Home TV News Interview: Phoebe Fox Talks Sky One’s ‘Curfew’

Interview: Phoebe Fox Talks Sky One’s ‘Curfew’

by Dave Elliott
Interview: Phoebe Fox Talks Sky One's 'Curfew'

Interview: Phoebe Fox Talks Sky One’s ‘Curfew’

Brit actress Phoebe Fox has had quite a career since being nominated for the ‘Best Newcomer’ award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and being featured in the Screen International ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ list back in 2011. Phoebe probably first came to most people’s attention in the ‘Black Mirror’ episode ‘The Entire History of You’, also released in 2011, where everyone has access to a memory implant that records everything they do, see and hear. She followed that up by popping up in various tv dramas, then in 2014 starred as the Duchess of Savoy in BBC series ‘The Musketeers’. Later that year, she then appeared on the big screen in the horror film ‘The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death’. In more recent years she starred as Queen Anne in the BBC miniseries ‘The Hollow Crown’, appeared alongside Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul and Alan Rickman in box office hit ‘Eye In The Sky’, and BBC Two six-part series ‘Close To The Enemy’, alongside Jim Sturgess, Alfie Allen and Angela Bassett.

We had a chance to pose some questions to Phoebe about her latest project, the Sky One dystopian street racing drama Curfew, alongside Sean Bean (‘Game of Thrones’), Adrian Lester (‘Riviera’), Adam Brody (‘The OC’), Malachi Kirby (‘Roots’), Billy Zane (‘Titanic’), Miranda Richardson (‘Churchill’), Harriet Walter (‘The Crown’), Michael Biehn (‘Aliens’), Robert Glenister (‘Hustle’), Aimee-Ffion Edwards (Peaky Blinders), Rose Williams (‘Reign’), Elijah Rowen (‘Vikings’) and Guz Khan (‘Man Like Mobeen’).

The action follows the story of ordinary people competing in the world’s fastest, most furious, illegal night-time street race. Desperate for their own reasons, the challengers risk everything as they race through the night from London to northernmost Scotland in their pimped-out, weaponised vehicles to win the ultimate prize – freedom from the totalitarian government curfew that controls their lives.

Phoebe plays Kaye, a former research scientist who was working with her mother on groundbreaking clinical trials, but when the outbreak happened everything changed. Now she’s a paramedic with a measured,ordered life, and she’ll do anything she can to keep it that way. But when chaos arrives in the form of her sister Ruby she’s faced with the ultimate decision: does she go against her instincts and attempt to “race herself free”?

Geektown: What were your first thoughts reading the script?

Phoebe Fox: I was struck by its originality and ambition; I think of racing shows to be purely the domain of the movies. It was clear from the get go that the creators wanted to push at the limits of what we expect to see on television. I was also drawn to Kaye. She’s much more bad ass then any character I’ve played before.

Along with yourself, the rest of the cast is amazing. How was it working with everyone? Was there a good camaraderie on set? (I also want to ask how soon until the kill Sean Bean, because the poor guy dies in everything, but I won’t!)

The whole thing was basically night shoots, and there something about being awake at 5am that leads to a kind of maniacal hysteria; I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much on a job. Laughter that could have very easily turned into tears though…

When you google you, one of the top results is a Guardian interview where you comment you’re “always playing bloody aristocrats! ” Was this a nice change?

Kaye is quite close to me in real life… Although I’ve definitely got a lighter outlook on life. Like most actors all I’ve ever really looking for is variety. After ‘Curfew’ wrapped I filmed ‘The Aeronauts’, in which I had very aristocratic leanings, and I enjoyed that too, after having lived in a paramedics uniform for 5 months.

How was it driving the ambulance?

It’s sexy, in a reliable way.

Were you into cars before this?

Not really… I only learnt to drive 6 months before we started shooting. And that was only out of necessity. I could have happily used public transport for the rest of my life.

What sort of training did they give you? I hear Ben Collins (aka ex-Stig) was on hand to help. What were some of the craziest stunts you had to do?

The training consisted of an initial assessment by Ben, in which he mainly tried to make me look a little ‘cooler’ I was still driving like I was trying to past my test. Later on I had to learn how to drive around, behind, in front of a moving vehicle with a camera mounted on it. But to be honest all of the stunts you see “me” do are performed by my stunt doubles.

What was the most challenging thing for you on the project?

Driving an ambulance at the time in the morning when you would rather be asleep.

Can you talk a little about the tone of the show?

It’s fun and fast. I definitely got bogged down in the realism of it and I was given tonal homework by Colm [McCarthy – director]. He said “you’re Bruce Willis. Go home and watch Die Hard”.

We cover a lot of tv shows on the site, so we have 2 last questions we always ask guests:

1. What tv shows are you watching at the moment?

I’m eagerly awaiting the second series of ‘Dark’ and watching re-runs of ‘Escape to the Chateau’ (my version of escapism).

2. If you had the opportunity to work on any show, past, present or future, which show would it be?

I would have loved to have joined Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson in ‘Sharp Objects’ – they are both heroes of mine.

Curfew‘ Season 1 is currently airing on Friday nights at 9pm on Sky One. You can also see Phoebe Fox late this year in the Amazon Studios film ‘The Aeronauts’ with Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne about wealthy young widow Amelia Wren and ambitious scientist James Glaisher as they mount a balloon expedition to fly higher than anyone in history.

You may also like

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments