Read David Tennant's interview with the BBC on his role in Spies Of Warsaw and what it was like to film on location in Poland.
David Tennant plays Jean-Francois Mercier
What attracted you to Spies of Warsaw?
Initially the attraction came
because I know Richard Fell, the executive producer, and Coky Giedroyc, the
director: Coky from the [BBC musical comedy drama] Blackpool, and Richard from
The Quatermass Experiment, which was an extraordinary (and rather terrifying)
live TV drama that the BBC filmed a few years ago. So, getting an approach from
both of them – you kind of think, OK, I’d better take this quite seriously. I’d
better have a good look at this. Also, the main character seemed like quite an
unusual role for me. So that was an exciting prospect, too.
Were
you a fan of Alan Furst, the US novelist who wrote the original book?
I have to be honest, I hadn’t
come across any of his stuff. I don’t know if people in Britain are as aware of
him as they are in the States, where he’s a hugely popular author. So when this
came through, I went into my local bookshop and found a shelf that was full of
his novels. They are mostly wartime, espionage novels – and they all hang the
fiction off actual events. Sometimes even actual people. Winston Churchill’s
secretary Duff Cooper is in this one, for example.
How
would you describe Spies, for the benefit of people who haven’t come across the
novel?
It’s based between the First
and the Second World Wars and set principally in Warsaw – although all over
Europe at different times. And it’s the story of Jean-Francois Mercier, a
French cultural attaché in Warsaw, who also has this clandestine professional
life where he’s spying for the French on the Nazis – and anyone else who comes
into view, really.
And how
would you describe Mercier? What’s he like?
His background is that he’s a
‘chevalier’, so he’s minor aristocracy. And he’s a military man who has been
decorated and has had great successes in Poland and in France. I would say he
is motivated absolutely by his duty, but also by his personal morality. And I
think that’s how we start to see him coming up against his own superiors,
because he believes they are not treating Hitler with the respect he deserves –
that actually he’s a bigger threat than anyone is willing to accept.
So at
this point, war isn’t a given – people are still hoping that everything will
end peacefully?
Exactly. It’s stripping back
the idea that World War II was an immovable moment in time. I mean, Mercier
does see war as absolutely inevitable. But he’s surrounded by people who don’t.
Particularly within French intelligence – which I think is quite an accurate
portrayal of what was going on at the time.
Warsaw
suffered terribly in the War. How did it feel to be filming in the city where
it all took place?
There’s so much resonance to
want went on, because it was so graphic and ghastly. I’m not a historian, and
there would be other people who are better equipped to talk about this. But as
I understand it, Warsaw was utterly destroyed in the Second World War. Hitler
at one point allegedly said, “Turn it into a lake...” So they did.
But you
were filming in the Old Town of Warsaw – what’s that?
Well, it’s an extraordinary
place. When the War ended, the people of Warsaw basically rebuilt the Old Town,
brick by brick, exactly as it was. And it has been preserved ever since. It’s
not a museum. There are restaurants open. People live in the apartments. People
work here. But from a filming point of view it’s fantastic, because you have
all these streets that are exactly as they were 70 or 80 years ago.
Has
Poland rubbed off on you since you’ve been out here?
I’ve been enjoying the Borscht
and the Pierogi! Our caterers here all supply it with great aplomb. Pierogi is
like a kind of Polish ravioli. Sort of dumpling-ish. But I think Borscht is
probably my favourite. It’s beetroot soup. It’s delicious.
Have
you been encountering any Doctor Who fans in Poland?
A few! I didn’t realise that
Doctor Who plays in Poland, but it obviously does. I’ve had a few coming up to
me, wanting to say hello, maybe wanting a photograph or a signature. It doesn’t
happen quite on the ubiquitous scale that it happens at home – but then I don’t
think I’ve been to a country yet where I haven’t been met by someone who’s a
Doctor Who fan. Except maybe Uganda.
Would
you say that spy thrillers are making a comeback?
I don’t know if they’re making
a comeback, exactly. We had Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy recently. And James Bond
has always been there. But I’ve never come across anything quite like Spies of
Warsaw. Because although this is a spy story, it’s also a love story. And it’s
also a historical piece. It’s quite unusual and hard to categorise. But at the
end of the day it’s a gripping yarn as well. And however much we like to dress
it up, that’s ultimately the most important thing.
Source: BBC Media Centre
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