The Thursday Murder Club cast on who would survive a real murder mystery

The Independent

Naomi Ackie and Daniel Mays sit down with us to talk all things The Thursday Murder Club – from what it was like stepping onto set with legendary acting icons like Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley and Pierce Brosnan, to who in the cast would survive (and who wouldn’t) in a real-life murder mystery.They also share a few behind-the-scenes antics, the roles from their back catalogue they’d love to revisit, and a few pieces of advice that have shaped their careers.

Transcript

00:00You know why?

00:00Let's get rid of David Tennant.

00:01Let's just get rid of him straight away.

00:03David's dead.

00:06Happy Thursday.

00:07Happy Thursday.

00:08Yes.

00:08Very apt, can I say.

00:10Yeah.

00:10It is.

00:10I asked Danny a few interviews ago.

00:12I was like,

00:12do you think they did the premiere on purpose on a Thursday?

00:15Let's go with yes.

00:16Yeah.

00:17I had such a good time with this film.

00:19Oh, I'm glad.

00:20And what an absolutely iconic cast as well.

00:22Like, I would love to know if this cast found themselves

00:26at the heart of a real life Agatha Christie whodunit.

00:29Murder.

00:30Who is getting killed off first?

00:31And who's unmasking the killer?

00:33Within the cast, who's getting killed off first?

00:35Within all of you guys.

00:38What are you looking at me for?

00:41Let's get rid of David Tennant.

00:42Let's just get rid of him straight away.

00:44So someone's bumped off David Tennant.

00:47Yeah, David's.

00:47And who would solve that?

00:48David's dead.

00:52That's going in the edit.

00:54David's dead.

00:55I feel terrible saying that.

00:56David's such a lovely man.

00:57Because he's a great guy.

00:58That's why he had to go.

00:59I've heard he's not going to the red carpet tonight.

01:03That's rude.

01:03How is he not?

01:04Very suspicious.

01:04Why?

01:05This is what I mean.

01:06So are you guys unmasking the killer?

01:08Yeah.

01:09And it's not who you'd expect it to be.

01:13Okay.

01:13Wow.

01:14Because he's giving off that he's like all nice and stuff.

01:17I don't know if it is.

01:18This is how he does it.

01:19Yeah.

01:19This is how he does it.

01:20I'm sorry.

01:21How rude of me.

01:23We're the Thursday Murder Club.

01:24So as well as being a really fun kind of twisty turny whodunit, I think the heart of this

01:29film is also finding a place where you belong.

01:32Yeah.

01:32So I'd love to know, was there a time when you were on set or working on this project where

01:36that sense of belonging really clicked into place and you thought, yeah, I really feel

01:40part of the gang?

01:41Yeah.

01:42I felt that from, honestly, from the world go, you know, even in the rehearsals, because

01:47Chris Columbus, our amazing director, just made it feel so welcoming and such a sort

01:53of communal spirit with everyone.

01:55And then like we've mentioned the amazing, iconic lead actors, they didn't have any ego

02:00or anything like that.

02:01They just made us feel at home straight away.

02:03I think like when you laugh, like the times that you laugh together, I feel like the other

02:09bonding moments and like the scene with you in the cake.

02:12Yes, that was early on in the thing.

02:13Yeah.

02:14Was that quite early?

02:15It was quite early.

02:16I think that was my first big scene.

02:18Yeah.

02:19Yeah.

02:19And like I remember you eating the cake and all of us just like at separate moments,

02:23just like keeling over laughing.

02:25And that was a moment where we're like, oh, okay, this is good.

02:29Like we found our rhythm as people and that continued.

02:33Would you like to be investigating the murder?

02:36Who do you think you are?

02:37The head of MI5?

02:37Another thing this film really explores is sort of what people can be capable of when

02:43people underestimate them.

02:44Yeah.

02:45So I would love to know like, has there been a moment in both of your careers where someone

02:49has underestimated you?

02:50And if so, is there a note or a piece of advice that you're glad that you didn't take?

02:55I had someone in my life who's no longer in my life that when like I was still trying,

03:01I was right at the beginning of my career and I was like, it's just so hard.

03:03It's just a hard job to kind of break into and I was so frustrated and I was like, it hurts,

03:08you know, it's painful and I can't help but take it personally and this person was like,

03:12well, just quit.

03:13And I was like, oh, no, no, no.

03:16And I did not take that advice and I'm so good.

03:19And here we are.

03:20And here we are.

03:21But like, I think that was a moment of like, no, this, this pain and stuff is something to

03:25be worked with, not, not avoided.

