The premiere date for Happy Valley series 2 has finally been announced. The show will air on BBC One on Tuesday February 9th. Matt will be playing Sean Balmforth. Read an interview Matthew did with the BBC here. A teaser for the show, which does not feature Matthew, may be viewed below:
Matt Lewis Talks Happy Valley Series 2; New Photo
BBC has released some new photos and interviews to promote Happy Valley series 2. Matthew is new to the cast this year and will be playing Sean Balmforth. They have also shared the first photo of Matt as Sean. There is still no firm premiere date for series 2, but it will be some time in February. Their interview with Matt can be read below.
Everyone I knew had seen the first series and told me how spectacular it was. I was working when it aired so I missed it but once I’d been cast in series two I went back and was absolutely blown away. A few bits from that first series still stay with me!
How did you come to be involved in series two?
I got sent the script and the character breakdown which as you’ll see was a fascinating prospect. I knew it’d be a challenge, probably my biggest to date, but I was eager to be involved and to work with Sally Wainwright so I went in to see her and she gave me the job.
How would you describe your character?
Sean has had a bad start in life and it’s defined him in ways that are out of his control. He’s not an alcoholic, as in he doesn’t need it to function but he is well on his way to becoming one. He’s angry and lost and finds it difficult to express his emotions which when coupled with his drinking can become a tinderbox.
Was your character challenging to play?
It was tough to get into his mind. I can’t say too much without giving away parts of the story that we will discover along the way with Sean but he’s in a very dark place and it gets worse for him throughout. Getting into the mind of somebody like that with those problems and those thought processes was daunting. Luckily I had a superb cast and crew around to help out.
How did you prepare for the role?
I spoke to Sally quite a bit and was sent several character breakdowns for Sean. There wasn’t
masses of research involved with this role as Sally writes in such a way that it’s all on the page for you. I read the script a lot, to go over again and again those emotions and the frustrations that Sean was going through. And to a lesser degree I studied the effects of alcoholism and how it affects motor function and things like that.
What appealed to you about this project?
Sally Wainwright and Sarah Lancashire. I hadn’t seen the first series until after I’d been cast but I knew the sheer talent involved in the project and how successful the first series had been. I’d worked with Sarah and Siobhan Finneran about 20 years previous and the chance to do that again was amazing. The opportunity to work with Sally and the complexity of the character she had created meant I couldn’t say no even if I wanted to.
Have you ever worked with any of the cast before?
Roughly 20 years ago I had a part in Where The Heart Is which Sarah was the lead in. I was about six years old and my mother was played by Siobhan! I have really fond memories of that shoot so getting back together with those two after so many years was incredible. They are so lovely and the way they work together is spectacular. To be around and watch them both as they were playing sisters opposite each other was such a privilege.
Are there any anecdotes you can tell us about that happened during filming?
There was a wonderful moment off set when the crew were setting up and Sarah and Siobhan were talking about a big scene they had coming up in a few days. Sarah half knew it and Siobhan hadn’t really looked at it. They decided to run it together and I feel so fortunate that I was there to watch it. It was a big scene, about ten pages or something and after about 4 or 5 pages Siobhan had gotten as far as she’d prepared. Sarah kept going and so Siobhan basically guessed what her character would say in the situation and it just fit. Every single time it fit and Sarah had a cue and was able to keep going with her dialogue. It was mind-blowing, they inhabit their characters so well and they work off each other like real sisters. It was such a pleasure to watch. I wasn’t there for the actual shooting of the scene a few days later but I bet it was a corker.
What projects do you have coming up?
I shot a film for Warner Brothers called Me Before You a few months before Happy Valley so that’ll be out in 2016 and I’ve just finished a new season of Ripper Street which is also on in 2016. Filming on the next season of that starts late January so I’m growing my 19th century sideburns and moustache back as we speak.
Videos: Matt Lewis Promotes Ripper Street Series 4
Another new interview featuring Matthew Lewis and Adam Rothenberg promoting Ripper Street series 4 has been released by HeyUGuys. The first episode is now available on Amazon Prime UK.
A couple more interviews have been released by MTV UK and Radio Times. While speaking to MTV, he talks about the show as well as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Radio Times chats with him about Ripper Street and Happy Valley. Apparently the crew for Happy Valley loved his moustache from Ripper Street so much they asked him to keep it for their show.
“They saw the moustache and said, ‘That’s perfect, keep that’. I was like, ‘Thanks guys, I have to wear this for the next four months – my sex offender moustache.'”
