Charity Wakefield interview
Charity Wakefield says Series 2 of Bounty Hunters will make viewers "piss themselves laughing".
Tell us how you found out that Bounty Hunters would be returning for a second season?
I went to a BAFTA LA event. Jack Whitehall was hosting and [Executive Producer] Ben Cavey was there and he was doing joke writing for Jack on that event. I was just going as a guest - it was lovely to see them. It was back in November and they both told me in person while we were at this lovely night out in LA.
What is it about playing Leah you most enjoy?
She's free of all stereotypes; she is a complete invention by Jack and Freddy and I often find that being a female playing female roles - or roles written for women - they fall into either girl next door or a really strong woman or a really sexy woman - Leah can't be defined like that.
She is very peculiar and quite selfish as a character. She has an interesting and weird background and she's also very funny; so I really enjoyed reading her when I got the script in the first place. I think Jack is quite generous with her in the sense that he's a great comedian himself but he and Freddy give her a lot of funny lines. She gets the last word a lot of the time. I think that's really cool when you read a script written by someone who knows he's going to be in it.
What's different about this second series, what can the audience expect and how does it develop?
I think the second series ups its game even more and we stay in the art world. Essentially there's something about this series that is really difficult, there's no sort of neat ending it's quite true to life in that way. Nothing is perfect, you think that you've won against your adversary then you find out your adversary has actually gone a different way and has got another plan. Jack and Rosie's characters - Barnaby and Nina - find themselves in an extremely sticky situation in Mexico.
In this second series Leah must step up and somewhat come to the rescue of her brother, in her own way. She has to find a way of working with Nina. She kind of overthrows the new powers that be. It's really fun because previously Leah is only acting for her own self gain. I think there's a bit of a journey with her in the second series where she has to step up, but it's very difficult as she's not the type of character to do teamwork.
What is it about Freddy's writing that you like the most? Do you ever make suggestions for your character?
The thing I love about Freddy is his idiosyncratic use of vocabulary and his quite bonkers imagination. The great thing about the script is whenever there's a strange situation it's always a re-imagined manifestation of something that he has thought of before in his life or an experience that he's overheard. He's a treasure chest of collected ideas and memories and he also has a brilliant sense of humour in real life.
He is also really flappable and I think that's the thing that Jack likes about him too, because Jack really enjoys making Freddy blush as he is someone that blushes almost instantly. He's so brilliant because he's great at writing comedy but he also can be the butt of the joke too.
I think that that kind of person writes with a lot of humility. In terms of actually working with him on set, he's very receptive to things that come to you in the moment. We are getting to know our characters quite well now and I worked quite closely with Rosie this year, especially on the last few episodes. Sometimes I could see there was a long hesitation and I'd think "oh no he's not going to let this fly" and then sometimes he'd say, "that's brilliant, keep it, keep it!". I think that as it was two women suddenly being at the helm at certain places, it was important for us to take ownership of that and come up with some funny stuff that might come from a female perspective. Ideas he hadn't thought of before. Having said that, sometimes he thinks very well from a female perceptive.
How does Leah progress as a character this series?
It's quite a short period of time that we cover in the first and second series, everything's happening quite quickly. Even though we filmed it over two years the whole thing only really takes place in a matter of weeks. We see her ability to bounce back, see more of her real connection to her actual world - her connection to her mother, to her father who has passed away and the grief that she's beginning to allow out.
I think you see a slightly more in-depth version of Leah this time. But it's funny because she's someone that relies quite heavily on drink and drugs to get through so to see someone quite inebriated a lot of the time having to step up and actually attempt to be active is amusing. Taking part in real life action, driving cars and having fights and things like that, it's quite fun to see how she copes in those difficult situations.
Would you say you share any personality traits with Leah?
I think Leah has a devil on her shoulder and I do sometimes. I think probably most actors do and that's the reason that we like acting because we get these characters that give us a license to do stuff that we'd never do in real life.
When I first met with Freddy and Jack to talk about the character I asked myself, "why would you most relate to Leah?" I've been to Glastonbury a few times and it's such a crazy and new world I can imagine I've met characters like her. People who are a little bit kind of 'away with the fairies' but also having a brilliant time.
I would say that there are times when I'm in a very serious situation and I really wish I could just kind of get up and go or do something really naughty - she's just the type of person that can do it. So I suppose it's not that I really identify with her but it's that I can imagine what fun it would be like to be her - without the serious crime obviously...
Do the cast hang out together during filming, what did you get up to when you had free time?
Yeah we did, I hung out with Rosie. She is an incredible woman who does many things in life, outside of her amazing acting career, involving things like raising brilliant amounts of money for a charity called Urban Arts Partnership.
We actually connected before doing Bounty Hunters years ago because I did the 24 hours plays in Los Angeles for the charity. She was at the forefront of these big fundraising nights. She also does loads of work raising money to help Puerto Rico, where her family are from. There was a guy in town filming, who she was continuing to do work with, so I got to hear a lot about what an activist she is and I found that very inspiring.
Funnily enough, over the last few months whilst being in contact with her I've ended up being a bit more serious about my own activism - I am interested in the environment and sustainability. Especially trying to rid the world of plastics and things like that. I'm now an ambassador for The Woodland Trust for example. That's come from me being a bit more public about my personal views and using social media. It's no coincidence that that's happening when I'm hanging around with somebody that does such great work. I think there's a real kind of domino effect when someone is so inspired and works so hard you can't help but think, "right I can do my bit now."
Steve Pemberton joined the cast this year, what was that like for you? Were you a fan of his previous work?
I was a massive fan of his previous work and so was Jack. I know Jack and Freddy were both just overwhelmed that he said, "yes" to playing Colin McQueen. It was really lovely to see them talking to him because they very much were inspired by him as they grew into the brilliant comedians and writers that they are now. He's so generous with his time, telling stories and talking to me about his life. We talked about how he writes and he's just so brilliant at what he does - he's really a master.
It's been great to do scenes with him and watch his character unravel. He has such a kind of efficiency in his performance, he's able to distil stuff really brilliantly and really subtly all while being outrageously funny at the same time.
What were the most challenging things during this shoot?
I think the time probably. It was difficult, like last year, in the sense that they wrote really huge set pieces. There's action, fighting, guns!
I had to do some painting at one point, that was difficult. There was other tricky stuff to learn like fight sequences and anything that has to happen around it. You're doing a scene with one person and then if you've got a five minute break you have to run downstairs and quickly learn a fight sequence before running back up stairs.
Why should viewers tune into this series?
Viewers should tune into Bounty Hunters Season 2 because it's going to put them on the edge of their seats and they're going to piss themselves laughing! Maybe they should watch it on the toilet!