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Early on, this odd couples personality conflict generates a lot of that storys dramatic heat.
Honestly, Im just happy to see you two together again.
I remember Soo saying how it was gonna be this incredible emotional moment when the Tuunbaq died.
I laughed and said, Dont be ridiculous.
No one cries when the shark dies inJaws.
No, no, this is different!
The Tuunbaq represents something completely different, and there are going to be tears when the Tuunbaq dies.
I just thought she was nuts, but lo and behold.
Tobias Menzies: A huge part of the show is the variety howcharacterfulit is.
Your main character would have come up with the way to kill your antagonist, but Goodsir does.
The two ships, and the group of men we follow through the story, are a society.
Through the lens of that society, Dave and Soo attempt to investigate scenes that are applicable toallsocieties.
It has a universality, and thats very conscious on their part.
But theres a degree to which the show is picking that apart.
Did I think it would be some sort of modern political treatise on masculinity?
I didnt think about that.
In a way, these people loved each other.
Not in a way theydefinitelyloved each other.
There was real, real love between my character and Blanky.
There grew to be real love between my character and Tobiass character.
There was a brotherhood.
There was a sense of family.
They were very specific and quite insistent about where those two words would be used within the story.
Yes, most of them are male relationships.
In a way, actually, because theyre all men, the other themes pop more.
That reminds me of the effect that the big, bulky winter uniforms have on you as performers.
It pops.Menzies: I would almost make a counterargument.
So when someonedoesmake a gesture, especially with the physical mores of the time, it really lands.
If someone takes someone elses hand, that physical contact is very charged.
That was almost more alarming than the murders themselves.Menzies:[Laughs.]
You havent seen a body since Hickeys body was exposed to be punished as a boy.
It wouldnt have been an accident.
There would have been some kind of psychological logic behind it.
Theres an intimacy to death on this show, and not just with Hickeys murders.
That had to be handled with care.
Harris:It was not a complicated scene, in the sense that it was contained within that tent.
It was allowed to be very private, personal, and intimate.
It sounds like a love scene.Harris: True.
Menzies: You have to be careful with those scenes.
Harris:You have to be respectful of what Tobiass needs were in a scene like that.
He has to imaginatively put himself through that circumstance.
Menzies:All these people are dying not where theyshouldbe dying, in a way.
Theyre all lost, both actually and psychologically.
That emphasizes hugely who you do that dying with.
Arguably, it brings an intimacy or tenderness to that act.
All of them have had a lot of who they are laid bare and stripped away.
You see death in a different way after those experiences.
Harris: At a certain point, you keep losing people with every single episode.
But again, this goes to the way David and Soo told the story.
Theyre very smart, the way they would do things like that.
Human beings see a picture and immediately impose narrative on that picture.
David and Soo didnt feel like they needed some kind of dialogue, like.
Oh, will you look after my son for me?
Thats spoon-feeding narrative to the audience.
It was part of the chip on the mans shoulder, his burden if you like.
Hes found a family of sorts.
Looking back, do you have a favorite moment from shooting?Harris: Pag Island.
Menzies: The time on Pag Island?
Harris: Yeah, that was a fantastic place for us to shoot.
And it was just gorgeous.
So bleak and beautiful.
Harris:Yeah, that was good.
We rehearsed that a lot just the two of us.
We would go for walks around the little town.
[Your favorite part] wasnt playing against Pag F.C., Tobias?
Taking on the locals?
Menzies: You know what?
I remember being disgusted about that.
That might have been a high point, but not for me.
It might have been watching you order pink drinks around various continents.
Harris: Yes, yes.
I do love pink cocktails.
My theory is that pink cocktails are very potent.
Menzies:You mean theyre more potent the pinker they are?
The only thing more potent than a pink cocktail is a blue cocktail, but …
Menzies: What?
Im going to accuse you of false science.
What the hell is that?
Blue is better than pink?
This interview has been edited and condensed.
