Crime thriller Culprits centres on Family man Joe Petrus is living the American dream with his fiancé and step-kids. However, unbeknownst to them, Joe was involved in a mysterious crime three years ago and now his dangerous past is about to catch up with him. When a killer starts targeting the crew behind the crime, Joe realises it’s only a matter of time before his family is targeted. He returns to London to track down his old gang and find out who is coming after them. The stellar British cast includes Nathan Stewart-Jarret, Niamh Algar, Gemma Arteton, Eddie Izzard, and Kirby.
How would you describe Culprits?
It’s a fun thriller that takes place after a major crime. It picks up where most crime thrillers end, which is after the incident when the crew have dispersed and they’re all living separate lives and with new identities. It’s a real character piece. Although it follows one character predominantly there are many different characters and they’re all fully drawn. And it’s got a lot of mystery in it, too — there’s a lot of edge-of-your-seat-stuff while you’re trying to work out what’s actually going on and timeline jumping. It means that as an audience member you’re trying to work it out as you go along, which is always quite satisfying.
Why did you want to be part of it?
J [Blakeson] and I worked together years ago on The Disappearance of Alice Creed. For years we’ve been trying to find something to do together — there’ve been various things that have almost happened or not quite happened. This came out of the blue – I think J had written the pilot even before he shot his most recent film, I Care A Lot. Obviously, I have a shorthand with J: I know what he likes, and it’s very easy. Also, the scripts were so fun, I mean, just really cool. My character Dianne is probably the coldest character I’ve ever played, the most calculating. Any exuberance that I usually bring to roles I’ve had to kind of sit on — she just isn’t an exuberant person. And then all the creative team are great. Phillip Blaubach, who’s shot all of J’s stuff, he’s the DP that shot Alice Creed and this is my third project I’ve worked with him on now. And though I hadn’t worked with [Block 2 Director] Claire Oakley before I loved her film Make Up. It was a really fun job – a no brainer.
Introduce us to your character, Dianne…
When we first meet Dianne she’s in a gallery where she’s crewing up for the high-stakes crime. This is way back in the timeline. When she’s enlisting, she has to be quite charming and calm and in control. She’s very, very glamorous — she loves being rich. I remember when J was telling me about the role he said, ‘She’s like Madonna — she just loves that life.’ She loves glamour and power and yet as the series goes on you learn more about her motivations. She’s deep into the crime world, very revered and respected in high level crime and is quite feared and mysterious. But as the story goes on you realise that her motivations for the crime itself are very personal. Although there’s this steel to her deep down there’s this real soft core too. It was quite fun actually to play this very calculating and dangerous person — I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that before.
She labels herself ‘Brain.’What are her particular skills?
Well, unlike me she’s incredibly good at planning things and thinking of every eventuality and being all over it. I mean I remember thinking, ‘Why on earth have I been cast in this role?’ Because she couldn’t be further away from me. She’s just one of those people that before anyone else knows that something’s happened, she’s all over it. She’s already planned for that — she’s got a brain that’s like a computer.
Does she do her own dirty work or is that what ‘Muscle’ is for?
I liken her to a mafia boss in that she has all of these incredibly capable and dangerous people around her that can carry out her dirty business, but if she needs to do it, she will. But she doesn’t really like to get dirty to be honest — she’s got all of those expensive clothes on!
What is Dianne’s look?
We have an amazing costume designer, Ian Fulcher, and we really worked hard on Dianne’s look. I know J wanted her to look really iconic, like Katharine Hepburn. She’s masculine, but she likes to wear powerful clothes. One of my favourite outfits was a pink suit with a pink jacket and big coat over the top. All the visuals in this show are very bold and striking.
There’s a high stakes robbery involved in Culprits but J Blakeson has described it as not a heist show. How do you think it plays with this genre?
I watched a lot of heist stuff in preparation for this and a lot of the ones that we know are kind of cheeky, and people love watching the heist itself and all of that. But actually this one is quite dark and it’s gritty at times.There is this black humour that goes all the way through it, and that’s very J in style. Because it is a character piece and because we have so much time — it’s eight hours — you have time to really get to know the characters and see their different sides. So hopefully this is a new kind of heist story: obviously there is that satisfying moment of watching the heist take place and it’s really well done — it takes place over the whole series, with new bits being slotted in and new details going back over time. But mostly it is about the aftermath. And that’s very different to usual heist movies.
J Blakeson obviously loves working with you.Why do you like working with him?
He has real vision. He knows what he wants and I think that comes from being a writer, having it all in your mind from the outset and dreaming up these characters. At the same time he always allows you to play and find it yourself. But he knows what he wants and I like that in a director. Also, his style shines through. He loves old movies and noir and that really reflects in the style and the rhythm of what he does, as well as in the rhythm of his writing. And also he’s fun: he always wants there to be an element of fun or a twinkle or something behind the eyes. It’s not kitchen sink drama; there’s a heightened element to it. In the UK we don’t have many directors that have that style so he’s quite unique in that sense. It means this feels almost like an American show: it’s heightened, it’s bright, it’s visually exciting, it’s very crisp. And that’s all very J.
