Latest / Half the Picture / Lara Pulver talks Mobland, Sherlock, and not feeling enough for the industry (4K)

Transcript

Lara Pulver talks Mobland, Sherlock, and not feeling enough for the industry (4K) · Half the Picture

0:00
Not many people know this, but I was cast in The Edge of Tomorrow.
0:04
What's Tom Cruise like as a scene partner?
0:06
Amazing.
0:07
He said to me, do you want to run the lines?
0:09
And I was like, yeah, great idea.
0:10
So we went round the corner.
0:12
He came about this close to my face.
0:14
And actually, it was to break the physical boundary.
0:16
Like, in hindsight, two seconds later, I was like, it's really smart.
0:19
When you think of your work on Mobland, do you have like a favourite memory of a scene or like a proudest moment?
0:25
Oh, there's so many on this show.
0:27
I'm in the back of a car and we're pulling up into the front of the Cotswolds.
0:32
And then I open my eyes and Pierce appears in front of the car.
0:37
The state of undress that he is in.
0:39
But it's just this brilliant, brilliant moment that I will never forget.
0:44
Dude, he's James Bond.
0:47
He's a freaking movie star.
0:48
My name's Bond.
0:50
James Bond.
0:51
We have a small favour to ask all of you.
0:53
Please, could you check right now if you've clicked the subscribe button.
0:57
It's one simple, free thing that you could do to help us keep this show free and to keep improving it week after week.
1:04
So please, double check if you've subscribed.
1:07
Thank you so much.
1:09
Are you a big netball player?
1:10
I love netball.
1:12
I love any sport, really, but yeah.
1:15
We train Friday mornings and play Tuesday nights.
1:20
nice yeah yeah is that how you relax kind of sport uh probably cooking more um but i feel like um i think it's something about being part of a team i guess that's why i'm an actor i i really have so much joy in collaborating and seeing other people just or as a group that you just i don't know
1:46
forged together.
1:47
I don't know what it is.
1:48
Hmm.
1:48
Being part of a troop.
1:49
Yeah.
1:50
Yeah.
1:50
Being part of a tribe.
1:51
Yeah.
1:52
Tribe.
1:52
That's interesting.
1:53
A word actually, because some of the actors we've had on the show in the past, people like Jack Davenport and Arthur Darville and Eddie Garzan.
1:59
Yeah.
1:59
Well, Eddie talked about this less, but like the others too, we talked about how growing up around, they grew up around actors and they loved the kind of tribal aspect of being an actor.
2:07
Yeah.
2:07
It was such a, you know, the idea of being part of a troop.
2:10
Yeah.
2:10
Yeah.
2:10
That it's such a sort of intoxicating part of it.
2:12
Yeah.
2:12
It's bigger than oneself.
2:13
That's what it's.
2:15
Yeah.
2:15
But I mean, Rob Lantison 2 is coming out on Friday.
2:18
Yes.
2:18
That's like a textbook example of a great cast and crew to work with, I imagine.
2:22
Like, you know, you've got Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Paddy Constantine.
2:25
I mean, is that a case of what you were just talking about there?
2:27
That kind of chemistry that sparks sort of being part of a troupe?
2:30
Yeah, I think you're right.
2:32
It's such an ensemble cast, to be honest.
2:35
And yeah, when everyone brings their A game, I'm talking like writers, production designers, casting directors, when everyone's kind of at the top of their game, and then that energy all comes together, it never fails to exceed my expectations, then what can really be made.
2:53
And then...
2:54
I guess on top of that, when audience receive it in such a way like they have with Mobland, it's really thrilling.
3:03
It's like I just said, it's more than one can ever create on their own.
3:09
I mean, I would be the worst stand-up comedian, for example, because I love being collaborative.
3:14
I just love being part of a troupe, I guess.
3:18
Maybe from theatre background, I don't know.
3:20
Yeah, so the idea of taking a one-woman show on the road doesn't appeal to you so much.
3:24
It's more the idea of being part of a communal...
3:27
I think I could do a one-woman show if it was...
3:31
as long as it wasn't like an evening with Laura Pulver, cause I couldn't think of anything worse.
3:37
But yeah, I think it, as long as like the character was going on a really great journey, I think I'd be absolutely fine because somewhere along the way that would probably involve music, which would therefore involve musicians.
3:47
So I, I wouldn't be on my own.
3:50
And, and you're never on your own with a live audience, I guess, in that way when it comes to, to TV and film.
3:57
And yeah, just, it's nice being a cog in a wheel.
4:03
I mean, and looking back at your career in the run-up to this chat, I mean, you've done so much great stuff over the years.
4:07
I mean, and I want to say you started out quite early, didn't you?
4:09
Like, I want to say that when you were 11, was it Andrew Lloyd Webber handpicked you to go to Broadway to star in a play?
4:16
Am I right in saying that?
4:17
I'd love if that is actually what happened.
4:18
No, that's not what happened at all.
4:20
No.
4:22
My mum was a single parent and I think she was looking at this like six week summer holiday over the summer and, and she saw a notice in our local library for a production of Annie, an amateur operating production of Annie.
4:36
Wow.
4:37
Um, and, um, she said, you should go as you go.
4:40
And at that time I was all into sport.
4:42
That's all I wanted to do.
4:43
Play tennis, netball, run, kick a football.
4:46
Um, I had no, um, desire to, to, to do theatre really.
4:53
Um, reluctantly went in my little black pee plimsolls, my, um,
4:59
my shorts and my polo shirt and I walked into this church hall where there were girls that obviously been doing ballet since they'd left the womb.
5:08
I mean, like the hair was done, the leotard was on.
5:11
And, and I just, I remember the director saying, Oh, there's our Annie as I walked in because I just didn't fit in.
5:19
Um,
5:20
Um, and during the process of doing that show over four or five months, I think we rehearsed for, we played for a week at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford.
5:31
Um, I, I think it was the first time I realized that.
5:39
listening communication on this, this scale was just kind of extraordinary.
5:44
What I was weirdly yearning for.
5:46
I was, I was wanting to be part of something bigger than myself.
5:50
I was wanting to do something and see what the reaction would be.
5:54
It was just listen, respond, listen, respond, throw in a dog.
5:58
What do they say about never working with children and animals?
6:03
Yeah.
6:04
And, and from there, I,
6:06
I auditioned for the National Youth Music Theatre, which at the time Andrew Lowell Webb was a big, big patron of.
6:15
And I was selected to be part of this production of Pendragon about the life of King Arthur that was then turned into a musical.
6:22
And it was hugely creative.
6:24
And Andrew took it to Broadway.
6:26
So at 14, I was on Broadway.
6:29
We then went to Taipei, Taiwan, the Edinburgh Festival twice.
6:34
I mean, it was extraordinary.
6:36
And it was all around our holidays.
6:39
So it would be half term, summer holidays, winter holidays.
6:44
Yeah, I look back and what we're exposed to and the opportunities we had with...
6:50
Yeah, it was extraordinary.
6:52
Yeah, it sounds so.
6:53
I mean, being at such, you know, starting in the business at such a young age, what do you think?
6:57
And going through that experience, you know, going around the world of that show.
6:59
I mean, what did you learn, do you think, from that experience?
7:04
Numerous things that I...
7:09
was so excited by talent when I'd sit and watch others create or be able to do something that I couldn't do I would just be mesmerized and couldn't wait to learn that trick of the trade essentially
7:24
And there was also an element where I felt like I didn't really fit in because I had like a slight Dartford accent.
7:31
And I can't remember what my Dartford accent was at the time.
7:34
And it was still around the time where if you want to do theatre, you couldn't talk like I, with my dialect, essentially.
7:42
And I remember my first agent suggesting I have elocution lessons.
7:47
And I was like, what for?
7:48
I don't understand.
7:51
Yeah.
7:52
And I really, I think I took on this sense that I wasn't quite enough to be, to be in this industry.
8:00
And...
8:04
adopted this work ethic to make sure that I was going to be enough and that I was going to be successful.
8:11
And I look back in hindsight and think, oh my gosh, you poor thing.
