'The Mortal Instruments' stars busy in TV & film for 2014

The cast members of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones are incredibly talented actors that we all enjoy watching perform. With it being the new year we are sure many of you would like to know what movies and television shows you all can see them in this year, what they are currently working on, and what they will be working on soon. So, below is a list of each actor along with all of that information. Release dates will be provided as well if they have been made available. This should hold everyone over throughout the year while we wait for more news regarding City of Ashes.

Jamie Campbell Bower (aka Jace Wayland)

Movie: Overdrive
Role: Garrett
Production Status: In Development
Release Date: 2014
Plot Summary:
A pair of handsome and adventurous brothers, known for being high-profile car thieves, travel to the South of France looking for new challenges and come across a tough local crime boss.

Lily Collins (aka Clary Fray)

Movie: Love, Rosie
Role: Rosie Dunne
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: 2014
Plot Summary:
Rosie and Alex are best friends. They are suddenly separated when Alex and his family move from Dublin to America. Can their friendship survive years and miles? Will they gamble everything for true love?

Robert Sheehan (aka Simon Lewis)

Movie: Anita B.
Role: Eli
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: January 16th, 2014

Movie: Begin the Beguine
Role: Nikolai
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: Unknown

Movie: The Road Within
Role: Vincent
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: Unknown
Plot Summary:
A young man with Tourette's Syndrome embarks on a road trip with his recently-deceased mother's ashes.

Movie: Caesar
Role: Mark Antony
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: Unknown
Plot Summary:
A chilling film adaptation of Shakespeare's shocking tale of ambition, betrayal, murder and... the supernatural.

Jemima West (aka Isabelle Lightwood)

Movie: F2014
Role: Annette Rimet
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: Unknown

Movie: Kidnapping Freddy Heineken
Role: Unknown
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: Unknown
Plot Summary:
The inside story of the planning, execution, rousing aftermath and ultimate downfall of the kidnappers of beer tycoon Alfred "Freddy" Heineken, which resulted in the largest ransom ever paid for an individual.

 Kevin Zegers (aka Alec Lightwood)

Movie: The Curse of Downers Grove
Role: Unknown
Release Date: 2014
Plot Summary:
A teen angst thriller at a high school gripped by an apparent curse that claims the life of a senior every year. Story follows a senior, Chrissie, who is skeptical, and another, Tracy, who believes that she may be the next victim.

Movie: Into the Americas
Role: John Jewitt
Production Status: In Development
Release Date: 2014
Plot Summary:
Young English seaman John Jewitt is one of only two European survivors left after his crewmates clash with Mowachaht Indians on the west coast of North America. Torn between his desire for freedom and his love for an Indian maiden, Jewitt must choose one or the other.

Movie: Road to Capri
Role: Daniel
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: Unknown
Plot Summary:
One dead father. Two mothers. Two brothers who didn't know they were brothers. One inheritance.

Lena Headey (aka Jocelyn Fray)

Movie: The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box
Role: Monica
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: January 10th, 2014
Plot Summary:
Ancient mysteries. Powerful evil. And a fearless hero's quest through a fantastical realm of steam-powered wonders and sinister magic... In THE ADVENTURER: THE CURSE OF THE MIDAS BOX, seventeen-year-old Mariah Mundi's life is turned upside down when his parents vanish and his younger brother is kidnapped. Following a trail of clues to the darkly majestic Prince Regent Hotel, Mariah discovers a hidden realm of child-stealing monsters, deadly secrets and a long-lost artifact that grants limitless wealth - but also devastating supernatural power. With the fate of his world, and his family at stake, Mariah will risk everything to unravel the Curse of the Midas Box!


Movie: Low Down
Role: Sheila Albany
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: January 19th, 2014

Plot Summary:
A look at the life of pianist Joe Albany from the perspective of his young daughter, as she watches him contend with his drug addiction during the 1960s and '70s jazz scene.

Movie: 300: Rise of an Empire
Role: Queen Gorgo
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: March 7th, 2014
Plot Summary:
After its victory over Leonidas' 300, the Persian Army under the command of Xerxes marches towards the major Greek city-states. The Democratic city of Athens, first on the path of Xerxes' army, bases its strength on its fleet, led by admiral Themistocles. Themistocles is forced to an unwilling alliance with the traditional rival of Athens, oligarchic Sparta whose might lies with its superior infantry troops. But Xerxes still reigns supreme in numbers over sea and land.


TV Series: Game of Thrones
Role: Cersei Lannister
Season 4 Premieres in 2014

Plot Summary:
Seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Political and sexual intrigue is pervasive. Robert Baratheon, King of Westeros, asks his old friend Eddard, Lord Stark, to serve as Hand of the King, or highest official. Secretly warned that the previous Hand was assassinated, Eddard accepts in order to investigate further. Meanwhile the Queen's family, the Lannisters, may be hatching a plot to take power. Across the sea, the last members of the previous and deposed ruling family, the Targaryens, are also scheming to regain the throne. The friction between the houses Stark, Lannister and Baratheon, and with the remaining great houses Greyjoy, Tully, Arryn, and Tyrell, leads to full-scale war. All while a very ancient evil awakens in the farthest north. Amidst the war and political confusion, a neglected military order of misfits, the Night's Watch, is all that stands between the realms of men and icy horrors beyond.

