For the second feature in our War of the Worlds coverage we speak to series lead Rafe Spall, who plays George. Nick Joy caught him warming himself up in a tent, having spent most of the day in and out of freezing water.

Rafe Spall is used to fighting with monsters that aren’t really there. He was attacked by a Hammerpede on LV-223 in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and then last summer he was munched by both a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Carnotaurus as the devious Eli Mills in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Because he’s playing the hero this time, hopefully he’ll survive, but has he fine-tuned how to act against invisible creatures?  

I don’t know if it’s easier, but people are quite interested in how as an actor you react to things aren’t there, like monsters and CGI beasts. Obviously that’s my stock in trade, that’s what I do regardless of whether I’m trying to imagine there’s a monster there, or in an emotional scene with someone and have to try to imagine there’s not someone stood behind them with a polystyrene ball, holding a microphone on a stick.

It’s all acting

It’s all a suspension of disbelief. You’re just trying to imagine that you’re convinced yourself, and then the people watching the film see things that aren’t there too. Also, you realise that if you’re supposed to see some extraordinary thing like a dinosaur or an alien… or a Martian or a tripod… you don’t need to sell it, you just need to look at it. ‘Less is more’ really, as is the case in all acting I think. If I’m going to be looking at a dinosaur or an alien snake you’re more or less going to see the same expression. It’s shock, horror, terror and disgust, all finely calibrated, and what it looks like is basically this [Pulls said expression of shock, horror, terror and disgust]. You don’t really have to do much else. I just pull the face and look up.

What can you tell us about George in this series?

This character is based on the unnamed narrator in the novel and is an Edwardian gentleman who has defied convention and broken away from his loveless marriage because he’s fallen in love with an intelligent, fierce and beautiful young woman called Amy – played by Eleanor Tomlinson – much to the chagrin of their family and society. They go off and follow love, starting a new life together in Dorking, and then Martians come along and eviscerate the human race. Buzzkill!

What attracted you to the role?

The scripts are very tastefully, classily written without cliché [by Peter Harness] and the idea of aliens invading Edwardian England is something I’ve never seen before. So I thought it was original, and the part was nice. The people involved are of a great calibre; it was an exciting prospect.

Even though the Martian tripods aren’t here on set today, have you seen the designs, and does that help you with your interaction?

Not really, no, because again I just do that face! I have to be honest – because that’s the truth – I just do a shock face.

Do you think it’s important that we’ve gone back to Wells and set it in the UK, rather than the US (as with the two previous movies)

I think it’s interesting to set it in the period that it was written in, because that’s a new perspective, and I think with adaptation you always want a new perspective, otherwise what’s the point of doing it? It’s an adaptation of the book in its original form, even though we’ve taken several liberties with it, but the fact that it’s set in England is neither here nor there. I don’t want to be a part of anything to reclaim it for its Britishness because that’s verging on jingoism and Imperialistic. I’m not really into that vibe, but I think the idea of Martians invading Edwardian Dorking is funny.

Did you already have a reference point to the story – like the Jeff Wayne album or the Spielberg movie?

Yes. My friend was asked to do this and I said ‘Isn’t that like that weird singing album thing? That sounds rubbish, mate!’ In my ignorance, that was all I knew about it. Obviously I was aware that it was science fiction and indeed British literature, but I really didn’t know that much about it. In agreeing to do it, being a part of it, I’ve learned that it’s very dear to people. Hopefully we can pay it some justice.

How has it been playing with your co-stars?

A lot of it has been with Eleanor Tomlinson, who’s one of our finest young actresses, and she’s charming. Robert Carlyle is a big hero of mine and his warmth as a human being and kindness is equal to that of his talent. Everyone has been totally charming and lovely. Robert plays a character called Ogilvy and he… God, I just about know what my own role is. You’ll have to wait and see what happens – he’s integral to the plot.

Do you believe in aliens?

Do you think you would ever ask that question and someone would say no? That’s my answer. You’d have to be a crazy person and very small-minded to think otherwise. So, the answer is ‘of course’.

What particular themes in the story do you feel are relevant to today?

We live a time where there’s mass immigration going on around the world and I think it’s very easy to disconnect from that emotionally because it feels like it’s in a far-off place. You don’t see those people as being the same as you because it’s abstract, because it’s a million miles way. They don’t look like your family and so it’s very easy to dismiss and go back to your normal life. But then if you see people in something like this, where you see people similarly dislocated because of horror – albeit aliens – and have to en-masse move to another place, fleeing said horror to safety, I think audiences might be able to put themselves in those situations more. We’ll see.

Is there an added pressure in adapting a beloved work?

I think that really good books don’t make really good films. I think that less good books make great films. Television adaptation is different, but if you’re going to have something adapted for film then it’s very easy to mess up a great book. With no disrespect to Mario Puzo, The Godfather is not a heart-breaking work of staggering genius in literature, but it is that in film.

Why should people tune in to see a story they probably already know?

I’m excited for people to see the whole thing. I think that period pieces are one of the things that we do best in this country, and that they are very dear to people. Putting Martians into that is very exciting – it’s quite shocking and pretty bleak, but exciting and engaging, and hopefully the way that you make high concept stories work is by populating it with relatable people, which is where we come in. Hopefully we’ve done that.

Follow Sci-Fi Bulletin for our War of the Worlds coverage, with a set location report, an interview with actor Rupert Graves, director Craig Viveiros, writer Peter Harness and Visual Effects Producer Angie Wills.