- 7 minutes ago
'The Night Manager' director Georgi Banks-Davies sat down with THR's Senior Writer David Canfield to chat all about the Prime Video series in a Directors in Focus conversation.
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00:01I kind of wanted to start just with the fact that you were new to this world.
00:05Suzanne Beer directed the entire first season, won an Emmy for it, incredible work.
00:11So you're coming in with this huge gap, number one, and number two with, you know,
00:17the kind of mandate to make it your own.
00:18So talk about how you came into the show and what your vision was for it.
00:23Yeah, I mean, they're not small shoes to step in, the great Suzanne Beer.
00:28Yeah, I just, I mean, I got sent scripts and just instantly fell in love with them,
00:33fell in love with them.
00:34But I also was a huge fan of the first season, huge fan of Le Carre, the writer David Farr,
00:38like I really admired so much of his work.
00:41And so it was kind of one of those moments where you get the script in your inbox
00:45and you just go, well, there's a no brainer, you know, if I'm lucky enough to get this gig,
00:49like incredible.
00:51And but what was amazing was when I when I read it, I had very distinct instincts about
00:56like how to tell the story and very distinct instincts visually, but also performatively
01:00of like where the characters are, particularly Tom Hiddleston's character, Jonathan Pine,
01:05where he might be 10 years later.
01:08And and that sort of informed like quite a distinct visual language.
01:11And I wasn't at that point sure whether that would be the thing that we're going to do.
01:15I didn't know if there would just be a remit to kind of recreate what had come before.
01:18So when I met with the producers, I had sort of quite a singular vision for how it felt
01:24to me like it should be translated in this season.
01:27And what was amazing was that I was sort of met with a response of like, yes, that's what
01:30we want.
01:31You know, we want one director, one filmmaker.
01:34We're quite a unique show because we're not a showrunner structured show.
01:37So it's like David Farr and I and the producer Stephen Garrett, the creative producer, we kind
01:41of work in the triangle together, which means that you start all the way from like script
01:45development and you're sort of responsible for backing the scripts into your own budget
01:49and schedule, you know, but but so from that point of view, I just I was really I was just
01:56very surprised, actually, and also very excited that they were like, yeah, no, we really want
02:01to push forward and do something that feels like it is.
02:05It's not about doing something new.
02:06It's about responding to the material as it is now.
02:09And so, yes, I was lucky enough to after running a few gauntlets and finally meeting
02:15Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, which was their most amazing meeting.
02:19I was like, so it should have been an hour.
02:21It was like four hours.
02:22And I think we talked about the show for 15 minutes, you know, like the most remarkable
02:25men.
02:26And then I was like asked to come on board and and direct and produce it with the
02:30guys.
02:31Amazing.
02:31Can you talk a bit about what those conversations were like and particularly the character of
02:35Pine, where creatively you wanted to find him in season two and what the work had
02:40to be and kind of getting into that point?
02:41Yeah, I mean, and this scene is sort of really pinnacle in that, in that this is sort of
02:45right between the two seasons in terms of timeline.
02:48But Tom and I talked a lot about like what has Pine been doing for 10 years?
02:51And of course, the script sort of in that we can there were some clues that we could
02:55extract.
02:55He's now working in a very quiet unit, like in the shadows, trying to keep his head
03:01down, trying to have a very simple life.
03:03But that's sort of one singular idea.
03:05We were like really trying to excavate.
03:07But why?
03:07But what's he doing?
03:08So Tom and Tom and I really worked through like what those 10 years look like.
03:12And this being kind of a middle point of that, this is the point where he can he should,
03:17in theory, be able to go.
03:19Everything that's happened in the past has happened in the past.
03:21And Pine has carried a lot of trauma and the trauma doesn't come singularly from what we
03:26saw in the first season where he lost Sophie, like he put Jed in danger, these kind of these
03:31women that he loved, but equally he had to kill people.