Movie: The Poisoners
Role: Unknown
Production Status: In Development
Release Date: Unknown
Plot Summary:
During World War I, a group of women who are left behind inan English farming community become romantically involved with several German prisones of war.

Aidan Turner (aka Luke Garroway)

Movie: The Hobbit: There And Back Again
Role: Kili
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: December 17, 2014
Plot Summary:
The Company of Thorin has reached Smaug's lair; but, can Bilbo and the Dwarves reclaim Erebor and the treasure? And, if so, can they hold on to it?

Jonathan Rhys Meyers (aka Valentine Morgenstern)

TV Series: DRACULA
Role: Alexander Grayson/Dracula/Vlad Tepes
Season 1 is Currently Airing
Plot Summary:
It's the late 19th century, and the mysterious Dracula has arrived in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. He's especially interested in the new technology of electricity, which promises to brighten the night - useful for someone who avoids the sun. But he has another reason for his travels: he hopes to take revenge on those who cursed him with immortality centuries earlier. Everything seems to be going according to plan... until he becomes infatuated with a woman who appears to be a reincarnation of his dead wife. 

Movie: London Town
Role: Unknown
Production Status: In Development
Release Date: Unknown
Plot Summary:
In 70's London, a 14 year oldboy is introduced to the Clash by his estranged mother and it changes his life forever.

Jared Harris (Hodge Starkweather)

Movie: Pompeii
Role: Lucretius
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: February 21st, 2014
Plot Summary:
A slave turned gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.

Movie: The Quiet Ones
Role: Professor Coupland
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: April 25th, 2014
Plot Summary:
A University physics professor assembles a team to help create a poltergeist.

Movie: The Boxtrolls
Role: Unknown (Voice)
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: September 26th, 2014
Plot Summary:
A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children's novel 'Here Be Monsters' by Alan Snow.

Movie: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Role: Unknown
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: 2014
Plot Summary:
In the early 1960s, CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin participate in a joint mission against a mysterious criminal organization, which is working to proliferate nuclear weapons.

Movie: Poltergeist
Role: Carrigan Burke
Production Status: In Production
Release Date: 2014
Plot Summary:
Legendary filmmaker Sam Raimi and director Gil Kenan reimagine and contemporize the classic tale about a family whose suburban home is invaded by angry spirits. When the terrifying apparitions escalate their attacks and take the youngest daughter, the family must come together to rescue her.

Kevin Durand (aka Emil Pangborn)

TV Series: The Strain
Role: Vasiliy Fet
Season 1 Pilot Episode Premieres in 2014
Plot Summary:
A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Ephraim "Eph" Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing.

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city - a city that includes his wife and son - before it is too late.

Movie: Winter's Tale
Role: Cesar Tan
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: February 14, 2014
Plot Summary:
A burglar falls for an heiress as she dies in his arms. When he learns that he has the gift of rincarnation, he sets out to save her.

Movie: The Captive
Role: Mika
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: Unknown
Plot Summary:
A father tries to track down his kidnapped daughter.

Movie: Noah
Role: Og
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: March 28th, 2014
Plot Summary:
The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood.

Movie: Signal
Role: Unknown
Production Status: In Development
Release Date: Unknown

Robert Maillet (aka Samuel Blackwell)

TV Series: The Strain
Role: The Master
Season 1 Pilot Episode Premieres in 2014
Plot Summary:
(See Above since Kevin Durand is in it as well.)

Movie: Brick Mansions
Role: Yeti
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: February 7th, 2014
Plot Summary:
An undercover cop tries to take down a ruthless crime lord with access to a neutron bomb by infiltrating his gang.

Movie: Hercules
Role: Executioner
Production Status: Completed
Release Date: July 25th, 2014
Plot Summary:
Having enduring his legendary twelve labors, Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when te King of Thrace and his daugher seek his aid in dfeating a tyrannical warlord.

Chris Ratz (aka Eric)

TV Series: 24 Hour Rental
Role: Junior
Currently Airing

TV Series: Bitten
Role: Jack
Season 1 Premieres on January 13th, 2014
Plot Summary:
Bitten centers on Elena Michaels, the world's only female werewolf who, years after being bitten, is working as a photographer in Toronto and trying to keep mum about her secret. She's forced to confront her past, though, when a bunch of bodies turn up at a werewolf sanctuary. Based off the "Otherworld" book series by Kelley Armstrong.

Jared Harris to star in 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' Film

'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones' and 'Mad Men' star Jared Harris will be joining the cast of Guy Ritchie's spy film 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'.

