Versailles Interview with Evan Williams on the Historical Drama's Farewell Season

"Fitting to end on such a crescendo." Evan Williams remembers his final day on Versailles as we discuss his journey of portraying the Chevalier de Lorraine in season 3. He also shares his thoughts about creating music and the buildOn project he is working on.

Foto: Evan Williams - Copyright: Michael Duenas
Evan Williams
© Michael Duenas

December 10, 2018 by Nicole Oebel @philomina_


"I'm the king of my own land / Facing tempests of dust, I'll fight until the end / Creatures of my dreams, raise up and dance with me / Now and forever / I'm your king". With these M83 lyrics in your head what comes to mind looking back at the four years you played the Chevalier in Versailles?

It's such a big experience to encapsulate, even a year or more after we finished. The final season is nearing its close in the US, we're gearing up to truly say goodbye, and I'm still marvelling at the fact I had the opportunity to take part in something that has lodged itself in the hearts and minds of so many people. Those M83 lyrics from the opening credits also make me think of the real people that we represented. Makes me think of the real Philippe De Lorraine, whom with the help of a devoted team, I raised up and danced with. I feel grateful to him, even if his peers judged him a scoundrel. We took their scorn from the history books and we ran with it, danced with it, set him in lights.

When we met in Paris last year you talked about the Chevalier's inherent lack of self-worth: "In examining the broken heart that doesn't believe it's worthy of love, I feel like I've encountered my job with this role." Looking at the whole three season arc, what are your thoughts on his journey? Do you feel a sense of completion?

I never ever expected the Chevy to go on the hero's journey, but in a way, despite his efforts, that's what has happened. It's been such a priviledge to play a character that has changed so much from the first episode to the last. We've watched him fail in nearly every way, so to see him come into his own power and find the capacity to love cleanly and without manipulation is all the more beautiful. He's still a showpony, he'll still cheat you at cards, but he isn't an agent of chaos, he has something to stand for. It's been fascinating finding the strength way deep down inside of him. Do I feel complete? No. I feel like there are volumes left to tell about the colorful life of this guy and the way he sees the world, the ends he'll go to illuminate his ideals for better or for worse. But with that said, I feel content. I feel we've created a ball and gotten it rolling so it now can continue on its own. The picture is clear, and I think people are now able to see the world through his eyes, intuit how he would react to situations. If people can hear his voice outside of the script, then the character truly lives.

When the Chevalier is forced to accept that Philippe has shut him out, Delphine becomes a vital part in his character arc as he finds himself mulling over the concept of being in love with someone. Do you think that, in a way, setting the Chevalier free is what he needed to face up to, and allow the idea of love in his life?

In writing Philippe returning from war and casting our poor Chevalier aside without reason or explanation, the writers of Versailles have given him the greatest possible gift they can give a character, namely confronting him with his worst nightmare. All of the machinations and manipulations of the first two seasons were precisely to prevent a situation like this from ever happening. It's his kryptonite. Their relationship has been hazardously imbalanced from the beginning, and he knows that all of his power and identity disappears in that instant. The interesting thing to explore is what happens next, what does one do the morning after the worst day of their life? As is the case with life, we never really know how tall we are until we're standing on rock bottom. What begins as a floundering attempt to keep his head above water, turns into a journey right into the center of a new kind of love utterly unrecognizable from the daily rollercoaster of MonChevy drama. None of his old tricks work. Delphine is utterly unlike anything he's contended with before, and with her help he finds a new dimension of himself, one which is ultimately necessary if he ever wants healthy love with Philippe. I'd encapsulate it this way. Chevy felt he had to be who Philippe would love. Delphine helped Chevy become someone he himself could love.

The MonChevy scenes in season 3 were rich in variety - from rejection and hurt, to a moment of warmth and empathy, to a much needed intervention, to a breathless declaration of love. I would love to know your thoughts on portraying this relationship throughout the three seasons, and let me add this little thing that Joe Sheridan said talking about watching you and Alex working together: "The two of them they are totally Macbethic".

