Jack Lowden: Star of ‘Slow Horses’ and new BBC drama ‘The Gold’ says actors should act and keep political opinions to themselves

Exclusive: Jack Lowden, star of the upcoming TV mini-series the goldAnd hit Apple TV+slow horseBelieves that actors should stick to what they know best and not let their political views get in the way of their work.

As far as he is concerned, “you are not an actor” while “you are the political type.”

However, it is crime, not politics, that is at the center of the six-part real-life heist thriller from BBC One and Paramount+. the gold. The show is inspired by the 1983 Impaf Brinks Matt Gold robbery – one of Britain’s most storied crimes of all time.

Lowden, partner in a film production company with Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird, Little Women) and Dominic Norris (blessing), tells us that he is not an actor with a “reason,” though he admits that he has played many roles that “have a reason.” Lowden quotes Ian MacDonald, the campaign attorney he portrayed on Steve McQueen’s Small ax: Mangrove.

“But that’s not at all why I take the job. It’s actually always the last thing that I think about because I think of myself as an actor and the privilege that I have is to be allowed to piss off different people acting and what I can get out of pretending that I am,” he says, convincingly.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but people get upset when actors give their opinion, Lowden added. He believes, passionately, that “actors should be actors, and actors should be where they are because of their performance, ability and skill.”

Lowden admits that MacDonald was indeed an unreliable person, but says he took the job Small ax: Mangrove First and foremost because he wanted to work with McQueen. “I think Steve is my favorite director and I’ve heard he’s worked with actors. And I know that if anyone wants to make me a better actor, it’s someone like him. He made me better. “

He is sincere in his beliefs about thespians. “I have always wanted to respect acting as a skilled profession because it is what it is. It takes a lot of skill to do it well and there are very few good actors – good actors are worth their weight in gold,” he says.

This brings us back to the precious metals in our hearts the goldWhereas 32-year-old Cocksur portrays South London villain Kenny Noy, who has the mammoth task of arranging the laundering of three tonnes of gold bullion. [and diamonds and cash] $27M ($33M) worth was stolen during a daring, headline-grabbing robbery at the Brinks-Matte security depository near Heathrow Airport in the early 1980s.

The glittering heist was on and off the front pages of newspapers for years as news emerged about the masterminds and the series will see cops desperate to arrest them before the treasure melts away.

Lowden is the handsome, seemingly easy-going, crime lord-of-the-manor who, when cornered, is lethal. “What was more interesting to me was that he was like a chameleon. He had this charm and he got on with everybody,” Lowden said.

Noye believed that nothing could harm him, something that Lowden captures brilliantly, though he says it depends on executive producer Neil Forsythe’s screenplay (guilt) “I found many of the scripts very, very funny,” exclaims the actor.

that the gold Because of the brilliant social awareness, and yes, intelligence that underpins Forsyth’s writing and Anil Kariya’s direction. Kariya shared an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short with Reese Ahmed long goodbye, which he directed and co-wrote with Ahmed. Lawrence Gough (gatecrash, last bus) indicated three the gold episodes

The directors and their production team worked with a top cast of actors playing an assortment of cops, robbers and other miscreants. Among them is Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Immune Elliott (a joke) and Charlotte Spencer (SanditonDominic Cooper (Advertiser, Mamma Mia!) and Tom Cullen (becoming Elizabeth)

Lowden tells us he loves playing the infamous Crook Nine and refuses to judge his moral vacuum. “I’m playing the guy on the page and it’s not really my business what people think of him.” I do what I do on the page but obviously it’s all believable,” n” he added the story is clearly dramatized for effect “so that you want to see it — and it’s not just a newsreel.”

Noye tells a character that “people like us, we have to fight twice as hard to get anything in this world” and his justification for poaching a title landowner’s property is “we fight to get it, and they fight to live it.”

Us and Them are all classified, although Forsyth calls the various characters “systems” – the sly nods, winks and secret handshakes offered to some high-ranking police officers, government officials and local council mandarins. In return to the masterminds, we assume, a share of the glittering proceeds.

The actor marvels at how deftly Forsyth weaves the script together, treading fine tonal lines as he does so. “It’s trying to get everyone to make up their own minds about the morality of crime — if there’s ever a question of morality in crime,” Lowden says.

He adds that if there are moments where “you feel for them [the crooks]And you sympathize with them. It’s to make you think, ‘Christ, what do I really believe?’”

“I’m not going to lie, I really enjoyed the character Neil put together on the page I absolutely loved playing it It was very eccentric and very different from what I have played in the past.”

Lowden says he likes and observes the “crazy romanticism of East and South London crime”. the gold Has a “dazzling” and “cinematic” verve It’s “pretty scary.” Yes, it’s brash “but it’s brash with flavor,” he adds.

