Rather than a traditional whodunnit, Five Days is about what happens to the community when a crime is committed. SHUIB TAIB talks to the senior police officer investigating the case.
A MOTHER vanishes into thin air. Her children, abandoned in her car, also end up missing.
As police search for clues over three gut-wrenching months, the woman’s husband and family learn that nobody’s quite what they seem. In the end, five days prove critical in solving the case.
This is the premise of Five Days, which makes its debut on HBO (Astro channel 411) tomorrow in two parts (7pm and 9pm) followed by repeats the following day (at 11am and 1pm, respectively).
It revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a beautiful young mother in the family-friendly suburbs of Hertfordshire, outside of London.
It focuses on the day of the woman’s vanishing and four random days that follow. Each of the five days captures a watershed day in the investigation and its fallout effects on the lives of those involved.
Detective Superintendent Iain Barclay, played by Hugh Bonneville, has a tough job on his hands.
As the senior police officer investigating the mysterious disappearance, Barclay is under pressure to find her, dead or alive.
Born in 1963, Bonneville is an English stage, film and television actor. He studied at Sherborne School and read theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge before training for the stage at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Bonneville starred in many TV dramas over the last 15 years, including Tsunami, The Aftermath, The Gathering Storm, and Tipping The Velvet. Here, he speaks about his role as Iain Barclay and why he is intrigued by the character.
Question: The movie shows flaws in both the individual and the system. Would you say that it is more of a human mystery than a normal science mystery?
Hugh Bonneville: I think people who expect a traditional whodunnit or murder mystery are going to be disappointed.
It’s about the effects of what happens when a crime is committed rather than who did the crime.
It’s like a pebble being dropped into a pond. It’s about the ripple effect on the families’ community and the impact the disappearance has on them.
Q: When the police isn’t saying anything, the media conjures up their own story. Do you think that a lot of what we know about crimes committed might be a little “cooked up” by the media?
HB: There have been cases which are prime examples, as in the case of Madeline McCann, a young girl who went missing in Portugal last year.
There have been questions about the Portuguese police operation. Because their methods are very different from those used by the police in other countries, the media decided to become judge and jury, often fabricating stories about the family, the victim and even the police because they need to fill their newspapers!
It means that the investigation is skewed and public perception depends on which newspaper you read. I think that’s a very dangerous situation that we’ve come to.
Q: In Five Days, you play a detective. Did you base it on any one character that you know?
HB: I wasn’t familiar with the role. When the producers said that this is the one character they don’t understand, I said: “That’s why I want to play him.” You shouldn’t fully understand him. He’s a still-water-runs-deep kind of person. You don’t know what makes him tick. He’s not a flashy front man.
He’s a cautious man, a thinker. He thinks outside the box. He has great interest in the stars and the universe so he is not at all ordinary.
He lives life at a slightly different pace which is why he can see things that other people don’t. I find all these very attractive and that’s why I wanted to play him.
Q: What attracted you most to your character?
HB: I think the fact that not everything is explained. There are no good guys or bad guys. Everyone has their three-dimensional flaws and foibles. I thought it made a very human story and that it wasn’t following a classic structure.
Q: Did you share anything in common with your character?
HB: I think what I shared most is the sense of dignified enquiry. I’m not someone who kicks down doors for answers.
I’m quite a good listener and this is the strength of this particular detective; that he knows when to listen and when to turn the screw.
He’s a great delegator, a bit like the captain of a cricket team. He knows when to use his players to his best advantage. He doesn’t want to do everything himself and strive to be the hero. There’s nothing worse than working with a pain in the neck.
Q: You have worked with a lot of great actors from America as well. I’m going to name four Amercian actors and would appreciate it if you could describe them: Julia Roberts
HB: She’s no older than me but she has been a film star since she was a teenager. When I made Notting Hill with her, it was very exciting.
I realised that many other stars that I’ve worked with are stars for very good reasons: they are very good actors. She taught me a lot about discipline and good-naturedness and stuff on set. She was a great pleasure to have met and worked with even though it is almost 10 years ago now.
Hugh Grant
I wish I have hair like his (laughs). He has to be one of the funniest, rudest men I’ve ever met; rude in a fun way.
Kate Winslet
She is a remarkable, raw talent and a force of nature. The scene with her in the film Iris still moves me very much. I can remember the way it was shot and how inspired she was on that day.
She’s a lot younger and a lot better than me and that made me feel about an inch high (laughs).
It is very humbling when you work with real, amazing talent and Kate’s quite something.
It’s always a pleasure to watch what she does because she doesn’t know how to lie on screen. It’s always real, proper truth.
Martin Freeman
Freeman is just a very funny man and a very good actor. I played his brother in a TV series and I wished we could have done more but he’s up and busy with The Office, an iconic character he created based on his own warm personality.
I’m just delighted that he’s recognised all around the world for being such a fine actor.
Q: Seeing that Five Days was such a big hit with the Americans and the British, do you think that the traditional Agatha Christie-like mysteries will go out of style?
HB: I don’t think so. I think there’s room on the buffet table for all these different snacks.
I think that the texture of any of the Agatha Christie shows will never go out of fashion. This is the benchmark for all TV and film crime dramas.
Without those sorts of shows, shows like Five Days won’t have a launch-pad.
Q: More and more British actors are making an impact in the United States. Was it difficult for you working there?
HB: No, acting is pretty much the same all over. It’s just a very different scale in America.
Compared to Hollywood, we’re a cottage industry here.
There are about 30,000 actors in the United Kingdom and about 120,000 actors in the Screen Actors’ Guild so it’s a huge business in Hollywood.
Of course many shows are done out of love and creativity but often there is a lot of the factory element.
You feel as though something’s been churned out. I think it’s a much more human scale in the UK.
I enjoyed both experiences but there are some amazing shows coming out of America and out of the UK and equally not-so-good-quality stuff.
I’ve had my share of both but I think in terms of one’s enjoyment of work, my home is the UK.
But the sunshine in Hollywood I can live without. I prefer the rain in England.
New Straits Times