The latest original series to come to Disney+ is the swashbuckling adventure series Renegade Nell, set in England in the early 18th century. I had the chance to delve into the magic and adventurous nature of the show by interviewing some of the cast and one of the show’s directors.
Firstly, I had a chance to talk with Adrian Lester, Alice Kremelberg and Jake Dunn, who play the Earl of Poynton, Sofia Wilmot and Thomas Jackson, respectively.
Watch Our Interview with Adrian Lester, Alice Kremelberg and Jake Dunn:
LP: I'm Luke with LaughingPlace.com and I'm talking to some of the cast of the new Disney+ series “Renegade Nell.” Not to give away a spoiler, but you guys are all pretty wicked in the show. What excited each of you about joining the show?
Jake Dunn: I think getting to be part of a [Sally] Wainwright show who, you know, is you know, held with such love and excitement, in Britain especially. And to play a Wainwright villain was unbelievable. I would have never thought I'd have got seen for it, and then, yeah, to be, to be working with these two is unbelievable. And then everything else just kind of happened, you know, I mean, I can't believe that I have a fight with Orla from Derry Girls.
Alice Kremelberg: I mean, we've been talking about the scripts for, since the beginning, and it's really all in the writing. The writing is so strong, it's so exciting. It feels new and old and familiar and all the things. And for me, yeah, it was all, it was a bunch of things that I've never gotten to do before. It was a period piece in 1704. I got to wear these incredible costumes and work on my British RP and fight and like all of these things that, you know, more often I live in a bit more of a supernaturalistic world. And so this is, you know, natural as it comes for this time, but with some magic thrown in.
Adrian Lester: I read the script and thought it was fantastic, and I thought this is the, probably the only time I get to do magic in tights, heels and a wig. So, and suddenly there's magic, and I thought I have to do this. And also when I cast and I got to set and people were saying to me, “have you met Alice?” And I said, no, not yet. “Have you, have you met Jake?” And I said I haven't, because they play brother and sister, and oh my god, you should see them. Because the casting of these two as brother and sister is perfect.
LP: Looking at the two of you right now, you can actually really see it. He’s right! Real life, brother and sister.
Kremelberg: Yeah, we have to do a DNA test, see if we were really separated at birth.
LP: So as I was saying at the beginning, you guys are all a little bit devious, a little bit villainous and you know, from watching episode to episode, it kind of feels like – Jake in the first episode, you feel like the real villainous one, and then Adrian, you come in the second episode and you, you step in. So, without spoiling anything, who really is the most villainous?
Dunn: Wow, that is such a competitive question.
Kremelberg: Time will tell…
Dunn: I will go for me just because I land the most punches, I get in the most situations. Don't even want to mention the death toll. Like I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I think I clear this!
Lester: I think it's me because obviously I'm dressed in red and black, which that's like saying “the villain.”
LP: The real evil colors, yeah.
Kremelberg: I think time will tell, I think by the end of eight we might think differently.
LP: And then, the last thing I wanted to ask was what are you most looking forward for audiences to see in regards to the show or perhaps your performance?
Kremelberg: I'm really excited for people to see, I mean, the show, but Louisa is doing such a powerhouse performance. She's in almost every second of the [show], that's her name. She has the comedy and the drama and the action and she's just an incredible human and an incredible actor. And so I'm really excited for people to see her shine, truly, truly.
LP: Especially seeing the comparison between her performance in this and “Derry Girls” – two completely different things.
Lester: And the stuff she’s been in on stage as well. She is fantastic and to have someone leading the whole thing.
So much responsibility rests on her shoulders and she is brilliant, works hard, professional and is just wonderful to work with. And I'm interested to see, you know how the audience takes the family story at the heart of it. We can do so many things with technology now and special effects and all of that. But what Sally's created is about a family, and I think it really works.
And then I had the chance to speak with executive producer and director of the first two episodes of the series, Ben Taylor.
Watch Our Interview with Director Ben Taylor:
Ben Taylor: My name is Ben Taylor, I'm the director and executive producer on Renegade Nell.
LP: And correct me if I'm wrong, you directed two episodes of the series?
Taylor: Yeah, I did two. I opened the show with episodes one and two and then sort of hung around, meddling for months after that, but one and two were mine.
LP: Awesome. So in coming into the world of “Renegade Nell,” what really excited you about becoming a part of the show and drew you to it?
Taylor: Sally Wainwright was a writer that I've admired for a number of years. She was a name I would, my agents knew was a sort of dream to collaborate with. I then got sent this script with the sort of logline of period fantasy, action adventure by Sally Wainwright, and that sentence didn't make any sense to me at all, because we've never done it before. And so it was just the delight when reading it that it was a departure in terms of genre, but it wasn't a departure in terms of quality and confidence. She just approached a well trodden genre with totally new characters and totally new eyes and a new voice.
LP: Yeah. it certainly is a remarkable show, and I've seen two episodes and they just happened to be the two episodes that you've directed. So, very nice style, I very much enjoyed it. Now I was also checking out some of your other work and I saw that you directed a lot of episodes of “Sex Education.” So that brought the question to my mind – how does your approach differ when it comes to directing a show set in the 1700s vs. a show set in a modern school? Because those are two very different kinds of things.
Taylor: Yeah, I genuinely ask myself that most days… I just completed my first film, and somebody asked me that question before we started on the film, they said, “are you gonna be a different director on a film than you are on TV?” And that, like, really got in my head and, and messed with me for a little bit. But I think the answer is the safest way to approach it is not to overthink it. Even though, like you say, sort of John Hughes high school film through to sort of Pirates of the Caribbean swashbuckling period thing – couldn't be more opposed. But I think it was finding the sort of connective tissue and the commonality between those, and my sort of boring answer tends to be that comedy is my easiest way in. Scripts that I love that are totally dry and without humor, I, I can't, I just wouldn't know how to approach them. But with Renegade Nell, despite the spectacle and the action and the VFX, there was still a really clear heart and humor thread running through. In those terms, it felt bizarrely quite akin to Sex Education, even though it was a lot more action.
LP: Yeah, a lot more action. But you can definitely see the lines of comedy going through both. My final question for you is with the show coming out on Disney+, what are you most excited for audiences to see? Whether it be your work in particular or just from the show in general?
Taylor: Now, that's a nice question. I think I'm really excited for people to see that I can do something other than high school stuff, for sure. But genuinely, because we made it quite a while ago, it took a long time and there's some incredible work from designers on this. The DP, Ollie, who's a very old friend of mine, has just absolutely smashed it. I think the look of it's incredible. But Tom Pye's costumes and Anna's production design – it's a real feast and it's a real celebration of this visual world. But I think my big answer the most, the thing I'm most excited for is for people to hear Oli Julian's music, which I think is just incredible and enormous. And recording that with a Bulgarian female voice choir was an absolute highlight.
LP: Yeah, the music was a highlight listening to or watching the first episode as well. So I really enjoyed that. Thank you so much for sharing that and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. You said you have a film coming out as well?
Taylor: Yeah, with Netflix called Joy about the invention of IVF. So again, it’s quite different.
LP: And very timely too.
Taylor: Yeah, exactly.
Renegade Nell will premiere all episodes on Friday, March 29th, exclusively on Disney+. Be sure to check out my review of the series here.