Gangs of London cast reveal behind-the-scenes secrets

The Independent

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00:00I had to jump from one car to the other as it was there.

00:03I've never done it before. I never tried it, just went for it.

00:05It's like you're kids again on the playground, you know, going pew, pew, pew.

00:10Women are, you know, surprising, intelligent, you know, dynamic.

00:15They do everything. They control everything, practically, as far as I'm concerned.

00:19Congratulations, Gangs of London, season three.

00:22Your character's been in it from the start,

00:23so you know more than anybody how brutal this show really is.

00:27And no character is safe.

00:29Firstly, how does it feel when you find out that a character's been killed off?

00:33And do you find it more painful as an actor or as a viewer of a show?

00:37Oh, I think it depends on the emotional attachment that you have to the character.

00:45Look, I remember watching The Wire and when they killed off their lead character,

00:50everybody was like, but it was a brilliant thing to do.

00:54It serves a purpose. You know, the writers are writing it for a reason.

00:58So I think there are people who lament characters going

01:03and then there are others who sort of like, you know, go,

01:06and let's see what happens next. Yeah.

01:08Can you ever relax or do you find yourself kind of like skipping to the end of a script

01:13just to see if you make it?

01:14I guess, you know, I mean, when I've watched shows, it's, you know,

01:18where the death count is pretty high, you know, you are going,

01:23sometimes it's great to be, you know, sort of like surprised,

01:26you know, to be like really, really surprised and just not see it coming.

01:31But there are times when you can see what's going to happen.

01:34You know, you kind of, but yeah, surprise is always good.

01:39My mistake was not recognising how weak my family were. Divided.

01:45This show is pretty brutal, to say the least,

01:48and you're part of some of the most intense sort of like fight sequences in this season.

01:55What was it like to film some of those?

01:57Like, do you have a sort of standout memory of that?

01:59It was great fun. It's great fun because,

02:02you know, it's like you're kids again in the playground,

02:05you know, going, you know, it was great.

02:08And the one I enjoyed most was probably the pool hall,

02:12the scene with Billy when we go in and tick on all the junkies.

02:15That was just, it was good fun.

02:18Yeah. Can you remember any sort of the challenges of having to film some of those?

02:22The challenge was not to break anybody's bones with my fighting stick.

02:27Because we had to get quite close for the misses.

02:31You know, like when you cheat it. So we spent a lot of time,

02:35you can't, so the stick has to be held here.

02:38If it's there, that means, or if there's less of the, this bit,

02:42it means it's too close to their face and you've got to stop.

02:45And I mean, they're incredibly, the stunt people are amazing

02:48and they wouldn't let that happen. But the back of your head,

02:52you're always worried. Oh, I don't want to, I don't want to mess up here.

02:55You know, I don't want to hurt anybody.

02:57Or that you're going to get a blow to the back of your head.

02:59Well, that's not as bad because, I don't know,

03:01it's just, I just, you just don't want to hurt anybody, you know,

03:04and if somebody else hurts you, you can go, oh, don't worry about it now.

03:07But yeah, it's all about looking out, looking out for everybody.

03:11Your voice is trespassing.

03:14Gangs of London Season 3, congratulations.

03:17Your character is new to this season.

03:20Firstly, what's it like coming onto a pretty well-established set like this?

03:24Like, did anybody kind of take you under their wing

03:26and make you feel kind of part of the gang?

03:29Part of the gang.

03:30Whee!

03:32Yeah, I mean, from the beginning, I was, I spoke to Peter McKinnon,

03:36the writer, Hong Sung, the director, and Michael, the producer.

03:39They were enthusiastically telling me about the character.

03:41So they gave me this whole backstory about him.

03:43They kind of, they were explaining passionately about who he is.

03:46And then we were discussing what I could do with it,

03:49the way, maybe psychology and all this stuff.

03:51At the same time, Zeke's a bit of an outsider.

03:54So when you're joining a TV show, which I've done a couple of times now,

03:59you always feel a bit of an outsider, a bit of kind of work,

04:01because Zeke is an outsider, I think, yeah.

04:03Yeah, so you kind of work that into it.

04:05Yeah, method, method.

04:06Yeah.

04:08Commitment.

04:09Someone on the outside helped him.

04:12So your martial arts background, your, like, extensive martial arts background,

04:15means that you bring such a unique physicality to all of your roles.

04:19How did you prepare for some of the pretty brutal fight scenes in this?

04:24Yeah, I mean, we've got Adam Horton, stunt coordinator, who,

04:28I mean, we discussed about what his style should be.

04:31I mean, I guess for me at this point,

04:34I mean, even though I've still got so much to learn in my martial art journey,

04:37but it's about picking and choosing which tools to use for things.