The Hollywood Reporter released this news:

"Warner Bros. announced that its big-screen take on the classic 1960s spy TV series will big production on Sept. 9, shooting in England, with location filming also in Italy, Rome and Naples.
The film follows special agents Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), who work for the mysterious United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.). Alicia Vikander also stars as the female lead in the pic, while Hugh Grant has a supporting role."

"Ritchie is directing and co-wrote the script with Lionel Wigram. Ritchie and Wigram also are producing under their new production shingle, which has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. John Davis (Chronicle) and Steve Clark-Hall (RocknRolla) are also producing while David Dobkin is executive producing." 

"English actor Harris previously worked with Ritchie on Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, in which he starred as Professor James Moriarty. His recent film work includes a role in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and the upcoming Pompeii. He's repped by Independent Talent Group, Paradigm and Gateway Management Company."

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: 'Mortal Instruments' star Jared Harris shares insight on Hodge Starkweather

Mortal Instruments' Hodge, Jared Harris, and fiancee, Allegra Riggio, chats with me on the red carpet!
(Photo: Amber/TMI Institute)

Making dreams come true. That's what I can say about the people pictured above. For those who don't know Jared Harris and Allegra Riggio, I can tell you that they are truly the coolest people on the planet. Besides being in some of the most fantastic TV shows and film (Mad Men, Fringe, Sherlock Holmes, Pompeii), Jared managed to very successfully capture the elusive Hodge Starkweather, leader and mentor for the Shadowhunters in the New York Institute.

The girls at The Mortal Institute got to know Jared's fiancee, Allegra Riggio, through is a champion of his work and a very cool girl in her own right. Allegra showed several of my friends and I the best time in LA and for that I'll be eternally grateful. I know that we've made a friend for life, and so, so glad to have had the opportunity to get to know them both while on this fantastic journey. In the picture to the left is us at the end of an adventurous journey through the Hollywood Hills. It was a blast and I'll never, ever forget it.

Here's my red carpet interview with Jared Harris at the Los Angeles premiere!

Before all this, I sat down with fellow TMI bloggers, Katie from Mundie Moms, Kristen from TMI Movie News and Erin from Fangirlish, to talk to Jared about his work as Hodge.

Katie, Mundie Moms: What you did with Hodge is really amazing. Hodge to me is one of those characters that you kind of get shocked by what he does. At first you think, what a jerk I can’t believe he did that, but you made it believe. Like you saw what he was battling between. He knew stuff but he was stuck in this Institute. You made me kind of feel bad for him where I’d never felt bad forhim before.

Jared: Well that’s good. That was part of the appeal of playing the character is that he is conflicted. He knows the right thing to do but he doesn’t do it. That’s always interesting to watch. We’re put in that situation as people all the time. You know what the right thing to do it and you hope you’ll do the right thing. And of course the thing that Harald added to it was that. In the book there is that long scene where he explains why he’s done what he’s done. It’s like nine pages long and you couldn’t have a nine-page long scene in the movie at that point. He decided that it’s almost that Hodge went back on himself over what he’d done, and he decided to dramatize that and use that in the movie.

What do you feel is one of Hodge's redeeming qualities? Because I think there's so much of him we don't get. So Hodge actually steps up and does the right thing in the end. And it was just another interesting twist. Harald, who is the director, loves the character. I think that’s another reason why Moriarty worked is that  (Sherlock Holmes director) Guy (Ritchie), he loves villains. He’s interested in them and understands them. I’d say at least half of the success of that performance was down to Guy. He really understood. I think there is an edited version of that movie where probably I made some pretty bad choices and luckily he didn’t use those because he understood how Moriarty was supposed to come across.

Katie, Mundie Moms: I almost want to call him an evil genius. You understood that he believed so strongly in his convictions even if they were wrong. You got that he was so passionate about it. You got both of these characters so well.

Jared: The difference is that Moriarty has does not have a moral compass at all. In fact he thinks of it as being chains that constricts his actions and what he wants to do. Hodge definitely has a moral compass. He understands what it is. He’s just been twisted so far off course but he’s aware of how far off course he’s been twisted.

Katie, Mundie Moms: What do you think is one of Hodge’s most redeeming qualities because I think there is a lot of him that we don’t get.

Jared: I think, and  this is again one of the discussions I had with Harald, was because he [Hodge] couldn't be around all the kids for as long he's around them and he's training them, he's responsible for their safety and not care about them. And that's sort of part of what motivates the way he turns is that he watches what Valentine is doing to the two of them (Clary and Jace) and at that point he decides, he's the only one who seems them being beaten up in that way and being abused or hurt, killed possibly. He is not brave enough to confront Valentine, he won't be able to best him so he decides to go and distort his plans. But that is something we talked about, you develop these really strong attachment to these kids because you watched them growing up and help them to understand what their role was going to be. Plus you know that their, the whole mythology in the story is that the bloodline is dying out because their losing the war and they won't use the cup to create more shadowhunters. So eventually the idea is that you want a pack full of people and over the centuries as slowly the numbers have gotten thinner and thinner. You also know that these kids are almost like the last of their kind and they're not going to survive either.

