Back in May, HeyUGuys had the privilege of jet-setting over to the hot yet blustery hills of Malaga. The purpose of our journey was to join the returning cast of Snatch on set for the filming of season two of the heist comedy-drama. We had the pleasure of a tour around the set of the Spanish country home of The Hill gang as well as having a chat with the main cast members.
At the end of season one – after the youngest hustlers of the Hill gang were triumphant in making off with a boatload of gold bullion – the whole crew set off into the sunset on a yacht for a much needed holiday. However, there is no rest for the wicked. In season two, the team is on the lam and what begins as a well-deserved vacation quickly becomes a face-off with a local kingpin; another thrill-a-minute fight to save their fortune, and ultimately their lives.
The original cast of Rupert Grint (Charlie Cavendish), Luke Pasqualino (Albert Hill), Lucien Laviscount (Billy Ayres), Dougray Scott (Vic Hill), Phoebe Dynevor (Lotti Mott), Juliet Aubrey (Lily Hill) and Tamar Hassan (Hate ‘Em) all return for season two. With an all-new Spanish cast also joining the cast, the series – which is loosely based on Guy Ritchie’s 2000 film of the same name – also has three new directors joining the crew to direct a number of different episodes; Entourage actor Kevin Connolly, Tom Dey and Luis Pieto.
Throughout the day, in the blistering heat, we managed to grab some time with the three main British cast Rupert Grint, Luke Pasqualino and Lucien Laviscount between filming for a brief chat about the upcoming series.
A suited and booted Rupert Grint (who plays Charlie) – paired with his sister’s heart-shaped sunglasses – took time away from his busy filming schedule of hiding behind a tree to reveal the premise for the second season. We found out that The Hill gang’s holiday doesn’t quite start off as they had previously planned and it’s not too long before the crew get sucked back into their old life after trying to go straight.
“Something happens in Biarritz, My love interest buggers off with her share of the money and leaves me kind of heartbroken on the boat. On the way to Spain, just as we are mooring in, we get hijacked by some unknown people and they steal all the money so we are left with nothing. So we kind of have to start again. The new plan is to kinda go straight and have a go at being part of a community. We find a dilapidated bar, we try to renovate that and make a go of it. It doesn’t take long before we all get a bit itchy and want to do a few little scams.”
Lucien Laviscount (who plays Billy) bounded into the room without his token leather jacket on; you could hear the ladies in the room silently swoon. As he sat down, the leather jacket went back on to the dismay of the female journalists. With the costumes of the cast still very much staying the same, we wondered if the underlying theme of loyalty in the show was still very much intact in season two. Laviscount was quick to admit it still does but those loyalties are very much pushed to the limits.
“Loyalty needs to be tested to know how loyal someone really is. Me and my friends at home have this thing where we want to save each other’s lives just to show how much we have each others back. You can put them in the worst situations but you say “Loyalties bro” Just to test our friendships and that. So yeah, loyalties do get tested in season two. I’m actually the one who comes together at the end and brings a few of them together. I’m kind of the mediator in a sense. It’s usually me messing up.”
With season one forging the sapling characters in place, you would expect to see the crew grow and learn from their previous mistakes. Grint opened up that Charlie, having calmed down a bit; he certainly hasn’t grown from his comedic blunders.
“He’s kind of cut down on the recreational drugs and the drinking, he has calmed down a lot. There are a few moments where… He’s not Albert, he really isn’t a natural, and he really has to make an effort to find his place. There are a few crazy situations he gets himself into. It’s a lot of fun, I love Charlie.”
According to Luke Pasqualino, Albert seems more at peace at who he is; with the relationship, he has with his father now he is out of prison and on the run with the rest of the family.
“Albert has done a lot of growing up actually; he has turned into a man this year. Season 1 he was still living in the shadow of his father a little bit. He has embraced that as much as he can now and he has realised he’s not going to let his Dad sort of get him down. Now his Dad’s out and they are on the run he is trying his hardest. One of the realisations for Albert is his they just don’t see eye to eye on things. They have a really nice journey going on this year, it’s lovely. You get to see that develop a lot more; all the other relationships develop as well. Everyone’s sort of got their own little journey this year, they are all together but they go on their own journey’s which is nice”.