03:33You know, he was really pushed these like quite massive extremes and infiltrate this
03:38arms dealership, but also have a very complicated relationship with this character, Richard
03:44Roper.
03:45There's points where he liked him and there's points where he almost loved him.
03:49And it's like, you know, there's a week and we talked a lot about that, the father
03:52son relationship that was there and what it means to put closure on that, which is what
03:56this scene is.
03:57And what was interesting is we then sort of went into, okay, after that, what's happened?
04:02And after that, what we, what we played with and discovered was that he hasn't been able
04:06to resolve any of it actually without, without an enemy, he's the hero.
04:12Like, what is his purpose if he has nobody to fight?
04:16And so we sort of, we really just delved in and worked together on like what that looked
04:20like for the character.
04:21And we, we came up with like quite a few devices and Tom is like the most amazing collaborator
04:25and really wanted to in this season as well, push right into that.
04:29Like what have those 10 years been?
04:30And we would often talk about a coffee percolator and that when, you know, it's empty, you've
04:36thrown all the coffee out and you've pushed it down and you have this like bit of, you
04:40know, all the josh at the bottom, the coffee, and then the jar is empty.
04:44We talked about that being pine all the time, like it's just down.
04:48So you've got this empty vessel of a man who's just ignoring everything.
04:52And the show, the reason I wanted to make it is that it is entirely about identity.
04:57It's entirely about who we are.
04:59It's entirely about what we say to the world, what we can control and what we can't, the
05:02masks that we wear, the costumes that we wear, the way, the things that you can, things that
05:08you can control in your identity versus the things that you can't.
05:12And really like that was the entirety of where we started from.
05:15It's like, what is he hiding from?
05:17And actually that empty vessel is himself.
05:20Like he can't, he can't look inwards.
05:23If he looks inwards, it's way too difficult.
05:25And this is, and we did a lot on his backstory and it came from the original source material
05:29in the books, but like he was a soul, he was a soldier.
05:32He was in Northern Ireland.
05:33He experienced some like trauma there.
05:35His father was a soldier and like died and he lost his mother to a disease.
05:40Like there's, there's all these facets that make the character who he is.
05:44And we just tried to delve right into those in a very complex way, actually, to really
05:50fully understand how he's reacted and why he's reacting to every situation.
05:53And this being like, that should make him okay.
05:55And that was, this was the big sort of kicker in the scene where like, he should be okay
05:59after this.
05:59And actually the, the naughtiness and the kind of interesting part of it is that he isn't.
06:05And why isn't he?
06:06What, what good is a dragon slayer if there's no dragon?
06:11This is, um, because you direct all six episodes, it has the feel of an espionage thriller, a
06:19film, and you got to make it that way.
06:21And you really got to make a John le Carré film.
06:23You mentioned being able to draw from the source material, but were there any just sort
06:26of general elements of making essentially a six hour spy movie that really excited you
06:32just as a filmmaker?
06:33I think that.
06:34Do you want to make a six hour spy movie?
06:36Like, yes.
06:37Um, well, the cast.
06:38Yeah.
06:39I like, and not just, just to talk about the cast that you inherit.
06:42So like the actors that we've just seen, um, of course, and then Noah Duke as well, he
06:47came back, you know, like you said, Al Petrie, like you said, my amazing cast that you sort
06:50of inherit with the show, but also the material to go out and talk to the actors that you admire
06:56and people that you wanted to work with and know that you've got the material to do that.
07:01So Hayley Squires, for example, he plays the partner.
07:04She's so, we've wanted to work together for a long time.
07:06And when I called, and she's, she was sort of a left field choice in a way off the page.
07:10She didn't read like the way Hayley has portrayed her.
07:13And that's what Hayley does so brilliantly.
07:15And that's why I wanted to do it.
07:17And when I called her and said, do you want to be Le Carre?
07:19She was like, what?
