This Country filmmaker Tom George directs the Agatha Christie parody See How They Run, starring Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri actor Sam Rockwell as a surly English investigator.
The new film See How They Run centers on a fake West End production of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.
And it’s not just the play that spectators will recognize: Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan play the police team sent to solve the case, together with a cast of well-known actors.
Rockwell, who earned an Academy Award for his performance as a damaged police officer in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, told that this latest part, a cynical Scotland Yard detective, was a chance for him.
“I’m attracted to misanthropic characters, and I hadn’t done a British accent in a long – I’d only done it twice on stage, but never in front of a camera, so that was daunting but enjoyable and difficult.
However, playing a grouchy detective is enjoyable, despite the British accent.
The 53-year-old actor admits to binge-watching classic films to perfect the character’s voice.
“I’ve seen everything – you name it, I’ve seen anything. Everything I could get my hands on, from Nil By Mouth to Educating Rita to Alfie.
The rest of the ensemble group consists of a mixture of Hollywood stars and British comedic actors, and Rockwell claims that being surrounded by so much talent helped him perform at his best.
It makes a significant difference when you cast Harris Dickinson, Pearl Chanda, David Oyelowo, Ruth Wilson, Adrien Brody, or Reece Shearsmith.
“Because they’re bringing their A-game, it inspires you to do your best… It’s motivating.”
This ensemble of British comedic stars and A-listers was directed by Tom George, whose mockumentary This Country won a Bafta.
George told that he made a deliberate decision to make something different with See How They Run, even though both projects share parallels.
“When you’ve done something once, everyone wants you to do it again,” he explained. “I’ve been handed a few screenplays for mockumentaries, but that’s the last thing I want!”
“This came along just as we were wrapping up the final season of This Country, and at first glance, they couldn’t be more dissimilar. However, some similarities between the two made me feel like I could do it justice.
“You know, even though it’s a whodunit in a period setting, at its core it’s a character comedy about these two detectives and whether or not they can work together to solve the crime.
“And you also have this meta layer in play – just as in This Country you have the mockumentary format, and you can utilize it to tell a story in new ways or to add humor in a certain way.
“It’s a whodunit, but it’s also a film about whodunits, so you’ve got this added layer to hopefully tell a story interestingly.”
With the film’s setting in the West End, the epidemic provided the filmmakers with the opportunity to film in theatres that would have been inaccessible under normal conditions.
Rockwell explained, “There was a partial lockdown and we went to the Old Vic before filming at the Savoy Hotel.”
“Nine months earlier, I shot there for another film, and it was completely different, with people everywhere; the contrast was truly eerie and wonderful.”
Rockwell, who has spent the majority of his career on stage, noted that it was difficult to predict the future of that sector.
“Theatre has returned, thank God; I was in rehearsals for a play just before the epidemic, and we recently performed it on Broadway. However, it was frightening to hear that theatre might be permanently extinct.”
George acknowledges that while it was a terrific opportunity to do the film, it did seem odd.
“It was bittersweet because, you know, these wonderful places were closed down, could not allow people inside, and did not know when they would reopen.
A small silver lining was that we were able to assist them to bridge the gap a little bit in a business sense, and we were also able to film in these wonderful places that I’m not sure we’d have the chance to film in again.
