Who watches over The Watch? Why, that would be Captain Samuel Vimes, of course! The beleaguered leader of this motley crew has seen his fair share of oddities over the years, but perhaps nothing has been so strange as the sudden appearance of a dragon over Ankh-Morpork. What's worse, the dragon arrived in the city just when his old friend Carcer appeared to return from the dead, looking just as young as he did the day he "died." Now, Vimes must hold his found family together, even as he fights for the fate of Ankh-Morpork.
Speaking to CBR, The Watch star Richard Dormer shared what it was like to walk a mile in Vimes' boots. He broke down the genius of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, while explaining how the BBC America series updates the source material. He recalled working with Lara Rossi to develop Vimes and Lady Sybil Ramkin's dynamic, which resulted in some blooper reel-worthy moments. He also shared his favorite memory from set, all the skills he had to learn for the series and more.
CBR: Tell me a little about how you landed the role. How did you become Sam Vimes?
Richard Dormer: I got sent the scripts, and I had a read and the producers had seen me in a thing called Fortitude, which I think is on Amazon, but it was on Sky Atlantic originally, and I played this crazy sheriff. So I read the scripts and thought, "I've never come across anything like this. It's absolutely bonkers!" [laughs] But it made me laugh out loud, and that's rare that you read a script that you want to read, that pulls you in.
The character of Sam, I just find him very endearing. I just understood him instantly. They also wanted me to do it in my own accent. I thought he perhaps was a bit of a Cockney kind of thing, but instead, no, they wanted the Northern Irish accent, and it was just a matter of putting on the boots.
As soon as I get a character's shoes, I'm flying because it's the way they walk, the way they move, the way they present themselves, how they move through the world. So it was the shoes, and he's kind of inspired by Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen and Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon and Harrison Ford in the first original Star Wars films. So he has elements of all those characters, I thought, as soon as I put on the jacket, which I had elongated -- I really wanted him to have an iconic silhouette. I think that if you've got a character with a silhouette, and you can recognize them, you're 70% there.
It's funny you bring up the boots, considering Captain Samuel Vimes' famous 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness from Guards! Guards!.
Absolutely! Yeah! Well, it's good. I mean, it's kind of a happy accident, because that's the way -- and then, of course, when I read that, and it's so intelligently thought out! That's a great character trait, that he can tell where he is in the city with his eyes closed, just by the feel of the cobbles through the soles of his worn down boots.
What do you think it is about Terry Pratchett's work that has kept fans so engaged with Discworld throughout the years?
Well, one, I think he's got incredible imagination and he's created a world, a flat disc that's traveling through space on the back of four elephants on the back of a swimming giant turtle. You know, that -- in itself -- I mean, that's crazy! [laughs]
His sense of humor, and also he's before his time. When he was writing these books, he was looking at the world and he was interpreting the world around him in these crazy characters, the politics of the world, and I think that he comes at comedy with an intelligence, like the best writers, but also there's this thing in the tale -- there's a darkness to the humor sometimes, and that kind of pathos, which is rare in comedy, that you could be laughing one moment and have a tear in your eye the next.
I'm not saying he's sentimental; I'm just saying that he understands the human heart. I think ultimately, that is what people keep returning to Pratchett for, and I think that we captured that element in the show. There's a lot of love in this show.
On the series so far, there have been some updates to the source material. What would you want fans of the books to know about The Watch's version of Vimes?
Well, these books, it was written 30 years ago. The world is a different place. If we had done the version that is in the books, I think that's a bit too much like The Holy Grail, you know, Monty Python -- kind of chainmail and tin hats and stuff. I mean, we've moved on from that, I think.
What we want to do as well was show the world, make it relevant to the world that we're in today, with all its dictators and crazy politicians and weird, weird, weird people in power. So I can't imagine it any other way. I think when people watch this, it'll be like, it was -- it was made 40 years ago, but yet it's relevant today. It's a weird, timeless kind of quality to it, and I think we just hit it on the head. I think we got it right.
I know a lot of people, of the fans, are going to be going, "This isn't what I had in my head." But then, look, if George Lucas had released Star Wars: The Novel before the films, and then people went to see the films, they'd go, "That's not what I saw in my head," but then they'd go, "But wow, this is amazing!" And I think it's the same thing. I think what the fans will find is the heart and soul of Pratchett's mind. What we've done, like everybody must do, you've got to make it your own! You've got to make it new and fresh and relevant.
Of the episodes I've seen, I think the one that stands out for me, visually, is the bit where they dress up as a band to infiltrate the Assassins Guild. I'd love to hear a little about your experience filming that.
It's incredible. I play ukulele, mandolin, acoustic guitar, but the electric guitar was one thing that I never got around to doing because I was always traveling and I never settled down. But in this show, I had to play electric guitar, so I practiced like an hour a day, anytime I had, to shred that guitar. It was a joy, and now I have three electric guitars. My life was transformed by it. I'm listening to whole new sets of music. I just love new skills and playing guitar on -- I can't tell you what happens later, but there's more guitar playing.
