British actress Rosamund Pike has been living in Prague with her husband and two young sons for the past eighteen months while shooting the epic new Amazon TV series The Wheel of Time, and she’s had some interesting experiences in the Czech Republic.
Pike also stars in I Care a Lot, which debuts on Netflix today, and the actress has been making the rounds promoting her new work. Last night, she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live from a “bunker” in Prague.
“Are you being held hostage in Prague?” Kimmel asked, joking about the sparse backdrop.
Despite the COVID-19 situation in the country, the actress said her family has been enjoying living in the Czech capital.
“It’s a city of culture and a city of opportunity,” Pike stated. “It’s in central Europe, it’s perfect for road trips. We’ve done some interesting exploratory adventures in the vicinity.”
Kudos to Pike for properly identifying the Czech Republic as central, not eastern, Europe. The actress also spoke about an interesting misadventure with her sons, ages six and eight, in the popular Czech tourist destination Český Krumlov.
“I took them on what I have heard is a very wholesome and traditional Czech activity to do with kids, which is to go river rafting,” Pike told Kimmel.
“And there’s a lovely town called Český Krumlov quite near Prague […] it’s this beautiful stretch of river, and there are rapids and weirs. And I took my two boys out on this inflatable raft and it was idyllic. I thought it would be water rats and kingfishers and snakes.”
“’But what I underestimated was the fact that it’s also a very popular Czech [location] for stag dos and hen nights, or hen days.”
“Bachelorette, bachelor party, booze cruise, whatever label you want put on it.”
While locals might be quick to point out that foreigners are typically the ones on drunken stag parties in the Czech Republic, Pike’s story took place last summer during the COVID-19 epidemic, when tourist numbers were significantly reduced.
“Did the kids like it?” Kimmel asked.
“’They loved it, Jimmy, because we were travelling along and we came across a group of scantily clad girls […] women in bikinis with a very large inflatable man with a huge erection trailing behind them in the boat.”
“So my kids were fascinated. And then this man was being lobbed through the air, sent on to the neighboring boat.”
“I promise you, I’ve never seen drunker human beings than I saw on this boat. Men who stood up and immediately fell flat on their face. And then one who stumbled over the edge, got completely drenched in mud, and then clambered back into the boat splattering all the girls with mud.”
“My kids have never stopped acting drunk ever since […] they’re emulating it, they just thought this is clearly what adults do. This is our future, we better start. They’re right, it’s very funny.”
Filming for the first season of The Wheel of Time was originally slated to wrap up in mid-2020, but the production was halted last March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed briefly in September, but was disbanded again in November.
Pike and her family have continued to live in the country throughout the pandemic.
You can see the actress in I Care a Lot, now streaming on Netflix. Filming for The Wheel of Time should again resume in the coming weeks or months in the Czech Republic, with a release date likely in 2022.
Lead photo: Pike in I Care a Lot courtesy of Netflix.
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