Director Roland Emmerich, and costars Gabriella Pession and Iwan Rheon discuss their Peacock series emThose About to Die/em.
The Big Picture Roland Emmerich has been to 10,000 BC and back again. He's dealt in alien invasions, Earth-shattering climate change, and celestial catastrophe, but never has the director worked in the television sphere. So what was it about Peacock's latest sword-and-sandal series, Those About to Die, that convinced him to make the leap?
We've seen you do everything on the big screen in your feature films. Can you tell me something specific about directing TV that came with a little bit of a learning curve for you? GABRIELLA PESSION: Obviously, it was amazing to be part of this team because of Roland. I was a big fan of his work. The script really got me fully into it, and the role was just the role I was waiting for for 25 years of acting. So, that was really the thing that pulled me into it. I love to play– it's not even a villain, it's a complex character that has so many shades, and there's nothing that she's not able to do.
IWAN RHEON: Obviously, just to get to work with Roland, of course. Reading the script for the first time, I just loved how fast it was and how Episode 1 moved so quickly. You get introduced to this world, this real cross-section of Roman society in the year 79, and I don't think that's really been shown before on TV. That’s something that’s really exciting for me to do and to get to play.
Obviously, I've been trying to work in the international market for years, and it's not easy for an Italian actress because of my accent and because of many reasons. I've been trying to get the role internationally for a lifetime, and I had kind of come to a point where I was like, “This is not gonna happen for me.” So then I moved back to Rome and I met Roland. Roland was trying to convince me to play another role because he said to me, “You're too young to play Antonia.
EMMERICH: I was actually really surprised that we chose Vespasian because Vespasian was a general; he was good at organization, but he had no idea, really, how to run a whole empire. I think he grew into that very fast. He did something really smart; he tore down Nero's Golden House and, on that territory, built the Flavian Amphitheater, which still stands today as the Colosseum. That was such a gift for Rome. Sports were so important.
'Those About to Die's Antonia "Has This Courage That Is Attached to Madness" Gabriella, there's a lot that everyone has not seen with Antonia that's gonna happen later in the season, but I want to ask you about making such a big first impression, in particular in that scene in Episode 1 where she's with all the other faction owners. She steps in and she speaks up, even though it's basically highly illegal and could get her killed.
Related Peyton Reed on Directing 'The Mandalorian' & Using the Volume Technology for 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' The 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' director helmed 2 episodes of 'The Mandalorian' Season 2. RHEON: What an amazing device. That wasn't in the script at the beginning, was it? It came in, didn’t it?
RHEON: Episode 5 because there's something that happened in the year 79 which was quite explosive. I remember reading it in the script and being like, “Oh my god, this is so cool that they're using this.” That's all I'm gonna say. EMMERICH: I just cannot do anything different. I didn't learn anything — no, I’m kidding. It's just so much fun to make movies. Sometimes, in a way, it's difficult to do, and you have to watch so many different things. But in the end, it's just fun. It's fun to do that.
EMMERICH: First, you have to set it up, which is not easy. You kinda have to figure out how to create light in front of the stage which fits the background. Then, naturally, the actors come in, and most of the time, they see what's already been tried out endlessly. We had a lot of problems with the height of this wall because I’ve always shot with very, very wide lenses, and I refuse to shoot in any other style. I used all kinds of tricks to overcome that.
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