8:14
Yeah, I just had this laser focus on wanting to pursue...
8:23
this dream, I guess, or this desire to, to tell stories.
8:29
And, and as an actress who's had the career that you've had, you know, so much great stuff, True Blood, Sherlock, you know, up through to now to Mobland.
8:36
I mean, what do you, that, you described that sort of laser focus just there as being the thing that kind of you, you focus entirely on that goal of being an actor.
8:44
How, what was that?
8:45
What were the sort of key choices do you think you made to have the career that you've had that you're enjoying now?
8:49
That was the key choice.
8:50
Yeah.
8:52
I was really disciplined.
8:53
I had a really good work ethic.
8:56
Um, and just, I found it utterly joyous.
9:02
Like I, I used to eat, sleep and breathe my job.
9:05
I'd, I'd be, you know, watching things or listening to soundtracks or going to things and getting like the, the cheap tickets to be able to, to see stuff.
9:16
Um, I just wanted to be around it all the time.
9:20
Um, yeah.
9:21
And I was lucky I went from theatre job to theatre job to theatre job into kind of my mid-twenties.
9:28
And then this TV show appeared that Andrew Lloyd Webber was the front of.
9:35
I can't remember what the first one was, where they would find their Nancy or they would find their...
9:41
I can't remember what the first one was.
9:42
Their Dorothy.
9:43
Maybe it was the first one.
9:44
Yeah.
9:45
And it was around the time where...
9:47
a Big Brother star would then be cast as the lead in a play in the West End.
9:53
And I found it really depressing.
9:55
I thought, gosh, I've trained for three years.
9:58
I've got my first class BA honours and I'm, I can't get seen for that because of X.
10:06
And so I went to my very first agent, who was predominantly a theatre agent and said, I don't want to do any more theatre.
10:12
I just wanted to go and do some TV and film.
10:15
Because if that's,
10:17
what means I get to choose what theatre I get to do or get seen for, then I'd like to buy myself that choice and that option.
10:25
And I remember him being slightly taken aback.
10:28
And I remember feeling slightly patronised by him by going, oh, yes, of course, we can make that happen overnight.
10:35
And I wasn't suggesting that for a second.
10:38
I knew I was an actor who could do it all.
10:42
So I didn't want to just...
10:44
keep saying yes to theatre.
10:46
Anyway, to cut a very long story short, I was given the lead, the female lead in Parade at the Dunwall Warehouse.
10:57
And I remember saying to my mum at the time, gosh, if I never work again, I've been a leading lady at the Donval Warehouse.
11:02
That meant so much to me.
11:07
And my then new agent at the time, Sarah Kamler, who I've now been with for over 20 years, um...
11:16
said, let's get you on the telly.
11:17
And three weeks into that run at the Donmar, I booked my first TV show, which was Robin Hood for the BBC.
11:24
I remember.
11:25
Oh yeah, playing with Joe Frogger, who I'm back in Mobland with.
11:28
Of course.
11:29
Yeah, and I had, so that's, and then I didn't do theater for about 10 years.
11:36
Yeah, so you sort of transitioned sort of wholeheartedly into screen from stage.
11:40
Yeah.
11:40
What was it about screen that was pulling you in, do you think, for such a stretch of time?
11:45
I think it was knowing that TV could always then lead me back to theatre for the reasons that we just discussed.
11:53
And it was just something new.
11:55
It was something completely new, a new skill set, a new playground.
12:01
It just...
12:03
I was just thirsty, really hungry and thirsty to learn and grow.
12:09
And I had the best time.
12:10
We were in Budapest for six months filming that show.
12:13
And Jofro and I were kind of the only two females in the show and just guest directors coming in for a couple of episodes and...
12:24
Huge personalities, Keith Allen and Richard Armitage.
12:28
I played Richard's sister.
12:29
And, yeah, and just Patrick Lau had cast me in the role and was the director of those first two episodes.
12:37
And he was a big theatre goer and theatre director of old.
12:44
And he'd seen my work in theatre and...
12:47
And I remember my first day on set, it was just me and I'd been, my hands had been tied by a piece of rope.
12:53
And I remember him shouting from behind the camera, Laura, don't play to the circle.
12:58
Stop playing to the circle.
13:00
Because I think my chin was up in the air or something.
13:04
And he was just so wonderful at kind of guiding me through that first episode and, you know, working on camera.
13:11
Well, it's a different discipline, isn't it?
13:13
Working on cameras, working on stage.
13:14
I mean, there's so much more of a kind of, you have to, you have to be ready to go and turn it on and off, you know, you know, you know, we've set the different setups and different takes.
13:22
I mean, how did you transition in terms of your process, just approaching acting?
13:27
How did you transition from being on stage where you essentially have final cut of your performance and you come on and you do it to go into TV and film, which is, you know, you have to be much more sort of, you have to modulate it more.
13:37
You have to turn it on and off a bit more.
13:38
Yeah, on and off was hard and exhausting.
13:44
It's a real skill to be able to...
13:49
conserve, um, and, and be ready to go.
13:54
Um, I think I've got better at it as I've gotten older, a couple of good books, podcasts now go in my ears, music.
14:05
I can do like a whole workout now in between, in between takes if necessary.
14:10
Um, but before I think the adrenaline, when I first started out, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
14:15
I didn't want to leave set, for example.
14:17
I didn't want to miss anything.
14:18
I wanted to like absorb and take in as much as possible.
14:24
But yeah, it's a different discipline, as you say.
14:27
Yeah.
14:27
Is it someone who likes then sort of like on something like Mobland then, as I say, you've got such great cast and crew to work with.
14:32
Do you love just like watching the others work?
14:35
Yeah.
14:36
Yeah.
14:36
And how they do their scenes?
14:37
And watch the crew work.
14:38
I find even more fascinating than sometimes the actors, because that's something I just don't know enough about.
14:44
Knowing that part of your performance can be completely dependent on the lens.
14:51
And the position of the lens and the tracking of the shot.
14:56
And yeah, I mean, still to this day, it's hard to fully give over your performance.
15:08
Yeah.
15:10
To the editor, to the camera department, to the producers, to the director's car.
15:17
But at the same time, if you don't surrender, you'll drive yourself bonkers.
15:22
But yeah, I don't find it easy to not know things that are going to impact that.
15:30
the performance or the scene.
15:32
Do you think it's important for actors to know?
15:33
I remember hearing Tom Cruise say, like, you know, understanding the lens is like understanding the stage as an actor.
15:38
Like, it's good to understand as an actor what the crew are doing, what the camera's doing, which lens is.
15:43
Doing that's important.
15:45
He really understands.
15:47
I've been on the receiving end of him and Chris McQuarrie.
15:51
I've been privileged enough to be privy to them talking about a Mission Impossible movie that they were just about to go and shoot.
15:59
And they were like kids in a sweet shop talking about the red cameras and the lenses that they were going to use.
16:04
And they were talking a different language.
16:07
And I'm embarrassed to say I truly had no idea what they were talking about.
16:11
I still have no idea what they were talking about.
16:13
Would I like to know more?
16:14
Yes.
16:14
I think it's part of my...
16:16
education and my job responsibility to no more.
16:20
However, there are people that are better at that than I, and I don't want to be kind of third eyeing my performance because I'm,
16:31
So like it's knowledge is power, but at the same time, I don't want to be third eyeing my performance thinking, oh, I need to do X, Y, Z because this camera is doing this or I think it's a need to know basis.
16:44
Yeah.
16:44
It's good to have an awareness of it, I hear, but then, but not to obsess on it.
16:47
Just be aware of it maybe, but don't have it.
16:50
As you say, third eyeing, that's a great way of putting it.
16:52
Yeah.
16:52
So that you're constantly.
16:53
Yeah.
16:53
Because then I'm not in the scene with you.
16:55
Yeah, totally.
16:56
Out of interest, how did you end up chatting to Cruise and Macquarie about A Mission Impossible?
17:01
Was that coming back?
17:02
So, not many people know this, but I was cast in The Edge of Tomorrow.
