Richard Madden interview: Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams

Maddens Ross is on the side of the government.

And Id read quite a lot of his stuff before.

But these short stories are remarkably hard to get hold of, actually.

But Ive kind of been ploughing through them, and Im looking forward to seeing the other episodes.

I love his work.

And thats why I kind of really get into it and love the books.

Do you have a favourite adaptation of Philip K. Dicks work?

Err, not a favourite of his.

Theres one calledThe Gateway, by Frederik Pohl, which is like my favourite sci-fi book.

If youre into sci-fi, read that book.

What kind of sci-fi are you most into?

Are you into leaping across galaxies, or the more satirical?

I love leaping across galaxies.

I love things coming into our world things that we can relate to.

But yeah, I love that kind of thing.

Things that you could see happening.

Even things likeThe Road.

Things that I can believe, I get into them.

Why do think Philip K. Dicks stories have lasted so long and been made into so many successful films?

What is it about his work that has maintained?

I think its because it all sparks from humanity.

Its us dealing with sort of universal issues.

It doesnt matter what time theyre in.

Those are kind of universal themes, that we can have at any point in our lives.

We might never get to the bottom of these ones.

And this just gives you another platform to look at that.

The Philip K. Dick sci-fi school was quite influence by the Cold War.

Do you like when the sci-fi and the real world start to bleed together?

Yeah, and you get elements of that in this.

Little bits of that, that kind of creep in, that I like.

And how did you get involved with this?

What was the approach you had?

It was just kind of regular, how you a get a gig.

Pre-Game Of Thrones, Id done a piece with him calledWorried About The Boy, about Boy George.

Kind of the start of Boy Georges story.

Julian directed that, and then Ive worked with him since.

I think this is our third or fourth gig together.

Could you talk a bit about who you play, and what this world is like?

So I play Agent Ross, who is a detective.

Were in this world which is quite strange.

Its explained in the book.

But also, the radiation from that affected human beings.

So now, there are some human beings born with telepathic abilities.

Its telepaths or non-telepaths.

And theres a really big difference in how they live and how theyre treated in this world.

So its, kind of, were in the future but the past.

Its strange, but its a really kind of intriguing world.

Does Holliday Grainger play the other detective?

Does she work with you?

She plays a telepath.

And so, were kind of thrust together at the beginning of the episode.

What do the telepaths look like?

So it’s possible for you to tell by looking at them if theyre different.

Its a little bit Ziggy Stardust, some of it.

But it works really well.

Would you go for telepathy, if you had the option?

I dont want to read anyone elses mind.

How boring would that be?

It would be so boring, you know, to be able to know everything.

And, also, Ive got enough of my own bullshit going on.

I dont need anyone elses.

How are you with technology, in real life?

How would you react if all technology was rendered useless?

Oh God, Id love it.

Id absolutely love it.

I love not having to engage with that, much to my agents and my familys fury.

I just kind of dont look at it.

I take hours to respond to anything, if I respond at all.

Its kind of like bills: until you get the third one it doesnt really matter.

Does the TV version have the same level of compulsory surveillance?

And the people going against it are actually in the minority.

Whereas, in our version, its switched.

In the original story, theyre trying to find the person that made the hood.

Is that the same?

Its the catalyst for everything.

The difference is, when ours starts, the stakes are much higher than in the book.

We dont have to get your permission before we do it.

So thats where we kind of start, at this really high tension point.

And thats why the hoods become so relevant very quickly, because were right at breaking point.

And how close does it stick to the story in terms of your character?

So, you know, weve got it all!

And then we sort of really expanded it.

And thats what was so great about Julian.

And working with Holliday as well.

You really had your own kind of space to play and create and make this character.

So youve not really got a lot of original material to work from.

Whats Agent Rosss stance on the whole force-reading peoples minds ideas?

Obviously, he works for the government, but is he totally on board?

His relationship is… hes dubious about the telepaths.

Are we rooting for him, though?

Is he the good guy?

Yeah, I think hes a good guy.

But then, I would, because I played him.

Is this episode so sci-fi that its removed from any idea of the NSA?

Does it have any echo of the current privacy concerns?

And I think thats something that we have today.

Did you encounter [executive producer] Bryan Cranston at all?

But yeah, it was really great to meet him actually.

He came in just before he was about to start shooting his episode.

So I was like, he didnt need to do that.

He doesnt have to do any of that.

So, it was really great to have him there, just to know hes got your back.

Was he comfortable with directing this?

Yeah, yeah, I think he was.

Hes made a world that was just, kind of… Its like, keep up, and its actually very easy to keep up with.

