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Sophie Rundle interview for Not Safe for Work
Category: News Release
(the following interview is available for reproduction in full or in part)
Tell us who you play?
I play one of the staff at the Immigration Pathway office in Northampton, called Jenny. I think most offices have someone like her working there. She’s very peppy and enthusiastic – a little bit too much. But that disguises this quite tragic character underneath.
What was it that attracted you to the project?
It was a really clever, funny script. It’s a comedy but it’s also got a real heart to it – it’s a drama as well. There’s a real drive to the story. DC’s writing is very clever and of its time, very subtle and witty. It made me laugh. And then when I found out Zawe was doing it, and all the other cast, I just thought it was going to be a really cool project.
It’s got a really impressive cast, doesn’t it?
Oh my God, amazing! Sacha Dhawan, Sam Barnett, Anastasia Hille, the whole cast is brilliant. And everyone’s got their own developed character and storylines. There are eight main people, but everyone’s a brilliant actor in it. I feel really lucky.
You mentioned that there’s something slightly tragic about Jenny, but she’s also a highly comical character. Is that a fun combination to play?
Yeah, totally. I think, in a comedy, it’s easy to play people as very two-dimensional. But what is enjoyable to watch is seeing a more fully rounded person. On the surface she’s hilarious, but once you start following her story and you get to know her, there’s this real sadness in her and vulnerability, and a lot of pain. It’s sad, but it’s also funny, and it makes you care for her. It stops her being irritating and sort of makes her accidentally quite charming.
Do you find you use different skills when you’re playing a comic role as opposed to a straight dramatic one?
Yeah. It feels a lot freer doing a comedy. Obviously depending on who the director is, and what the project is, but they definitely encourage you to play around and have fun. The funniest things that come out of it are the things that just happen totally naturally while you’re filming. In a drama you generally have to be very faithful to the script and the storyline and it all has to fit together and it’s weighty and serious. The joys of making a comedy are that it feels very playful and silly, and the energy is totally different, because they want you to feel free enough to come out with something a bit mad. And the energy in particular was different on this job, because of the way we filmed it. You’ll be watching a scene between two characters, and then one of the other main characters will just drift across in the back of the scene, to create the idea that it’s a real working office. So they’d have us there all day every day, and if you get a group of actors and put them in a waiting room for four hours, they start to get giddy and silly, and I think that was the energy they really wanted on set.
So you were encouraged to improvise quite a bit?
Yeah, bits and bobs. I’m not going to take credit for anything – it’s DC’s scripts, and they are so brilliant, you don’t need to do anything to them. But we were encouraged to add a few beats at the end of a scene if we wanted to.
With such a ‘giddy’ atmosphere on set, was corpsing a problem?
Oh my God, it was the worst, the absolute worst! Particularly me and Sam Barnett, who I had a lot of scenes with. I just had to look at him and I was gone. It was a total nightmare, but we had a lovely time. But it was nice that it was like that, it means you’re always feeling up and bubbly. Everyone’s hilarious in it and hilarious outside of it. We all got on really, really well. It was like pissing around with your mates for a summer.
What was it like working with Zawe?
She’s brilliant. I think she’s amazing in the show, and obviously she’s already famous for being a brilliant comic actress in Fresh Meat, as well as a great dramatic actress. I found it really interesting to watch her, because she tries things out, and makes it all the better for doing that. She’s very clever, and really lovely and easy to work with.
The action is all set in an office, and it doesn’t look like a particularly exciting environment in which to work. Have you ever worked in an office?
I did a bit before I went to drama school. I worked on a ticket phone line. It was exactly how you’d imagine it, everyone sat behind computer screens. It was all very beige, with stripped lighting, and it was very serious. I’m very grateful that I get to be an actor, because I wouldn’t last five minutes in that environment. It made me feel like I was at school. It made me feel naughty, because everyone was so serious. Although wearing that headset did make me feel a bit like a high-powered businesswoman, despite the fact that I was actually selling tickets to the Bournemouth Pavilion.
Did you like filming in Glasgow?
Yeah, it was great. It was around the time of the Commonwealth Games and all the referendum, stuff that made it a really interesting time to be there. And because we were all away from home together, it meant we all did a lot together as a cast, and really bonded. Glasgow’s an amazing city, with incredible restaurants and such a nice vibe. We had a great time.
In the last few years you’ve had success with Peaky Blinders, Episodes, The Bletchley Circle and Happy Valley. Do you get recognised a lot now?
No, never. I think it’s happened three or four times. And I get more excited than the person coming up to me. I think it’s because I change my hair so much for each role. I don’t think I ever really look like the people I play on screen. I never get recognised. That suits me pretty well, actually.