Ha! Joe. What a beautiful man. Yes, well the relationship between Philippe and Chevalier ("that should be the other way around, surely”) was such a joy because we were given full license to paint with every crayon in the box. That never happens. It's especially bonkers when you think that the lions share of our scenes together took place on the same set! From feeding him a grape in Episode One, to head butting him and menacing him with a candelabra in Season Two, to baring our hearts to each other in Season Three, they all took place in the same set of rooms (not to mention an orgy or two). I have so much to owe to my stellar scene partner (his name's Al, maybe you've heard of him) because we really explored in tandem, and so much of what I brought to the Chevalier was in reaction to what he was doing with Philippe. It was this incredible dance and the writers were picking up on everything about the way we related, both on camera and off, and were weaving it all poetically with what they were finding in the history books. It's been incredible. And one of the things that I love about this art form is that it's not going anywhere. I'll be able to show my grandkids, if they'll be at all interested that is. :)

In ep. 3x03 we have the fun, suggestive banter between Delphine and the Chevalier: "You would have to convert if you wish to get your hands on my stunning fortune." - "No need to convert, I am as proficient with women as I am with men." When you watch the show back, what are the scenes that you enjoy laughing about and that make you emotional?

There are so many. Among the highlights that make me laugh are the scene with Claudine where she checks Chevy for venereal disease (Cold hands! I died when I read that the first time), getting my nose broken courtesy of the forehead of Fabian in the dungeon in Season One, and the scene with the peacock entrance at the beginning of Season Two when Chevy returns from exile. The list of scenes that make me emotional is even longer, it has been such a rollercoaster ride for this character, but off the top of my head, the fireplace scene in Season One where we see his heart for the first time, sending Phillipe off to battle at the end of Season Two, and climbing into bed with Palatine after prison in Season Three. The writers really put this guy through the ringer, but what was so beautiful is, really, all the way along, he did it to himself. And don't we all?

Foto: Evan Williams, Versailles - Copyright: Canal+
Evan Williams, Versailles
© Canal+

Both Steve Cumyn and Alex talked about the emotional last day of filming, the crew gathering, the cast-mates coming to watch. Goosebumps! Which was your last scene to shoot and what was the experience like for you?

Funnily enough, my final day on Versailles was one of the biggest, baddest, most kick-ass scenes I've ever shot in my whole career. The one where Chevalier and Delphine arrive in haste on horseback to her fathers chateau aflame and in the midst of being sacked by the Kings guard in the middle of the night. So much adrenaline as we waited for the sun to go down, we knew it was a big, expensive setup, and it was the second last day of the entire production schedule, literally no room for error. We marked the moves, the dismounts, the action, but we knew there would be some degree of chaos. There were a hundred or so extras creating the tableau of carnage we were to discover. When the time came we steeled ourselves, trying not to let our horses feel how nervous we were. They called action on a bullhorn like in the old days. There was a pickup truck rigged with cameras that rode astride us and we pushed our horses as fast as they could gallop as we raced across the meadow and crested the hill to find the chateau with fire pouring out the windows and spiraling up into the sky. Such a magnificent effect, with scores of people fighting for their lives in silhouette. I wasn't prepared for the realism. Literally zero acting required. It was like some nightmare playing out before my eyes, it was terrible and beautiful, and we were heroes, and the little kid inside me was absolutely screaming with joy at getting to play such a wild and magnificent game. We roared in there and fought for justice. Fitting to end on such a crescendo, it felt like a gift from the production. We shot all night, and they wrapped Joe, Marie, and I, as the sky was beginning to lighten and the color seeped back into the landscape. I hugged Joe as tight as I could, and when the crew circled up to say goodbye it all kind of poured out. We were all exhausted, but there was such immense gratitude there, and a kind of scrappy pride. We did it. And we did it as a team.

If the Chevalier's storylines with Philippe, Liselotte, Delphine, the King, Henriette and Montespan had a theme song, what would they be?

Chevy + Philippe - Heartbeats / Jose Gonzalez
Chevy + Lisolette - I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends / Joe Cocker
Chevy + Delphine - Master & a Hound / Gregory Alan Isakov
Chevy + King Louis - Bohemian Rhapsody / Queen
Chevy + Henriette - The Way We Used To Beg / Joel Alme
Chevy + Montespan - Don't Lie / Vampire Weekend

The way Versailles has been received has been as diverse as the audience it speaks to - historians, tv critics, fans, people who enjoy a costume drama or a political drama, people who feel represented by particular characters in the show. How do you feel about the conversation that the show started?

