STAYING IN
WEIRD SCIENCE Henry Northmore talks to actor Rafe Spall about his upcoming role in the perception-bending and mind-blowing Black Mirror Christmas special
R esembling an evil relation of The Twilight Zone or Tales of the Unexpected, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror has presented some truly original tales. Each show is a self-contained story and like the best sci-i , it uses the genre to present a warped rel ection of modern society. Over two series, Brooker has expanded and exaggerated current media and technology trends to propose a bleak future view of everything from reality TV to downloadable dead relatives. Now, Black Mirror returns for a one-off Christmas special.
While no one is keen to share the specii cs of the secrets, twists and turns of this feature- length episode ahead of transmission, we do
know that it’s composed of three interlinked stories. ‘Along the lines of other Black Mirrors, it exists in some imagined idea of the not-too- distant future,’ explains one of the show’s key actors, Rafe Spall. ‘There are two guys in an outpost in the middle of nowhere, in the Arctic, telling their stories about how they got there. Those two guys are played by Jon Hamm and me.’ Spall jumped at the chance to work with Hamm. ‘I’m a huge fan of his, I think he’s a tremendous actor. Not just his work in Mad Men, but also in some of the comedy i lms he’s done as well, like Bridesmaids and Friends with Kids.’ It also stars Oona Chaplin who has been
48 THE LIST 11 Dec 2014–5 Feb 2015
making a name for herself in Sherlock, Inside No 9 and Game of Thrones. Unfortunately, Spall doesn’t get to share any screen time with her. ‘Our stories are completely separate. Jon is the only one who’s in all three parts of the story.’
However,
it was Brooker’s complex interweaving story that i rst lured Spall. ‘I thought the script was a phenomenon, I couldn’t believe it. It was extraordinarily detailed and mind-blowing, and I had no hesitation in saying I wanted to do it. It was just wholly original, and how often can you say that about any piece of screenwriting? It was strange, funny, human and moving, and absolutely, totally original.’