Photography Frederic Auerbach
Creative Director Deborah Ferguson
Blouse & Pants: Zimmermann SS21, Heels: Roger Vivier, Earrings: Misho
Interview Deborah Ferguson
Transcription Allie King
DF: What drew you both to work together on this? How did it come about?
HL: I think we sometimes keep secrets from each other, about potential jobs until they become real jobs. So, who knows was approached first. It was a secret we have kept from each other.
LR: I haven’t. In an interview I did earlier today, I told a very clear story that was different from that. [Laughs]
HL: Oh really? My memory of three minutes ago is pretty shoddy. Lily, reveal the secret of who knew about this first.
LR: Well I had said yes to it. I was doing it, but then Bruna [Papandrea] had called me and said that everyone was talking about their first choice for John. And that there was this collective thing in the room, where everyone was like “Hamish Linklater, Hamish Linklater, Hamish Linklater.” Bruna was like, “Well, yes. They have children together” — at that point only one — and everyone was shocked. It was just that Hamish was the first choice of everyone in the room.
HL: It wasn’t like “How do we save on housing?” [Laughs] It wasn’t like, “Get a pod going,” because this was before COVID-19.
Knit Suit and Ankle Boots: Salvatorre Ferragamo SS21
DF: So it was just a very organic, serendipitous opportunity for you two to do this.
LR: It was, and we have had a little bit of both along the way. We have worked together so many times now. For a number of them, we were just cast opposite of one another and got lucky. Or someone saw us together in something and was like, “I like that. Let’s do that again.” Sometimes we have tried to make it happen, and are working on things to create for us to be able to work together in some capacity. Hamish used to always say that we were cast in plays opposite one another because we are both tall, and you cant cheat height on stage. But you can cheat it on film and we were both cast in this.
DF: This was such an interesting and complex series. What I appreciate are the writing and the storyline. Every episode there was another surprise and layer to this tragic, dark story. You have a sociopath of one type that was a killer, and someone bordering between sociopath and wanting to be an honest person, who had to be a liar to survive. Can you tell me about Emma versus Karen? How did you separate these two?
LR: She is one woman, before tremendous trauma and after tremendous trauma. I think after the trauma, it cellular-ly altered her. She has the same goal, but I think her choices and the way she moves through the world are coming from absolutely opposite places. Karen is very trusting and optimistic about people. She really believes in the innate good of human nature. Because of what happens, not only does she not trust other people, but she doesn’t trust her own sense of reality. And she doesn’t trust herself to make any kind of judgment about people. Emma is acting from a place of distrust of other people, but also an incredible lack of trust in her perception of herself and her own memories.
DF: Hamish, would you like to discuss the duplicity of your character? I liked that there were two main characters, each with their separate personalities.
HL: I just tried to be as good of a person as possible. When I try to be good, it comes off pretty creepy I guess. [Laughs] It was very easy. He does really think for most of the series that he is helping a bereaved mother find her lost child. Also, a woman whom he thinks is wonderful. He thinks he’s doing a good thing for a lot of the series until he loses the horizon line and everything flips around. Then he becomes really fun to play. [Laughs]
DF: Can you guys tell me about the prep for this project?
HL: Lily worked out like a MOFO. She turned herself into an Adamantian, tightly coiled metal machine. It was unbelievable. I did a Shakespeare play outside. Then we both showed up with different haircuts. [Laughs] I’ve got to say I bought a lot of books with horrible serial predator titles to them and they creeped me out so much and were so uncomfortable to read that I plead the literacy and just showed up. That sort of stuff is too creepy. Oh, dear.
Jacket, Top, Pants and Shoes: Salvatorre Ferragamo
DF: There is a mindset switch when good people are asked to step into that role. That is a lot on a human.
HL: I prefer acting to research. I would have gone into research development if that had been a strength of mine in university. But instead, I dropped out of university and became an actor.
LR: I worked out a lot. That was very specific to this part. I had been thinking about the physical differences. The director said, “I am thinking Tyler Durden for Emma. That’s the body I want you to have.” I had this newborn baby and I remember it was one of those slow-motion moments of panic. Then I was very excited and it was absolutely in line with where I was headed. I started working out the next day and didn’t stop. It was very specific, the kind of body that we wanted her to have. I do feel like emotionally, something about building up that strength was because Emma’s mind feels soft to her. Her memories are so foggy and her sense of self is so soft, that anything she could do to feel solid made sense. It was one of the only ways that she could control it and feel like she could physically protect herself. It was like building up armor. The process of that, and having that time built into the day became a nice regiment. It is not like putting on a costume, I had that strength and I got to be with that strength for the time leading up to shooting and shooting.
DF: Did that allow you to do any of your stunts, or were those too dangerous?
LR: We did all of them. We both did.
HL: I feel like you climbed on a brawny guy at one point.
LR: We did some choreography with the stunts, but the actual shooting of them was us. You are a brawny guy.
HL: I am a pretty brawny guy.
LR: It was you. [Laughs] In that last fight scene we had our doubles there, but on the day it was us. I like to do hand inserts myself.
Blouse & Pants: Zimmermann SS21, Heels: Roger Vivier, Earrings: Misho
DF: That is a lot to ask, considering you have a family at the same time. That’s amazing. What was it like working with Harriet [Warner] in this? Were you given a full script in advance?
LR: We had the first three episodes going in. She was writing them as we were going. She had so much of the story in her head. You never asked her a question and she responded, “I have no idea.” She was very flexible and collaborative. I think things did evolve, but she had the map very much inside of her: beginning, middle and end. It was different for the two of us. I wanted to know everything and Hamish wanted to know nothing.
HL: I didn’t know how bad the stuff my character had done was, and I told her not to tell me. I figured that someone who had done things like that had probably explained them away in his head, in a way that makes sense to him. So instead of hiding my dastardly past in every scene, I just didn’t know what my dastardly past was. And that way, it made the acting simpler. I think for a bad guy, that’s how that person thinks. I kept the lock on the skeletons in my closet and then I forgot where the door to the closet was. I didn’t even know if there was a closet, much less if there were skeletons in it.
DF: Do you predict a Season 2? With the cliffhangers, the story feels like it is not even halfway through in my mind.
LR: Something that is so wonderful about the limited series structure — which I am so glad has become so popular — is that there are a beginning middle and end. There is always a possibility for more. I think it so much better to leave people wanting more of characters than to exhaust things. Not that that was at all the case here. As you said, there are so many places it could go. I know that Harriet had, and has, plans and ideas of where it could possibly go. I also think that if it were to live as it is, it works wonderfully. So many of these limited series that air as a one-off leave you wanting more. I guess the answer is that we don’t know.
HL: I feel like it would be a shame not to see Lily do Emma/Karen some more because they are both such impressively constructed creations. Just having 10 episodes of them, I don’t feel, is sufficient.
LR: All the characters. Even the characters that come in for an episode or two… She takes such good care of her characters and you want to know more about them.
Lily: Dress The Vampire’s Wife
Hamish: Suit Martin Asbjorn
DF: That is just brilliant writing and acting: The cocktail that people dream of in this world. You guys are such a great team in various projects. Do you have anything in the future that you are allowed to reveal or anything you are developing together?
LR: Yes. There is something that we are working on together that has us in different roles that we are normally in.
HL: That’s a tease. We have a limited animated series called “Family Dinner,” which is going to be happening in three hours. We will see if there is a Season 2. [Laughs]
LR: I wasn’t trying to be cryptic, but we are developing something together. And potentially a second thing we are pursuing right now. Trying to get the rights to something we can do. We dream of plays that we would hopefully be able to do together. There is a lot of that.
DF: The world of theatre is something you are both deeply rooted in. Is there anything in that, that you have time for right now?
HL: It is all we want to do.
DF: And how do we even do that in COVID-19. What would be your new form of theatre in a dream world?
HL: They just announced that they are doing outside stuff in the summer. That will be the first step.
LR: Our favorite theater in the world is a couple of steps ahead because it is outside. Anything to get back on that stage. Frankly, anything to see something on stage. When you miss doing a play, you get a fix by seeing other people do plays. It really helps. Not being able to do either is… We both miss it so much.
Blouse, Tie, and Pants: Bella Freud, Heels: Roger Vivier
DF: Lily, you have the Barry Jenkins project. Can you tell me a little bit about your role in “The Underground Railroad?”
LR: It is being released in May. I play someone named Ethel Wells. I am hesitant to say too much about her because I don’t want to categorize her in one way or another. I loved playing her so much and working with Barry. He is a real true genius. If you talk to anyone who read the book, it is so evocative. [Turns to Hamish] Did you feel this way reading the book? You have such a specific picture in your head of what is in the book. I think what Barry has done will be so moving for people who have read it. Equally so for people who haven’t. He has done something so his own, but honoring the book so much. I really loved making it. I have seen just a little doing ADR for it. It took my breath away.
DF: I am so excited to see it. I love that he is very understated and gives a lot of space for the unspoken moments and feelings to come out for the actors on screen, which is so much deeper. Do you think any element of it will touch people based on the times we are in?
LR: I think it will touch people. I think it will be incredibly impactful and I am so glad that it is coming out when it is coming out.
Knit Suit and Ankle Boots: Salvatorre Ferragamo SS21
DF: Thank you. Hamish, is there anything coming out that you would like to talk about?
HL: I did this show. Mike Flanagan that made “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Bly Manor:” His new show, called “Midnight Mass.” We shot that in Vancouver. We were one of the first shows up coming out of the shutdown and finished just before Christmas. That should be coming out later on this year. It is terrific. He is a fantastic creator and director and writer. He wears all the hats. I am not sure what I can say. It is a sleepy island community where dark stuff starts happening. I am involved. [Laughs]
LR: You can also say you went through pages and pages of beautiful dialog.
HL: I had exquisite things to say every day. Masses and masses of things to say in “Midnight Mass.” My mouth was full. Head exploding. My heart pouring forth magma plasma. I couldn’t have been happier.
DF: Congratulations! You two are just layers and layers of talent. I am really excited!
Photography
FREDERIC AUERBACH
Creative Director & Interview
DEBORAH FERGUSON
Makeup
ADAM BREUCHAUD @ The Wall Group
Hair
ADIR ABERGEL @ A-Frame Agency
Fashion Assistant
JUAN MARCO TORRES
Web Layout
VICTORIA SMITH
Thank you
ROGERS AND COWAN, AMAZON STUDIOS
LILY & HAMISH!
View the trailer for “Tell Me Your Secrets” here:
