Adam Randall, the director of season 4 of Slow Horses, obviously had a lot of fun making this show. The wildly different styles that the show encompasses really allowed him to play around and stretch himself. He expresses a deep appreciation of the cast and all the skills that they brought to the drama. He loved making them funny, threatening, or boasting a deep connection or pain. For Randall, the entire experience was quite a joy, and he’s already excited for you to see his work for season six.
The Contending: What was it like coming into the fourth season of Slow Horses and getting the rhythm of the show?
Adam Randall: It was interesting actually, because the seasons of the show are shot so close together that when I got the job only season one was out. So I had seen season one (which I loved), then a week after I started prep season two came out, and then when I was in editing or even a little further along, season three came out. So it was interesting working my way through season four as all these different seasons came out. But I think from season one and from reading the books there was a very clear tone so there was a clear path to lead me on my way.
The Contending: One of the most interesting things from this season in terms of something that felt very different was that we were following River as he’s investigating, and he has to communicate a lot through his facial expressions and body language to progress a lot of this story. Did that provide any major difficulties for you?
Adam Randall: He is just such a fantastic actor that he can do anything. He can be the comedian, he can be dramatic, he can be the action hero, and he can jump between them so easily. One of the fun things to do with River in France was to have his French not be very good so he can try and think he’s doing well, but he keeps throwing in these English words every so often. So you’re sort of the opposite of the slick spy. But yet there is so much for him to react to this season, there’s so much mayhem. With River’s journey he is almost a cool action hero, he jumps onto the roof, gives the villain the finger, and then he falls right through.
The Contending: One of my favorite scenes with River this season is in the penultimate episode after the huge shootout, and he is placed in that car trunk and we are just hearing his breathing over the end credits. Was that seeing something that was originally in the script or something you came up with at the time? How did that shot come about?
Adam Randall: Yeah, it wasn’t in the script; in the original script when I started it was quite a different sequence. He’s going to be thrown off a bridge into the water and then rescued, so a very different sequence. So we started to talk through it and I wanted to move away from that, because I felt like I had seen people drowning a lot and started thinking, how else can we do this? It felt important that we were with River through that whole scene. From the moment the truck hits the car until he’s put into the trunk we are with him and experience every minute as it is to be in the car with him. I think the idea of him going into the trunk was thought about before we actually shot it, so we always knew that the weight of that was going to be unbelievably intense. He gets shot by his ear and the sound goes out and then he’s taken through the mayhem into the trunk, and we are locked in with him the whole time, with the camera literally following him into the trunk, and then for it to be almost silent after that. We had this interesting sound design we put on to give it this increasingly eerie feel. It was always about just wanting to hear him and feel like I’m in that trunk with him.
The Contending: So in the finale, “Hello Goodbye,” you have some of the biggest action sequences of the season with chasing down Frank, and the attack on Slough House. How’d you go about crafting some of those sequences?
Adam Randall: It was an evolution really. In the script they were separated, with River chasing Frank and then, after catching him, we get the attack on Slough House. During the prep of the shoot we realized we needed to intercut them for the episode to kind of mirror each other. Then to go through different tones and rhythms we started kind of quite funny with the grenade in the hood, and then the shooting at Slough House is so crazy and out of control with the kettle full of water being thrown, and it’s so Slow Horses where there is a laugh amongst the tension. Then to move into something more serious and intense, and it becomes more personal for River in pursuit of his father, and then for Marcus and Shirley in Slough House where it becomes almost a horror show where this madman, this unstoppable beast, is in the house somewhere but they don’t know where. Then at the end getting into a place of real emotion, when Marcus goes out to protect Shirley, and then when River sits down with his father and there’s a real melancholy. It’s all got that.
The Contending: That’s the other big thing about that episode that, while it has this great action, it also has some of the most emotional moments I think the show has ever done. A lot of it comes from River with literally three father figures. He has that intense recruitment moment with Frank, then we have him putting his grandfather David, who now has dementia, in a home after finding out he is withholding information from River. And maybe even for good reason withheld, but there’s still the hurt. Then we end with him literally sitting down with Lamb, having a drink. That must have been a lot of intense emotion to capture all in one episode?