So yeah, it was an absolute joy, and everybody could play those instruments. We spent about three months learning the chords and Adam [Hugill] is a brilliant drummer anyway, so he's actually playing, and Jo Eaton-Kent, beautiful singer. I play guitar myself now, so yeah, that was cool.
Who would you say has the most interesting dynamic with Vimes and why?
I'd say that would be Cheery, because Cherry is Vimes' mother and father, brother and sister that he never had. I think we see a real gentleness and a kind of a lost quality. A little boy comes out when he's with Cheery, and he feels he can be himself with them. I think he's a little more guarded with the rest.
With Angua, it's the daughter he never had. With Carrot, it's the young man that he could never be. And Sybil is the other -- it's the good in him. It's -- I hate to say corny, but he dares to dream that perhaps maybe someone might see through the grime and the booze and the grit and the wrinkles and maybe, if love could be possible, he could be complete. Oh, and also Detritus is just the best friend anyone could ever have because he would do anything for you, and Sam would do anything for Detritus.
They're just a beautiful bunch and they work very well together. I think they bring out the best in each other. I think ultimately, that's what the show is about, that divided, we're not as strong, but united, we can overcome anything.
Tell me a little about working with Lara Rossi and how the two of you developed Vimes and Sybil's relationship.
Well, they're basically the chalk and cheese, aren't they? In this relationship, she is very much the dominant one, the male one, and Vimes allows that because he respects her, begrudgingly, and she, him. So the two people you never thought ever in a million years could come together do.
As an actor, Lara is just one of the best actors I've ever worked with. She is hilariously funny and deeply touching and engaging to work with. She's got a very wicked sense of humor, and the two of us spent a lot of time. I hope there's some blooper reels whenever the DVD comes out, because she found it very hard to keep a straight face! [laughs]
But we had those intense, like, almost love scenes, you know, when they're trying to communicate to one another. But yes, she's incredible, and I'm so glad she was playing the role because I literally can't imagine another actress on the entire planet playing that part.
Carcer, The Watch's villain, is so personal to Vimes. How did you set out to establish that dynamic and background with Samuel Adewunmi?
You know, this is the thing about when you cast: you just hope that when you spin the plates, they all spin together. The team they got together for The Watch and the principal characters, it was just instantaneous. We all clicked and there was a mutual respect we all could see, and we all liked our acting styles. I think they're all quite different, the acting styles, and so it should be, because then together, we create that dynamic.
With Sam, I think they were just hoping that it's there, that electricity, the threat of two people [who] in a different world could have been brothers. They were kind of brothers; they grew up together and Carcer looked out for Sam and was his big brother, and what Sam did -- I mean, Carcer is not a villain, in a way, just the way there's no such thing as a perfectly good person. There's no such thing as a perfectly bad person.
I think what he does with the role is great, and I think we just ran with it. Sometimes, you have no idea! You've just got to go with what's there, and sometimes it's best not to talk too much about past and history, because you might disagree. That's the magic of telling these stories is that the audience don't know that, you know? They don't know! We could have sat down for a year and talked about our backstory, but we didn't. I think there's that tension there and that familiarity between them, and also Carcer's resentment of Sam because Sam has love in his life and Carcer doesn't.
The scene where Vimes and Carcer were forced to dance together really stood out to me.
It was hard work! It was really hard work. I was on every day, and I didn't have any days off, so any spare time I had, I had to go into the dance hall and dance with Sam. It was fun. There's a lot of things in this. There's a lot of things we did in this, like skill sets that I've never had to use before.
What is something about the series that shocked or surprised you?
What surprised me and shocked me was my stamina! Because it really -- if you forget to drink water, when you're working in that heat, you can get very tired; you can get heatstroke. So I was surprised at my ability, because I'm twice the age of some of the other actors, so I was surprised that I could keep up. [laughs]
What is one of your favorite memories from set?
A memory. God, there's so many of them! I think what comes to my head -- the first thing that comes to my head is myself and Paul Kaye, who plays Inigo Skimmer, in our trailers with the electric guitars. I had found this really loud amp and trashing our trailers, because we were reunited from Game of Thrones, and that's what we did on Game of Thrones. Everybody had an instrument. I had a ukulele back then, and he had a guitar, but in this, we were just playing electric guitar, like "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols, as loud as possible.
What do you hope viewers take away from Season 1?
I hope they come away with a lighter heart, and I hope they laugh. I hope they have a tear in their eye, and I hope they have a good time.
The Watch is executive produced by BBC Studios' Hilary Salmon (Luther) and Phil Collinson (Doctor Who). The series, which will run for eight episodes, was written by Simon Allen (Das Boot). It stars Richard Dormer, Anna Chancellor, Lara Rossi, Ingrid Oliver, James Fleet, Marama Corlett, Sam Adewunmi, Jo Eaton-Kent, Adam Hugill, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Ruth Madeley, Bianca Simone and Ingrid Oliver. The Watch airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BBC America.