EVERY WITCH WAY
A wealthy antiques dealer is drawn into a world of pagan rituals and curses in 1960s Britain.
British actor Rufus Sewell has been Charles II, Alexander Hamilton and Judy Garland’s third husband, Sidney Luft. He’s played gods, counts, vampires and an Italian detective.
More recently, he was Lord
Melbourne in Victoria and is about to appear in the BBC’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation, The Pale Horse.
Screenwriter Sarah Phelps has really revived Agatha Christie on screen – did the script for The Pale Horse leap off the page?
Oh, god, yes. I’ve always enjoyed the classic British TV Agatha Christies, but watching them recently, I’ve been thinking, “I’d love to be in one of those, why has no one asked me?” Then, finally, I got sent one and it was so shockingly different that it was really exciting. The fact that it was from Sarah Phelps, who I’ve always been a fan of – there was something about the tone of it, the style and the ending that when I came to it, I had to stop and read it again. It blew me away.
She seems to be focusing on the women in the story as well as the wealthy Mark Easterbrook.
Yes, it’s about the women and it’s about the level of brutality that his level of privilege
requires in order to keep its head above water in that swan-like way. I think it’s very symbolic that his house is full of beautiful objects that are likely plundered from other places. Ancient artefacts that have probably got years of theft and murder behind them.
There’s this marvellous Wicker Man- style about the village of Much Deeping. Was it creepy filming during the Lammas parade?
Yes, very strange. The village itself is so beautiful, and before and after the parade they had a lock-off and there was no one in the streets. Then these incredible masks appeared – they had people walking on stilts and children with weird veils on. It was very creepy.
Do you think there’s still a resonance with the old pagan festivals in England?
They never really go away, because these old pagan festivals and holidays got co-opted by other religions.
All of this stuff is tied up with ancient rites. A lot of it remains in its original form, but some of it has been absorbed into things that we think of as traditional. That’s one of the things that made the show interesting, the contrast and the friction between this smooth world of cars and phones and technology and suits and then this ancient, weird, pagan preChristian force. That’s what the story is about: a man who lives in the modern world has something coming up from underneath to grab him.
You’re often in period dramas. How did you enjoy the 1960s?
Very nice. The British 1960s is not something I’ve ever played before. I’ve been in New York 1960s in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; I’ve been in an alternative Nazi universe 1960s in
The Man in the High Castle; but never that pre-swinging, jazz, bongo-beat London 60s and the Profumo period. It’s just before the Beatles broke through, which was basically the workingclass breakthrough that led to Terence Stamp and Michael Caine – all of that.
There’s quite a lot of you getting in and out of that lovely car – was that fun and are they difficult to drive?
It was a beautiful Aston Martin Lagonda. I just loved driving it, although you wouldn’t want to hurl it around corners. The trick is to get that kind of fun out of the way before you started filming so you don’t look like you’re enjoying yourself too much. Like with the suits, in the end they’ve just got to be clothes that you don’t even think about and the car needs to be something that you’re not excited to be driving.
Was it tricky to get in with the door opening the other way?
It was; there were a lot of banged knees, a lot of snagged trousers. You’ve got to practise to make it look like second nature.
You’ve been known for playing bad guys. What is it about a project that will make you say yes?
The only real power I have is waiting and turning things down, because most of the things I get offered are within a very narrow range. Occasionally, something will come that’s out of that range and I have to be available for it, so a lot of it is about biding my time confident that something that is not just a bit of a dick on a horse will come along. There was a time a few years ago when I said, “I don’t want to do any more bad guys, I don’t want to do any more period drama.” But I’ve had a bit of an evolution on that. If I wanted to do five Victorian bad guys in a row from now on, I’d do them and I wouldn’t worry about it as long as the writing’s good.
You were set to work on the Elvis biopic with Tom Hanks; were you in Australia filming with him?
No, I was in Australia four or five weeks ago for rehearsals, but then I came back to LA where I’ve been waiting and I was due to fly back pretty soon, but I’m sure that’s been delayed.
THE PALE HORSE, SoHo, Sky 010, Wednesday, March 25, 8.30pm.
A lot of it is about biding my time confident that something that is not just a bit of a dick on a horse will come along.