Amber, The Mortal Institute: What scene was the most fun for you to do? 

Jared: The fighting scenes? Because when I heard they were doing the fight, oh yeah I gotta get a hold of him and then he grabs it, it was an odd moment.

Amber, The Mortal Institute: Yeah I tried to talk to Allegra, "what does he like? what does he not like?"

Jared: Are you Amber? Hey!

Amber, The Mortal Institute: I'm Amber, nice to meet you! When you first got the script for Hodge, what was your impression of him?

Jared: He reminded me a little of ... I mean you start to play this game when you're taking on a role, who does he remind of you from people in your life and he reminded me of masters at school, when I was a kid at school, certain aspects of them and there was something to me in particularly in terms of the moustache and stuff like that where he sort of somewhere you gotta imagine these people living normal length lives. They wouldn't have lived 200-300 years. He's sort of the retired pilot or something, you know there's a different generation about him that those teachers had to me and a lot of them actually had experience in the second world war, you know they were retired. There was a certain sort of brusqueness about them, but also that they had favorites amongst the students because they’d be there with the students for seven or eight years. They’d have favorite students and students they didn’t like at all.You’d never catch a break with them. You start to build things like that in your head about the character. For me what i liked about it that we talked about in the very beginning was that switches that you make. You get to make three impressions with that character which is really good and that’s structured into the story. You get to play with the audience and how they feel about your character. That makes for a memorable impression.

Kristen, TMI Movie News: I have a question about Hodge seems a bit broken and defeated by outside forces and time and experience so is there anything that has happened in your life that you drew upon in this experience? I'm so sorry if that's really personal.

Jared:  Are you qualified for this conversation? Do you have a PhD? I’ll hire you as my shrink. Yeah, I mean everyone has stuff you would draw on that you would sit down. And again that was one of the twists Harald made is that, in the book he [Hodge] is actually cursed and he [Harald] wanted to suggest that he was mental, that he cursed himself, that they may have cursed him they may have said, "this is what you're going to do". The suggestion from the story that it exists in his mind rather than some sort of spell that gets lifted in this CGI cloud that lifts up or something. He wanted, part of his whole approach to his story is he wanted the world to seem very real in that sense and that's why we have these huge sets and everything was built and all the stunts were done by the actors and didn't want there to be wires and stuff like that. So that the audience felt that this world was a very real world. And that was one of the sort of the key stones in that  idea that it was in Hodge's head, that idea.

Kristen, TMI Movie News I wanted to get him a shrink and a prozac and like hug him, like you know what I mean. I felt bad for him, in the book I was kind of like "whatever" but you made me feel for the character I felt bad for him, in the book I kinda really was like "whatever" you know but you actually made me feel for the character where in the book I was like I can do with or without. Well your portrayal of him I mean, like he didn't see how good he was, like he didn't see how experienced and what a great thing he could've been, a good force he could have been.

Jared: Yeah right, that's the idea that he/we used to be, he was bad but there was something about that was again we pulled from the book was that they all came up together and their idea about how to save the world which is what they're literally doing. They had a different way that they thought they should go about it and it went horribly wrong and you had aligned yourself with that. And seeing it go wrong, you're responsible for that so yeah I think he, from that moment on that guy was crippled.

Erin, Fangirlish: Yeah there's that scene, where Hodge is sitting down and he's like, "Well I got you the cup" and Valentine is like, "You didn't give me the cup." And your character just physically deflates and that's right then I was like, "Oh my gosh that really breaks my heart". And I NEVER felt like that for Hodge, it was just the intensity that you and Jonathan had together on the screen. I mean you brought that, it was amazing that whole scene. What was it like filming that with him?

Jared: Well I mean, that moment when he rises up out of the portal was just this whole new energy that started in the movie. It was just this sort of rage and malevolence that came out and everyone certainly went, "Holy s*** that guy has arrived, he's f****** crazy." And Jonathan is incredibly intense, you know he's totally 100% committed, if you could be a thousand percent committed, he would be. He really would work himself up to an intense state 30 seconds before he would start shooting, he would rattle everybody. Yeah well you know to get himself ready so when it's turned on, he's not that way in real life obviously. We worked together on "B. Monkey" so we had a good history with each other and in that sense it was like old mates, muckers meeting up again which worked for the story you know.

Katie, Mundie Moms: Yeah and I loved that they've released a little, couple weeks ago the pictures they have taken of the circle and I love that because you hear, you re-read about it, you mentally visualize it. But then seeing that and seeing that in the movie, it was so great to actually see the connection and the history that Jocelyn, Hodge, Valentine and all these people had, and even Luke, it's kind of heartbreaking to see the disconnect that's now been caused.