17:06
Yes, that's right.
17:08
So they shot the movie.
17:09
I think this is true.
17:10
They shot the movie and then they came back.
17:13
Oh, they tested the movie and Tom's character didn't have a backstory.
17:17
I think they went straight into the kind of meat and potatoes of the movie.
17:21
Yeah.
17:22
And so they came back to Leavesden where they shot the movie and they did four weeks of reshoots where they had rewritten essentially giving Tom more of a backstory.
17:33
So Jeremy Piven played his old boss.
17:36
I was his ex-girlfriend who was a journalist trying to get the scoop.
17:41
And I worked for two weeks, I think it was, at Leavesden.
17:44
Jeremy did the same, probably four weeks overall.
17:47
And...
17:51
I remember there was one day that I wrapped early and I was waiting to get a flight that evening back to California.
17:56
So Tom kindly said, do you want to come to the other soundstage and watch the stunt sequence we're just about to do?
18:01
I was like, do I?
18:05
So, yeah.
18:06
And then he's like, we're all going to have dinner later.
18:10
And so I went for dinner before going to Heathrow and it was him and Chris McQuarrie.
18:15
And then Chris came and saw me in Gypsy at the Savoy with his family.
18:20
But yes, I was therefore privy to them talking about a conversation opened up about something to do with the next Mission Impossible.
18:28
And how they were going to shoot on these red cameras for the sequence.
18:31
And it was so utterly infectious.
18:37
Seeing Tom on a set, he just, he loves his job.
18:42
Um, and, um, yeah.
18:45
And then the whole pre-sequence was cut.
18:48
They're like, yeah, Tom Cruise doesn't need a backstory.
18:50
Yeah.
18:51
Um, but I got, I got two weeks of that.
18:55
Um, but the audience didn't.
18:57
But the producers very kindly gave me an ungraded copy of one of the scenes that Tom and I did together.
19:09
Because I remember saying to my agent, it's so sad that we have no kind of evidence proof or anything in the can that we can say...
19:17
Here we go.
19:19
Yeah, here we go.
19:20
Yeah.
19:22
Yeah.
19:22
Yeah.
19:23
What's Tom Cruise like as a scene partner?
19:25
Yeah.
19:26
Amazing.
19:26
I remember the very first day, because we were ex lovers, he said to me, do you want to run the lines?
19:33
And I was like, yeah, great idea.
19:34
So we went around the corner.
19:36
And he came about this close to my face.
19:40
And I thought he was doing it just for us to just really quietly not disturb the rest of the cast and crew who were setting up for the shot.
19:49
And actually, it was to break the physical boundary.
19:51
Like, in hindsight, two seconds later, I was like, it's really smart.
19:54
Whereas two people are supposed to have had a history, a physical relationship, an emotional relationship.
19:59
If we run the lines this close, that boundary's gone straight away.
20:02
Yeah, he was, he was, he was so fun.
20:06
He was, he was brilliant.
20:07
Everything you would hope and want one of the biggest movie stars of my generation to be.
20:15
Yeah.
20:16
Yeah.
20:16
Everyone that we've had on the pod who's worked with him, people like Mark Gatiss and Eddie Hamilton, the editor who edited the Mission Post performance, have talked about that infectious enthusiasm.
20:26
And it's just an absolute attention to detail as well.
20:28
It's like tops.
20:29
The focus is absolutely tops by the sounds of it.
20:32
Yeah.
20:32
It just means everyone's, the game gets raised.
20:36
Everyone is just on board.
20:37
We're all kind of vibrating and simmering.
20:39
It's that back to that collective tribal mentality of let's collectively make something extraordinary.
20:45
Yeah.
20:46
And you're excited for Digger, the upcoming Cruise film that he's got coming out.
20:50
I think it's in three weeks.
20:51
Yeah, the one he's done with Alejandro and Iñárritu and he's got all the cowboy hat.
20:55
Yes.
20:55
Yeah, I saw.
20:56
Yeah.
20:56
Are you excited for that?
20:57
Yeah.
20:58
I mean, which was the one with the hands and the thunder?
21:02
What was the movie he did where he was in full prosthetics?
21:06
Oh, Tropic Thunder.
21:07
Tropic Thunder.
21:07
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:08
Like, just from the tiny bit, I glimpsed.
21:11
I was like, are we going into that?
21:13
that real i don't know i think so i think he's he's sounds like he's going for it from what i've seen of the trailer and like i don't think tom knows how to not go for it like he's all in yeah yeah he doesn't rain but yeah he just goes for it yeah yeah yeah no it sounds like he's really because obviously he's had such a great like 15 years or so doing the mission impossible films and doing these great big action blockbusters and he's kind of but again always pushes i'm
21:36
Always pushes it.
21:37
With total dedication.
21:38
Yeah.
21:39
The stunts that he does are incredible.
21:40
But now this feels like a different, a change of pace from it.
21:42
And so it's going back to some of the things maybe like Magnolia or indeed maybe a bit of Tropic Thunder where he's kind of reinventing himself in this character.
21:50
Yeah.
21:51
Which I'm sure he must feel like if he wants to stay in the industry, why not?
21:55
Yeah.
21:57
Yeah.
21:57
I mean, he is also 60.
21:59
So the amount of time he has left to jump off buildings, I mean, I don't, he's Tom Cruise.
22:02
I mean, I'm sure he's still, yeah.
22:03
Yeah.
22:04
Did you know that they were talking about going, doing, I think one of the mission films in space.
22:07
They like, someone asked them, a journalist asked them, oh, so what's next?
22:10
Are you going to go to space?
22:11
And he was like, well, yeah, actually me and McHugh have been talking about that.
22:13
Like completely serious.
22:15
Like, yeah, no, we're talking about doing something in space.
22:17
So, I mean, I wouldn't put it past him, you know?
22:20
At what point is that delusional?
22:22
I don't even know.
22:23
Maybe not.
22:26
I mean, it's Tom Cruise.
22:26
I mean, the man can basically do it.
22:28
There's no ceiling.
22:29
Yeah.
22:29
Exactly.
22:31
Going back to what you were saying, Eddie, about how you went to the National Youth Music Theatre.
22:34
Yeah.
22:35
I want to say that, because when I was looking back at your career, I'm all right in thinking that, so you were there and it was the 90s and you were there with like loads of other great players like Jude Law and Sheridan Smith and Eddie Redmayne.
22:45
They were all in your class, I want to say, right?
22:47
Jude and Eddie was slightly older, but Sheridan, Sally Hawkins, Tom Chambers, who else was around our...
23:01
It was a whole host.
23:03
I think Jamie Bell wasn't... Yeah, Jamie Bell was around that time too.
23:07
Yeah.
23:10
It was...
23:11
The talent, the pool of talent.
23:15
But I'm talking about across the board, the band was all youth players, costume design.
23:21
I remember there was one young guy who was, I found him fascinating.
23:27
It was just all about fabrics and textures.
23:29
And yeah, it was an extraordinary time.
23:34
Amy Nuttall.
23:37
Yeah.
23:38
And I look back and go, gosh, look at what was bred from that time.
23:45
because you would all have been teenagers right yeah i was 13 to 17 yeah just getting just getting started that really sort of crucial yeah that real crucial point where i guess you're you're a teenager you're finding out what who you are you know what you want to do yeah it must have been a real hotbed of you know of that of people's these great talents like yourself and the others like discovering who they are and what they want to do and so i guess going back to what you're saying earlier that kind of bouncing off each other yeah is that what it was like
24:11
Yeah.
24:12
Yeah.
24:13
It was really exciting.
24:14
It was really...
24:17
And everyone brought something so different from the table, to the table.
24:21
And it was, there was so much naivety and no ego.
24:26
So this, you know, idea that we could just all explore and anything was possible.
24:33
Like today we're going to workshop being a falcon.
24:37
Collectively, let's be the wings.
24:40
And we were all in, you know, sounds, music.
24:43
It was just a whole kind of...
