SPOOKS: THE GREATER GOOD IS AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FROM 14th SEPTEMBER AND AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY™ AND DVD FROM 28TH SEPTEMBER, COURTESY OF ENTERTAINMENT ONE
Tuppence Middleton Q&A
On her character
So I played June Keaton, who is an MI5 agent, and I suppose she kind of joined MI5 in an unconventional route, she was hanging out with kind of the wrong crowd when she was younger, and MI5 was investigating some people that she was hanging around with, and they almost sort of talent scouted her and she worked her way up through to become an agent, and essentially didn’t kind of go the academic route, but she’s very much a field officer, and you know, very ambitious and very dedicated to her job, and I think you kind of see that from the very start of the film – she’s very clear about what she wants, and she’s very happy to risk her life to serve the job.
On the nature of the role
Yea I loved all that. We got to go down for a day and do some gun training, which was actually really fun, I did it with three other guys; Kit Ronan and Michael. It was really good fun, they were all really brilliant at it and then I kind of took a bit longer but then, once I got into it, it felt really natural. It’s one of those silly things you always want to do when you’re younger so when you actually get to play a part like that it’s really fun and it’s nice to do something with a bit of action to it. I haven’t done anything like this before. It was a really appealing challenge.
The first scene of the film is very action heavy and you’re straight in there. There’s all this gunplay and running and heavy rain pouring down, it’s all very exciting. We did the gun training day in prep for it other than that it was very much feeling it on the day. We knew there were going to be lot’s of motorbike stunts and we watched them go through that before we did it, we had a great stunt director, it was all very controlled but the energy feels very frantic. It’s a very exciting opening, you’re not quite sure what is going to happen. There was a lot of sitting in the car and watching the heavy rain on the first day and then tons of running on the second day which was really fun and I think I went over on my ankle about four times but it was great, it was really cool. It’s kind of a new venture for me.
On the film and the TV series
Having come from a show with such a huge fan base that really appealed to me, because I think it has the elements of being something that is a very successful formula, I suppose, from before, which really works and they do it so well in the TV show, and then I think it’s a really fresh take on it for the film. It’s a kind of bigger story and you have some familiar characters, but then you have a whole new cast as well which is really nice, I think, for someone who hasn’t watched Spooks before and also for fans of the original show, I think it’s nice to see some new faces. There are so many different generations. There’s someone to represent each generation.
On working with Kit Harington and Elyes Gabel
Yes it’s nice that Kit, Elyes and I are all the same age, I think that’s a nice story to tell where you all have such different backgrounds and I think Kit’s father having been in the service as well, he had a different route in, and I was talking about my route in earlier as June. It’s just kind of how your environment and culture and your views can shape the way you are so differently, and it’s nice that we had that to play with.
On the female characters in the film
It’s nice that there are a lot of tough strong female characters which is always great as an actress to come across that. They are very much on par with the male characters in the MI5 world. Yes you don’t always get characters, as we all know, in films that are equally written and equally important to the male characters, and I think that’s just testament to how modern Spooks is, and how this film is very now, I hope that’s how it is in MI5, and from what I’ve heard, it is, and I think there’s no reason why women shouldn’t be holding the same positions as men. That’s really nice to play, and they’re out on the field as well. My character at the beginning is the one running after the bad guys with the gun and has to be reined in. I think that’s nice to show an instinctive feral quality that’s quite cool. They definitely wanted a tough edge to her, not aggressive but she is very ambitious. She’s worked her way up from nothing to the position she’s in and I think it’s important to her to have gained respect amongst her peers.
On working with Kit
Yes, I’d watched the first season and a half, I think, when I started this job, so I wasn’t quite up to date, but I knew Kit’s work, and I was really excited to work with him and it’s been a real pleasure actually. We get on really well and he’s really easy to act with, and it just helps if you feel really relaxed around the other actors, and we’ve become really good friends, so I think it helps you know. But yes, he’s great, he’s so perfect for this role, I think. And he really fits into that modern context after having seen him in a period context in Game of Thrones, it feels right for him to be doing this kind of film actually, and it’s a really different step, and yes it was exciting to work with him.
On filming in London
I think as a city and as a world, we’re more in tune to terrorist attacks now. It’s great that they’re tackling that head on. I think it feels like you couldn’t do it anywhere but London, this film, it’s so kind of quintessentially British, and in particular from London. And yes I think it does kind of play its own part in it. It’s always a beautiful backdrop and it never feels like it’s being pushed on you but it’s so much a part of the story and a part of these characters’ lives that I think yes it’s so great to have so much of London in it, and I’ve loved filming here I think it’s so nice to film at home.
SPOOKS: THE GREATER GOOD IS AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FROM 14th SEPTEMBER AND AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY™ AND DVD FROM 28TH SEPTEMBER, COURTESY OF ENTERTAINMENT ONE
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