NR: That’s very cool. How was shooting in London? You said it was eight months, was it all of 2021?
CGM: We got there for pre-production end of March and we started [shooting] a month after that. We wrapped in London on September 20th, then we went to Asheville, North Carolina, and filmed there until around 20th of October, and that’s when we officially wrapped. So it was eight months all in. It was really intense.

NR: I feel you, I did an eight-month job from 2020 to 2021 and it was intense.
CGM: I thought about you a lot during this actually, because I remember we were talking a bit during that time period when you were filming Maid. I’d never done TV, I’d only done guest appearances on Desperate Housewives when I was like seven years old. But I’d never actually been on a show every episode, and I remember you just being like, “It’s a really long time and it’s kind of intense.” That was the basis of what I felt the entire time, it was incredible and I felt really lucky to be a part of it, but it is a marathon. It was a 117-day shoot and I was in 113 of those days split between both worlds.

NR: Wow.
CGM: I was shooting episodes one through eight in a day, in both worlds with different directors.

NR: The thing I did was block shot, so it would be two episodes at a time, and it was one character. Having to jump back and forth between times and keep all of that in your head, did you develop a system? Did you have a giant calendar or binder somewhere? [both laugh]
CGM: I came up with this idea of colour-coding, so we had the massive one line then we had all the scripts. I had them break all the scripts into mini-scripts, and then I colour-coded them blue, pink, white etc. We would colour-code them to the one line, so when they printed the call sheet out everyday, or when I looked at the one line, I would know on a certain day I’d need to bring purple, yellow and green to set for example, which would mean three, seven and two. Having the mini versions on set meant I would read a couple of scenes prior, so I would know exactly what I was walking out of or if I was in future London and now I’m in [the fictional town of] Clanton, what did I just learn in future London and how would that pertain to what I’m going through now? What you also find out throughout the story is there is a very physical repercussion that happens every time I might die in the robot body, or something else happens, there is a physical consequence. So there was also this physical storyline I was trying to keep a hold of. That was probably the hardest part – trying to make sure that continued to make sense.

NR: Tracing not only your character’s mental state but the physical state as well.
CGM: In a short timeline too, it’s eight episodes but I think it’s only a two-week time frame.

NR: So it all has to track pretty directly. Continuity-wise, you’re talking about [a story across] days not weeks. That sounds intense but also a fun challenge, it sounds like you had the right mindset. It’s cool you had time to read stuff prior, so you at least knew where you were supposed to be in a scene, that is always helpful. Is every episode directed by a different director?
CGM: No, we only had two directors which was nice. I think any more directors would have been really intense! Vincenzo Natali was our first director and Alrick Riley was our second. Vincenzo actually brought this story to Jonah and Lisa, he has a very close relationship with the author William Gibson. Vincenzo was our guiding ship throughout the whole time and for any questions, he had the voice of William Gibson, so he would talk to him and bring information to us. He would also give us the blessing of William Gibson, which is a huge deal in a lot of ways, we were really hoping to have that. On top of it all, they really gave me a lot of trust in the collaboration, they allowed me to go there with Flynne in the ways I really wanted to. There were also a lot of synchronicities between myself and her, we’re very similar in a lot of ways, which they allowed me to feed into. The small town of Clanton was filmed in Asheville in a place called Marshall and it’s only a 40-minute drive from where my father’s side of my family is from in Hickory. So the accent and everything was pretty easy for me because it was what I grew up with… and had to get rid of. They all let me lead the accent and set the tone for stuff in Clanton which was really cool.

NR: I knew you were from Georgia, I remember you talking about starting out having a really think Southern accent and having to go to a dialect coach to lose it. So it was easy to slip back into?
CGM: Too easy. [both laugh] Now I have to work to get rid of it again.

NR: It’s like Pandora’s Box.
CGM: 100 per cent, I now can’t go back. I used to slip into it if I was tired or if I was drinking or fighting, the accent would come out. [both laugh] But now it’s around the corner at every exchange and I can’t really get rid of it. I’m having to actively walk back the accent which is funny.

NR: You’re back to square one, you’ve got to go back to your dialect coach.
CGM: Full fucking circle, Nick. [laughs]

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