Adam Randall: It was, and the three father thing was really important; it was a thematic line that was going through the whole season and something we kept thinking about. The scene with Jack Lowden and Hugo Weaving in the restaurant where they have just five or six minutes sitting opposite each other, and again speaking about how good Jack is. There is this moment where Frank says, I was there, I watched you escape from the Dogs, and we talked about in rehearsal that it’s like Rivers hearing that his dad was at the football game watching. Nobody knew he was there, but he cared enough that it was really effective amongst the tension in the humor. The most dramatic and difficult scene was in the home because a lot of us can relate to that, and there was no humor to get us out of it, and it was very sad and a big swing for the show. The show doesn’t really do that, but I think people found it really effective. Then it felt really important to end with Lamb, and for Lamb to almost say, you still got me, but Lamb would never say anything remotely emotional so he has to swear at him, make him feel bad, and tell him that he has to buy his own drink. But in his own way River knows that he’s got someone.
The Contending: Going back a bit to River when he’s been captured by the Dogs and he’s talking with Emma in the car. There’s been this nice build up of her chasing River but through that she’s been learning things about her job that things aren’t so clear-cut, and the way she is taking in all the things River has told her. You can tell she’s actually starting to believe him, to where it feels like there’s a weird connection between the two of them. I’ve not read the book so I don’t know if there’s anything later between them. But it was a nice build up for him, and then of course we got the big shootout. You’ve been talking about you moving between all these different big emotions to action to humor. What is it like moving between those so quickly?
Adam Randall: Sometimes it is tricky, you have the benefit of just having amazing actors, that really helps. Again you have that tone in your mind, you don’t even talk about it, you just somehow know what the show is and what you can and can’t do, what you can’t get away with, how much emotion to show. What was really interesting with the characters is I was coming in as a new person and I was experiencing these different characters for the first time, just like Emma is. When she meets Lamb and she’s like, oh, my god, then she meets Catherine and she’s also like, oh, my god, then she meets River and she thinks they’re just like the other two, and then she slowly starts to realize that maybe River isn’t quite like that. I think their relationship is really lovely and important. At first she is just hunting him, and then it becomes something more emotional, a real human connection between them, while all these people are playing games around them. The two of them are just trying to make sense of it all.
The Contending: Hugo Weaving comes in as this villain, and when you have an actor like Hugo Weaving, he’s able to bring that presence and sense of dread to anything that is going on. What is it like directing him? There doesn’t even need to be some major action going on, just him being there you’re able to sense that danger. Is he able to do that because he’s just that good or is there something else you have to get across there?
Adam Randall: He definitely is just that good, first of all. It’s like him and Gary, they are just so good, it’s not about how do we get them to a place; they’re already great. So then it’s just about what else can we do? Can we try different things? What if we add some humor to this that’s not necessarily on the page? Or is there a way to make him more sinister or more intense? The thing about Hugo’s Frank is that he’s got such charisma as well. Hugo in reality is the nicest man I’ve ever met in my life, the warmest and kindest person. That element does come through though in that scene with that prince in the hotel suite. He talks about doing a deal and he’s got this charm and humor and warmth, and that’s got to be part of Frank’s character even if it is him just manipulating. Then another example of that is one of my favorites when he’s with Patrice and you see him turn on him and then embrace him. You realize Frank’s got everything he wants from these young men.
The Contending: I see that you’re also directing season six. Is it exciting getting back into the world?
Adam Randall: It is fantastic. I’m actually in the editing part right now, but yes, it has been fantastic, especially since now I know the actors and there’s a shorthand. I was able to be involved earlier on and help shape the story. It is a really exciting season, I wish I could talk about it, I really do.
The Contending: Final thoughts?
Adam Randall: I was told very early in my career that you need to pick if you want to do comedy, action, or drama. That you had to pick a lane, and after the show it taught me that you don’t have to pick a lane. You can combine different things and you can even combine them in one scene. The shifting of those tones and almost even shifting of genres like that sequence in episode seven. Going from the grenade in the hood where it’s funny and mad and then you are frightened and then it’s very suspenseful and then it’s emotional. You are shifting through these different tones, and I think it’s because the source material allows that and Mick Herron has amazing world building. Then Will (Smith) and his team of writers do a great job adapting the world. Then just having this incredible cast, it really has every tool at your disposal to push things and do things you’re not usually allowed to. It has been really fun doing that.