He had “some big shoulder pads” to complement the double-breasted suits and casual jack-of-all-trades T-shirts he sported to show off his bulked-up body, which he created for Chris ‘The”s fitness guide. Bull’ Baugh, a former pro boxer who made him feel “heavier and a little more intimidating.”

Lowden said the trainer gave him an understanding of “presence” and how Noah should carry himself. “It was quite interesting to learn about the presence in terms of when someone is in the ring. The difference between how he talks about movement and how you stand was impressive this And how are you standing? that,” He says puffing out his chest and straightening his shoulders for emphasis. Lowden remembers training for a wrestling comedy War with my family where he was thrown around a wrestling ring by Florence Pugh. I was on set for that original show.

Another key aspect of Noye’s creation was “shit tons of hair. It was a lot of hair.” Shaking her head so that her locks flow and flicking her quiff for added effect, she notes that in the early 1980s not only was there “so much bloody hair” but in general “everything seemed a little more ridiculous,” .

And that includes some cockney slang. In one scene he tells an aide to “lose that syrup”.

Answer a postcard if you know the answer. Don’t want to wait that long? Remember, this is cockney rhyming slang.

Got it? Lemon squeezy: Easy.

Forsyth undercuts the darkness, trauma, and “threat” in the story with humor. Lowden meets razor-sharp wit with a willing funny bone. The actor assured us that he was always game for a laugh even though there was a period early in his career where he seemed to play incredibly serious roles. “I did an Ibsen [Ghosts directed by Richard Eyre at the Almeida Theatre in 2013] Where I died of a syphilitic stroke,” he recalled. The part won him an Olivier Award.

The same happened with Terence Davies’ films blessingwhere he portrays Siegfried Sassoon.

However, he admits that doing something funny is his natural instinct and that’s why he wanted to become an actor. “The joy of being on stage and making people laugh because that’s the only immediate reception you can laugh at and so that’s what I’ve wanted to do. I’m constantly trying to find funny moments.”

He alludes to his childhood, noting that he was a shy kid, who grew up watching “hours and hours of BBC comedies from the 70s and 80s”.

He was sticky Only fools and horses,” which helped in his portrayal of Noye, andDefective tower. “I saw them all – it was like a comfort blanket almost every night. I couldn’t see one The Midsomer MurdersBecause for Christ’s sake I found it very serious and scary.

He later recounts some of the laughs he shared with Dorothy Atkinson the gold Seth “I’ve loved her ever since I saw her mother“

There was also supposed to be hijinks with Gary Oldman, who plays the brilliant Jackson Lamb in the Apple TV+ miracle. slow horse Lowden called the Oscar winner “a hell of a funny guy.”

“We spent most of our time on that set when we were together thinking about what could make it more fun,” he says.

Many of the scenes involving exiled MI5 officers overseen by Jackson Lamb, a whip-smart slob played by Lowden with a scene-stealing Oldman as his sidekick River Cartwright, a 007 wannabe, are comically inventive – more agents of pleasure than secret operatives.

The slow horse The series is based on the acclaimed series of novels by Mick Heron. Season 3 has already wrapped and will stream later in the year. Fourth shoot in three and a half weeks.

Loden has plenty to occupy himself until the start date. The River Picture (Blessings, kind hearted) production company he had set up with Norris several years earlier has been wound up and folded into Arcade Pictures and is being run equally with Norris and Ronan. They met in director Josie Rourke’s film Working Title Mary Queen of Scots.

The team is currently on the post of the first movie in the arcade outrun Starring Ronan and directed by Nora Fingscheid, one of many directors “we’ve admired from afar.” Once they saw Fingscheidt’s 2019 film System Crasher “We knew he was the best fit.”

Lowden explained that he started producing because “I wanted to put myself in a corner” to do shows that had been discussed for years. “I just wanted to end up kind of talking about it and really go for it and force myself to do it and really get involved.”

“It’s about improving my knowledge, and Saoirse is exactly the same. We’re taking our time choosing what we want to do and who we want to work with… We have to convince people that getting an independent film financed is incredible.”

They are developing other films and plan to announce a new film project soon.

Lowden and Ronan keep a low public profile, although they can often be found in West End theaters, such as in memorable revivals of their friends Paul Mescal and Patsy Ferran. Desire a street name At Almeida mentioned above.

You won’t see them in nightclubs or restaurants, where bold-faced names regularly hang out.

But there was one small escape, which attracted attention two years ago when photographers turned up at the launch party for the first season in London, capturing him slightly submerged in water. slow horse

He gently brushes off the issue of drinking. “This was the first party after the lockdown. It was a big night. But Gary and I have a lot of fun. It’s nice not to take yourself too seriously for a large part of your career.”

As she prepares to walk away I mention that I am allergic to gold. He’s not, but he’s not an expert either. “Not even sure if I’ve ever caught real gold,” says the actor who plays a man who wants to be as rich as Croesus.

the gold BBC One and BBC iPlayer will launch on February 12.