Additonally, AOL has posted an interview with Matthew and Adam. Thanks to AccioMDL for putting it on Youtube:
Matt Lewis Talks Game of Thrones, Bluestone 42 and Ripper Street in New Interview
In another new interview promoting Ripper Street, which begins streaming on Amazon Prime UK today, Matthew talks about the show as well as trying to get a role in Game of Thrones. We would totally be up for that! There are a few characters who haven’t yet appeared on the show that he would be great for. Who wants to start the petition?
“I just worked with Emilia Clarke, she was like, ‘They’re going to be doing some new casting.’ I was like, ‘Right, well, why don’t you tell them I’m free and I can come and do it.’
“I’ve seen a bit of the first season and a bit of the second, and I’ve read all the books, so I’m a big fan of the story. I’d definitely jump at a chance to be involved in that.
“I’d get to do my own accent, which is always nice, and it’s fun. I know a few people on it and it sounds like the most amazing fun—swords, shields, riding on horseback. What an era to throw yourself into!”
As a fan of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice novels, who could Matthew, 26, see himself playing? “The series is now ahead of the books so everyone’s been cast,” he says.
“My favourite character actually was Bronn when I read the books. I said that to Jerome when we first started shooting [Ripper Street], ‘Before we start, Ripper Street’s great, mate, but the way you play Bronn is absolutely identical to how I imagined it.’
For his role in Ripper Street, Matthew had to do a Cockney accent. Speaking to Yahoo UK:
“It’s weird. I went in for the meeting and he’s a Whitechapel lad, so they said, ‘Can you do it in a cockney accent?’ I go, ‘I dunno, I can give it a go, I’ve got enough black cabs in my time.’ Then I got the part and was like, ‘So the accent was fine?’ And they said, ‘Yeah.’
“On set I told the director, ‘If it goes all Dick Van Dyke you’re going to have to tell me’, because I just don’t know. The worst thing would be to watch it on Amazon and it be dreadful.”
He also spoke to Yahoo UK about the possibility of a Bluestone 42 film. He says he would definitely be interested if there was story to tell. He wouldn’t want to do a film just for the sake of making a film.
Everything You Wanted To Know About Matt Lewis with Buzzfeed
Buzzfeed has shared a fun new interview with Matthew Lewis this morning. They ask him 39 seemingly random questions but we love hearing these facts about Matt. Definitely one of the more fun interviews from his Ripper Street promotion. A few of his answers may be read below:
Your biggest pet peeve? I’ve got quite a few actually. People who leave a bit of tea at the bottom of a mug. That pisses me off. Just drink the whole damn thing. What is wrong with you? Because when I go and put it in the dishwasher it goes everywhere and that does my head in. Drink the whole thing. I made it for you, drink it.
Favourite dance move? I can’t dance to save my life. I can’t name dance moves.
If so, what [have you stolen from a set?] [Laughs] Oh no, I knew that was coming! How long have you got? I’ve got the whole Neville outfit from the final [Harry Potter] film. The trousers and the shirt and the cardigan, sort of covered in blood and burn marks and stuff. They know I’ve got it now, but I did steal it – with the help of a costume dresser. We worked together and we smuggled it out of the building.
Funniest story from the Ripper Street set? Man, they’re a funny bunch of guys. There’s some good stuff that’s happened. One of the things that I did personally, a friend of mine called Jake, who was in this show, there was a point at which he was a corpse and he’s laid out on this slab, he’s all decked out to look like a dead body. And so we recreated that scene from Friends with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Joey, you know when he’s like [puts on accent] “This man is dying!” So we did that whole scene and then we put the cloth over his head and did the “This man is dead.” I’m not going to show it to you but we filmed it. That was a funny day.
Favourite joke? The price of Velcro’s going up. It’s a rip-off.
What’s your life motto? When I was younger it used to be “everything happens for a reason”, but as I’ve got older that seems to mean less to me. I don’t believe in fate, I don’t think our lives are predestined. I think that we achieve things by putting ourselves in positions to achieve things, whether that’s through learning or being positive. I try to take an outlook on life where good shit doesn’t just happen to people. People who get themselves out there and want to experience and say yes, they’re the people who experience these opportunities and stuff. So it’s a bit wanky, but I guess it’s kind of the idea that we make our own luck. We’re only here once, so it’s what we make of it. No one’s going to do it for us.