So what kind of research went into your roles? These were real people, just like Turing.
AL: It was sometimes frustrating, because a lot of the information that was around Bletchley Park was secret, and it’s classified, or it was destroyed. So some of it was guess work, but there was a huge responsibility. As you say, you’re playing a real character, so you have to try and represent them as best you can, given limited information.
MG: You’re also shackled to a script, for better or for worse. And sometimes there’s artistic interpretation, and sometimes your character is effectively a device, certainly just to, sort of, outline the differences between, let’s say, Turing and Cairncross. Doing as little research as can be done is kind of freeing, because there’s no YouTube of my guy, so it’s not like you’re going to feel defensive, like, “he had a lisp, I really need to put the lisp in,” that sort of thing. But then you are shackled to the script as well. I definitely found myself thinking I wouldn’t want to push this character further in this direction, because now we’re questioning whether or not he might have been a faithful husband. So, for better or for worse.
And it is freeing. There’s a playfulness and fun to the film.
MG: Oh, s*** yeah! It’s a lot of fun.
You’ve both seen the finished film?
MG: I was forced, I don’t like watching myself. Honestly, I was sat down and made to watch it so the interviews would go better.
AL: But you watched it in your own favorite way.
Which would be?
AL: Naked. He watches himself naked.
MG: Yeah, on my own, can of olive oil and a Coke.
AL: I actually haven’t seen the finished project, but I’m very excited to see it [at the premiere]. We’re all going to sit down and watch it with 2,000 people.
MG: With an audience! A bunch of strangers, which is great!
It is a lot of fun.
AL: It needs that, because at the end of the day, imagine the frustration of starting at 6AM, trying to break this code with 150 million-million-million possibilities.
MG: A year and a half in, at 11:59, BOOM, you’re still sitting there going, “maybe, maybe, f***!” Imagine that stress, and that frustration! And the fact that the guy [Turing] won’t share any information with you. Why not!
AL: Exactly. But you have to have humor, you have to have that sense of camaraderie, because they were in this together. And that’s part of the frustration they have with Turing, he doesn’t want to be with them. We’re all after the same thing.
Does that rub off on your work? Turing’s a bit of a peacock and Benedict’s the star.
MG: That’s how Benedict works! He doesn’t really like sharing, and we will have to compete. You think I’m lying: we all have to compete for the camera. And it’s like, “well you’ve got the most lines, and the most screen time, and you’re still not letting us play!”
AL: [laughs]
MG: Since the age of six, I wanted to be a star! It’s my world, my world, my world mummy, mine, all mine. And then [Benedict] came along and I was like, “God, I’m going to have to share.” And then I met Allen, who called me Private Failure.
AL: [laughs]
MG: Yeah, which is thrilling. Which is not due to my lovemaking, but it could become so, if we have another couple of coffees this morning. No, it’s been a really great experience and I for one have enjoyed watching.
AL: Shut up, Private Failure.
MG: Some people know about Turing, but they have their own version of it in their own mind, and Benedict has to make that flesh. And he’s a lot better known than our characters, so we had, in some ways, a “get out” clause, because no one knows about us. He has to take everything on his own shoulders. He’s bloody good.