You’ve probably seen English actor Jason Flemyng in Guy Ritchie and/or Matthew Vaughn‘s films, such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Layer Cake, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class. You may have seen him in such Hollywood movies as Rob Roy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Seed of Chucky, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Transporter 2 or in small independent films from around the world. Now he is playing the antagonist in one of Britain’s biggest TV dramas, season three of Trigger Point, starring Vicky McClure.
Flemyng stars as Steven Wyles, who is causing the team of Explosives Officer, or Expo, Lana Washington, portrayed by McClure, all sorts of headaches with his sinister vendetta. “Someone is targeting individuals and demanding revenue,” according to a season three plot synopsis. “Working alongside the Police Counter Terrorism Unit, the Bomb Disposal Squad race against time to find the bomber before they claim their next victim.”
Season three of the show, produced by Jed Mercurio’s (Line of Duty, Bodyguard) HTM Television, in association with All3Media International, which distributes the series internationally, starts airing on ITV1 and STV on Sunday and will be available to stream on ITVX and STV Player.
Flemyng talked to THR about his role and why he always seems to get cast as a baddie.
I told to a friend of mine that you got cast in Trigger Point, and he said, “Yes, I recognize him. He must play a bad guy!”
Flemyng [Laughs] Everyone says that. It’s so unfair. I’ve been playing those parts for my whole career, and I think I have been miscast from the very beginning of time until now. But that’s what I do. As soon as you see I’m in it, you know that people are gonna die.
What can you share about your character in season three without spoiling too much?
Initially, we see the victims, we see the explosions, we see the ramifications of his actions, but we don’t see him. It’s a cat-and-mouse game between me and Vicky, which was fun.
Vicky’s someone I’ve admired from a distance for a long time. When you meet people like that, you’re like, “Please, let them be nice.” And Vicky was exactly as I expected her and exactly as I wanted her to be. It was a happy shoot, and it comes from the top.
There are some big dialogue scenes with Vicky that were a joy. In football [aka soccer], if you go on to the pitch with Ronaldo, you look like an idiot, right? But in acting, if you go on to the set with Vicky or Stephen Graham or Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, the better the actor, the better you are. Honestly, I’ve been really lucky.
What can you tell us about the dynamic between Vicky’s Lana and your character Steven?
It’s a classic film relationship between the compassionate copper, even though Vicky is not a copper, but, you know, the compassionate protagonist and my character. The story behind this character is that he is a little man. It’s David versus Goliath. He’s been fucked over by the capitalist system. He is a byproduct of profit, and he’s sick and dying, as a lot of his friends are. He has no way of fighting back. So he takes it into his own hands. It’s a sort of Robin Hood story to a degree.
Vicky’s character understands why he’s doing it, but obviously doesn’t agree with the way he’s doing it. But her character is compassionate and left-leaning, you could say. He does it the wrong way, and she understands why he’s doing it, but can’t agree with the way he does it. There are a lot of those head-to-head things where they discuss that, which is great. Her compassion for him is very understated, but we know it because she’s such a great actress.
There are some massive scenes in it, which you definitely don’t get in a film. I have more lines in one scene than I have in whole movies, because there are six-, seven-page scenes. But when you have good dialogue, it’s easy.
The writing was working well, and I hope that the audience will have compassion for him because they understand his predicament, and they understand what’s happened to him. I think in modern society, a lot of people feel voiceless, and a lot of people feel like they’re a byproduct of the capitalist system.
Did you know Trigger Point well? What was your reaction to the opportunity to join the show?
This landed on the desk, and I was like: Brilliant! It’s [shot] in London as well. Double brilliant! I really didn’t have much of an idea about it. I knew Vicky was in it, and I knew that it was Jed’s show. But then when I arrived on it, I knew this was a big deal. Usually, when people ask me what I am doing, I’m like: “I’m making this film about a lesbian sheep farmer in the Czech Republic. And it’s got subtitles in German.” And they’re like, “Oh yeah? Great.” But when I said I’m in Trigger Point, they were like, “Oh my god, yeah, Trigger Point.” It’s probably the most popular thing I’ve ever done.
I’m at an age where my kids are 14, and it’s nice to be on the telly and at home. It sits easy with me that I’m not in Jordan, making a film that not many people are ever going to see. It’s nice to be in London, filming with the people who know exactly what they’re doing in a really tight machine. I have now watched the other seasons, which are great. And I think this year, it’s sort of stepped up another level visually. It looks more cinematic and dramatic. So, I’m really excited to see what people think.
Will your fans get to see more of you on mainstream TV shows then, maybe even as the hero saving the day for once?
I’m with you on that. But the people who are in control need to make those decisions. (Laughs)
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