Mark Dexter interview for Coalition

18 March 2015

Why did you want to take part in this project?

There were a lot of reasons why I didn’t want to really! Politics is a polarising thing, and it’s easy for people to think when you play a character like the leader of the Conservative party, for example, that you share their politics and that’s not necessarily the case. A few people along the way had said I resembled him so I thought visually, maybe, but mostly it was kind of a daunting thing.

When I got the role I was delighted for about three and a half seconds and then it was replaced with this feeling of utter dread! But I think if politics is of interest to you or not, this is a high stakes human story that any actor would want to be involved in. It’s a story about people becoming victims of their own hunger for power, when the stakes are so high. Recreating historical events is something I enjoy doing, I like the research, I like getting surrounded by books and YouTube clips. And I do like the idea of being scared by taking on a role!

 

What did you do by way of research? Did you study lots of Cameron footage?

I feel like I’ve watched just about every YouTube clip that’s available of David Cameron. He must be one of the most filmed guys in the world but it’s very hard to find any off-guard moments, or something that he wasn’t prepared for. The more I looked the more I realised there were going to be elements in this film that we were going to have to reach for and use our imagination.

I would have liked to have seen somewhere just a glimpse of him being caught off camera when he thinks he isn’t being watched, little clues. But then I think there’s a temptation for people to imagine that there’s a different person behind closed doors but maybe that’s not true, maybe that’s why there’s no such footage because he is a genuine guy, he doesn’t take of a mask when he goes to bed. I read books, I got as many different versions of him as I could find. The other advantage is that he’s on telly rather a lot! So I basically exposed myself to David Cameron, if that’s the right phrase, as much as I could.

 

Has playing Cameron given you any insight into the kind of pressures he’s under?

I’ve developed an enormous respect for politicians. I think it’s really hard. You have to have so many skills in place – you’ve got to be clever, quick-witted, got to have a good memory for details, have charm, people skills, be good on camera, be unflinchingly confident. Who are these people?! Especially when you get to high office you’ve got to have this tremendous drive. You’ve got to be able to take bullets – psychologically, and the threat of real ones. It’s an incredibly difficult job and I think there’s only a very small number of people who can actually get to that position in one piece. And then there’s sustaining the job of Prime Minister when everybody wants you to fail, including people in your own party. You’ve got to have very thick skin. Politicians have had, rightly so in many cases, a tough time in recent years, but not enough focus is given to the work they do – the good work, the hard work.

There’s one scene where David Cameron makes his appeal to the Lib Dems via live TV, probably the biggest moment of his life, a big moment for the conservative party, a massive moment for him as an individual. He delivers this speech which is about 11 minutes long that had been written a couple of hours before – there’s photographic evidence that they’re still writing it whilst he’s on the other side of the door. And he delivers it, barely looking at his notes, like he’d been reciting these same lines all his life. And yet all of those things were at stake. I was there, with plenty of time to learn the script, walking through pretend doors with pretend cameras, and I was cacking myself! And I had a chance to do as many takes as I wanted!

 

Has it changed your opinion of him?

I’m prepared to admit that it’s changed my opinion of politicians. He happens to be the politician I was playing in this film so yes I guess you could say in that respect. I do think he does it well, regardless of what you make of his politics he’s an excellent Prime Minister. He’s such a natural at it. It is like he’s been doing it for ages. Now that I know just a little bit about the pressures that you’re under, all the time, to go back to that sense of how easy he seems to makes it look – that’s in itself is impressive.

 

Do you think audiences will be surprised? Are there any revelations in there?

I think the thing they will be most struck by is how human everybody is. I don’t think we make any big revelations, we focus on things that were said that perhaps on reflection shouldn’t have been said, or perhaps could have been phrased better, because they could appear to be misleading shall we say. For people who don’t follow politics some of those will be quite revelatory and shocking but we’re not actually revealing anything that wasn’t there before. I think mostly people will be struck by the humanity that’s underneath all these political shenanigans. They’re people rather than power-hungry robots – they do believe a lot of what they say, surprisingly enough. The future of this country and their vision of it is important to them. I suppose we should be thankful there are people who are motivated in that way. The pressure, the doubts, the concerns, the anxieties, the pressures of running for the highest office – it’s a very visceral human experience, and I think people who just have a general awareness of politics forget that behind all the headlines and the policy making and the expense scandals there are human beings trying to do the right thing in spite of enormous pressure. I hope that people will be surprised by that, or reminded that this does really matter to them [politicians].  

 

You mentioned the speech David Cameron made, how tense those few days were. Was there a point when he thought he wasn’t going to get the top job?

Yeah. A lot of politicians who reach the highest office seem to arrive there almost by accident, but David Cameron I think – although he probably wouldn’t admit it – it made sense that he became Prime Minister because his career trajectory, his upbringing and everything lends itself to him finally reaching that position. I think it’s fair to say that there would have been a sort of expectation that he would at some point become Prime Minister. So to get so close when your whole life has been leading in this direction – especially when he arrived in the full public glare with such aplomb with his scriptless speech – to have got that near only to have it all dashed would have been hard to take. I think he did look down the barrel of that, and at one stage think it wasn’t going to happen. And there must have been a sense of ‘what the hell do I do now’.

I think for people who get that close it becomes a completely overwhelming thing. It’s like anything that’s sort of a tantalising treasure, the closer you get to it the more you’re under its spell – you get a real sense of that from this film. This combined sense that everyone’s getting nearer and nearer to the treasure and all losing themselves in this sort of glow. You see it in all the parties – they’re all prepared to put on hold what they believe in, what they’ve spent their whole lives working towards. I guess that’s the only way a coalition can work, you have to compromise. But another way of looking at it is, so hungry are we to get into power that we’re strategically side-lining some of our core beliefs. You’ve got two choices, do you stick to your guns and thereby relinquish power or lose your shot – and I suppose there’s something noble about that – or wouldn’t it be better just to get in power? I don’t know, I think it muddles your thinking!