07:20Yes, but what me, you know, and, and being able to kind of make those calls and then Camilla
07:26Marone, Diego Calvert, you know, actors I've admired and their work and what they've been
07:31doing and exploring and just being able to kind of have the material to make those phone
07:36calls is like really exciting.
07:37And then to do it's for me, like to be able to look at something from the beginning to
07:42the end is, is in some way easier, even though it's like a lot of work, like this project
07:48for me is like two years, you know, from the development through to the shoot, through
07:52to the post and kind of having my hands on all of it in that way.
07:56But it's, it's so much more satisfying because you really understand the storytelling and
08:00you really understand the character trajectory and the way in which we shot this show, the
08:05way in which I, I really sort of the one thing I distinctly knew that we had to do when
08:09I read it was that we had to be entirely on location and that we should not be in any
08:14studio and we were not in any studio.
08:16I mean, I can't remember our location count, but I think it's like 80 or something, which
08:21means that you are, but I'm sort of orchestrating things to be real because I want to feel them.
08:26But equally, I want all of our backs to the wall.
08:29Like you, you're in a location for like one day, you've got to get it.
08:33And so the stakes become higher.
08:36Now it's not life or death, like our character's stakes, but when the actors are feeling that
08:41and the crew is feeling that we're all feeling that it kind of finds its way into the lens,
08:46you know, it's like, I really believe that.
08:48So I knew when I read the script, sorry to go, I'm so digressing, aren't I?
08:52But to go back to the question, when I read the script, I knew like that I was reading
08:57something because I could do all of it where we could really do that.
09:00And we could really get on the road and I could sort of work it as I went, whereas that's
09:07tricky if you're on a block because you will, you can't go back.
09:11So you can't bring in other directors, then go back to the location or you can't, we just
09:16constantly, I mean, you're dealing with the elements all the time.
09:19So you're re sort of rewriting and I'm working with the editor all the time to go, do you
09:23know what?
09:23We're not going to get that, but maybe now we don't need it.
09:25And if I just put that line into that scene, that will make it work.
09:28And when you've sort of got that whole view, that whole holistic view in your head, it's
09:33like, it's much easier to navigate.
09:36And I sort of feel like I express what I'm after with the team and took the team on the
09:42road.
09:43But it's funny when we showed the show to the cast and crew, the screening, the collaborators
09:47who came on the whole journey with me were like, you really did have it all in your head.
09:51And I was like, oh, you didn't see that when we were shooting?
09:55It was there in the end.
09:56It was there in the end.
09:57It was there in the end.
09:59You mentioned the casting, the new actors you got to bring in, so many amazing new faces.
10:04I want to use that scene to ask you a little bit about just about working with these incredible
10:07actors, seeing the way that that scene escalates, the way that they're playing it.
10:12It says so much about the very fraught, reluctant dynamic between these two.
10:16And I imagine it's got to be fascinating to just shape that with them.
10:19Can you talk about that a little bit?
10:21Yeah.
10:21I mean, particularly like, I mean, Camilla's an incredible actor and she's so raw and so
10:26real.
10:26And she's just always, again, searching for the truth in the character.
10:31And with her character in particular, we wanted to, like, try to change the stereotype of women
10:39in espionage.
10:40But what the character is doing is sort of, it goes back to that theme of identity.
10:43She's using all the things that she has in her power to get what she wants.
10:46And partly that's her gender.
10:49That's how she's presenting.
10:50That's how she's manipulating for the situations.
10:52And it was like taking all those things that we've seen before so many times that then the
10:57character is left powerless somewhat and using it to, like, give her ultimate power.
11:01So when you play that into a scene like this, where, like, and the character of, in this
11:07moment in the show, the character that Tom's playing Pine, he's, like, not got something
11:13that he really needs to get that he's talking about.
11:16And he is so deeply frustrated.
11:19And you can see how they are really playing quite complicated, like, they're always out
11:25of sync with each other through the scene until they're not at the end.