04:41So Zeke's style is very efficient, brutal killer,

04:44more in line with, like, MMA kind of just efficiency

04:49and cold-blooded, kind of ruthless, what works,

04:53rather than anything too fancy.

04:55So to pick and choose, yeah, you pick those tools, you decide on that.

05:00And then our first scene to shoot was, for me, as Zeke, was a CCTV fight scene.

05:06And so that was the first time I got to play with his style, figure it out,

05:10and Adam gave me, we just found it then, and then going, this is it.

05:14And of all the stunts that you've done in your career,

05:17is there one that really stands out to you

05:19that was, like, the hardest technically or physically to shoot?

05:23I mean, a lot of them provide different challenges.

05:26Warrior, because I'm TV's The Warrior.

05:31Shameless plug.

05:32Everyone can know, right? They all know that.

05:34Season four, season four.

05:37That brought different...

05:39There's always different technical things,

05:41like fight scenes can be different, the stunts in particular.

05:44One of my earliest memories was a stunt double for Hong

05:49in Fast and Furious 6, I think it was.

05:52And I was winging it at the time, I didn't really know.

05:57We showed a pre-vis, pre-visualisation of, like, a storyboard of the fight

06:01and the stunt coordinator said, can you do this?

06:03Like, yeah, yeah, I can do it.

06:05And I was jumping from one car to the other, moving.

06:09We were down this airplane, air runway,

06:12and there's all these cars going on, Fast and Furious,

06:14and then I had to jump from one car to the other as it was there.

06:18I'd never done it before, never tried it, just went for it.

06:21You know, we all lie on our CV, but that's a pretty big one.

06:24Yeah, I guess so, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

06:26Still around, still around.

06:28Volatile power struggles, family rivalries, shocking character deaths.

06:33And you're also in Gangs of London as well.

06:35I mean, does that, do any of those things kind of, like,

06:38bring you back to Game of Thrones, another huge show that you did?

06:42Yeah.

06:43What's more dangerous, a Gangs of London business meeting

06:45or a Westeros battle?

06:47Well, definitely Westeros.

06:49So you prefer your chances in...?

06:50Well, thousands, hundreds of thousands die in Westeros,

06:53whereas, you know, dozens die in those shootouts.

06:59So definitely, yeah, Westeros is crazy.

07:02Who would you rather have on your side, Marion or Catelyn?

07:05Marion.

07:06Really?

07:07Oh, gosh, yes, yeah.

07:08You know, Marion is a very clever woman.

07:10She's a very, she's a smooth operator.

07:13Not that smooth, but she's a survivor.

07:16She will do everything she can to not get killed.

07:18I think if Marion gets killed in this, it's because she wants to get killed.

07:23I would imagine so, she's had enough.

07:26But she wants to survive at this point, so I'd be with her.

07:31And what draws you to these, like, complex, powerful, very protective women?

07:37I mean, thankfully, they come to me, you know, so,

07:41but I mean, I think it's always a challenge to play.

07:44Women are complicated.

07:45Women are strong.

07:47Women are, you know, surprising, intelligent, you know, dynamic.

07:52They do everything.

07:53They control everything, practically, as far as I'm concerned.

07:56And, you know, so they should be portrayed like that, you know.

08:02There are many types of women in this world,

08:05and you don't have to, of all ages, who are strong.

08:10And it's important that that is shown.

08:12I have to ask you, I mean, if Dondarrion had the ability to come back to life,

08:17if you were given a chance, would you like to see him return

08:20in any kind of, like, Game of Thrones reboot?

08:23Oh, definitely.

08:24I love that guy.

08:25Yeah.

08:26Oh, he's such a nice guy.

08:27I mean, he's just, he's almost so nice, he was sickening.

08:31You just look at him and go, come on, what's your, you know,

08:33what's wrong with you?

08:34Everybody's got a flaw.

08:35We needed that, though.

08:36We were so starved of that.

08:37Genuinely, he was the only truly, truly nice person.

08:41There was no bad in him.

08:42There wasn't one bad thing in that guy.

08:44He was honourable, trustworthy, you know.

08:48He was just, he was a gorgeous guy.

08:51We can defend those who can't defend themselves.

08:53It's very rare you get to play someone who's that kind of pure.

08:56Yeah.

08:57You know, but also heroic.

08:59He was very heroic.

09:00A flaming sword.

09:02I got to work.

09:03Yeah, I used to go to work and go...

09:05I mean, who wouldn't want to do that?

09:08Yeah.

09:09I mean, hey, maybe we could see one in this.

09:11Yeah.

09:12Or is that...

09:13I don't know.

09:14Yeah, maybe.

09:15I don't know how that would work.

09:16A crossover.

09:17Like the multiverse.

09:18Game of Gangs.

09:19Yeah.

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