Artful Dodger a much happier Aussie shoot for David Thewlis than last time | Television tonight

Esteemed British actor David Thewlis has had a much happier time on screen The cunning evader in Australia than his previous project down under.

“I worked in Australia in the mid-1990s on a disastrous film called Doctor Moreau’s islandwhich we won’t talk about. We need two hours to talk about that,” he reveals.

“It was disastrous, but it wasn’t Australia’s fault, and it wasn’t the fault of the Australian people. That was possibly the worst work experience I’ve had. This is one of the most enjoyable work experiences I’ve had in 40 years and a big reason for that is Australia itself, Sydney itself. I feel very much at home there.”

“I don’t know what it is. I don’t feel any fear when I’m there. I feel very relaxed, very calm, very happy. I think it’s to do with so much water everywhere. I grew up by the sea in England. I live in Bondi, when I live there, and I do the coastal walk whenever I can, and just take the ferries between the different ports.

“Something about Sydney just fills me with joy. And when I’m not there, I miss it, and I really, really hope we come back.”

Thewlis returns as Norbert Fagin in the Disney+ series set in 1850s Australia. The colonial romp essentially marks the first time Thewlis has taken on a Charles Dickens character in his career spanning more than three decades.

“The only Dickens I actually made, I think this is correct, is one of my very first films. I had a role in Little Dorrit. If you look at IMDb it’s there, but if you watch the movie I think you’ll have a hard time seeing me in it. I’m actually an extra in it. You might notice that because I’m very tall and I’m wearing a very tall hat, so you stand out in the crowd. But it really shouldn’t be on my CV,” he suggests.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done a Dickens in between… Maybe I’m making a big mistake there… but obviously I’m completely familiar. We grew up in Britain, we’ve watched every single adaptation of every single book, and we’re clearly trained in reading the books. But Oliver Twist has a special place in my heart. I quite liked the musical. I was young when that came out. I saw that in the cinema. I actually live in London, in the middle of real Dickens country. I live in Clerkenwell. Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger meet for the first time in Clerkenwell Green, directly opposite my apartment, and Saffron Hill, the original model where Fagan lived, is a few blocks away from where I live. So I live kind of in a little Dickensian enclave in London, so I was very happy to get the opportunity to play this particular character.

Reinventing Fagin for season one in 2023 was among the calls for him to take on the role and he cites Ron Moody’s 1968 performance in Oliver the Musical as more of an inspiration than Dickens’ original novel.

“It’s based on a little bit of reality. Because Ikey Solomon, the man Fagin was based on, was shipped to Tasmania. That’s where the whole idea for this series came from.

“But the real inspiration was James McNamara’s script for this version of Fagin. He was much more of a lovable rogue, a rogue character, and I really embraced the comedic aspects of him. In my career I’ve never been asked to do so much comedy, really, I fell into a little niche of playing saintly, wonderful, good people or absolute psychopaths. Lots of psychopaths. This character was a bit of a psychopath, but I think it’s very sweet… the character on the page. I really enjoy doing it. the comedy of playing him and the silliness of him. It’s been a very liberating thing for me to do the show. That’s why he’s one of my favorite characters I’ve ever played.

Fagin is in prison at the end of the last season, but has since managed to obtain pardon papers as a free man.

“He’s no longer a convict, and in fact he now employs Dodger as his convict servant. So the status-power game has been reversed. I now live in a very spacious warehouse full of treasures, trinkets and jewels. I’m a relatively rich man at the moment and on track to become a much richer man as the season progresses. So I embark on some sort of land scam to try to basically sell out the center of Australia to all the rich tofts in the region. (none of whom have ever visited) has ever been in central Australia at this point in history,” he continues.

“I sell it as a tropical paradise that I own and make a lot of money from it. So I think we see Fagin being less of a drifter and actually succeeding in his mission to become a rich man.”

Thomas Brodie-Sangster plays the title role, joined by Maia Mitchell, Luke Bracey, Jeremy Sims, Zac Burgess, Susie Porter, Damien Garvey, Tim Minchin, Lucy-Rose Leonard, Kim Gyngell, Nicholas Burton, Aljin Abella, Albert Latailakepa and Kate Mulvany.

But even though Fagin is guilty of theft, deceit and various extortions, there is still an underlying personal motivation behind Thewlis’ characterization.

“I think, if not more importantly, his relationship with Dodger is a father-son relationship, not by blood, but he certainly wants his undivided attention, love, affection and his forgiveness, which is a driving force throughout,” he explains.

“Even if that’s not the most striking thing in the script, it’s what drives my motivation as a character. What he wants above all is Dodger’s love. And of course the biggest rival to that is Lady Belle and also this constant threat of the noose.”

“We’re both living on the edge of execution at all times.”

The Artful Dodger Season 2 can be streamed on Disney+ from February 10.