He added “Season 2 is very much what you saw in season 1, but everything feels a lot more grown up this year. The stakes are higher when you met them in season 1 they practically had nothing and at the end of season 1, they had 10 million quid in cash. I don’t want to give anything away but it wouldn’t make great TV if they were totally loaded. It’s nice to have a Spanish cast as well which brings out a new flavour to it. Like I said, the stakes are so much higher this year because they are abroad and out of their comfort zones”.
Billy also goes on an emotional journey in season two; Laviscount said
“Billy goes on a mountainous discovery of himself and his feelings. His feelings get in the way and he ends up putting himself in a deep place he can’t control. He doesn’t really know what’s going on with himself, to be honest. He has to fight his way out the bag or the bag doesn’t go over him. When he can’t fight his way out of this he has to ask for advice, he shows a very vulnerable side to him. He goes on a hell of a journey this season.”
Billy also gets to use his fight skills again in the new season; Laviscount said that his role is just as physical this time around but it kept him motivated in keeping fit and focused. However, it wasn’t always easy especially having to endure a few blows from a professional boxer.
“There is a guy called Ronnie who I end up having a fight with who is a professional fighter. I’ve never had a fight scene with a professional fighter before; I’ve always had it with a stuntman. Which is different in sense of a boxer is going against their natural instincts to do a fight scene because it’s choreographed. When we were rehearsing, it was difficult for him to remember some of the choreography, which meant I got bashed around a hell of a lot but I kind of enjoyed as I laid a few back on him”.
With a new season, set in a country far from home, comes a whole set of new adversaries for the Hill crew. However, there are some things that never change; a bent copper or two. Grint revealed that it’s not just one of them this time but a whole force and the politicians are in on the act too.
“The villains are quite diverse in this. The villains are actually the police, the crooked cops of this fictional town, San Tolado. The mayor of the town is the bad guy. There are lots that come into the frame as well. We’re always on the hunt.”
Pasqualino weighed in with his thoughts on what makes a good villain for the show’
“We’ve got quite a few good villains in the show this year. With all villains really, as long as they are a good adversary for the lead characters, they just need to have a good criminal brain in my opinion. It’s like a Bond villain, or with Sherlock and Moriarty they aren’t going out and killing and shooting. I think it’s a mastermind that makes a good villain”.
Filming in Spain, away from their home turf in England could be tough on the most seasoned of actors, But Grint was quick to point out that being in Spain felt more like home than in Manchester (where season one was filmed).
“Being in Spain is great. Weirdly it feels more being at home here than it ever did in Manchester. This is the Costa Del Crime; we are probably in the company of hiding fugitives, not far from here [laughs].”
So where do we go from here? If season three emerges will the series find itself in a new country? There are a few ideas, or shall we say dreams of where the cast would like to head to; although Grint would be happy enough staying in Spain.
“It feels right here, I’d be happy to stay in Malaga. It’s got a very gangstery vibe, there is something kind of edgy about it that I think works for the show a lot”.
Laviscount has grander ideas for a location and even a cinematic storyline;
“I would love to go to Columbia, South America would be fantastic; but if it was to stay in Spain, then fantastic. Maybe we could do some Art deals or something. I think we could get Ocean’s 11 on it. Get some nice cars or something. Actually, the cars this season are fantastic”.
Whilst both Charlie and Billy had their love interests in the first season, Albert didn’t get a chance at a bit of romance. In season 2 Albert may just get a bit of romance action but Pasqualino explained that with everything that goes on in their lives, the pressures don’t always allow much room for anything but business.
“They never really touched upon the idea of Albert being in love [in season 1] or having a woman to love because he hasn’t really had that opportunity as he has been caring for his mother while his Dad’s been in prison. We do touch upon that this series and Albert and Charlie do have their differences. There are a few things that they air out between each other but its good. Even though they are friends, the pressure they are all under to try and save themselves or sell the gold or whatever scenario it may be, its a big thing to try and manage all these things they have got going on”.
To the viewer it may look like the cast are one big happy family having a hell of a lot of fun and to some extent, they would be right. Even though they have been thrown together for the sole purpose of making a TV show, Pasqualino feels like they are just one big family having a few laughs.
“It always makes a job easier [to have fun on set]. As an actor, you never get to choose who you work with. You are just thrown together and expected to get along and make a TV show. You’re all there for one reason. It’s always a bonus when you get to work with people you genuinely get along with, you just become like a little family. We’re such great friends; we just hang out and have a laugh all day every day, its good fun”.
Snatch season 2 premieres on AMC on Tuesday 9th of October at 9 pm exclusive to BT Customers.
