Interview with David Morrissey and Felicity Jones - July 2007

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Interview with David Morrissey and Felicity Jones - July 2007

Cape Wrath's father and daughter, David Morrissey and Felicity Jones, talked to Paul Jones about life in Meadowlands - all fear, paranoia and golf.

Is it more of a challenge playing a character who's playing another character?

David Morrissey: When I work on any character I'm asking myself "what's his back story?", and this character has two - his real story and an identity that's been given to him. The challenge is "what's my reality for Eddie Foy?" [the character before he enters Meadowlands] and "what's my reality for Danny Brogan?" And sometimes they're at odds.

How do we know when we're seeing the real Eddie and when he's playing Danny?

DM: That's the question everybody's asking of each other - "who am I talking to? The new persona or the real person with the real past?" Everyone's living a lie. The series is about who can live with that lie and who can't.

Zoe seems to find the new situation a lot easier to deal with than her dad does?

Felicity Jones: I think Zoe actively enjoys this new existence and she's less worried about revealing herself. She's got that youthful naivety.

DM: She's also got less past. People of my age, they've got more baggage, more to hide.

FJ: And Zoe's very good at concealing how affected she is by what's happened. She's a good actress and she's willing to make the best of it for her father.

DM: I think she's his main ally. His wife has questions about the situation but Zoe embraces it totally. She's the person he can rely on.

In the fire scene was that you or a stunt double?

DM: That was me! It's funny because you've got guys in complete fire suits - like David Coulthard or whatever - and they cover you in this fireproof gloop going "don't worry, it's fine" and you go "well why haven't I got one of them on then?!"

Despite its slightly unreal appearance, the set is actually a genuine housing estate in Kent. How did the residents react to you filming there?

DM: It was a very odd place. We were there for four months and we saw very few people. Usually people are asking "What are you filming? What are you doing?" but they weren't. There wasn't a lot of community going on, there wasn't a lot of interaction.

There are certain revelations about Meadowlands in the first episode but how much of a journey will the rest of the series take us on?

FJ: Each episode takes a different character and follows their story, so that you gradually understand the bigger picture. There's the arc and momentum of Danny's story, which is supplemented by what's going on with everyone else in town who also have these past lives they're trying to conceal.

DM: Everybody there is running away from something. They're being controlled by fear. You see with Danny's flashbacks that someone has not only tried to kill him but they've tried to kill his family.

It's quite brutal in parts. Is that hard to film?

FJ: We loved it! (laughs)

DM: As an actor, with every scene you ask yourself why it's there, what it reveals about your character. And the scene at the end of episode one, where I kill someone, I could really justify to myself because Danny's not beating up the man in front of him, he's beating up his situation, trying to erase his past.

Do you think the themes of identity and paranoia will resonate with viewers?

DM: I think so, yeah. I think in Britain we're constantly having a debate about who we are. At the moment the whole thing about being British is, "are we the American lapdog?" And there's the asylum seekers conversation in the red top newspapers - "are we being invaded?" And CCTV - the sense of our personal liberties being eroded. There's a sense that Big Brother is watching us.

And it implies that the Big Brother in Meadowlands isn't making the residents that much safer?

DM: The common thread for the populace of Meadowlands is that they're living in fear. And that, as far as the people who are running the place are concerned, is a very good thing. It makes the residents easier to control.

With so many secrets to be revealed, it sounds like the series has mileage. Do you think there's more strength in the Life on Mars approach - two good series and it ends - rather than the Lost approach of drawing it out for ever… and ever?

DM: I think you can have both. If you look at the Sopranos, for me that could go on for the rest of my life! Six Feet Under, I think they could have done more with that, and Shameless I think could run and run. But you don't want it to get stale, you want it to challenge you as a viewer. Something like Lost disappeared up its own arse, I think.

Zoe gets into golf later in the series?

FJ: My character goes through a personal revolution and decides that playing golf is the answer to her identity issues. I think it's a very frustrating game personally - not one to engender calmness!

Were you any good?

DM: (Laughs) She broke a couple of cameras…

FJ: I wasn't that bad! We were staying at a hotel that had a golf course so I duly took myself out for a bit of a practice.

DM: The pro-celebrity circuit, I can see it now - you and Tarby…

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