Gwilym Lee on The Great Season 3 Report by Mccallumj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 - Well, it is good to see you.
00:02 It's been a little while.
00:03 The last time I spoke to you was "Bohemian Rhapsody."
00:06 - Okay, yeah, that is a little while.
00:08 - A lifetime ago, but back.
00:10 But season three, which I know is out in the US,
00:13 and you guys are really making us wait here in the UK
00:18 to get it.
00:19 - I'm sorry about that.
00:19 It's such a shame because it's such,
00:21 in some ways, it's such a British show.
00:23 It's like a majority British cast.
00:27 We shoot in the UK, in London.
00:30 It's got very British sensibility, so I do apologize.
00:33 - And we have to do our best to avoid spoilers as well.
00:36 - Yes, that's tricky, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:37 - Which is very hard.
00:38 But you said actually this season, though,
00:41 is one of your favorites.
00:42 What is it about this season in particular
00:44 that have made it that?
00:46 - I think each season has just got better and better.
00:48 I think that's the nature sometimes of these things,
00:52 is that as you get to know the characters more and more,
00:54 you can delve deeper into the world.
00:57 You don't have to do so much of the setting up
00:59 and the exposition and the kind of,
01:01 in the framework, you can just kind of dive deep in,
01:06 straight in.
01:07 And this season continues in that kind of direction.
01:12 And it's, you know, there's some brilliant moments in it
01:15 and unexpected moments, and it's, yeah, it's a good one.
01:20 - I saw some of the pictures that you put
01:22 from behind the scenes on your Instagram,
01:23 which I know you've not been on your Instagram
01:25 for a little while, like since May, I don't think you.
01:28 - Oh, wow, you're calling me out on it.
01:31 I need to up my game.
01:32 - Hey, people like to see what you're up to.
01:33 But listen, there was some great
01:36 like behind the scenes pictures.
01:37 Forgive me for not knowing,
01:38 but what were the cardboard cutouts used for?
01:41 - Oh, right, okay.
01:43 So they were just seen, they were used as an eyeline.
01:47 So we were in this scene over a massive, massive lake.
01:51 So we shot everything on one side once
01:53 and everything on the other side at the time.
01:56 And there was one group of people on one side
01:57 and one group of people on the other.
01:58 So while it was all being shot on us,
02:01 we had the eyeline of, you know, all the other people,
02:03 cardboard cutouts on the other side of the lake.
02:05 - Who takes them home afterwards?
02:07 - I don't know, man.
02:08 They are sitting-
02:09 - Not you, is what I'm curious.
02:11 - Sitting rotting in a shipping container
02:14 in East London somewhere.
02:15 Tragic, tragic, isn't it, really?
02:18 - Honestly, if there was a couple of me out there,
02:20 I'd be like, who's got that?
02:21 Like, and where have they put that?
02:24 - Yeah, potentially.
02:26 - Obviously, Huzzah is something that,
02:30 with The Great, I think, I know it's been used in the past,
02:32 but The Great really brought it to kind of common use,
02:37 I would say.
02:39 And I know you've said yourself that you've used it a lot.
02:42 Are people now, three seasons in,
02:43 very tired of you using that in everyday life?
02:47 Or have you kind of like, you don't, you try not to?
02:51 - I try not to.
02:53 It does become, while you're doing it,
02:54 it just becomes like, you know, you can't stop saying it,
02:57 and it becomes your reaction to everything.
02:59 But yeah, I, no, I try not to use it, to be honest with you.
03:04 It's a bit like, well, you said that,
03:07 we spoke last, when we were doing "Being Rhapsody,"
03:10 and when I'm in a bar and a Queen song comes on,
03:12 everyone's like, oh, and I'm like,
03:14 no, I didn't actually write, I didn't write these songs.
03:17 I wasn't actually in Queen.
03:19 So it's a bit like that.
03:20 It's like people go, huzzah!
03:21 And I'm like, yeah, no, it's not, I'm not in that one.
03:24 - It's a character.
03:25 - Yeah, it's a character.
03:25 - Yeah, it's a character, guys.
03:27 Let me have my piece when I'm not working.
03:30 Did you learn, like doing these shows,
03:33 which are based on historical, like, fact,
03:37 do you learn a lot about it yourself, going into it?
03:41 Or did you kind of know and do all your research beforehand?
03:44 Or is it kind of, as you've gone along, you're like,
03:46 oh, wow, I didn't know this happened.
03:49 - Yeah, it's funny.
03:50 It depends from job to job, really.
03:52 Yeah, I mean, I remember when we first got together
03:55 for season one of this, actually, me and Phoebe,
03:58 I seem to remember, we turned up,
04:00 there was a whole rehearsal, a whole cast rehearsal,
04:03 and we were sat around in a circle
04:04 in some kind of rehearsal room in London somewhere.
04:08 And Phoebe and I very diligently, like good students,
04:12 took out our, like, history books.
04:13 And I'd got a book about the Roman arms,
04:15 and I got a book about Catherine the Great.
04:18 And Tony was like, nah, don't worry about that so much.
04:22 It's not really concerned too much
04:25 with historical accuracy on this show.
04:26 So we were like, okay, all right,
04:28 that's where we're coming from.
04:29 And, you know, it is loosely based on history,
04:32 and it's good to know a little bit of that.
04:34 And I quite like to know,
04:37 I find that one of the most interesting parts of my job
04:39 is like the research, the background, and the history,
04:41 and all that kind of thing.
04:42 But it quickly became apparent that it wasn't,
04:44 we didn't want to just get bogged down in that.
04:47 And it was more important about like the relationship
04:50 between the characters and like the playing of the scenes.
04:55 The scenes are just so well-written,
04:56 but there's a kind of, you know,
04:58 specificity and musicality in the way to play it
05:02 that it meant you didn't need to know
05:04 the entire backstory of these characters.
05:06 - Have you heard much about a season four yet?
05:11 - No, not yet, not yet.
05:12 I mean, it's still quite early days.
05:14 I mean, the show only went out in the States
05:17 maybe a month ago, I think.
05:18 - Yeah.
05:19 - I mean, so it's still quite early days.
05:21 I think we'd all love to do one.
05:23 - You're definitely up for it.
05:24 That's why I was curious.
05:26 - I just love the show.
05:27 I love the show and I love the people,
05:29 and it's a gift of a job.
05:32 And yeah, yeah, I would do it in a heartbeat.