Slow Horses is a new spy thriller following a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5: Slough House. Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight) stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes. Joining Oldman is a decorated ensemble cast including Jack Lowden (Dunkirk).
You can read our review of the series by clicking here, and earlier this week, we had the immense pleasure to chat with Gary and Jack over Zoom. The former breaks down the work that went into creating the often repulsive Lamb, while the latter shares his take on the fun of playing River Cartwright, an agent who has all the makings of a real-life James Bond but ends up stuck in Hell.
Our time was brief, but both Oldman and Lowden also weighed in on the fun that the Oscar-winner berating his co-stars as this character led to on set (and no, he didn't feel even a little bad about it).
Slow Horses is an a must-watch, and we'd definitely recommend checking it out. Scroll down to read the full interview and check out the trailer for this riveting, unique, and thrilling British spy drama.
The first two episodes of Slow Horses premieres on Apple TV+ tomorrow, April 1.
It’s great to be speaking to you both about this fantastic series. Gary, given your physical transformation for the role and some of the more unflattering elements of Lamb, what was the collaboration like for you in terms of what's in the books and script and then what you brought to the table with your own ideas for how he should be portrayed?
Gary: Well, for those that have read the books or are familiar with them, Lamb is a lot...he’s quite robust. He’s a little bigger than me, physically. That really didn’t seem to worry Mick Herron, the writer of the books. The object really was to capture the spirit of Lamb. We are making the series. The books are the books and we’re making a television series, but we’re pretty faithful and accurate. The world that Mick has created and the character he has created are so complex, detailed, and precise...when you’re reading [the books], the voices he's created are so individual.
A lot of that work was all there and done for me with Lamb. As you go along and as you spend more time with Lamb and as the writers, in fact, of the series spent more time with the books and with Lamb, we do pepper it with our own ideas and things. The GPS, if you like, is there. You’ve just got to follow it because it’s so beautifully laid out for you. He was an easy fit in that sense.
Jack, that opening scene initially establishes Cartwright as this Bond or Bourne-like hero, you’re balancing that with this anger and resentment he has with being stuck in Slough House after one mistake. What was it like finding that duality in the character?
I mean, his anger and frustration were definitely the thing from an acting point of view that was great. The pedestrian nature of the whole place and the boredom of it is not something I think we’re used to seeing in this world. There was great pleasure taken in shooting that opening sequence knowing in the final piece it’s just going to be like he is throughout the whole series, just constantly knocked back and subverted. It’s quite wonderful to give people what they would typically expect from something like this in the first five minutes or whatever, but then get hammered across the head constantly with the doldrums of Slough House. To be chucked into that was the most delicious part of it really. Knowing he has all of that in him and that potential, but to then be sifting through rubbish [Laughs].
The way Lamb berates the team leads to some very funny moments, but even six episodes in, some of what he said still shocked me; for you, Gary, is it freeing to be able to attack your co-stars like that or would you end up walking away feeling a little guilty?
Gary: No, I never felt remotely guilty. At the end of the day, I felt satisfied with a job well done [Laughs]. It is very freeing. It’s a lot of fun. We giggled. I just give them what for in a scene and then they’d say cut and -
Jack: We’d fall about.
Gary: Yeah, we’d fall about laughing. It’s a lot of fun, especially…you are kind of the straight man. You’re part audience, aren’t you, with River? You’re observing it.
Jack: I’m definitely Ernie Wise.
Gary: You’re the straight man. I’m Eric Morcombe.
Jack: I’m stood there and you’re the one that comes in and goes [gestures like Morcombe] in the back [Laughs].
Amazing. Thank you both so much for your time. Jack, it’s been great to follow your career these past few years and, Gary, such a pleasure to speak to an icon such as yourself. I cannot wait for people to see the show.
Jack: Thank you so much.
Gary: Thank you. That’s terrific. I appreciate it.