Everyone’s favourite ASBO teens – Kelly (Lauren Socha), Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Alisha (Antonia Thomas) and Simon (Iwan Rheon) – are back for a second series of E4’s comedy drama Misfits in November 2010.
> Buy the Series 1-2 boxset on Amazon.
You guys are the stars of a BAFTA-winning drama. How does that feel? Do you keep pinching yourselves?
All: “Yeah.”
Iwan: “We were just happy to get nominated.”
Nathan: “We weren’t expecting to win at all. We were just enjoying the champagne.”
Antonia: “Yeah, I sat down, took my shoes off, ready to enjoy the ceremony.”
Lauren: “It was the first award. We all thought The Street was going to win.”
At least, with it being the first one up, none of you would have been drunk…
Iwan: “No, and then we got to get drunk.”
It’s not bad going, because it was your first big TV role for most of you, wasn’t it?
Nathan: “Yeah, I’d mostly done theatre – some stuff at The Royal Court and The Almeida.”
Lauren: “I’d just been to a workshop in Nottingham called the Television Workshop, and then I did a film called The Unloved. This came straight after that, really.”
Antonia: “I’d just left drama school. The day I left was the day I started Misfits.”
Iwan: “I was doing a show called Spring Awakening in the West End, and that finished and the filming for Misfits started.”
If you read the premise of the series, young people coming to terms with their superpowers, it sounds a bit like Smallville…
Nathan: “Yeah. That would be a mistake.”
Do you like the fact that it’s got a really dark side?
Iwan: “Yeah, I think that really makes it what it is. It’s a bunch of normal people with these mad superpowers that they can’t control. They’re really very reluctant superheroes, and they’re a bit rubbish, and I think that means people can watch it and identify with their characters.”
Antonia: “It’s all very awkward. It’s not at all glamorous or flash. It’s not easy. It’s very real and gritty.”
There’s only four of you here today. Did someone forget to dig up Robert at the end of the last series?
Iwan: “We didn’t forget. We just thought it would be better to leave him in there. He’s such a mouthy git.”
As well as being very dark, the series is very funny. Is it as much fun to film as it is to watch?
All: “Yeah.”
Lauren: “We’re always corpsing.”
Who’s the worst for that?
Antonia: “Robert and Iwan, especially when they’re together.”
Lauren: “Iwan then smacks himself to stop. You can just see him smacking himself all the time.”
Iwan: “It’s just so funny. I always have to be so serious, and Robert’s always right in my face, saying the most outrageous stuff. I don’t think anyone could not laugh under those circumstances.”
I’ve no doubt that you get asked this in every interview you ever do for Misfits, but if you could have a superpower, what would it be?
All (instantly, confirming that they’re asked this all the time): “Shape-shifter.”
Iwan: “Actually, I think I’ve changed my mind about this. I think teleportation. I was sitting on the train the other day, and I was thinking “I would just never have to do this.” It’s even better than flying, I think.”
Nathan: “That’s quite good, actually.”
Antonia: “Also, Penny Crayon.”
Nathan: “That doesn’t really count.”
Antonia: “No it does, man, it’s a power. She has this incredible crayon, and anything she drew became real.”
Nathan: “Yeah, but that’s not her, that’s the crayon.”
Antonia: “Oh, is it not her?”
Lauren: “I’d like to be Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
Iwan: “What’s her power, though?”
Lauren: “Everything.“
Nathan: “She’s not really a superhero though. You’ve got to stay in the genre.”
Antonia: “Okay then. Shape-shifting’s pretty cool.”
Which one of you is the most like your character?
[They all pause, giggle and look at Lauren.]
Lauren: “Probably me. Me and Kelly are like that!” [Crosses fingers.]
Antonia, you have a lot of sex scenes. Is that embarrassing to do? What do you do to cope with them?
Antonia: “Yeah, I think when we first started series one I was really nervous about them. I was nervous, as an actress, about being perceived to do a lot of sex scenes. I was a bit worried about the whole typecasting thing. But it’s still a great character and a great part, and you just have to get into the character and get into the mode and just do it. But you get used to it, it’s fine. And actually series two shows a bit of a change for Alisha in terms of developing and growing up a bit, and not using her sexuality to get attention.”
