INTERVIEW
Ben Whishaw’s star is rising. Fast. He took his
first role in a film at the age of 19, but it wasn’t
until he starred in the juggernaut franchise of
Bond that he became somewhat of a household
name. Now in London Spy, out actor
Whishaw takes centre stage in the spy drama
which is gripping the nation and whose central
character happens to be gay. Armed with a fake
mustache and a hidden microphone (not really)
we meet Ben to discuss why London Spy is not
you’re average spy drama.
TGUK: How did it feel reading the
script?
BW: It felt incredibly fresh and I didn’t
know what on Earth was going to happen,
or what sort of a story I was in even.
I think it’s a fascinating story, a fascinating
series, because although I think it is a
thriller, it doesn’t really conform exactly to
what you expect a thriller to do. It creates
its own version of that genre.
TGUK: What stood out about London
Spy?
BW: I’m amazed by how Tom Rob Smith
has written a story for every single
character that features in the drama, and
there are many characters that Danny
encounters along this journey. It’s unique
and exciting because it happens so much in
Danny’s head - it’s a very subjective story
and all the more exciting for that I think.
TGUK: What was filming like?
BW: It’s been wonderful to work on a
really fantastic piece of writing, of new
writing that’s not based on anything else.
It’s contemporary and challenging.
The vision that director Jakob
Verbruggen has brought to it, the visual
style and the energy I think is a defining
quality of the series.
TGUK: Tell us a bit about your
character, Danny
BW: Danny is the central character, who
falls in love at the beginning of the story
with Alex, and they have a very intense,
deep connection. The relationship
mysteriously ends abruptly. Danny doesn’t
really understand. Alex then dies in
mysterious circumstances. From there, the
story follows Danny’s journey to try and
understand what happened to his lover.
At the beginning, Danny doesn’t know he
is in a spy story: he doesn’t know he is in
love with a spy, he doesn’t know anything
about the world of spying, and he is in a
world that is quite alien to him the rules of
which he does not understand at all.
THEGAYUK | ISSUE 17 | DEC 2015 35