‘It was like a supernatural experience’: two TV stars chained to each other | Television

Ftechnology in film and television is as standard as an “odd pair tied together”. Think of Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones, or Bob Hoskins seeing the cuffs in Roger Rabbit. It’s been tweaked and tweaked – yet, as the new Sky Prisoner show makes clear, the idea of ​​having an alien still packs a punch.

In prison, the odd family is Amber Todd, a prisoner transport supervisor played by star Izuka Hoyle (Boiling Point, Big Boys) in her first role, and Tibor Stone, a contract killer played by French star Tahar Rahim (Snake, The Mauritanian). It’s Todd’s job to get Tibor to his big court appearance at the Old Bailey. But when their group is ambushed, they are forced to flee from a relentless gang of criminals. The result is a one-six episode with lots of twists, turns and hand-wringing.

I meet Hoyle and Rahim at a hotel in London, and immediately admit that I am disappointed that they have not been contacted. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Hoyle laughs, his warm Scottish accent instantly disarming.

The two tell me that the Prisoner shoots eight hours every day (mercifully not at lunch). Along with painting, they have to exercise their bodies. Or at least those who didn’t learn in “the week that got out of hand”, as Hoyle calls it. That week – the one before filming – was the first time the two met.

Hoyle said: “There was no dinner to get to know you, sitting down. “Just hello, now let’s light up the opposition and try to exercise together. That’s what made us do it!”

“We agreed,” Rahim smiles. “We have no secrets now.”

“I needed to know how my character changed,” Hoyle said. Amber is not a fighter.”

Instead, she is a new mother, six months after giving birth. I tell Hoyle that as a new mom, I can’t help but nitpick: how strong is this guy, and why isn’t he producing breast milk? (“I said so!” Hoyle adds.) But Amber’s anger? I realized. I hope many new mothers will.

Hoyle said: “I called all my friends who were new mothers and asked them questions until we started to feel blue. “They like to talk about their children, but as soon as I asked them to put themselves in the same position as Amber did, when she lost her child, she changed and this monster came out, and I asked myself: ‘Where has my friend gone?

“You hear about women lifting cars to protect their children.

The handcuff device feels very powerful right now. In all cases, we feel that social media has left us disconnected. Experts say that when we are forced to interact with a stranger, we learn to be better. Handcuffing is the most dangerous form of this.

“A very good story,” says Rahim, in his low, controlled voice and soft French accent. “My character is also changed: he changes from a bad person to … I can’t say good. But a different person.”

This feels like the right moment to say that Rahim can be powerful. He is not rude or cold; far from it. But you can tell when something is really speaking to him. They can turn on a dime: one minute laughing with Hoyle, the next stopping you in your tracks with a look. He does it in his movies, and as I’m learning, he does it in real life too.

The first time I see it is when we turn to his work. We’ve also told him about his first co-writing account of The Prisoner (“It all started with frustration – I talk to the directors and when it comes to the dressing room, bye-bye”); and his decision, based on his Algerian heritage, to refuse to engage in terrorist activities that are only imagined. But, I tell him, it seems to me that every generation has French actors who are making a crossover to the anglophone world. In my youth the names were Vincent Cassel, Audrey Tautou and Marion Cotillard. But it seems to be decreasing. Rahim is probably the most famous, besides him Lea Seydoux.

Leaning forward and almost whispering, he explains his thoughts on success: “You just have to accept it.”

He remembers the moment he thought he was going to take it. He was in Cannes, checking the room. “I can’t explain it, but I just felt it was time to try it out.” His agent tried to stop him, telling him that he was doing very well in France. “But the biggest inspiration I had was New Hollywood,” he says (the 1970s group that gave us Scorsese, Kubrick, Nicholson, De Niro). “I grew up with these films, and this happened because I didn’t feel that French films represented me.” Rahim then packed a bag to Los Angeles. He held meetings for several weeks, and then, when he told himself that it would not work, “the next day, in fact, I had two different offers. Mary Magdalene “- a biblical drama in which Rahim plays Judas Iscariot with Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara – “and The Looming Tower”, a political drama about the FBI-CIA rivalry.

After that came his role as the killer Charles Sobhraj in The Serpent; an innocent Guantánamo detainee opposite Jodie Foster in The Mauritanian, which earned him Golden Globe and Bafta nominations; and, most recently, a role in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.

I can see Hoyle listening intently. Along with the Bafta-winning Big Boys and the hit Boiling Point – in which he plays a French chef despite not speaking a word of French – his CV includes Mary Queen of Scots opposite Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan, and Persuasion along with Dakota Johnson. That’s why last year he was named Screen Daily’s Star of Tomorrow. In an interview he gave at the time, he said he “felt brave”. What did he mean?

“You have to be vulnerable to be brave enough to stand out, to show yourself,” he says. This took time. I’m starting to hear my voice.

Tahar Rahim being shackled all day helps that lesson, I say.

He said: “If I talk about being brave, he is the best example. “He is completely devoted to his work. His eyes change as the camera rolls. Being chained to it, looking closer – I learned a lot, and I felt it too. It was like a spiritual experience.”

Rahim looks concerned. “That’s… it’s great,” he says, taking her hand.

I can’t speak to acting prowess, but after following Rahim’s career for some time, it’s a phrase that comes up when discussing his career. Especially when it comes to his views on Palestine. Rahim has signed a number of open letters in support of Palestine, including Artists4Ceasefire – an initiative that has become problematic in Hollywood. Some say it makes the war easier and the risk of anti-Jewish conflict; others say they are too cautious.

“Can I just say, it’s not about politics or race or religion, but…” he paused, choosing his words carefully.

“I just thought: go back to that little piece of shit in your chest, and talk to him,” she says. “You will have an answer, it’s all about humanity, it’s not good.”

I’m going to Hoyle to talk about remote life. He talks about taking a break after The Prisoner, which he had to allow himself to do. But Rahim is looking at me.

He said: “I’m sorry, I just want to go back to Palestine to speak boldly about this matter.” “It is not good to support killing people.” We talked about Hollywood, but there are other places where people argue. That person was Denzel Washington. People should tell the truth.”

The room is quiet now. I break the silence and turn to Hoyle. I ask her about her name: it is listed on Wikipedia as Chantelle Izuka Hoyle.

His stature was very different from Rahim’s. He is of mixed heritage, Nigerian and Scottish. He said: “I grew up in Edinburgh, apart from my mother, everyone in my family was white, and there was only me and a few other people at my school.

But, he says, leaving Chantelle to go to Izuka was not meant as a word. “I didn’t understand gravitas; I just thought it was a cute name.”

This seems to have attracted Rahim and now he is laughing. “You mean I played next to Chantelle?!” she laughs, making Chantelle sound as French as possible. Now the two are exchanging the kind of French words one would learn on Duolingo (“Comment ça va?”).

And now our time is up. It turned out that he didn’t need the chains after that, and showed up and left the hotel. Some groups hold their own.