Callum Turner Spills Some Secrets About His Character in “The Capture”
Callum Turner became a familiar face to Potterheads all over the world when he was cast as Theseus Scamander in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Now he is starring in the brand-new TV thriller The Capture, and we are delighted to have him back on our screens.
The Capture is a show about how dangerous CCTV surveillance can be when it becomes a weapon in the wrong hands. Turner spoke with the Irish News about his new role in the series. He plays a character named Shaun Emery, a British soldier who is famous for all the wrong reasons – for one, he is being accused of murder. According to Turner, Shaun is looking for a way to redeem himself and change the way the world perceives him, but then a curveball comes his way and he’s back to square one.
The aforementioned murder took place while Shaun served in the army and killed someone in a way that appears unlawful. The act was captured on camera, which leads to Shaun being reprimanded on a global scale while the media tears him apart.
Turner admits that he had to change his idea of how killing works in a war in order to portray the character truthfully.
I initially thought if you kill someone and it’s against the law, then it’s against the law. But working with these guys [soldiers], it’s your life or theirs. So my perception changed, my ideas changed. And I have never been in that situation, so I don’t know what it’s like. So initially I was a bit stand-off, but then I found my way in.
He spent some time with soldiers to learn what their lives are like and treated it almost like a research project to build the character of Shaun.
One in particular, Smudge – who was my trainer, but was then my friend – shared a lot of his experiences with me, helped build the character with me. He showed me a lot of pictures on Facebook, which probably shouldn’t be on Facebook, of soldiers being shot at and smiling, things like that, understanding how close they are to death. But they’re trained – these guys are killing machines. Trying to focus in on that and the energy of that person, that’s the challenge.
Turner stars opposite Holliday Grainger, who portrays the role of Rachel Carey. She is the detective investigating Shaun’s case. Turner seems thrilled to be able to work with her.
When I first started in acting nearly ten years ago I did a walk[-]on part in The Borgias, which Holliday was brilliant in. She’s one of the best that we’ve got, I think, and I think she’s brilliant in this.
On how he experienced starring opposite Johnny Depp in Crimes of Grindelwald, Turner says that it was a memorable moment. His family seems to have been even more excited about it than he was. Turner recalled how they all ran up to Depp to ask him for photos when they visited the set.
I was freaking out because I didn’t really speak to him on set, but he’s such a nice guy and was like ‘don’t worry about it!’ My aunt always said she’d leave her husband for Johnny Depp, so that was a worry, but I couldn’t not invite her!’
On what kind of characters he’d like to play in the future, Turner says he’d love to be the Joker to Robert Pattinson’s Batman. Well, if that ends up happening, you can bet your wand that we’ll be jumping up and down with joy.
We’re very excited to see how Turner’s character’s story develops in The Capture. The first episode aired on September 3 on BBC1. If you missed it, don’t worry – you can catch up on the episodes here.
Have you watched The Capture yet? We’d love to know your thoughts. Drop them in the comments.