The fact that people are engaging in conversation about, or inspired by, something that we have created, is everything we could have ever hoped for with this project. Whether it's as art, or as pulp, I figure it's all legitimate. That it can persist in the minds of our viewers and inform to some small degree the way they view their reality, that's the goal with any kind of storytelling. On top of that, the fact that it has kind of cracked the crust of our pop culture, managed an elegant aesthetic statement, and made a little dent in the way we tell stories (the show really broke the mold and pioneered a new model of international coproduction which is now being copied left and right in the industry) is just icing on the cake. With Chevalier's storyline in particular, I set out from the get-go to defend this flawed man and the flawed way he loved, from a human angle as opposed to a ethically or morally charged one. I didn't want his sexuality to be a morality tale, didn't want to wag the finger, and in tandem with our talented writers, we refused to let the broad norms of television dictate how we explored the story. When people tell me they feel represented, that right there is the fruit of all the planting we did over four years of cultivating this story.

I'd like to go back to something you said in our last interview: "I want to change the world with my heart, I believe that's the calling all creative people share". While you were on Versailles you worked on your first Loving Out project, and now on your second - a three-pronged mission in Malawi and Oakland. What are the stories you can tell about this project so far?

Yes, we're very excited to be working with buildOn again, since Nepal was such a smashing success with a now thriving student population enjoying the best education they've ever had (in no small part due to the incredibly generous support from the Versailles fans, thank you, all you wonderful people with your hearts on fire). We'll be traveling to Malawi in May of 2019 and constructing an elementary school, accompanied by a desperately needed adult literacy program which will service a wide radius of the local population. People will depend on this access to education, aiding their ability to gain access to life saving medication, and register to vote. We'll also be teaming with buildOn in Oakland to support their after-school learning program which supports and mobilizes disadvantaged youth in some of the toughest neighborhoods in the country. For more information please check out my fundraising page at http://act.buildon.org/lovingout! Thank you for giving me the space to talk about this. This is real life and it's happening now. The power to change the world is in our hands and requires us to act, not in some magnificent earth-shaking gesture, but through repetition and proliferation of empathetic conscious steps. The world does not have to be the way that it is. We decide together.

You've recently released "Tough Drug" as the first single from your music project Bright World and you've mentioned "it's about co-dependency". Listening to it, I felt like I was sat on a breezy beach with a martini shaken, not stirred. An interesting contrast. Does it feel more personal to you to express yourself through music or acting?

I'm being asked this a lot lately. Truthfully I don't feel there is really any difference at all between the two forms of expression other than the framing. Both are storytelling, one is more like a haiku while the other is more like a novel but they both come from the same source. When I make breakthroughs with my music it informs my acting, and vice versa. What I love about music is that I can do it in my living room when the world is crashing around my shoulders (and believe me, I do) and I don't have to wait for anyone to give me the green light, because I can just drive right off the road. Acting is inherently more collaborative (at least professionally) so there is always some degree of timing and lighting that one just has to roll with. I find the combination of both (and any other form of expression I can find) keeps me happy, consistently on the chase for the truth that rings, and that's what I'm after. I will always be creating in whatever way I can, I know that. I think it's just what I do, it makes me feel plugged in, useful, and has the added benefit of keeping me from going absolutely completely crazy. I think the idea is to court the good kind of crazy, the kind of crazy that you see in the fractal patterns of nature or the dancing of bees, and let yourself swing out. Say it, just let it out, with purpose and passion and wild abandon. Expose your underbelly and dance, give those that are afraid to be foolish the permission to be just that.

We're all fools for love, children grown up, and the joke's on us if we don't laugh along. :)

Probably our final Versailles interview, Evan, let me say the biggest thank you! Four interviews in three years - you are great and together with your cast-mates you have truly inspired me!

The pleasure is mine Nicki. Thanks for your consistently thoughtful questions, and for sharing our love of this journey we've all enjoyed. And thank you to all the fans.

Related: More interviews with the "Versailles" stars




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