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It was an apple tree that let Toby Kebbell know he was in for a challenge.
But then came the actual work, and all these nerves.
Im doing a sci-fi show and Im expecting sci-fi.
Im like,Ive been on a lot of sets.
This is probably going to be a lot of green screen.
Everything that youre thinking youll have to imagine is tangibly there.
Miles experiences a similar sense of upended expectations upon making it to Mars.
Miles felt justified as so often we do because we feel like weve been let down, Kebbell says.
When he arrives on Mars, he keeps getting disrespected and he keeps being spoken down to.
I had to find the motivation to be that treacherous.
I had to find that reasoning within it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Youve described Miles as this wide-eyed opportunist trying to seem like hes doing the right thing.
Im curious about trying to seem.
If youjustare an opportunist, then youll destroy things with no sense of what youre destroying.
There are moments in your performance that clue us into that opportunism.
Theres a certain amount of empathy, but whats missing is where the empathy is required.
But hes purely thinking about the opportunity, the pressure, the time crunch.
The same in the room in North Korea, when he gets caught taking the thermostat by Lee Jung-Gil.
There was actually a part of that scene that they removed, which was that I recognized him.
I was like, You were the first man on Mars!
But I think I probably didnt play it with enough finesse.
In the wisdom of the edit, they cut it out.
I stayed at this really lovely family-run place called the Remington Inn.
Next door was a bar called the Black Cat.
So what is it you do?
My dad was a wildcatter.
You hear all these terms that sound so, to an Englishman at least, cool and interesting.
Its hard work, but youre making a good-enough wage where youre financially comfortable.
Iknowthere is something there.
They were so apologetic.
Sorry to call you in.
I have to push buttons and open things and walk around and nod at people.
Thats fun in its own right, but takes a lot of work.
Here, you push the button, it lights up; you push it again, it turns off.
The technical terms, the seven pages of dialogue comparatively these are great days, easy days.
Silent movie acting is the best.
InHouse Divided,Miles falls into a ravine after retrieving Mars rocks.
How was that sequence filmed?It was a real ramp that they had, and there was dirt.
I was like, Am I on Mars for real?
[Laughs] I bonded with the stuntman over that.
Theyre so thoughtful whenever they develop something or make it go longer.
Its clear that youre smashing your teeth into the mask.
The suits are incredibly uncomfortable, and thats the old suit.
Theyre all in the new suits;Krys Marshallwas like, It aint much better.
I said, Can we do one of the cooling shirts?
And theyre like, They dont fit.
In addition, we have all of those units for the white suits.
And I was like, Are you guys like, making this Method?
Its the real deal that the blue suits the worst?
I had Joel Kinnemans one, because Joels extra tall.
It truly was recycled.
It didnt smell great, but it didnt smell as bad as it was made out to be.
And I was like, You what?Whatsthat scene?
Dimiter and I are both sitting there, and he was like, No, no way.
Then I received the sides.
I dont want you to play any kindness at all.
You are absolutely in the right in your mind.
Earlier, Ilya is looking at me and says, Anything else you want to tell me?
We had a long conversation about that: Alright, we have to make this work.
This has to be really good, because we dont want to do goofy play-actingGodfather.
And hes that guy.
When he left and he gives that little look, it was heartbreaking.
I was like, You bastard.
Thats stealing the scene, you clever fellow.
That becomes especially clear whenMiles is torturedby CIA and KGB agents after the scheme to steal Goldilocks is discovered.
Did that violence surprise you?
He holds out for a long time.It was a long process.
Selling it, making it authentic, was strenuous.
There were all these discussions.
Then Ben and Matt let me in and they said, This is America turning against England.
And its going to have to be a battle.
It was a great note.
How are we getting into this point?I was Googling, What is oxygen deprivation?
Its partially drunk, its partially drugged; its loss of ability.
I wanted it physically to look broken down, because the script had taken care of the verbal pressure.
I wanted to create a version of Miles that just depletes.
Miles essentially gets radicalized on Mars, and he ends the season having fought in an uprising.
Can you suspend disbelief and make people think,This is authentic?
I can totally see the correlation between what Miles ends up as and what Koba was.
Hes been pushed to a point.
I got this beautiful opportunity to go to a hospital in New Orleans that is for apes from laboratories.
Youre watching these apes walking, standing upright, and youre like, Why are they doing that?
And theyre like, Because every single person they saw from birth was doing that.
Its not really how theyre built to do it, they are just capable of assimilating and fitting in.
That element that I grabbed for Koba is there in Miles: that unconscious assimilation.
It was not conscious, but I can clearly see exactly it in two performances I have loved doing.
I loved making Koba.
I loved building him as a person, as a sentient being.
I loved that whole journey and again, full of moments where everyone was very prepared.
And I was like, Hey, Ive had this one idea.
And being heard and understood, its a glorious place to be.
This pubescent ape came in and he was smiling.
I was like, This ape loves me!
And she said, No.
Its absolutely a threat.
Be glad youre not in that room.
When they bare their teeth, its not a smile.
Thats just what we gauge it to be.
I was like, Thats what Koba has to have, that smile that looks so like a smile.
Especially during that scene when they think hes drinking: He gets it!
Hes trying to be a human!
They have no clue the danger theyre in.
That was the pressure I wanted to add to that scene.
Theyre sitting there with me in gray pajamas and a helmet with two cameras hanging off it.
Its the performance from them that sells that scene.
We filmed a scene where Miles goes to prison; hes arrested for the riot.
Just before the premiere, Matt and Ben told me, Hey, so hes not going to jail.
I was like, What?
How am I going to get these face tattoos removed?
I hope this is the start of a revolution.
