The exponentially rising actor, writer, director tells us about the new series which lays bare institutional misogyny, and how he manages his mental health in the acting industry.
When you’re doing material based on true stories, is there a different approach to a usual production, is there an extra responsibility?
I think there is an extra responsibility, although the way I go about every character is to try and bring an absolute truth and authenticity to the role. So that doesn’t change for me. But I think it’s just you’re more aware that there are these other elements around what you’re doing. It’salways going to be a bit affecting.
But Baz was partly fictionalised because we didn’t know who the real Sadie’s handler was. They gave me license to really just build this character from scratch. So I didn’t feel it in the same way as when if I had to play Collin Stagg, for instance, which I imagine would be a lot of pressure.
I just watched a lot of movies about cops. I’ve played a few cops already, but I’ve never played an undercover handler. There’s a way that cops hold themselves, and I always try and lean into that. I re-watched Heat. I love that movie, it’s always helpful – if you’re playing a cop, watch that movie. There’s some great performances in there.
One massive thing is just how incredible it was to work with Niamh, because she’s such a phenomenal actress. She did a really giving thing where she was already filming, but she put a call out to me to see if I’d do a few Zoom to talk about the scenes and the characters – we did a couple of 1 hour conversations on Zoom getting into the roles, which was so helpful.
In looking at violence towards women and the treatment of women, it seems very pertinent to what’s going on in society now. Was that something you discussed going in?
I don’t know if we were having intellectual conversations about that, it’s more that you’re looking at the past in the present and going oh yeah. You know, the Nineties was full of hypermasculinity and misogyny. You look at the music videos and the music of the time and certain sort of institutions and the way they treated women and people of colour and you do go, ‘Wow.’ And we’re still not past it. I think that’s the big thing for me, that it’s not like we’re here in this moment in time and we’ve addressed all those things. It’s just that I think we’re more aware of everything, we’re developing the language to be able to address these things, to have difficult conversations around these things.
Do you find that as an actor and a writer, that it’s quite a good period to make challenging programmes?
Definitely. Yeah. I think it’s a great time, and I will say the streamers have shaken things up. They are taking risks and really making the market more international. You can be an actor in the UK and do a project that has an international reach, and released in America. I Hate Suzie was released on Sky Atlantic and it’s released on HBO Max.
It’s the same with Mangrove which was Amazon, and the BBC – it always used to be that as a British actor you always had to go to America to find that bigger part. And I think in the UK, we’re having a bit of a purple patch shipping in terms of the shows that are being made.
How was it working with Niall McCarmick on Deceit?
Amazing. Just really gave me the freedom to play. When you’ve got two actors about to play a scene, sometimes the best note you can give an actor to begin with is no notes. Just do a few takes and feel your way through it, because then you’re completely present and you’re not carrying the weight of some specifics. And then you refine and we get into more details as we move through. But he’s very respectful and knew he had professional actors, who knew what they’re doing. I guess good directing is good casting maybe. You allow people to do what they do.
Have you got a lot coming up that you’re working on?
Yes. I mean, there’s one project I’m about to work on that I can’t actually say what it is because it hasn’t been announced yet, which is a bit annoying. Maybe I can say that it’s my directorial debut as a filmmaker. My first feature. I’m gearing up to do that. That’s the big step up now
Exciting. Do you have a sense of ‘well what kind of film maker am I going to be?’
Totally. I think they’ll always be exploring race in some tenor, but they’ll be built around genre because I think it’s important that these things are also entertaining and cinema. I think cinema is about poetry and it’s about escapism. My short film Cla’am that I made is a little horror about gentrification, where black people are getting kidnapped and ground up into coffee. That might give you a window into how my brain works.
Because it can be sometimes difficult to approach these issues, bringing them in familiar formats is a brilliant way of bringing them to audiences, isn’t it?
Absolutely. Also, with movies, me and the family when I was growing up, my mum, dad and my sister, we wouldn’t go to the theatre, we’d group around in the living room and watch movies. You have these formative experiences watching RoboCop or Scream or The Matrix or Jaws. As a filmmaker, I guess I’ve never really been into films that are too realist and too introspective and slow. I’m not saying that there isn’t a place for that sort of cinema, but I love event cinema, basically.
Personally speaking, how do you kind of look after yourself in your industry? How do you maintain your mental health and physical health?
It’s a really good question, and it’s partly why I’ve come away to the Coast for a few days. I know we’re all talking about the pandemic, but we’re not really talking about mental health. I personally feel being stuck inside, being isolated and not seeing friends and having extra pressure on relationships full stop, I’ve found that personally very challenging.
So I’m just trying to just be kind to myself and practise self care in any way that I can really whether that’s going away for a few days, whether that’s going for a cycle, whether that’s trying to connect with people. It’s important to make sure you don’t slip into the rhythm of not making the effort to see people because it is more of an effort now.
But I’m trying to prioritise self care because I think our industry is so competitive, and so exciting, and it’s easy to put that before your own health, basically.
Deceit starts on Channel 4 on 13th August.
Photo by Pip.
Follow Nathaniel on Instagram:
