What was your way into Tom?
It was just what’s on the page really. We meet Tom as a broken man, but he doesn’t know it. Everyone else around him is aware of it but not him. That’s the tragedy of Tom at the start of the series. He doesn’t even know how much of a mess he is, and he is still in the process of falling. Then this tragic event of losing his daughter takes him even further down, but also saves him in a way.
Do you think Tom had dreams beyond Abbington that were thwarted? Is that what contributed to the drinking?
He’s from Abbington, he was brought up there. Then he went away and met Maria whilst studying for teacher training. Maybe he had ambitions to broaden his horizons, but he didn’t have the confidence or the self-esteem. So his way of covering that would be through alcohol-induced confidence. He didn’t really succeed outside of Abbington and the responsibilities of being in a relationship and then becoming a father just compounded his own insecurities and failings. The fact that he is so lonely in Abbington and that Maria is thriving just highlights the tragedy of Tom really.
Did you talk to Emily Taaffe about what Maria and Tom were like when they were first together?
Yes, because Tom is hanging on to this past that he had with Maria so we needed to work out why he still thinks that something might happen and why does Maria know that it is totally not going to happen? So we had to work out the initial attraction and the connection that they had. They were both free spirits initially. Then when they became young parents, Tom didn’t grow up and Maria did. Maria took hold of her responsibilities. Tom would like to think that he’s a bit of a romantic, but in reality, he is using that an excuse.
When we first meet Tom, he’s sleeping it off in his car. Have you ever had one of those nights?
Yeah, I’ve never been woken up in a car but any time you wake up after a big night out your first thought is, ‘Where am I?’ Then it’s, ‘What have I done? What have I said? Who have I upset?’ The general fear I definitely recognise that. I once fell asleep on the train after a few drinks in Manchester and was woken up by the train conductor when it got to Southport. It’s that shock of being woken up. I think that’s one of the reasons why most people when they get to middle age stop drinking. They don’t like having the fear.
Drunk acting is a real skill. Were there other performances you had watched and admired? What’s the key to getting it right?
They do sometimes stand out when somebody does it well. Peter Mullan in My Name Is Joe. He’s just so real in it. And Ray Winstone in Nil By Mouth. They both have real bottom of the barrel moments with those characters and are really high impact so I couldn’t really use them as any sort of reference. With drunk acting, it is just not overdoing it. You play the thoughts and the thoughts are always, no matter what’s going on, you are thinking about a drink. It doesn’t matter how serious or how deep what is happening in front of you, the drink takes precedent. I guess that automatically diverts your gaze or your intentions in the scene. It’s not being present. It’s also being bedded in with good actors like Emily Taaffe and Clara Rugaard and good writing. It has to be a collaborative thing to make it a good drunk performance.
A lot of Tom’s story is facing his responsibilities as a father. As a dad-of-three do you empathise at all with his predicament?
I guess if you are a dad you go through all the typical fears of are you good enough? It’s the responsibility of looking after other people. My three are seven, 15 and 16. I think I’ve done alright, to be honest. I don’t have any of that heavy guilt in the way that Tom does.
Tom and his dead daughter Neve form a memorable and unexpected alliance. Was that fun to play with Clara?
Neve becomes everything that Tom should have been for Neve. She’s almost the grown-up and the parent. She’s dragging him along. She definitely rattles him, physically and mentally. He can’t keep up with her. She doesn’t dwell on anything, whereas Tom sits and wallows in sorrow and then can’t get anything done. Neve sees her problems, finds a way to deal with it and then drags him along for the ride. That’s what wakes him up a little bit. He looks at his daughter and thinks, ‘That’s what I should be doing.’ She’s teaching him. It’s quite endearing really. Although it does expose his guilt and the reality of what he should be guilty about it also fills him with pride. But he’s not got the energy that Neve’s got. He definitely needs a rest after a scene with Neve.
Does Clara have that same energy?
She is so full of energy. Considering she is in her early 20s and she’s in pretty much every scene she was always full of positive energy. She never missed a trick either. She found every moment within each scene and used it to the max. There was never a bad take either. She did different takes and tried things out. She’s just very mature for her age. She’s got her head screwed on. I can definitely see similarities between Neve and Clara.
Do you have a favourite scene that you shot together?
I really like the intimate moments between them. They are always good to play because it consolidates where you are in the world of The Rising. You can lose yourself in Neve and Tom. In terms of scenes that I enjoyed filming, the car chase was good fun because first of all we’re razzing around in a knackered old car and acting distraught and confused. It was good fun doing stunts. We also got to shoot some of it in an LED studio, which is something that I had never seen before. You do the real driving and acting and then you’ve got to do fake driving and the acting but keep that same intensity. It was a different kind of performance and a new skill to learn.
At one point Daniel asks Tom where he thinks we go when we die. Do you have any beliefs?
It’s the kind of stuff you think about when you are a teenager but as you get older there’s no point thinking about it. It’s beyond comprehension so I guess just think about life rather than death. That’s what I try to do anyway. I don’t need to think about what happens afterwards.
What do you hope audiences take away from The Rising?
The style feels unique. Visually it is quite impressive to look at but because it is character driven – and there are so many characters and they are all a bit off kilter and unique in their own ways – I hope that people find a character to relate to. I think they will with Neve because of the way that Clara plays it. There’s that enigmatic presence that Clara has anyway and that Neve brings as well. It’s another world and I think that little sprinkle of the supernatural just gives it something else. It’s got quite a wide appeal. It feels young but sometimes when things are projected as young they can be dumbed down a bit whereas this has still got a level of intelligence about it for a more mature audience.