24:46
creative exploration it just yeah and but then we'd all be in dorms together at night we'd all be around the table eating together um yeah it was just such a special chapter and I was so fortunate because my mum couldn't afford to um to to send me to to NYMT or drama classes or anything so I auditioned for a scholarship every year and and yeah
25:13
Every single time I was so bloody grateful to be back in amongst that creative environment and so blessed to have gotten those scholarships.
25:25
Yeah.
25:26
Thank you, Andrew.
25:28
As you say, you're there, you're sharing, you know, not just stage space, but like you're basically, it sounds like you're basically living with actors like, yeah, like Sharon Smith and Sally Hawkins.
25:36
I mean, do you have a favourite memory, do you have a particular memory of that time and maybe going to that school with those guys that was, that kind of shines brightest for you when you look back at those times?
25:46
I feel like everyone was just so...
25:49
in awe of anything anyone brought to the table.
25:52
I mean, there was no...
25:54
It didn't feel competitive or...
25:57
I mean, Sally played a mute character for this entire play that we did called Pendragon.
26:04
And she was extraordinary, heartbreakingly beautiful performance.
26:08
This is pre-rada.
26:11
Just... And the talent was just endless...
26:17
Some people could just sing, like the voices that were coming out of these 13 year olds would be extraordinary.
26:27
And I can't explain it.
26:30
It felt like.
26:31
we had this artist palette and you could dip into anything you needed to at any time, depending on what you wanted to bring to the table.
26:40
And, or if you didn't have that skillset, you could jump in the pool and kind of try on for, for a few weeks to see if there was something you had in you that could be pulled out.
26:52
But, um, it was all done in such a kind of playful, open way.
26:57
Hmm.
26:59
Yeah.
26:59
Sounds great.
27:00
I mean, when you said, when you just said that about Sally Hawkins playing a mute character, I mean, this is 20 years before the shape of, have you seen The Shape of Water?
27:05
Yeah.
27:06
Yeah.
27:06
Doing it again, 20 years later.
27:08
I know.
27:09
Doing it brilliantly.
27:09
Yeah.
27:10
Yeah.
27:10
She's amazing.
27:11
Yeah.
27:11
I mean, the, what you were saying earlier about how also when you were getting started here, so you came, was it, so it was Essex, so you came in Dartford?
27:19
So yeah, born in Essex, grew up in Kent.
27:21
Grew up in Kent, yeah.
27:22
Yeah.
27:23
We were outside Sevenoaks for about, until I was about a teenager, I would say.
27:26
And then after my mum and dad separated, we moved to Dartford.
27:29
Dartford Grammar School for Girls, yeah.
27:31
Yeah.
27:31
And you were saying the industry at the time was, you had elocution lessons.
27:34
It was a bit more...
27:35
I didn't ever go.
27:36
Sorry?
27:37
I didn't go to the elocution lessons.
27:39
You can probably tell.
27:41
But what you were saying, it sounded like the industry was a bit more tight on, I guess, you know, like there was an idea of what that sort of training was.
27:51
And it was, I guess, it was maybe RP, it was English.
27:53
It was like quite, is the word well to, phrase well to do?
27:57
It was like, maybe it was harder for actors and actors of certain backgrounds come from regional backgrounds to come in and get places in those schools.
28:07
I mean, was that the case?
28:08
Yeah.
28:08
Well, it's interesting because, again, drama school didn't seem like an option to me because we couldn't afford it.
28:14
And it was only because there was a local performing arts centre, Liz Burville, this extraordinary woman who sadly we know, who's no longer with us, who said to me, why don't you try auditioning for drama school?
28:24
And I was like, I just can't.
28:26
I can't do it.
28:27
And she said, there are scholarships.
28:28
Just see.
28:29
Why don't you just try?
28:32
Otherwise, I would have... A-levels university.
28:34
I would have gone down probably a completely different route.
28:38
And I auditioned and then I got a scholarship.
28:42
But in amongst my drama school, I mean, there were people from every neck of the woods.
28:50
So it...
28:52
No, it didn't have to be that one size fits all.
28:57
But I think the generation above me were still stuck.
29:02
And they were your producers, your directors, your agents, your casting directors, and
29:08
who was still saying, if you don't have an RP accent, you can't go to the RSE or, you know, whenever it was.
29:14
And Helen Mirren and I were talking about this the other day because she's from Essex as well.
29:18
And she was like, no, if I wanted to do Shakespeare, then my accent didn't fly.
29:24
And it's interesting because...
29:25
I then never knowingly changed my accent and yet it changed, just from absorbing and being around others.
29:34
And the second I go back to Kent, I'm sure my accent then comes flooding back.
29:40
But I didn't feel like the industry wasn't for me in any way.
29:45
But then there'll be comments.
29:47
I remember going up for Wendy and Peter Pan saying,
29:52
But I'd cut my hair really short.
29:54
I'd always had really long hair and I'd cut my hair really short to earn £80 at a Tony and Guy event.
30:01
They were like, come, we want two actors to come and have their hair cut on stage.
30:05
And I was like, I'll do that.
30:06
I need £80.
30:07
to put petrol in my Ford Fiesta.
30:10
And so I went and I had like waist long, dark curly hair and they cut it all off and dyed it purple on stage.
30:17
And I thought I was like radical.
30:19
And I went to back into drama school on the Monday and they were horrified.
30:24
I was the lead in their third year play and, um,
30:28
they were absolutely horrified.
30:31
And one of my first auditions was for this part of Wendy and Peter Pan.
30:35
I feel like it was at the Royal Festival Hall or the National or somewhere.
30:38
And they went and they went, oh gosh, you'd be a wonderful female Peter Pan.
30:41
I was like, just because of my hair, like stick a wig on my head.
30:46
Does no one have imagination?
30:48
I was like, oh no, you have to, you have to really show people that you are that.
30:54
Yeah.
30:54
So that was a kind of sad moment, I guess.
30:56
Yeah.
30:57
But it sounds like by and large, things had even then started to change and become more, I guess, inclusive.
31:02
But the industry hadn't totally caught up with what was coming up.
31:06
Would you say it's caught up now?
31:08
More so.
31:09
Yeah.
31:09
Do you think it still has some way to go?
31:15
In some ways...
31:17
But then I now feel like I'm that generation I've just been speaking of because I've just had the privilege of doing Fiddler at the Barbican with this whole new generation of actors where there's no question of gender, accent, race.
31:34
It just...
31:37
it's just not even in question and it's so freeing.
31:42
And I would find myself getting in amongst their conversations as much as, as possible because I just felt like I, I needed to be educated.
31:55
And they're probably like bugger off 40 year old woman.
31:59
No, they weren't at all, but it was, yeah.
32:02
I mean, as we should be evolving and changing.
32:06
Yeah.
32:06
I mean, linking that then to Mobland, because Mobland is, in a similar way, kind of a generational project because you've got all these different generations of actors.
32:14
You've got, you know, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, the heads of the, you know, the Harrigans.
32:18
You've got, you know.
32:19
It's a family drama.
32:20
You're absolutely right.
32:21
Yeah, you got Paddy Constine, yourself and Tom Hardy right there, kind of, I guess, in the middle.
32:25
And then you've got, you know, Anson Boone playing your son.
32:27
I mean, is it kind of that generational hierarchical structure on screen?
32:31
I mean, that kind of, but what you described there, that energy, that inclusivity, that kind of positivity, is that something that's on, that you feel as part of that show as well?
32:40
Yeah, and I think you've got all those actors you've just described are all people that are so open.
32:48
So if the younger generation, if Anson Boone brings something to the table, we all jump on board.
32:54
It's not like what Pierce and Helen say go by any means.
32:58
I mean, do they lead the way in their work ethic, in their bravery, in the fun that's so...
33:11
Joyous to watch.
33:13
Yes, of course.
33:15
But that doesn't negate anyone else bringing themselves to the table.
33:20
I think, yeah, that's the joy of being in the cast.
33:24
And actually, they need it and they want it.
33:26
This show needs and wants big, bold choices.
33:30
And if it were only Helen and Pierce making it, it would make for a very top heavy show, I think.
33:34
For sure.
33:35
Yeah.