11:28So he's, I mean, he's being kind of petulant because he's completely ignoring her.
11:33But it's because he's trying to, he's keeping it down.
11:36He won't let go.
11:37And that character, like, he knows that he can't give away too much.
11:40So he's deliberately pushing down.
11:42And, of course, then she's being actually quite open and quite clean, saying, did you
11:46get it?
11:47Did you?
11:47Because she honestly, when he says, do you know this person?
11:49She doesn't know that person.
11:50And so much of what we played in a scene was about what the one person knew to be the
11:57truth
11:57versus what the other did.
11:59They never played a lie.
12:01Like, they only played the one thing they knew to be the truth.
12:04And they were very different things because espionage so often is very different.
12:07So she really doesn't know him.
12:08And his truth is she really does know him.
12:10And that's as simple as it sort of needs to be.
12:13And then all the work is done with character work in rehearsal before.
12:17And it's like, we don't rehearse scenes.
12:19We don't rehearse them ever.
12:21Like, we just rehearse character.
12:22And we go so deep so that, fundamentally, when they're in a scene like this, they won't
12:27make a bad choice.
12:28They could have played the entire scene silently.
12:31She could have played it, like, taking the moral high ground.
12:34She could have played it really placating him.
12:36None of it would have made any difference.
12:38The scene would still be brilliant because the choice comes from understanding what the
12:42character wants and needs and really understanding character.
12:45And if you play the scene and you very technically decide what it's going to be, and it's hard because
12:51there's a stunt involved in this.
12:52And you can be unpredictable to a certain amount.
12:54But again, working with Tom Hiddleston, Marvel man knows how to do a stunt, you know, like
12:59he's done many.
13:00And keep it safe, but also keep it, like, alive in the moment.
13:03So they're actually given the autonomy.
13:06And it's another sort of signature of something I do all the time that my DOP hates, is that
13:10I choose rooms and locations where you can constantly, they're very secular, and you move.
13:16And you can go in one door, but you can be cut off in another.
13:19So she's going around that way, he's going around that way.
13:20There are two cameras in that room, and that room is tiny.
13:23And they're never in each other's shot.
13:24And they never know where the actors are going to go.
13:27But the actors are free to play what they want and what they need and what the truth
13:31that they believe is.
13:32And then you end up with this, like, extreme, it's one of my favorite scenes because it's
13:36so electric and it's so real.
13:38And we're crossing the line.
13:39Like, I just realized watching it there, I'm like, we're crossing the line all over the
13:42place.
13:43But you don't, it doesn't matter.
13:45Because you're, like, locked into character.
13:47And it's all about the power.
13:49And the show is all about power, you know, ultimately.
13:52But it's really dancing all over the place in that scene.
13:55But it's testament to the actors.
13:56And we just go in together and we're brave.
13:58And we don't, we don't rehearse.
13:59When we block, we don't rehearse.
14:00Because I just really fundamentally believe, like, I've not been in this moment before.
14:06Like, you don't, like, I've not rehearsed this.
14:08Like, life is live once.
14:10And as long as you have all of the things in your toolbox to really live that moment so
14:15that you're armed to live it, like, then we go.
14:18You won't, they won't make a mistake.
14:19And they don't.
14:20But really, the show is, becomes about the relationship between Diego's character,
14:25Teddy, and Tom's character, Pine.
14:27And it becomes about, like, the connection between the men in a way that is complicated.
14:32There's an attraction.
14:33There's a brotherliness.
14:35There's all sorts of things at play there.
14:37And I thought it was, like, interesting to feel, if we bring Teddy into it, like,
14:42how far will Pine go, firstly?
14:45And secondly, like, what does he feel in that?
14:48It's not simple.
14:48None of these things are simple.
14:49And the whole show is actually about the moment when these three are all orphans of conflicts.
14:55They've all lost a parent through conflict.
14:57And I was much more interested in what brings them together than what pushes them apart.
