ANDALUCÍA FILM COMMISSION

25 Years Filming Together

30% TAX REBATE QUALIFIED INDUSTRY UNIQUE LOCATIONS

FILM TOURISM FILM CITIES NETWORK of reclaiming their identity and an awakening for themselves.”

Blunt’s first appearance is striking — climbing down from a horse-drawn carriage onto scorched landscape while seemingly dressed for some kind of up-market society event. “She looks like a complete fsh out of water when she first arrives. She's in this beautiful pale, lacy pink dress. She is gussied up and looks ill prepared for what awaits her in this dustridden environment,” Blunt says. “But in this violent, masculine world, her costumes go from pink to red to purple, like the bruising of her journey that she goes on that’s symbolised in what she wears. And it's like an awakening for her. It's an awakening for who she is. When you frst meet her, you think, Oh, she's never going to make it. It's over. By the end, she's had this remarkable transformation, what she discovers about herself is that she's a force to be reckoned with. It is a voyage of what she's truly capable of — the violence, the revenge, the physical duress and trauma that she can overcome.”

“It's a beast of a role to me,” Chaske Spencer says. “I saw Eli as a modern-day biker, an ex-veteran, someone who has seen war and been through tragedy. If he were alive today, he would be riding a Harley-Davidson with a big beard and tattoos. And he probably would have met Cornelia at a truck stop. He suffers from PTSD and loneliness. And throughout the story, you see those walls start coming down with both characters, Cornelia and Eli.”

Blick says he placed the story in a Western setting because “at its best the Western allows us to escape the reality of who we are and how we live today. Something about its huge landscapes, mythic heroes and villains, the epic violence and love they pursue, can speak directly to our souls,” he says. “For me the most interesting Westerns tend to explore the themes of personal loss and consequent restoration of justice. Perhaps what’s unusual about The English is who it chooses for its heroes, a Native American man and an English woman, and the precise kind of justice they’re both looking to restore.”

He says that Blunt — an executive producer on the series — was on board the moment she saw the frst draft of the story. “She read the frst script and has been with me every step of the way since. What she ofered to the consequent scripts and following production has been incalculable. Beyond all that — and above it — is a performance of exquisite delicacy and strength.”

And Blunt’s co-star Spencer gave an extraordinary performance from a relatively inexperienced position: “That Chaske managed to inhabit the elevated Western persona of a cinematic hero, historically the preserve of a Wayne or Lancaster, Eastwood or Newman, with all the nuance and dexterity of that inheritance — and for him to do so as a Native American playing a Native American, felt pretty ground-breaking to all involved.”

Spencer’s involvement began with a read-through with Blick and Blunt: “They were very fun scenes to do because, once I read them, I got how the language and the dialogue was going to be in a rhythm,” Spencer says. “I was very nervous — I think I told them that — and they decided to take a chance on me.”

He says his own personal experience as a Native American played a lot into the character of Eli Whipp: “I tried to bring that to life and to represent the image as genuinely as I possibly could."

As a Native American man and an actor and artist, it's pretty rare to be a lead in a project like this. I have to say I had amazing support from Hugo, Emily, the whole crew. It made me feel comfortable to take risks in this character.”

Blick’s first Western, it was always