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‘Slow Horses' star Rosalind Eleazar gets real about her MI5 outcast Louisa Guy: ‘She's really not OK'
Rosalind Eleazar captures the grief hidden beneath MI5 outcast Louisa Guy's steely exterior with a subtle and restrained touch that reveals Louisa's grief in flickers. Her performance isn't overplayed; it's deeply felt, letting quiet glances and restrained gestures speak volumes about her character's inner turmoil in the Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ spy thriller Slow Horses.
"She is one of the more grounded characters, but I do think her internal life is incredibly chaotic. She's a hard shell and it takes time for us to see glimpses of her," Eleazar tells Gold Derby. "I've had fun teasing her out over the seasons, and we get to know her better, more and more, but I think she's a loner. I don't think she has many friends. I think she has shut herself off to the potential of love or happiness in some way. Sometimes I think her groundedness is actually her protecting herself, and it comes across as someone that is grounded. She goes out in the world with quite a tough mask on: 'Don't mess with me, don't come near me,' and that can give off a quality of someone that is maybe a bit earthy. But actually, I think inside in some way she's a little bit of a child," the actress says. "I've loved those few moments that you get 'oh, she's really not OK.' She is really not okay." (watch the video interview above).
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Slow Horses is based on Mick Herron's series of novels, adapted by showrunner Will Smith (Veep), about a group of MI5 agents who are consigned to a dumping ground for rejects paying the price for their past mistakes. The outcasts of the British intelligence agency that are banished to the administrative purgatory of Slough House are known as 'slow horses.' They're expected to endure interminably dull, paper-pushing drudgery, along with occasional berating from their abrasive boss, Jackson Lamb. Oscar winner Gary Oldman plays the rude, crass and often drunk department head with a bracing panache, and Eleazar plays fellow MI5 outcast Louisa Guy, who navigates high-stakes espionage threats and internal conflicts, while quietly coping with the loss of her former lover and teammate Min Harper (Dustin Demri-Burns) back in Season 2.
The spy drama also costars Emmy nominee Jack Lowden, Oscar and Emmy nominee Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Kadiff Kirwan, Freddie Fox, Chris Reilly, Joanna Scanlon, and Tony winner and Oscar and Emmy nominee Jonathan Pryce, with new additions to the show's riveting fourth season including Tom Brooke as the newest slow horse and former "psych eval" operative, Ruth Bradley as the new head of "the Dogs," James Callis as the new "first desk," and Hugo Weaving as deadly mercenary Frank Harkness.
After four seasons, with a fifth on the way (premiering September 24), Slow Horses' is as popular and critically acclaimed as ever after its breakthrough third season scored nine Emmy nominations last year, with series creator Smith winning Best Drama Writing. "It's such a unique tone; you haven't really seen anything like it before," Eleazar says of Slow Horses' ascendency. "Audiences love spy shows it's been done time and time again. But, this offers something different. I also think it's to do with the characters. Like, the characters are all misfits. They aren't immediately likable characters. It takes time," she says. "We get to see all the characters developing, and in each season we get to see more and more of the reasons why they're so objectionable," she continues. "I love that the show is just not ashamed of being really brash. All the characters are just in your face."
It also doesn't hurt that cast and crew appear to love coming back every year for another six-episode season of rapid-fire plot exposition, snarky insults, shootouts and chases. "It is such a fun cast, we've all really gelled. I think that's also what audiences are seeing and witnessing," she says. "They're seeing the chemistry between us all. It's a little family now, and it's such a joy to go to set and work with, not just the cast. The crew, our directors, because we have a different director for each season. Our writers, it's such a collaborative show. I've never worked on a show that is so collaborative. We can bring our ideas. We're constantly fiddling all the time with things and quite frankly, there are no egos."
Slow Horses Season 4 is now streaming on Apple TV+.
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