English actor and comedian David Mitchell is new to me, but what a discovery! He’s crazy funny, quirky and physical in the BritBox Original Ludwig. Mitchell plays identical twins, John, a hermit singleton, a puzzle creator whose brain works in mysterious ways and James, an extrovert happily married to Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin). One day James vanishes. Lucy must wrest John from his quiet housebound existence to help her find him. She asks him to pretend to be James, father to her children and James the police officer in order to retrieve James’ work notebook which may provide clues. Turns out, he’s perfect for the ruse because he’s a puzzler, despite his abject terror of posing an extrovert in a police unit. Anne Brodie spoke with Mitchell from London:
Your comic timing, delivery and expressions are outstanding! Were you always funny?
Thanks for the compliment, I think I wasn’t funny as a child, I loved jokes, jokes were the best thing. I remember thinking when I was about ten that I was not funny and when I was 15 or 16, I was then able to make people laugh. I was not a funny child but started to get jokey!
As two distinct characters sharing a body, we feel the tension and fear of being unveiled but there is also a kind of satisfaction in getting away with the impersonation.
What is great about the story is he can impersonate because he looks identical to the person he claims to be, he can be much worse than he would otherwise have to be. But going into a police station claiming to be a visiting inspector, he wouldn’t get away with it. But because they just unquestionably accept him because he’s physically identical. And he’s able to get huge things wrong. They just broadly think well James is going through a mid life crisis. Or his meds are wrong or something. That frees him up to impersonate his brother badly. And as someone whose written a lot of comedy sketches the funniest thing, the perennially funniest thing is watching someone do something badly. He can be terrible at being a police officer and that’s fine, but you have to solve the crimes and that’s where the puzzling background comes in.
The affliction of having to solve every puzzle must be taxing on Ludwig. Like me and dust particles. Does he have a condition?
I think its oddly that he finds puzzling relaxing, he doesn’t find it stressful except when a puzzle is insoluble. Solving a puzzle makes him happy and relaxed and he doesn’t wordy about other things. Finding things to focus on that make your mind rest. He’s found it for his whole life. And its only because he’s solving puzzles is he able to pretend in the police environment; it calms him down. He’s sweating they’re not going to buy it much longer. But with puzzles he’s calm and forgets he’s impersonating a police officer!
Did you “get” him reading the script the first time?
I think so. What I loved about it, and what you have to play is the situation, it’s funny, he’s a fish out of water to a ridiculous extent but he manages to survive while being a fish out of water when people famously do not. Because he’s identical I can play the incompetence to a much greater degree than plays someone who is not. So, under other circumstances, someone pretending to be what you’re not. It’s believable and really funny. Puzzle setter just seemed well structured for a comedy detective show. I feel so lucky the script came to me!
Ludwig was an overnight sensation in the UK and was immediately renewed for a second series. Have you honed in on the reasons why?
I think the script and direction are great and we were lucky because its absolutely the kind of show audiences were in the mood for, escapist, fun, funny. Doesn’t make you confront a troubled world but equally it isn’t superficial. I would say that it’s an escapist, fun, intelligent show and that became the sweet spot in the current television broadcast climate.
The story is terrific, but so are its eccentricities, like everyone is “waltzing” to where they go. Did you follow the script entirely or add your own ideas with permission?
There were times in the dialogue I suggested a change or Anna Maxwell Martin and Mark was always flexible to making our dialogue our own. You can’t mess around with the structure of the story. If you changed any one element of the story the whole thing would collapse.
Great good luck with the bow in North America so we can all experience your comic genius.
Thank you!
The BritBox Original debuts on March 20