David Arquette]: “I saw the original when I was haha their age.”
Q: Did you have a role in designing the puppets for the show?
A: [David Arquette]: “No they just, they look very similar to the old ones. There’s more now, in the series there’s a mama um which is really fun. But their just really advanced the way these puppeteers are all miked up and they’re doing all the like-with the remote control. They’re controlling the facial expressions and everything so you literally have like a real-time conversation with them ahah which is bizarre.”
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