33:35
So there's very much the level playing field.
33:37
Yeah, well, yes and no, in the sense that, I mean, we don't, Helen doesn't want to be treated any differently, but we're like, it's DHM, DHM.
33:47
It's like, yeah, I mean, I would never tell her, well, I have now recently, because it came out.
33:53
through some interviews but she was a massive a three picture was in my journal of Helen Mirren folded up of her on the the red carpet at the Baptist because she was doing what I wanted to do she was straddling stage screen small screen big screen and
34:12
um leading prime time tv shows um so of course she has my utmost respect um but does that mean when i'm in a scene with her that that i still i still need to shock her and challenge her and that's what we all want we all want to play tennis
34:32
Yeah, because Bella and her character, they do have quite an antagonistic relationship.
34:37
So you've got that great sort of scintillating kind of chemistry, but it's aggressive.
34:42
Those scenes fun to play with.
34:44
Yeah, I feel like season one, it was just kind of the more passive aggressive, like quip that was thrown in each other's directions or the fact that we wouldn't respond to each other, what we didn't say.
34:55
I feel like season two, Bella is definitely challenging her in-laws more, asking them to be accountable for their actions.
35:04
And we've just been picked up for season three.
35:05
So now I'm like, okay, now can we put gloves on?
35:09
Yeah, for sure.
35:10
And I think Helen would like that too.
35:12
Yeah.
35:13
So let's see what Jez Butterworth conjures up.
35:16
Yeah.
35:16
Do you have a favorite Helen Mirren performance or film that, I mean, as a fan, but it sounds very, that you look at.
35:21
Oh, there is, there are so many.
35:23
I mean, mum and I used to watch Prime Suspect, um, on our, on our couch.
35:28
The Queen, I think she was just, I think it was probably her most beautiful performance.
35:35
Um, and then I watch what she's doing in Mobland currently and it's something I've never seen.
35:42
And Pierce, the things I've just never seen them do before.
35:45
Mm-hmm.
35:46
Pierce is almost clown-like in his performance, where I'm sitting on set this far away from him and he's making me laugh and cry.
35:53
Mm-hmm.
35:55
I just, it's tragic what he's, he's bringing to the table.
36:00
And I think they're both having such a wonderful time on the show.
36:04
Yeah, they're fantastic together.
36:05
And I mean, talk about great Helen.
36:07
Do you know, because my, some of my favourite Helen Mirren films performances are kind of the early ones, like the 70s work she was doing in the late 60s.
36:14
You're such a good film buff.
36:15
Yeah, sort of.
36:17
You're too massive Fuck off film nerd Let's be honest But There's a great film she did Have you heard of a film called Oh Lucky Man?
36:24
No Oh it's fantastic It's from 1973 It's her and Malcolm McDowell And Alan Price from The Animals Does the soundtrack That's a really If you want sort of classic Early Helen Yeah
36:34
There it is.
36:35
That goes for anyone else watching.
36:36
Yeah.
36:37
Hasn't seen it, but that's a great film that she did.
36:39
It's probably one of my favorite early ones.
36:41
But like, you're right, they are sort of still at the top of their game, even after all this time, those two.
36:46
And like, and talking about like Bella in relation to them, like, because at the end of season one, I mean, I guess no spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen it, but like Bella's in quite a fractious position with the character.
36:56
those other characters, you know, with Anson Boone's character and with Annie Constance's character.
37:00
The way things are left at the end of season one are pretty like, okay, where do we go from here?
37:04
I mean, what can people expect from, like, Bella in season two where you take that character?
37:09
Yeah, it's sad, really, because I feel like as a family...
37:13
they have the choice to kind of find one another by the end of season one.
37:18
I feel like all the baggage has been slightly unearthed.
37:21
The secret, the biggest secret that Bella's been holding has just been cracked open.
37:27
The response from Anson's character, Eddie is almost immediate.
37:31
Like just his anger in that hug that he gives me at the end of season one.
37:36
Yeah.
37:38
But sadly, season two, I feel like,
37:44
it's almost like those moments haven't happened.
37:46
It's so interesting as a family, how they live and breathe drama.
37:54
You know, that's how some families operate.
37:57
Yeah, it's the life of the world.
37:57
And if there's no drama, it's almost like they're not alive.
38:02
And I get that the world they're in, the line of work they're in is dangerous and, and, you know, fueled.
38:11
But it's almost like they can't exist a day with it just... with them just being.
38:19
They don't know how to be.
38:21
And so therefore...
38:24
if the drama's not coming to them, they create the drama.
38:27
And it's sad.
38:29
It's tragic.
38:29
It really is.
38:30
And I have huge empathy for all these characters because I'm like, gosh, none of you know how to be.
38:35
No, it's thrilling to watch.
38:38
It's thrilling to go on the ride with them all.
38:42
But none of them are quite comfortable in their own skin.
38:46
Or if they are, they then feel like that's still not enough.
38:51
Yeah, I feel like you can definitely see that with, with like, with Ant-A-Boo's character of Eddie and with Kevin.
38:56
I feel like they're, they're like, they're casting themselves in roles that they're not quite built for, really.
39:01
Yeah.
39:02
At least not yet.
39:03
Yeah.
39:03
And they sort of try and adapt to it, but they're struggling.
39:06
Yeah.
39:07
And that struggle to prove themselves constantly.
39:10
Or from Bella's perspective, I feel like she's so stoic and so quietly confident that she's like, I wonder what happens if I just drop that and let that ripple.
39:19
And that's the fun for her.
39:23
even though she's coming from this kind of abused background where she's got all this baggage, it's almost like she has moments of owning the baggage and moments where she pushes it so far down.
39:35
Mm-hmm.
39:37
And it's wonderful to play constantly from literally, not even from one scene to the next, but from one sentence to the next sometimes with Bella.
39:48
Mm-hmm.
39:48
of like, I'm going to give you this in this moment, which is going to pull you in.
39:52
And then I'm just going to throw that at you and see what that response is.
39:55
Oh yeah, that's not as interesting.
39:57
So that it's, it's in Jez's writing.
40:00
It's constant.
40:02
Who do I align with?
40:03
Who do I trust?
40:05
How can I challenge you?
40:07
Power, power chess all the time.
40:10
A power play.
40:10
Yeah.
40:11
All the time.
40:11
Is that your favorite thing to think about playing Bella, that kind of power play that she can do with the other characters?
40:17
Yeah.
40:17
Well, for season one, I felt like Bella never really wanted to get into that game.
40:22
It didn't interest her.
40:23
She was from a different class, old money, St. Paul's girl.
40:28
She wasn't in for the kind of strange struggle, like striving to become the top dog of this gangster family.
40:39
But it's almost become fun for her because she can choose it.
40:46
It's not in her DNA, but to make that choice to kind of string Harry along or to know that she sits in this powerful position of being the ex-mistress of Conrad, married to the eldest son, the mother of the heir to the Harrigan Empire.
41:05
It's a kind of a really nice...
41:08
central position to be and call every single person out from.
41:13
Yeah.
41:14
It's like, from what I've seen in season two, it's like there's less fucks being given from Bella.
41:17
And I feel like she's got to that point.
41:18
I totally agree.
41:19
Where she's just like, less fucks given.
41:21
I'm just going to do what I want to do, essentially.
41:24
Yeah.
41:24
And I'm not sure whether that's...
41:26
from the substance that she's fueling her body with um or whether she just now that cat's out of the bag at the end of season one fuck it i'll join the party all bets are off yeah i mean that that sort of dexterity that you were talking about there like you know the meaning of a line's changing on a dime kind of from one line to the next yeah i see that a lot with like your scenes of tom hardy yeah like you say you're kind of stringing him along in a sense they're so entertaining to watch i mean what's tom like to work with
41:52
Tom's great.
41:54
Tom is a very, very bright man.
41:58
And will probably always be the brightest in the room.
42:02
And the way his mind works and the speed and pace and the tangents that his brain can go off on are quite extraordinary.
42:11
So it's really fun to not compete with that.
42:16
And I don't mean Laura and Tom.