03:27But I did not listen.

03:28Thank goodness.

03:29This is something you're passionate about.

03:30Do not quit.

03:31Just find your way around it.

03:32There's always a way around it.

03:33Yeah.

03:34I could think of a couple of roles that I was actually been offered but was quite intimidated

03:40about doing them.

03:41Do you know what I mean?

03:42Like sometimes you get this sort of sense of, I haven't got it in me today.

03:45How do I do that?

03:46Are there any roles that sort of come to mind?

03:49There was a character called Peter Wildblood.

03:50It was a single drama for the BBC called Against the Law.

03:54The true story about, he was a gay journalist in the 50s that got imprisoned for like two

04:00years for being gay at that time because it was obviously illegal.

04:04But there was lots of, it's not a role that you'd associate Danny May's playing.

04:09There was lots of intimacy, intimate moments.

04:12And with the great Richard Gad, who played my lover in it, yeah, from Baby Reindeer.

04:18I mean, it was great.

04:19Yeah, yeah, yeah.

04:21I first got introduced to him and he said, because he comes from a stand-up comedian background,

04:24doesn't he?

04:25I said, you'd have to be able to get in bed with me.

04:29But so I got offered it and I was like, I don't know if I can do this, you know.

04:34And it was my wife, Lou, she says, you haven't said yes to this, have you?

04:38And she said, you're scared.

04:39And I said, I'm terrified.

04:40She said, that's exactly the reason you're scared.

04:43That's glorified.

04:43And to this day, it's one of the performances I'm most proud of.

04:47Wow.

04:48But do you know what I mean?

04:48They're those characters that you think, you know, it's like looking up at Everest.

04:51You think, how am I going to do this?

04:53But like, it's that mantra of like, feel the fear and just do it anyway.

04:56Yeah.

04:56This shouldn't be happening to me.

04:58You broke the law, Wildblood.

05:01Then the law is wrong.

05:03So the Murder Club is all about kind of digging up and reopening old cases.

05:07So is there one role from your careers that if you could kind of dig up and sort of revisit

05:14with everything you know now and redo it, knowing what you know now, which roles would you choose?

05:20I would retry Whitney.

05:22Would you?

05:22Because it was so much fun?

05:24No, because I would add new things, but I would also change my attitude while I was

05:30doing it.

05:31Because I was very perfectionist and there was a lot of pressure and I wasn't having

05:34as much fun as I could have had.

05:36And I would have loosened up a bit and I would give it another go.

05:40I really think now, I'm like, I'm actually looking forward to playing a real person again.

05:44Okay.

05:45It's taken me a few years to get to the point, but I would...

05:47Trying to forget the pressure that comes with it.

05:49Yeah, I think like now that I'm a bit older, I'm like, oh, it wasn't that deep.

05:52Yeah.

05:53Let's give it another go.

05:53Look, I don't know how to sing black and I don't know how to sing white either.

05:57I know how to sing.

05:58If I could go back and play another character again, it would be Danny Waldron in Line of

06:04Duty because that was on paper an absolutely phenomenal part.

06:09But if you've seen that show, he only ever lasts one episode.

06:13He gets killed off at the end of the thing.

06:14See, I was introduced as the new lead and then we pulled the rug.

06:18And so when I went into the audition, I was like, does he like, I didn't know, like, does

06:22he make it?

06:22He went, I'm so sorry, Danny.

06:24This is what we're doing this year.

06:25And I always think that character was like a, it's bittersweet.

06:29It was one of the best things I've ever done.

06:31But part of me is like, imagine what that character would have done over the course of a whole series.

06:35So you would want to revisit it and kind of like, actually, just kind of scrimp it out of the screen.

06:40Yeah, but did they do it to like, like freak out the audience?

06:43That was the gimmick in that show.

06:44They would, they would kill characters off.

06:47Big Game of Thrones style.

06:48Yeah.

06:48Very much like that.

06:49Yeah.

06:49Don't try playing the big man.

06:52We both know you're not up to it.

06:55Such amazing answers.

06:56Thank you so much.

06:57Great questions.

06:58Yeah.

06:58Thank you so much.

06:59I think that's all the time we have and I want to just sit here all day and keep chatting.

07:02Also, have you guys had the theme cookies?

07:04There's cookies.

07:05Yeah.

07:06Oh, no.

07:06Okay, there's one in my bag and I don't have my cookies.

07:08I promise I wasn't in my bag.

07:09Oh, no.

07:11Sorry.

07:11Just for me then.

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