Early in Season 5 of “Slow Horses,” Slough House boss Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) yells at underling River Cartwright (Jack Lowden): “Your world stopped when your granddad went gaga and your dad tried to blow you up.” Lamb, blunt as always, makes a good point: It has been a tough slog for Lowden’s MI5 agent-in-exile. Having spent most of the previous season trying to look after his Alzheimer’s-affected grandpa (Jonathan Pryce) while chasing down his sociopathic father (Hugo Weaving), River now bungles a key assignment — though he ultimately saves the day. “Any time River gets any kind of small win, I’m delighted for him,” Lowden said in a video chat from his parents’ home in Scotland.
Emmy-nominated for supporting actor in a drama series for the second time, Lowden has come a long way since his early days as a shy Scottish kid who watched British sitcom reruns “religiously” while his brother Calum, now a principal dancer for the Royal Swedish Ballet, seemed to be the more obvious performer in the family. But Lowden went on to earn his fractured action-hero gravitas the hard way: summer classes at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and several years of stage work. In 2018, after appearing in “Dunkirk,” he met his wife-to-be, Saoirse Ronan, while filming “Mary Queen of Scots.” More recently, Lowden played a recovering alcoholic opposite Martin Freeman in the National Theatre production of “The Fifth Step” and offered his take on Mr. Darcy in Netflix’s forthcoming adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice.”
Lowden talked to The Envelope about savoring “Slow Horses’” brusque humor, keeping his character on the move and acting opposite master thespians who know how to go deep at the drop of a hat.
Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb seems to take great delight in insulting you, especially after the politician River was supposed to protect gets hit on the head by a pot of paint and dies. Do you enjoy squirming and stammering while Mr. Oldman gives you grief?
I loved playing that scene! River goes in there just hoping not to get fired, so that’s what makes him shut up and take a lot from Jackson Lamb. I actually don’t enjoy the few moments where River properly argues back. What I love is when River’s just getting slapped around the face time and time again by Jackson. I find it funny.
Those sequences also land comedically because you’re teamed with deadpan-bordering-on-catatonic agent J.K. Coe, played by Tom Brooke.
Having the brilliant Tom Brooke next to me was like walking around with a wooden door that I constantly tried to run up, like that guy in “Singin’ in the Rain.” River just keeps banging his head off the brick wall that is J.K.
Unlike most of the Slough House misfits, River often drives the action sequences, which means you do a lot of running. Have you ever in your life run as much as you do in this show?
I actually ran more back in 2012 when I did the stage version of “Chariots of Fire” in the West End. They had a revolving stage, so it was basically a treadmill, and we were running something like 23 kilometers a night. It wasn’t great on the body, but yeah, I’ve had a lot of experience running.
He’s nearly always on the go. What makes River run?
River’s constantly tilted forward, against rain, sleet and wind. That’s how I feel about him. He has an image in his head of the nirvana he’s trying to reach, and whenever somebody’s stopping him in that journey — his grandfather, his colleagues, his enemies or whatever — he doesn’t know what to do other than to complain. He thinks he lives for driving fast cars, chasing after the bad guy, jumping on trains, but strangely, I think River kind of comes alive in his complaining, because he’s being forced to live through these pedestrian or annoying or emotionally draining things, like losing his grandfather.
“Grandpa” David Cartwright, retired MI5 spymaster, is portrayed by the formidable Jonathan Pryce. Were you intimidated?
The first day, Jonathan very sarcastically said to me, “Do you know what number I am on the call sheet?” I said, “No.” And he said, “Double f— figures.” It made me laugh so hard, I knew from that point on that he was a kindred spirit. Jonathan can be telling you a funny story about something that happened in the 1970s, but when they call “Action,” he suddenly drops himself into the place of a man who’s slowly losing his mind. And then [when the scene’s over] he comes out of it and continues his story. What I find most impressive about both Jonathan Pryce and Gary Oldman is that these guys — and the same with Kristin Scott Thomas — have mastered their craft to such an extent that they can do it at the drop of a hat. They don’t go away for half an hour trying to get into a headspace or whatever.
Some might call that the British approach, or the Scottish approach, to acting.
Yes, we do have that reputation on these islands, and I’m incredibly proud of it, because you know what it does? It makes going to work a joy, not a chore. When you can get the same results, if not better, and also have a lot of fun — that’s the dream.
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