15:01And the whole scene is about that shield going up and then it kind of just drops for a second
15:06and it comes up and it drops for a second.
15:08There's nothing simple about it.
15:09And it's all about power.
15:11But it's not played about power because they are, they're feeling something here and there.
15:16I'm not sure she is.
15:18She knows what she's doing.
15:19But with the two, there's something there.
15:23There's something that gives me.
15:23There's something that they know.
15:26They're both using it as a way to sort of, like, take power or to prove something in the situation.
15:31And Pine, at this point, is undercover.
15:32So he can't sort of break that.
15:34And he's being pushed.
15:35But in the performances are so delicate, actually.
15:38And they're really, they're showing something that's complicated.
15:42And it's, and it's the night manager.
15:44It's sexy.
15:44We're in, again, this is the same hotel.
15:46We're shooting on location in Cartagena.
15:50And there's just something.
15:51I do remember the exec producer coming down because I rehearsed it in the morning.
15:54And I said, we need to buy this song.
15:55And they're like, it's really slow.
15:56What?
15:57I'm like, wait.
15:58And then, and then him standing next to me, Stephen Garrett, and going, it's two lines in the script.
16:04What the?
16:04Because we, like, shot the whole song, actually.
16:07If there was a DVD outtakes, it's pretty incredible.
16:11And, and, and the cast just, but also to be serious, like, it takes great vulnerability
16:17and great bravery and great trust between actors to be able to do that and do it in a way
16:21that feels special
16:22and complicated and alive and interesting.
16:26And because you can do it in a sort of singular way, but they're really, they're really trusting each other
16:31in that moment.
16:32To me, it's also a great example of what this genre can afford a filmmaker.
16:37You know, you have on the page these kind of set power dynamics, the set meeting of these three characters,
16:42and you get to infuse it with all this amazing sexual energy, but also this, this incredible flourishing
16:48of just what, how these people see each other.
16:52You get to have a lot of fun with it.
16:53You get to have so much fun with it.
16:54And it's fun, actually, because after this scene, there's kind of a cut and they're sitting at the table together
16:58and just, he lights a cigar.
16:59And I remember the sound mix of that, that's kind of, and him looking at him.
17:03And there's a real, like, friction in the air.
17:07And, yeah, and it's, I think that's the thing, a great thing about espionage is, like,
17:11everything I'm doing all the time is about what people are not saying.
17:14It's like, of course, I, like, I'm respecting the writing and I love great writers and I love,
17:19but I, I look for writing that is using language as a, as a weapon or, or a shield, ultimately.
17:27And actually, I'm much more interested in what the characters are not saying.
17:31Like, that's where, that's where things get really interesting to me.
17:34Like, and I really feel like that's where my work exists so much of the time.
17:39And you're right that in an espionage or in a scene like that, there's barely anything said,
17:43but so much is said.
17:45And there's so much developed and there's so much that you can play with.
17:48And similarly, like in the scene we watched before or the first scene we watched,
17:52they're not heavy dialogue scenes, but everything that the characters are doing within them
17:56and where I like to sort of, like, live in a place that's extremely subjective with character
18:02so that you are placed entirely in their shoes and you have to make and grapple with the decisions
18:07they're making and grappling with.
18:09There's no, there's no black or white in that.
18:11It all exists in the shades of grey.
18:13And like, that's, like, with espionage, that's like the best way to do it.
18:17That's the way I really enjoy watching it.
18:19That's the way I wanted to, like, really, like, get in with the characters.
18:22I don't want to kind of sit above the chessboard objectively watching the plays.
18:27It's like I want to give the pawn the camera and see where the night's going, you know?
18:31It's like I want to sit and be in it and decide what move you're making with the character.
18:37And the genre really is, like, it's perfect for that.
18:41Yeah, indeed it is.
18:43It's beautiful work, Georgie.
18:44Thank you so much.
18:45Thank you, everybody.
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