42:17
I mean as characters.
42:20
I mean the sense that Harry is always being left to pick up the pieces and figure all the shit out.
42:28
And Bella doesn't care.
42:30
It doesn't, yeah.
42:33
As in you work for me, right?
42:36
That's this relationship.
42:37
Or is it?
42:38
Should I challenge that?
42:39
Should we spin this?
42:40
What if this?
42:40
What if this?
42:41
Actually, maybe we're similar.
42:42
Actually, maybe we're nothing alike.
42:46
that most characters in this show are predictably unpredictable.
42:52
Bella's just chaotic for him because he doesn't know where he stands with her.
42:59
I was like, oh, that's fun.
43:00
Yeah, totally.
43:01
Well, there's a scene in season two, I won't spoil it, but like there's a scene between your characters when he's sitting on a sofa kind of like this, and he's kind of just like watching you and he's kind of like,
43:12
And he's not giving much weight, but there's almost a kind of comedy to that.
43:14
And the fact that he has no idea like what's going on.
43:17
He's like, okay, I'm just going to play this really, really straight, really straight.
43:23
Let her go off on her tangent.
43:25
Yeah.
43:26
Yeah.
43:26
It's, it's really fun.
43:28
Yeah.
43:28
Yeah.
43:29
And it sounds, I mean, cause, cause you know, I've been a fan of Tom Hardy's for a while, you know, again, like talk about energy, like, you know, he has such a sort of great energy, but it's on one hand it's quite, it's bold, but it's also restrained.
43:38
It's like he can, he can sort of straddle those two, you know, subtlety, but also he can go big and go small when he wants to, you know, that kind of energy.
43:46
I mean, so that, what's that like to work with?
43:48
There's such, there's such an, an inner life going on with Tom's portrayal of Harry.
43:56
which I really love on balance with all these kind of chaotic, crazy characters.
44:04
Also, Tom's funny.
44:07
So those kind of raised eyebrows or the wit and the humour that he underlines, like the darkest moments of the show, keep it in that Guy Ritchie world, I think.
44:19
We're in a very heightened world now.
44:23
Um, are we telling the truth of those characters in those moments?
44:26
Yes, of course.
44:27
But there's no, there's no bottom.
44:29
There's no top, I think, to where any of us can go.
44:32
Um, and I think Tom is the, the kind of compass point, um, for the whole show.
44:41
The kind of pivot man.
44:42
The kind of pivot man.
44:43
Yeah.
44:43
The linchpin, I'd say.
44:44
Like he just...
44:47
spinning, quietly spinning so many plates.
44:50
And what I'm finding interesting is like, where's your cracking point?
44:54
How far can I push this as Bella?
44:59
Yeah.
44:59
Not as Laura.
45:00
Yeah.
45:02
Well, you mentioned Guy there, Guy Ritchie, the director and exec producer, because he's, when we were talking to Eddie Marzan, he would work with Guy, because Guy's work has such a sort of style and kind of kinetism to it.
45:11
It's like, it's quite aggressive.
45:12
It's kind of, it's in your face.
45:14
But Eddie was saying that how Guy's actually such a sort of chill, calm, cool, collected guy on set.
45:19
Is that what he's like?
45:21
Yeah, absolutely.
45:22
Not at all the kind of like, you know, when you look at Snatch or something.
45:25
There is nothing manic about Guy Ritchie, that's for sure.
45:28
No, he's super calm.
45:32
It's rehearsed to the point where it's...
45:39
It's still very much alive, but he knows what he wants.
45:44
He'll shoot it and he'll move on.
45:49
The actual shooting part of it is very quick and very fast.
45:55
What I've loved also is that Guy doesn't hesitate to get literally behind the lens and in certain moments just shout, just give me an ult, give me an ult.
46:04
So my, Johnny Flynn's first day with us, he plays the new antagonist in season two was, was me coming face to face with him.
46:16
which is in the trailer, so it's not a spoiler.
46:20
And I can't remember what the written response in the script was.
46:24
And Guy just went, just riff me, give me a choice of response.
46:29
And I love...
46:31
painting like with big wide brushes so when when guy says go for it i mean i think i gave him every possibility under the sun between like petrified to not giving to hoot to offering him sexual favors to to not take me away um because that's what bella does to shock
46:50
Um, and, um, yeah, guys just, and, and then you trust, he knows what he wants to use.
46:55
He's got it.
46:57
Um, there's not, I, I think very rarely did I ever hear, sorry, guy, can I just go one more time?
47:02
Cause you, when guy says he's got it, he's got it.
47:05
He knows how he wants to edit it.
47:06
He knows how he wants to cut the show.
47:07
Um, and, um, and audience love his work.
47:13
yeah yeah well it's so precise that's what's amazing to me like it's so precise like you look at his work like the style of it it's so tight and clockwork precision and precise but like the fact that he can get it so efficiently and so quickly by the sounds yeah yeah i've got it let's move on and often it's huge sequences like the start of season two is this massive greyhound track they're big sequences with music and action and um blood it's they're not small sequences
47:43
It's interesting because episode, his episode two of season two, I was slightly feeling like, oh, where's that Guy Ritchie-ness gone in this episode?
47:53
I'm not feeling, I'm not feeling.
47:54
Then in the last three minutes of that episode, I'm like, oh, and he literally pulls you back into this plot and propels you to episode three.
48:04
Yeah.
48:05
Yeah.
48:06
Yeah, it was such a great outro to that episode.
48:08
When I watched it in the run-up to this, that is such a great set piece, outro to that episode.
48:13
Yeah.
48:13
Okay, we're back in Guy Ritchie.
48:14
Yeah, all of a sudden, Bella's then dropped into the heart of this story within three minutes.
48:20
Yeah, it's really interesting, clever,
48:25
entertaining filming.
48:27
Yeah, totally.
48:28
And of course, as you say, season three, I think I want to say it's just been announced that season three is on the way.
48:33
Yeah.
48:33
Yeah.
48:34
I mean, how does that feel to know that you'll be going back into that, that land, that world?
48:37
Yeah.
48:37
Really exciting.
48:38
I mean, we all have a ball and on a personal level, it shoots in London.
48:42
I live in London.
48:43
I've got two young kids.
48:45
And it's on so few occasions, do you get to marry your work and home life in the same city?
48:52
Yeah.
48:53
Um,
48:54
And it's, it's, people are watching the show and really loving it.
48:59
I mean, there's so much content out there right now that it's very easy to disappear for three years.
49:05
If you're on three seasons of a show that's on a, on a platform that people don't have.
49:10
So how fortunate that, that the show is front and center.
49:15
People are watching it.
49:15
People are enjoying it.
49:17
And we're being asked to go back and do it again.
49:20
Do some more.
49:20
Yeah.
49:21
Because I think at one point, wasn't there a little bit of a question whether it would come back?
49:24
Because, of course, some of the earlier this year, there were stories about what it was like on set.
49:30
There were rumours around Tom Hardy's behaviour.
49:32
Was there kind of a moment where it was like, oh, do we get to do this again?
49:35
Do we get to come back and do more?
49:36
I think with any television series, you never know if you're going to come back for more.
49:41
I mean, we might be optioned as actors, but that's never any guarantee.
49:45
So I feel like until I'm in my trailer for season two or season three, you don't kind of believe it until you're literally there.
49:54
But I think noise around any shows creates headlines.
49:58
And when you've got three names like Tom, Helen and Pierce above our title –
50:03
It's clickbait.
50:04
I remember it happened on Sherlock a lot.
50:06
Yeah, of course.
50:07
Throw Sherlock in the mix of any article.
50:11
And it was like clickbait.
50:14
And sadly, and I'm a culprit of it too.
50:16
I'll read a headline and then don't get around to actually reading the article.
50:20
Or the article isn't the journalism that we have been used to of old, where it's actually an interesting piece of journalism.
50:28
It's purely a piece of like third handed gossip.
50:34
So, yeah, it's kind of sad that sometimes there's noise in that way.
50:41
Yeah.
50:43
But thankfully it never masks the work, I hope.
