Did Jamie and Jack tell you anything more about Briony when you got the script, or was it something that you discovered in rehearsals? Was there more to her that you needed to know to go through this sort of experience?
Jack was in the rehearsal room, and we would tailor any little sentences or words to the way that we would articulate ourselves. But other than that, there was no kind of, “Oh, by the way, this is her backstory,” or “This has happened and this is what this line means, or you should think about this.” No, there was none of that. They just trusted me, which I’m so grateful for, to just do my prep, and rock up on the day with what I needed to play with the kind of tools I needed. But for me, I sat down with my old therapist basically and was like, ‘Look, what does it mean to get to go through a day? What is a day in the life?’ And so that was formative for me, and it was just about discovering the mental agility and stamina and just the emotional layers that these people that I have such respect and admiration for. There’s everything that they’re going through on a day-to-day basis and being their own filter and constantly having to check in and align themselves with their kind of professional necessity, like what they know for every individual session, they know they have an essential roadmap and constantly having to bring themselves back to that. I just think that takes such emotional strength. So, once I’d sat down with my therapist and gotten that information, that was all I needed.
Is Jamie one of the toughest patients she’s had? Or is he not that out of the norm?
Basically, I wanted to just play with the idea that they had genuinely created this connection out of real human response. I think you can’t deny it. Owen does this part so well that you can’t help but have compassion and empathy for his situation and for the complexity of everything he’s experienced that has led him to commit this horrific act. It’s just not as simple as he is a monster. And I think that the kind of nuance of that was what I wanted to explore with Brian and their relationship. So I think she’s definitely experienced horrific experiences in a session, but I think I also wanted it obviously to be something that she hadn’t anticipated necessarily. She had to step into that room with the hope that he was going to prove her wrong in some way, and she would be able to leave and go, “Look, he is innocent,” how ever she would get there. She wanted him to be the kid that she saw or that she hoped that he would be. And so the moments that completely get derailed, and he does completely flip. I wanted you to see the loss of faith and the grief that she had to be struck with in that moment.
Do you think the moment he flips is when he goes, “You don’t control me” and screams and throws the hot chocolate on the floor?
Yes, and that was the moment that we worked from the most in rehearsals, was getting that right, because I think that’s the pivotal moment of the scene, and everything shifts for Briony and Jamie in that moment. And from that moment on, they’re constantly operating at a different level. I think until that point, they’re bringing what they have always known their relationship to be into the room, and neither of them expects Jamie to behave that way. From that point on, they’re both on high alert but displaying it in different ways.
Why do you think Jamie seems inherently angry?
If I’m honest. I think it’s confusion. And that is why I was so desperate to be a part of this project, because I think if you zoom out, the necessity of this show is about looking at this terrifying subject matter and going, “How the hell do we help our younger generation navigate this world that even we don’t understand?” And so I think there’s just this level of confusion in his character that is like, “Where do I fit? Who am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to be? What is normal? How am I supposed to navigate these feelings whilst having this weird robotic voice above me telling me that I’m supposed to succeed in this world and get this many likes for this post?” Our whole relationship with social media is so confusing for a 13-year-old. I have no idea how they can begin to understand their relationship to it, and it would make me angry. I think he’s seeking some form of normalcy or some answer that he’s just not getting because we don’t have the answers. And that is what the show is saying. I don’t think it’s being irreverent, and this is how we fix it. It’s just going, “Let’s look at this terrifying thing and try and figure it out together.”
I’m sure you’ve been acting since you were a kid and a teenager yourself. The number of lines that he has to remember, I don’t think I could do that as an adult. That’s a lot of pressure on a 21-year-old, let alone a 15-year-old.
I know.
How did they know he could do it? Do you know?
I don’t think you do know. I think they saw something in him, and they were like, “This kid has something.” But you never really know if someone is going to back it up with the professional attitude that it takes to rock up on day one and know your lines, which he did. I think you are always having to take that leap of faith. And that’s why I’m so proud of him and so happy for him that he has been recognized for that work. Because yes, there’s being really skilled at what you do, but there’s also the work that goes into it. And he does both of those things. And I think being recognized for both those things is so important because he rocked up on day one and he knew his lines. And, as you say, there are actors out there who don’t do that, who’ve been doing it all their lives, and they don’t know their lines. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had working with an actor. The fact that he was 14 when we shot it, as I say, I was nervous about it up until I met him, but from the minute that I was in the room with him, it never crossed my mind that this was his first job. He was just a professional, and I felt like we had this back-and-forth thing. We were both committed to being in the moment with each other. I felt completely supported by him as I hope he did of me. And we just got to go out there for this week and shoot this thing. And we had the best time.
The episode ends with Owen’s character has been pulled out and he’s banging as he walks across and the camera pans to you, and I don’t know how you did it or if it was just the magic of the moment and that’s why they used this take, but there is one single tear coming down your face. Did you have any idea how wonderfully timed it was?
No, no. I don’t like to look at myself. So I’ve watched the show, but it wasn’t until after that that I was like, “Oh wow.” They captured that moment. For me, the freedom of the job [was] I got to forget the cameras that were there. So I’m grateful that was the moment that they caught. It’s a weird thing as an actor, or for me anyway, you kind of can’t pick at the magic of it. In a way, the magic is in forgetting that there is a technical process going on, running alongside this thing, because the minute that I start to think about a camera or waiting for the timing of this, it’s dead and I can’t commit. Or if I don’t believe in the moment myself, I just don’t buy it. And then it’s not genuine, and then I’m just not there. The love of this thing is losing myself. So, honestly, that reaction was the only thing that felt necessary in that moment in time. There wasn’t any kind of pre-planning. It was just like, “O.K., I’m going to be in the room.” For whatever reason that time, all I remember is that Owen had never banged on all of the windows as he left. It was that last take that he did, all of them. And I just really remember being so swallowed in my own guilt that I think that’s kind of my only recollection of the feeling. But it’s kind of amnesia when you’re chasing this kind of, I don’t know, this other realm. And so it’s really difficult to look back and pick it apart. But yeah, I just remember him banging way more than I was expecting, and that did something different.
I have one last question for you on “A Thousand Blows,” which, by the way, is another critically acclaimed project to have, not a bad year.
Not a bad year at all.
The first six episodes are out. I believe the second six are coming somewhat soon or later in the year. Is it meant to be an ongoing past two-season narrative, or is it set up to end after 12 episodes?
Honestly. I think we are all unclear. All I know is that everyone on that job would kill to do it again. We genuinely fell in love as a family, as a company. We were skipping to work. It was just the best time. It was unreal. All I know is that if we got to go again, we would all be over the moon. But we don’t know. Honestly, it’s Stephen Knight. So, we’re all just kind of hoping that it’s percolating in there and he’s got more in there that he wants to explore with his and Sugar and Mary and The Forty Elephants. I’m desperate for him not to be done with it. So, if he’s not done, then we are not done.
“Adolescence” is available to stream worldwide on Netflix
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