Jared: Which is, I think again that one of the things why the story works that it is sort of an allegory  in that sense it's like looking at old family photos of your uncles and your cousins and your mom and dad and everything. They had this entire life before you've arrived and some of the people they don't talk to anymore and why is that and no one wants to talk about it but someone gets drunk at Christmas and start to find a little bit more about them *laughs*.

Erin, Fangirlish: It's more of a comment that I feel like, I mean I know you know that you guys go into it to make the best movie possible but I think what we've told everybody coming in is that you know we're die hards, like we've been doing this since like 2007. And I feel like even though you didn't go into this [movie] to honor fans, you have done such an honor by staying true to the book and by delivering these performances that generally moved us to the point that we're like, we're not allowed to say anything but we literally wanted to shout into the rooftops and we stayed up until 3 o'clock in the morning talking in our beds and going, "oh my god do you remember this." So I mean a thank you doesn't seem like enough to us because what you did is you brought our dreams come to life.

Jared: That's so sweet of you to say that, that exact conversation was one that I had with Robert Kulzer, the producer and Harald and specifically about that first scene with Lily. Where we explained a lot of the mythology of the story and the world and we just kept going back to the book and saying if there's a line in the book that works instead of a line we've written let's use the line in the book. Because we must we wanted to honor the mythology that’s been created and it's really important to do that.

New HQ Photos from 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones'! Inside the Institute Library!

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) and Hodge Starkweather (Jared Harris)

 

Mortal Movie has released three more stills from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie!

 

These new photos are from within the library of the New York Institute.



 

 

 

 What did you guys think of these new stills? Feel free to leave your comments below!

PHOTOS: New HQ 'The Mortal Instruments' Stills!

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) and Valentine Morgenstern (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) 

New movie stills from the The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones! 

Hodge Starkweather (Jared Harris) and Valentine

Emil Pangborn (Kevin Durand) and Samuel Blackwell (Robert Maillet)

Valentine and Clary.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones hits theaters this Wednesday! 

NEW Stills from 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones' Show Up

BTA Shadowhunters! A ton of new stills from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones have been released today. Check them all out below. They are very high quality and magnificent!

Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower)

Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower) and Lily Collins (Clary Fray)

Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower), Lily Collins (Clary Fray), Isabelle Lightwood (JemimaWest), and Alec Lightwood (Kevin Zegers)

Clary Fray (Lily Collins), Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower), and the Silent Brothers

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) and Simon Lewis (Robert Sheehan)

Clary Fray (Lily Collins)

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) and Magnus Bane (Godfrey Gao)

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) and Hodge Starkweather (Jared Harris)

Alec Lightwood (Kevin Zegers) and Isabelle Lightwood (Jemima West)

Alec Lightwood (Kevin Zegers)

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) and Luke Garroway (Aidan Turner)

Jocelyn Fray (Lena Headey)

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) and Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower)

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) and Magnus Bane (Godfrey Gao)

Magnus Bane (Godfrey Gao)

Clary Fray (Lily Collins), Simon Lewis (Robert Sheehan), and Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower)

Isabelle Lightwood (Jemima West), Clary Fray (Lily Collins), Alaric (Harry Van Gorkum), and some demons

What do you all think of the new stills? Let us know in the comments!

VIDEO: Two New Clips from 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones' Released

Two new clips from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones have been released titled, "What Do You Believe In" and "You Know What To Do." In these clips we get to see more of Isabelle (Jemima West), Alec (Kevin Zegers), and Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). They can be seen below.

 

What did you all think of the new clips? Let us know in the comments!

EXCLUSIVE: Jared Harris talks one on one about The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and more

Toronto, Los Angeles, London, Los Angeles, Miami, London…

These last few months have been an incredibly busy time for Jared Harris.  His list of projects in the last year is almost half as long as his incredible resume.  You could honestly say he’s been nonstop since 2008.  From TV work on The Riches, Mad Men and Fringe, to movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and Lincoln, then on to play Hodge Starkweather in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.  Since wrapping on City of Bones he’s spent time in recording booths and covered in ashes for upcoming projects like The Boxtrolls, Pompeii, and The Quiet Ones.  And don’t forget getting engaged to his longtime (and adorable and awesome, but I am biased) fiancee Allegra Riggio, who kindly let him out of some wedding planning duties to sit down and talk to us for an exclusive interview. 

I got an incredible hour long phone interview with Jared a few weeks ago, right before my surgery, and I am so glad to finally get to share it.  I feel very honored to speak with someone with such an incredible talent and body of work. It was truly an amazing experience. At some point I would love to figure out how to edit the audio properly so that I may share how absolutely charming Jared is to speak to.  Without further delay, here is Jared!

Institute (Sarah): We would like to welcome Jared Harris! Thank you very much for your time!

Jared Harris: Thank you for asking me.

Jared Harris as Hodge Starkweather in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Institute: You play the very important role of Hodge Starkweather in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. How did you come into the role?

Jared Harris: I got a call to come and meet Harald at the Constantin offices in Los Angles, and we sat down and we chatted. I wasn’t aware of the books at that point. He told me about the story and the world it was in and everything and it sounded like great fun. It was one of those sort of check for interest type things. They didn’t offer it to me right away. And then once I knew they wanted me I went and immersed myself in the world, and loved it.

Institute: So, City of Ashes is up next. Have you read City of Ashes and/or City of Glass to see Hodge’s full story?

Jared Harris: I read the first book because that is what the movie was, and I knew that they weren’t going to be pulling stuff from the other books into the first movie.  I read that first book several times to understand it and to understand my part and my function in the story. What happens quite often with these things is when you get the script it is still in flux and when you go and meet the film maker’s there’s normally a read through and things can change and things always have to adjust on set. You need to have all that information ready so that you can make the right adjustment when you are on set. The first scene of Hodge went through a couple of rewrites right before we started shooting. They rely on you to have an opinion, and the only way one can have an opinion is to be really familiar with the source material. You have to honor the mythology, so any changes and ideas you have must be consistent with the mythology. I haven’t read the other books. I just focused on this because this is what they hired me to do. I read the first book many many times. I’m very excited to hear he’s in the third. I knew he wasn’t in the second book.  That is one of the things I learned from the Mad Men set since you never got the whole season and you weren’t told what was going to happen you got it episode by episode. One of the habits actors can have is to play the end. Once you know where the story is going you start playing the end. Not knowing what that was is in a way very helpful. I only read that book but I became very possessive of the mythology in that first book. Hodge is used as a way of explaining the word that we are in, so I was very possessive of making sure I explained it in a way that was completely consistent with the mythology of the book.  The tricky thing about that is you only have 90 seconds of screen time to do it.  How to concisely convey what these worlds were, what the ideas were, what they mythology was. I love that part of it. That is Hodge’s role in the books as well, passing along the mythology to the younger generation.

Institute: In the books Hodge doesn’t make an appearance in City of Ashes but does in City of Glass.  Have they contracted you yet for CoG?

Jared Harris: They have not. That is way in the future and it isn’t a deal an agent would make at this point, they would say come back to us when you are ready to make the third one. The film business is a very fickle business, so they are planning on making all of them, but obviously that depends on how well the first one does.  They are very excited about it, I know they’ve written the script for the second one and are in pre-production for it. The script was floating around the set of Pompeii, a set I just finished working on in Toronto for Constantin. They were all talking about and very excited about it.

Institute: Could you explain a little about the look of Hodge.

Jared Harris: He’s explained as having gray hair in the books, but it’s like the color has been drained out of him. He was part of that whole group from the past. The idea is that he was older than those guys, one of the oldest members of that class. It was part of the idea of this curse was that it sort of been draining the life out of him.  Then that was also part of the idea of the mustache and that look is that he seems like he is from a different generation, plus all the people I’m on screen with are incredibly young and very beautiful and it obviously makes the age gap starker.

Institute: People have been super excited to see Hodge and feel the look is spot on.

Jared Harris: That’s good! Good!

Institute: Most fans didn’t really have a “fancast” of Hodge, most seem to agree we didn’t know you were it, but you totally are “it,” if that makes sense, *laughs*

Jared Harris: My thing has always been to appear different in everything that I’ve done. For it to be hard…you don’t have that baggage of being better known than the roles that you play. You bring all of that baggage with you to every role that you play, and then it starts to become difficult for people to accept you as a character. It’s part of the tradeoff you have to make, you have to walk a fine line with. The better known you are, the more work comes to you in a sense, but it also makes it difficult to do the work you sometimes want to do because you bring all that baggage with you.

Institute: We saw that in fan reactions, a lot of “oh my God yeah I loved him in ….” Resident Evil/Sherlock/Mad Men etc. A lot of people see you and there’s that realization “He’s THAT GUY” so you have been very successful with that. You really do make a very different impression in everything that you do. You are more of a character than a typecast.

Jared Harris: Sure, that’s the idea. You want the character to be the thing that people encounter. You don’t want them to encounter your story or mythology. It works for some people doing that. I would say that every time you see Charlie Sheen in something you are seeing Charlie Sheen and you are aware of his story. He’s very very funny and it works for him, but you know if you want to do a lot of character work it can get in the way. His personal story might get in the way. Personally, I always try and deliver the character. That is what I enjoy doing, morphing yourself into someone completely different.

Institute: You mentioned working with the younger cast. What was it like? Was there any mentoring of the younger cast members by you more experienced ones?

Jared Harris: You know, the thing about the younger actors is they’ve been acting sense they were seven practically, most of these guys. They have a lot of experience, so there was no mentoring. They are extremely professional they know what they want to do and they know how to do it. So, no would be the answer to that one. *laughs*

Institute: Did you get to interact with Cassie?