50:48
No, absolutely.
50:49
The work hopefully will always supersede the, yeah, any noise.
50:55
Yeah.
50:56
Is that part of that, what you were saying earlier about that atmosphere of like, I guess, the communal atmosphere of like, just what comes from a collaborative environment, like if I'm saying we have hundreds of people and everyone has an opinion.
51:07
Is that kind of what was, what Mobland was like?
51:09
There was, you know, the opinions.
51:11
It didn't feel like that from my perspective, from being on set.
51:14
No, Jez Butterworth is our showrunner and he's our main writer of the show.
51:17
So it's a very clear voice.
51:20
101 Studios, David Glasser and his brother Phil Glasser was our on-set producer for season two.
51:27
Chris Tikier, an extraordinary producer, was our on-set producer for season one.
51:32
So they were all kind of...
51:34
points of, of, of, uh, there are go-tos.
51:38
Um, no, there was, there was clarity.
51:39
I mean, what goes on above our heads?
51:41
I have no clue.
51:42
And I, I don't want to be privy to if I'm honest, because it's just, I don't have that, that skillset and it's on a need to know basis.
51:50
Um, but they are backing the show.
51:52
Um, they are backing us.
51:55
They're backing Jez in writing the show.
51:56
Um, so they're doing something right.
51:59
I mean, the show's a hit.
52:00
It's.
52:01
It was the third biggest streamed show globally when it first came out.
52:07
Like how Paramount Plus are competing on a level with 77,000 or million, sorry, 77 million subscribers versus Netflix who have 777 million or something.
52:21
And they're getting to number three.
52:22
They're doing something right with their show.
52:24
So you have to just trust that they're doing their job and you do your job.
52:29
Absolutely.
52:29
Yeah.
52:30
Do you have a favorite memory of like when you think of your work on Mobland, do you have like a favorite memory of a scene or like a proudest moment that you think of and you go, oh, that was a good day?
52:41
Of course, there's so many on this show.
52:43
Season two, I'm in the back of a car that Paddy's in the passenger seat and Tom's driving the car and we're pulling up into the front of the Cotswolds, the Harrigan household, essentially.
52:58
And I'm a bit worse for wear in the back of the car.
53:01
So I happily literally just zoned out and fell asleep.
53:04
Not literally, but was zoning out.
53:07
And then I opened my eyes and pierced
53:09
appears in front of the car and I won't spoil the state of undress that he is in, but it's just this brilliant, brilliant moment that I will never forget.
53:22
Piers Brosnan being in the, yeah.
53:25
James Bond himself.
53:27
There was another moment off camera.
53:30
where Pierce arrived on set one morning and he was only in the first scene of the day.
53:33
And then he was going on to an event, an art event, an art exhibition.
53:38
And so he turned up suited and booted.
53:41
And one of the young runners went, oh, my gosh, Pierce, you look like a movie star.
53:46
I think you look like a movie star today.
53:48
Like a movie star today.
53:49
Yeah.
53:49
And I literally looked at him and caught his eye as I walked into it.
53:52
And he's so full of humility.
53:54
He's like, Oh, thank you, my love.
53:56
And off he goes into it onto his day.
53:58
But I thought, Oh my gosh, dude, he's, he's James Bond.
54:02
He's a fricking movie star.
54:05
But yeah, there's, there's so many, gosh, I'm sure I now want to,
54:12
rack my brain but there's been there's been so many moments on this show that we've laughed another moment in season two that had the Harrigan family a kind of under siege and Helen made the choice to jump down onto all fours and crawl across the room and I thought
54:30
the hell is she doing and and then it turns out that she's going to get her her stash that that's in a wh smith bag so they she then has to then take the wh smith bag into the next step it's just just these moments that end up occurring um that are just priceless
54:48
so wait so she had like a wh smith bag she like invented that essentially for her character and was like right with a stash of coke in this wh smith bag that was like yeah it's just it was just brilliant yeah helen mirren crawling like a little mouse on all fours across the harrigan kitchen floor she's like guy i'm just gonna try this let me just try this yeah what are you doing helen grabbing my stash
55:14
yeah fantastic you mentioned i have to say as a fan like when you mentioned sherlock earlier i did get you know as you know because i'm such a huge fan of sherlock like um and actually like in the moment i went back and looked at a scandal in the middle gravity at the episode that you did i mean that's such a brilliant piece of work and i knew playing iron adler you know so brilliantly in that episode i mean looking back at that episode now after i think it's been nearly 15 years oh god so came out sorry i mean what's your relationship now like to that show and that that work all this time later
55:43
It's been interesting because in the past couple of weeks, some of my friends' kids have discovered Sherlock, the BBC Sherlock on iPlayer.
55:52
And so they were WhatsAppping me going, oh my gosh, we love him as Irene Adler.
55:57
And it's almost...
55:59
A new for this generation because, I mean, Conan Doyle's not probably going to go away from our literature studies.
56:08
And so, yeah, it's wonderful.
56:10
I need to go back and rewatch it, actually.
56:11
I was such a fan of the show before joining it.
56:15
I thought it was such innovative storytelling.
56:17
It felt like these 90 minute movies that were just so...
56:22
beautifully shot well written well executed um uh it was such a privilege to join that family um yeah and i feel like it's it kind of marks a moment in time for most of the actors that were in that show it's a real marker
56:41
Yeah, because when we chatted to Mark Gates on the pod recently, he was saying how it was a real combustible show.
56:46
Like the way that that first season comes out and Bend It Come Patch basically becomes like a superstar overnight.
56:51
It's like a supernova is how he described it.
56:53
And there was a real sort of sense of electricity to it as well.
56:57
Was that what it was like making it?
56:58
Yeah, I remember coming in for the table read of that episode.
57:03
And everyone was just, the energy was buzzing from all departments.
57:07
I mean, Stephen had written a cracker of an episode.
57:11
Benedict and Martin and all that gang were coming off the back of a hit season one where people were really thirsty for more.
57:22
they were also being followed wherever they went, wherever they were shooting.
57:25
They were having to like write scripts in other locations that weren't real scripts.
57:30
So fans were going in opposite directions not to spoil shots.
57:33
And yeah, it was extraordinary to be in...
57:38
the centre of that moment.
57:42
And Paul McGuigan directing those episodes.
57:44
I've heard on your previous episodes that you've interviewed Paul and spoken about Paul.
57:49
And he's such a visionary.
57:52
And what he was asking of Fabian Wagner, who was a fairly new cinematographer at that time.
57:59
I mean, now he's Mr. Marvel.
58:02
He's Mr. Everything, Mr. DC.
58:03
I think it was just, he's just done He-Man.
58:06
So...
58:08
But the bar was high and it felt like a real privilege to help raise that bar.
58:16
It's the first time I think I'd been part of something that when I went into ADR in post-production, what we'd made exceeded my expectations.
58:27
And it's not to say I'd been disappointed previously, but you definitely get three different versions of anything.
58:34
You get the scripted version, then you get the version that we shoot and make, and then you get the edited version.
58:41
And they can sometimes be three tonally, completely different pieces.
58:47
So it's, it's, and it just exceeded my expectations.
58:52
I mean, musically, it was so beautiful, that episode.
58:55
Yeah.
58:57
Just, yeah, the way Paul shot it, it, it was just, it was a beautiful 90 minutes of television.
59:05
It was truly.
59:06
And, and you're, as you say, like, you know, there's, it's quite daring stuff in there that Irene's doing.
59:11
I mean, like, I mean, there are so many sort of iconic scenes, like the scene where her and Sherlock first meet, and she basically comes out in her battle dress, which is, i.e.
59:17
no dress at all.
59:18
And like, and Paul, I remember hearing Paul talk about that scene about how delicate it was to film, because I mean, I guess it was 2011, so this is before a time of intimacy coordinators, but before a time of all that whole culture has now come about, which it helps sort of actors in those scenes.
59:33
I mean, what was that, what was that like?
59:35
shoot.
59:35
Well, there were guidelines in what we could or couldn't show for the BBC.
