Idris Elba: Filming sequences inside a aircraft for six months was ‘claustrophobic’
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dris Elba says that filming motion sequences inside an actual duplicate of an aeroplane for six months had been “claustrophobic” however “exhilarating”.
The Luther star spent a prolonged period of time contained in the “intimate” house of Apple TV+’s new collection Hijack.
The seven-episode collection follows Elba’s character, Sam Nelson, who’s on a aircraft from Dubai to London that has been hijacked.
Nelson is a company negotiator who tries to make use of his skilled abilities to save lots of the passengers on the aircraft.
Speaking on the collection premiere of the present in London on Tuesday, Elba mentioned the “millimetre by millimetre replica” set was “designed to be uncomfortable”.
“(It was) claustrophobic, but designed that way you know?” he advised the PA news company.
“Planes are not like boxing rings, there’s no place to swing, you know what I mean?
“So it was designed to feel uncomfortable, look uncomfortable, be dangerous and I think we achieved that.”
He continued: “I really enjoyed that… action sequences are designed to be exhilarating, but in a plane – they’re going to be awkward. There’s no space to fight.
“It was very intimate, very tough but I got in there in the end.”
Asked concerning the similarities between Nelson and his well-known character of grizzled DCI Luther, he replied: “They are both very intellectual people but John Luther is a lot more brawns and Sam Nelson is a lot more brains”
Elba beforehand mentioned that spending a lot time filming within the cramped house had felt like he was “flying to Mars”.
He mentioned: “As an actor, it felt like I was flying to Mars – ‘Am I still on this flight? It’s like six months later. I’m still on this flight’ – or like three seasons of a show.”
He was joined on the premiere on Tuesday by co star Archie Panjabi and his mom, Eve Elba.
The first two episodes of Hijack launch on Apple TV+ on Wednesday June 28 and will probably be adopted by one new episode each Wednesday till August 2.