Jared Harris: She came to set one of the days I was there. She was there a lot. She was busy writing the new book. I got to meet her on one of her set visits. She was great. We took some photographs together. We took a picture of our hands. One of the things that was great is I got my own personal rune symbol from her. She was very specific in terms of the runes that you would have visible on your body. She would send those notes to the makeup department. I got some very specific ones which I was very proud of. I have a pendant with one.  Everyone got one with a specific image that was for each of the characters.  She was really hands on. We got to have fun with the weapons because everyone had a specific weapon that had specific things about them.  Harald was really into Hodge. His imagination was really excited by Hodge and how Hodge fit into the mythology and everything and how he could use that character. He designed these weapons that Hodge would use, which we had some fun with. Hodge has a specific weapon which he became an expert in. it has particular attributes, things that the weapons do that other weapons can’t do.

Institute: If you had to choose for Hodge to have a parabati, who would it be?

Jared Harris: *silence*

Institute: I have stumped Jared Harris. *laughs*

Jared Harris: Well, I’m just thinking. Isabelle is pretty lethal with her whip. And she wields it really well in the movie. We saw the movie a couple of weeks ago. Let’s see. I don’t know. I am stumped on that one. I like the idea that people have these certain weapon skills. I would imagine that if you were partnered up with somebody you would want someone who’s complementing what you have.

Institute: As you said, you got to screen the movie, what can you tell us? Did you have a favorite scene?

Jared Harris: Other than my scenes darling? *laughs* Spoken like an actor. I don’t want to give anything away. I don’t know what one can say, in terms of giving away too much of the movie. They’ve done a great job.  It’s difficult when you take a book that is that dense, that has that much story and condense it down to a two hour movie, what do you leave out, what do you put in? Sometimes things that worked in the book won’t work in the movie because you just don’t have as much time to tell. They’ve done a really great job with adapting the story to a movie format. They are very careful with those words that they have introduced into the story in terms of which ones they are going to use because they are explained in the story.  Otherwise will you have to use two minutes of film time explaining what that word meant. They have a limited amount of time to tell the story. What they’ve done with this, which I think has worked really well, is set up the idea of the world, set up the mythology and they’ve left themselves a great platform in which they can introduce a lot of the ideas and more outlandish stuff in the further movies.  One of the things they were very careful about, and Harald talked about was this film HAS to be grounded in reality. It has to feel like a real world. And in that sense they didn’t’ want to do lots of special effects and blue screens and stuff like that. Sets had to be real sets like you  were living in a proper world. They wanted the effects and stunts, as much as possible, to be practically done rather than digitally done so that you felt that this world was a real world. Some of these ideas are really outlandish, and if you have that, which this film successfully does, this is opening the door to that other world.  It teases people with the possibility of what this all could be. 

Institute: So it leaves you wanting more?

Jared Harris: Exactly. Like in the book it explains that the demons are these inter dimensional beings. In this movie a lot of those answers are not given yet.  It opens up the possibility of all these things that this world can present.

Institute: We know that your father, Richard Harris, was a wonderful actor and charmed a younger generation of book readers as Albus Dumbledore in the early Harry Potter movies. How do you feel about The Mortal Instruments role in continuing this trend of bringing such magical and mysterious characters and new worlds to a younger generation?

Jared Harris: I haven’t thought of it as being some extraordinary coincidence.  It is part of what the trend is in film making at the moment, so it is not a surprise. This particular type of genre, the idea of these fantastical worlds, they lend themselves to big budget movies with the special effects, the sort of you jump out of your seat excitement studios want to go after. They are interested in developing a series of titles rather than one movie because they spend all this money educating the public about this property that they have and if it works the first time they don’t have to educate the public for the second one, or the third or fourth or fifth or sixth or seventh because the public is already aware and interested in seeing the next version of it. It’s just part of the trend that is happening in studio film making. I will be surprised if it’s the last one I do. I would think that there are others ones that one would get involved in.

Institute: Your body of work is so huge, and when we were coming up with question we had a hard time focusing on one thing. Amber’s daughter Brianna has a Resident Evil question for you. In RE, when you became a zombie you still couldn’t walk?

Jared Harris as Dr. Ashford in Resident Evil:Apocalypse

Jared Harris: Why couldn’t I walk (he finishes the question with me). Yes. It was kinda one of those things that, we thought about that, would I be able to walk? I said I wanted to be a zombie in a wheel chair, and not actually come out of the wheel chair and still be operating the wheel chair, but they said no, that’s going to get a laugh. And then we thought if I could suddenly start walking that would get a laugh. It was really to do with the moment, where it came in the story, as to what determines what I was able to do at that point. Technically speaking, whatever the regenerative process is of the T virus, it hadn’t been able to restore what had been damaged for so long.  At that point you are free to make up anything you want really.  This is actually a good example.  The answer is not to do with the specific mythology. The point was that it might elicit a laugh or the wrong response at that point. So they went with the one that would maintain the state that they were trying keep at that point in terms of where the audience was.