59:40
I can't remember what our, what time we were going out on TV, but so it was very specific of like an inch above the bomb crack.
59:50
And it was ridiculous.
59:51
Poor Sue Virtue was literally, it was that specific.
59:56
And I was never, ever for a second put in a situation that I wasn't comfortable in.
1:00:01
However,
1:00:02
shooting it was either going to take us about eight hours to shoot that scene if I were to wear a lot of coverage if I went down to smaller coverage it was going to be like half that time and for all of our sanity I was like I don't need to be that aware of my body for eight hours it's like it's not helpful to for me telling this story this woman is brazen
1:00:28
As a character, she's absolutely brazen.
1:00:30
She is there to shock.
1:00:32
She is there to get a response.
1:00:34
I don't need that response.
1:00:35
I do not need to be naked on set, thank you very much.
1:00:37
But I don't, like, I can be covered in the right places and we can tell this story.
1:00:42
Yeah.
1:00:43
And that's what we did with the skeleton crew.
1:00:46
And hopefully it worked.
1:00:48
Oh, yeah.
1:00:49
Well, the chemistry between you and Benedict in that scene and in the other scenes, like the I Am Sherlock end scene, which is such a brutal scene, really, but also beautiful.
1:00:58
Like the word scintillating, again, like kind of springs to mind.
1:01:01
It's like there is real sort of electricity to you and Benedict.
1:01:04
I mean, what was he like to work with in those scenes?
1:01:07
Just wonderful.
1:01:08
I mean...
1:01:10
the job requirement for him was huge.
1:01:13
I felt like, you know, to deliver that dialogue at pace.
1:01:18
I mean, my mind works really fast, way faster than, quicker than my mouth often, but, but for him to make sense of it, for it to be second nature, it was extraordinary what, what he had to do on that job.
1:01:34
And I, I,
1:01:36
he's gone on to do wonderful work since, but there's something about him in that role for me that is just sublime.
1:01:43
It's iconic, isn't it?
1:01:45
Yeah.
1:01:45
Just, you know, Benedict Cumberbatch is, you know, sort of cliche is Sherlock in that sense, you know?
1:01:49
Yeah.
1:01:50
It's really special.
1:01:51
Yeah.
1:01:51
And then you've got Martin in there, you know, providing the laughs and the heart.
1:01:56
Yeah.
1:01:56
But also all colours of the rainbow.
1:01:58
I remember doing my first scene opposite him and in the wide scene,
1:02:04
he would give you about six variations of how he could play the scene.
1:02:09
And then we'd bang in close and he'd go up to Paul McGregor, our director and say, I'm thinking it's probably living here and here.
1:02:15
What are you thinking?
1:02:16
And then they get on the same page and then that's what he would offer up in the close.
1:02:20
But the, the choice he would give his director and his editor was,
1:02:25
I was like, oh, wow, I can do that.
1:02:27
I'm allowed to do that.
1:02:29
Like, and so on certain projects, it's useful.
1:02:33
Others, not so.
1:02:35
But I remember really, really watching Martin thinking, that's extraordinary.
1:02:40
He's just brave enough to just try all those avenues and go, yeah, no, that one didn't work.
1:02:46
Ignore that.
1:02:47
Let's focus the performance or this specific scene more here.
1:02:52
Um, yeah.
1:02:54
Yeah.
1:02:54
You mentioned the ADR and the post-production.
1:02:56
I mean, I hope this isn't too, too indelicate a question to ask, but you know, the, the text alert that, that Irene gives Sherlock, you know, on his phone, which is so funny.
1:03:03
I mean, I was watching it again, I'd say the other night and me and my girlfriend just couldn't stop laughing at that.
1:03:07
I mean, that, like how many takes did it take to get that?
1:03:11
Like the perfect, I wouldn't say what it, the text alerts, you know, the perfect kind of text alert.
1:03:16
I think I gave three different options.
1:03:18
Yeah.
1:03:19
It was like, yeah, three different options of sighing, shall we say.
1:03:23
Yeah.
1:03:25
And it became pretty obvious, I think, for all of us, which one worked.
1:03:32
And that's what they went with.
1:03:33
But I think there were only ever three.
1:03:35
I may be wrong, maybe misremembering.
1:03:38
Yeah.
1:03:39
Free sighs.
1:03:40
Yeah.
1:03:41
I mean it sounds like they picked the correct the design effect yes yes yeah brilliant well hey I feel like that's a fantastic uh note to wrap up on uh Laura this was such a pleasure to chat to you I mean something that we ask our guests as a kind of wrap-up question is we ask them for their kind of recommendations of say good books they've read recently good films they've seen recently good albums they've heard recently I mean is there anything that you've sort of been watching or reading lately that has kind of been firing you up and sparking your interest
1:04:10
Yes, I feel like with two young kids, I've not had the time to read and being back on set, I have used any downtime to read.
1:04:19
Romantic comedy, the safe keep, safe keep, safe keeper.
1:04:24
I'll check that one out.
1:04:26
What else have I read?
1:04:28
Heart the Lover.
1:04:30
I've gone kind of down after July.
1:04:33
Am I remembering that right?
1:04:35
I'm going to need to go back and... My memory's terrible.
1:04:38
I can read a book.
1:04:40
pick it back up a year later and start it as if it's a fresh and then realize halfway through, I've already read it.
1:04:46
That's quite embarrassing, but it's, it's true.
1:04:48
I, I don't know whether it's the skill of learning lines quickly.
1:04:52
So learn lines, let them go.
1:04:53
So I read a book, let it go.
1:04:55
Um, I've also done it with films.
1:04:58
I've gone to a cinema, bought tickets for a film that I've already seen.
1:05:01
Um, yeah.
1:05:03
Um, I want to say that's baby brain, but I think I was doing it before.
1:05:06
Um,
1:05:07
What else?
1:05:07
TV-wise, I jumped onto Widow's Bay very early on.
1:05:11
Matthew Rhys just won two Emmys last night.
1:05:14
Yeah.
1:05:15
I just loved the casting of that show.
1:05:17
I thought it was really witty, really interesting.
1:05:22
Albums.
1:05:24
I've kind of reacquainted with Dolly.
1:05:25
We were listening to Dolly Parton in the car this morning.
1:05:28
Of course.
1:05:30
And with my son, with my nine-year-old.
1:05:34
He's also getting into a little bit of Lil Nas.
1:05:37
Which is like the total end of the spectrum.
1:05:38
And I have to make sure that the explicit version isn't playing.
1:05:44
I mean, it's so, our household is really eclectic.
1:05:49
He's learning to play the piano.
1:05:50
So then we get some jazz coming in.
1:05:52
Yeah.
1:05:55
And it's such a mix.
1:05:58
I mean, I cannot define my taste.
1:06:02
But it's just wonderful that there's so much different content, I guess, essentially being made that we can all tap into.
1:06:11
so Widow's Bay you're actually I think the third or fourth person to say Widow's Bay was their recommendation so hey Widow's Bay yeah it was good The Offer is another one which is a couple of years old now have you seen The Offer I haven't oh you've got it's about the making of The Godfather Miles Teller right Miles Teller Juno Temple Matthew Goode giving a performance of a Paramount Studio exec that is off the charts brilliant
1:06:33
burn gorman it's it's just i think also having lived in california knowing what those studio lots are like it was kind of nostalgic having not been back now for three years um but it was just it's really beautiful it's a great piece and because we all know the consequence of the making of the godfather you kind of come to it with a slight um um what's the word uh
1:07:01
knowingness, I guess, essentially, that you can enjoy, you can really enjoy the ride, slightly knowing the outcome.
1:07:09
It's just beautiful.
1:07:10
There's some really gorgeous performances, Matthew Goode especially.
1:07:13
Brilliant.
1:07:14
Yeah, the offer.
1:07:14
The offer.
1:07:15
I'll check it out.
1:07:16
Well, thanks so much again, Lara.
1:07:17
It's such a pleasure.
1:07:18
And thanks for giving up your time to come talk to us.
1:07:20
Cheers.
1:07:20
Thank you for having me.