ALOVE SKATE RELATIONSHIP
“That love, in whatever form, is what allowed them to create these beautiful pieces; they needed that to be able to spend as much time together as they did,” he suggests.
“When we chatted to them on Face Time they had this wonderful banter together.”
“An interesting thing Torvill and Dean told us is that it wasn’t like they felt this spark straight away, there wasn’t a lightning strike moment,” Will recalls.
“Over time, those complimentary character traits really started to work.
“They both believed in the same end goal and the way they approached it. It wasn’t just about technique, it was also about the feel and emotion of these dances.”
One thing the audience will realise is just how much sacrifice achieving their ice-skating dream required.
Both Torvill and Dean, who were from very normal working class families in Nottingham, had jobs off the rink; she was an insurance clerk and he a policeman.
Dean apparently tried to persuade Torvill to find another partner several times, because he worried he couldn’t make the training work with his job.
But she was determined that would not be the case.
“A lot of it surprised me,” Will says of the story. “They have this sort of mythical status in culture and to see the humans behind these amazing routines... What they did was approaching perfection.
“To see the sacrifice and humanity behind this extraordinary work was really exciting.” Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean
Discussing the script further, Poppy Lee says: “It was interesting to find out about their history, background, where they came from, their families, their lives before taking the risk to pursue their art. And the romantic side.”
Acting is a notoriously tough industry, in which you have to be very determined to succeed.
Do the stars see any similarities between themselves and Torvill and Dean in that sense?
“You just have to believe in yourself,” a smiley Poppy Lee says with a nod of her head. “They obviously believed in themselves and what they were doing. That was the drive keeping them going. It was almost an obsession.
“You have to have all of those things to survive as an actor.”
“That’s absolutely true,” Will agrees wholeheartedly.
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