 

Institute: So, you have a LOT of projects coming up. I’ve heard that you’ve always wanted to do voice work.  How has it been doing The Boxtrolls?

Jared Harris: I’m still working on that! It’s great fun! We actually had a really really good day of recording before we left Los Angeles. You can overact your heart out. And it’s great great great fun. I love it. The tough thing is it’s been done over such a long period of time; we’ve been recording for well over a year now. Maintaining a consistency can be difficult because ones ideas of the character begin to evolve and it doesn’t match what one recorded 14 and 118 months ago. I love it, it’s great great fun and really silly. 

Institute: Have you recorded with Simon Pegg?

Jared Harris: I’ve recorded with Elle Fanning, but not the rest of those guys. They try and do that but it is quite difficult with schedules. They normally just bring you in there and you record your lines of dialog and lots of other silly little things as well. Little sounds and shrieks and pants and gasps and squeals of outrage. It’s really silly and great fun. I saw a little piece of it and it just looks amazing. I was so excited.

Institute: I saw a first look the other day.

Jared Harris: They have a little teaser on the internet.  It isn’t a scene from the film, it’s just the characters. It’s amazing work they do. They took me around their factory in Portland. It’s an amazing facility they have up there. Huge. When I was up there they were just at the tail end of Paranorman, and I got to walk on the main street after the witch had wreaked havoc on it. It was just fantastic, the detail was amazing. So beautiful. And this whole 3D printing thing they do is just mind blowing. The huge staff they have creating the costumes, painting the puppets, all of the facial features that are interchangeable. Painstaking work and beautifully crafted.  Amazing.  

 

Institute: So would you like to do more voice work in the future?

Jared Harris: Yeah, I would love it.

Institute: If you had to choose…I know you started in theater. There are huge differences between doing theater, film, television, voice work. Is there one that you prefer over the others?

Jared Harris: They each have their different advantages, and different setbacks. I love live performance. I loved doing theater, and would be really happy to do it again. What I don’t like about it is the entire process is geared towards getting the approval of one writer from the New York Times or a few writers from whatever papers there are in London. For me that just seems like a pointless exercise. And the idea that the financial people will pull the plug on it if the writer from the New York Times didn’t like it. Maybe he had a bad meal and had gas or something and he just wants to get out of the theater that night.  I don’t really care about one person’s opinion that much. But I would love to do, be happy to do it up in Oregon or where ever. Just having the opportunity to just make contact with the audience.

Institute: I’ve heard working in TV can be really rough.

Jared Harris: Long hours. Very long hours. But at the moment I would say the writing on television is superior to any of the writing you are seeing being done in any of the major movie studios right now. Really really exciting subjects and tackling them in interesting and original ways. That is what you have on the plus side is the material is really good. They are taking risks. And I would say probably are probably steering the material to an adult audience because adults still watch television, you know?

Institute: It’s a battle. So many good shows and the DVR can only hold so much. Thankfully we have Netflix.

Jared Harris: Yeah, that is really the only way to do it is to go to the beginning and watch those shows straight through.

Institute: I’ve been wanting to do that with Mad Men. We missed the beginning and then it didn’t replay anywhere, I am glad it is getting easier to do that.

Jared Harris: Yeah, I had that experience with The Wire. At that time Netflix and those things didn’t exist. I managed to get a hold of them all on DVD and got to sit down and watch them and what an amazing show that was.

Institute: What is your can’t miss TV show? Do you have a favorite right now?

Jared Harris: We love watching Big Bang Theory. Huge fans of that. We are both science nerds. We love science fiction. I guess that makes us science fiction nerds not science nerds. Let’s see, I’m into The Newsroom at the moment.  “Mad Men!” *Allegra hollers in the background* yes of course, Mad Men. Game of Thrones, I love it. Allegra is a big fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race. We just started getting into Magic City; my younger brother has a good character arc on this second season. He’s really good in it. We haven’t been home for such a long time; we haven’t been able to keep up with it. It’s very difficult to keep up with those shows if you are on the road.  *Allegra in the back ground * “But he’s figured out how to watch Game of Thrones.”

Institute: I love this quote of yours “I've auditioned for normal characters. But I never get cast.”

Jared Harris: *laughs* Yeah.

Institute: Do you have a favorite character you’ve played?

Jared Harris: The latest one would be, I loved playing Ulysses Grant. I really learned so much about the guy. It’s a story that has not yet been told. It’s a great American story, and he hasn’t had the biopic treatment. In a way his story is too big to do in one movie.  It would be a great 10-parter or something like that. What an amazing life he had? And I really really connected to him.  My favorite one is always my next job. That is my standard answer.

Institute: Thank you so much for your time! We really appreciate it.

Jared Harris: You are very welcome!