And Julians really made this world kind of really relatable, but different.

It feels like a foreign country.

A city in a foreign country that we just dont know anything about.

And I think this worlds kind of got echoes of that.

And the people have echoes of that as well.

Its a different place.

And how action-packed is your episode?

Did you get to do any stunts?

Yeah, there was some stunts actually.

There was a bit of stunts.

Its got quite a lot of action in it.

Its got really quite a strange structure to the episode.

It kind of constantly escalates and bounces and jumps from different bits, but its constantly moving and building.

In this old Ford Corolla.

This great big beast of a car.

And I kind of got to rally that about.

How long was the shoot for this, and how fast-paced was it compared to other stuff?

It was about three and a half weeks, maybe, of shooting, we had on this.

You know, some TV shows are like two weeks per ep kind of thing.

Was it in a studio, or was it on location?

We did quite a bit on location.

One of the best locations was the headquarters of the Free Union, this kind of government police force.

We used a disused concrete companys headquarters, which theyd left.

It was this mad big building out in Berkshire, that was all made of concrete.

Every single thing in the whole building was made of concrete.

Except for the windows, though, because they obviously needed to be glass.

Erm, but everything else was concrete.

It was really weird.

The desks coming out of the ground were concrete.

All of it was just fucking concrete.

But that was a really good location to go to.

It was kind of rapidly changed.

And that concrete place was your headquarters?

Yeah, we kind of filmed interrogation stuff there, and our offices there, which was really cool.

Kind of really east.

Like, old abandoned warehouse buildings and things, that are really, you know, gross.

Bats and smashed things.

And you think, theres been loads of great rave-ups here.

Is it quite scary, then, as well?

The tension is high in it, yeah.

Kind of, the real danger to it.

But when you watch it back, and you go Fuck, this actually feels really really violent.

This is a place thats really just about to explode.

And so yeah, its quite scary in that element I suppose.

But its more just tense and your heart is pumping throughout it.

Were you looking to move into something more modern and contemporary?

Yeah, Ive been looking forward to kind of being in more contemporary things.

Ive done lots of period stuff.

I love doing period things, and I love doing period things on stage as well.

But this was a really good opportunity.

Im wearing period costumes again.

How did I end up in another period thing?

You know, ideally, Id like to not be in armour and leggings and stuff for a while.

Id happily be in a suit, or just some jeans and a T-shirt.

Do you tend to watch much telly?

Yeah, I watch a lot of telly.

What kind of things do you like?

I kind of plough through it all.

What am I on just now?Ozark, that series.

What else have I been watching?

I kind of dip in, try and get a bit of everything.

And obviously I watchThronesand all the big ones that everyone else is into.

Have you got any televisual guilty pleasures?Come Dine With Meor stuff like that?

No, thank God I dont, because theres just too much actual good material out there now.

So rather than turn on something shit, Ill pick up a book.

Its the only way.

I kind of have to like force myself into [reading].

Have you got any TV heroes, when it comes to actors?

Erm, the latest one is Elisabeth Moss inHandmaids Tale.

I just thought she, and the whole cast, were absolutely brilliant in that.

And that just gets me really exited, to act in, I want something like that.

You see some brilliant, patient, thought-through, delicate, heartbreaking performances.

Yeah, I loved that.

And are you enjoyingThronesmore, as a viewer?

I enjoy it much more now to watch, because I dont know whats gonna happen.

You dont get any inside info, then?

You go, How could you be in the same place as that person?

Oh God, dont tell me!

Err, so I have to do like a blanket ban.

I can just enjoy it.

Do you hang out?

Is theThronescast like a gang?

I felt that were still very close friends, yes.

I see Kit often, and Im actually seeing Michelle Fairley tonight, who played my mother.

Im actually seeing her tonight for the first time in a while.

So yeah, we do keep in touch, quite a lot of us, quite often.

So its hard to, but we try.

And what are you up to next?

Next Im doing a comedy with Netflix calledIbiza, where I play a DJ.

I get to be in jeans and T-shirt!

Its quite an interesting little comedy Im doing next.

Did you get to see any of the other episodes ofElectric Dreams, when they were works in progress?

Ah, he must also be doing the sci-fi thing.

Bits of that, but not too much of it sadly.

Were you quite pleased to avoid the tight Lycra yourself?

Ive done Lycra before, and Im not doing it again.

Not for a while, like.

Richard Madden, thank you very much!

Episode 1 ofPhilip K. Dicks Electric Dreamsairs on September 17th at 9pm on Channel 4.