Hugh Bonneville is ready to turn your expectations of his usual roles and screen presence on their head in his new thriller for Netflix, I Came By.
The actor is perhaps best known for playing the slightly bumbling but well-meaning Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in Downton Abbey, as well as Paddington Bear’s guardian Mr Brown.
Here, leading an ensemble cast including Kelly Macdonald, George MacKay and Percelle Ascott, Bonneville stars as retired High Court judge Sir Hector Blake, held in high esteem for his worthy work with refugees.
However, he comes into the orbit of two graffiti artists (MacKay and Ascott) who target the homes of London’s elite – and, as the trailer suggests, it soon transpires that all is not what it seems.
Talking exclusively to Metro.co.uk about playing a character many of his fans might not expect, Bonneville joked: ‘Well, I’ve got a reputation for paying, kind, considerate and benevolent sort of paternal figures – and he was another one. And I thought, why not?’
Explaining how the film’s writing reeled him in, he added: ‘My agent sent me a script saying, “This is in the offing, what do you what do you think? Have a read”, and it was a pleasurable experience because it was a script I was completely unprepared for. I hadn’t at that point seen Babak’s [Anvari, the director] other work, and so it was a fresh read. It was a complete page turner and there were so many surprising twists and turns that I was completely hooked and intrigued.’
Delving into the character of Sir Hector and his mindset further, the actor also made the surprising revelation that – despite having played so many warm and well-loved characters – it was actually this part that got him into slippers and house shoes for the first time.
‘[The role] really got me into thinking about cleanliness in the home, which I think it’s important to anyone who is house proud, and Hector Blake is very houseproud, and so it really got me into looking at slippers and house shoes, because there’s not really a sartorial corner of my life that I’ve really investigated before.
‘I did get very comfortable – I made sure with the wardrobe department that we got a very comfortable pair of slippers, because he’s got nice carpets and he doesn’t want any nasty mud everywhere. He does just ask politely that people take off their shoes, but I didn’t want to see him sort of padding around the house in his socks because he’s got a bit more sort of self-respect than that. So we did invest in some very nice slippers… which I did liberate at the end of the shoot.’
Bonneville is also full of praise for his ‘delightful but very peculiar’ director Anvari, who won a Bafta for his debut film Under the Shadow in 2017, which is where he got most of his inspiration for the character.
‘The main source of inspiration is Babak Anvari himself because he co-wrote the script and is very much the source of this piece, or his imagination is, so talking to him was quite important because I wanted to see quite how peculiar he was. And he’s very peculiar man, delightful, but very peculiar! And so that was really the main area of research.
‘Also, I said, “How credible are we in terms of the world of the High Court judge?” and then he pointed me to an article about a particular high court judge who had retired because he got bored, to which I thought, well if you’re in a position to do that, that’s great. There’s a sense of ennui in Hector, who has got a bit bored of being part of the establishment, even though he did great things for it. And as we know from the film he’s a public figure who is renowned for his good works and his championing of the underdog, and so on. But he’s now a bit irritated by the fact that he has worked so hard for society and as a repayment, someone breaks into his house and starts spraying his front room, and that’s a little annoying – well, there’s been certainly some intrusion on his house. So he thinks the society really hasn’t given him the credit that he deserves.’
The film features a fair few jumpy moments. Bonneville’s advice on preparing yourself ahead of time?
‘I think draw the curtains and get the chocolate. And maybe if you’re of a slightly nervous disposition, a couple of pillows.’
He added: ‘There’s one scene – I jumped out of my skin, I’d forgotten it was there and I thought I knew where all the bumps in the road were, but I was taken by surprise! The police come around, and luckily my character is very well in with the police, so there’s no nothing to worry about there – but there’s a moment with one of the police officers that [makes] you slightly want to press pause and go, “Did he actually say that?” I think the word is gaslighting? I don’t know.
‘There’s a few of those along the way, which are quite fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing how cinema audiences will react to that.’
Bonneville is also a big fan of his co-stars, relishing in acting alongside some for the first time and being reunited with others years later.
‘Oh, George [MacKay] I worked with virtually when he was in nappies! We did a TV show [2006’s Tsunami: The Aftermath] when he was, I think, 12, and I’ve watched from afar as it were as he’s developed into this fantastic leading man.
‘He led the company and Percelle is another real talent and we have a couple of meaningful scenes together. And he was great to work with – and Kelly of course I’ve never worked with before, but we’ve met a few times over the years, and so getting into a tight corner with her was very enjoyable as well.’
I Came By will be in select UK cinemas on August 19 and on Netflix from August 31.
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