Nathan, Curtis is obviously a fantastic athlete. How’s your athletic prowess?
Nathan: [laughs] “It was good.”
Iwan: “You’re pretty fast, like.”
Nathan: “I am actually pretty fast.”
Iwan: “Not as fast as me, though.”
Nathan: “I’m good at table tennis now.”
Iwan: “Yeah, still not as good as me.”
Nathan: “I used to do a lot more sport at school. That was fun, but acting took over. I’m all right, though.”
Iwan, you’re disturbingly good at playing a scary loner. Do you actually have friends in real life?
Iwan: “No. Well, I do, up until the point that I accidentally kill them. That seems to happen a lot. I’ve got a couple of friends. You guys are my friends, aren’t you?”
Antonia: “No.”
Nathan: “Colleagues.”
Iwan: “Acquaintances, maybe.
Lauren, you recently (and rather briefly) took part in the ITV reality show 71 Degrees North. What was that experience like?
Lauren: “Terrible.”
You didn’t look like you were enjoying it much…
Lauren: “It was all right, but I’m just not really ready for that. The food was minging, you had to sleep in a tent, it was so cold. We had to swim in a lake surrounded by snow – I had hypothermia. I literally could not breathe. I thought my organs were going to shut down and everything. But then I met some wicked people there. Susie Amy was a really good mate. But the thing I really didn’t like was that you had to have a number two outside. I really wasn’t prepared to do that.”
We’ve found out who the worst corpser is. Who’s the worst at forgetting their lines?
[They all pause, giggle and look at Lauren].
Lauren: “Probably me.“
You have a lot of early starts in this business. Who’s the grumpiest in the mornings?
All (laughing): “Robert.”
How have your lives changed as a result of the success of Misfits?
Antonia: “Day to day not at all dramatically. But work-wise it’s been quite nice. It gives you a bit of a profile so that casting directors know who you are, and they’re more likely to get you in to see them, which is a start. That’s been great.”
Iwan: “It’s injected an enormous amount of self-belief into the work that we’re doing. We always had that, but now we’re even more passionate about the show. We believe in it and we love it and we want it to be as good as possible.”
Did you know, when you were filming, that this was going to turn into a really big deal?
Iwan: “We knew it was funny. But we didn’t know much more than that.”
Nathan: “But we existed in such a bubble. The whole process was really quick from auditioning to shooting, and it all happened so quickly that we didn’t really have a clue what it was going to be like.”
Antonia: “And also, you don’t realise what the production values are going to be. We had the most incredible DoP, and amazing directors, and their vision, I think, and the way they shot it, quite cinematically, made a massive difference.”
When you’re out and about, do you get recognised much? What’s that like? How have people been?
Nathan: “People have been cool.”
Iwan: “Yeah, people have been really good.”
Lauren: “Most people are nice, not many want to make trouble. And you tend to ignore it if they do. You just keep your head down. But I’ve not changed, I’ve still got the same boyfriend, I still live with my mum.”
You guys went on Jonathan Ross. I imagine that was pretty nerve-wracking?
[They all agree vigorously.]
Lauren: “I wanted to try and get a little bit tipsy, just so you’re at that confident level, but I just felt too sick to drink. And I had Jedward next to me, and Kim Cattrall.”
What can we expect from the second series?
Iwan: “It’s bigger, much larger scale. And it’s funnier. There are new characters coming in with some crazy superpowers.”
Antonia: “And us continuing to come to grips with our own.”
For Series 3, how about pushing for some location shoots in Barbados. East London is all very well, but how about a bit of glamour?
Nathan: “We have been discussing this.”
Antonia: “Yeah, we want to go on location somewhere really amazing.“
Lauren: “We spend all summer filming, so it’s only fair.”
Antonia: “We want to teleport to Bermuda. Our characters could discover how to teleport, and then we could film all over the world.”
Iwan: “Yeah, I somehow think the budget might not stretch to that…”