It’s safe to say that the new Netflix film I Came By packs a fair few twists and turns into its runtime – and one of the biggest of all concerns the character played by 1917 star George MacKay.
MacKay stars as Toby, a disaffected graffiti artist who protests against the system by breaking into the houses of the super-rich and leaving a message painted on their walls, only for things to take a very unexpected turn later down the line.
And speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com about whether he’d had any idea what was going to happen to his character before reading the script, MacKay revealed that he was initially very much in the dark.
“Nothing,” he said when asked what director Babak Anvari had told him about the storyline. “Seriously, nothing. So my reaction was like ‘No… No …NO! What? Wow!’”
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“I couldn’t believe it,” added co-star Percelle Ascott, who plays Toby’s best mate Jay. “I went [forward] a few pages and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ And I had to go backward, like I just couldn’t get over what was going on. And I was like, ‘OK Babak!’”
Meanwhile, Hugh Bonneville, who plays the film’s antagonist – a retired high court judge named Hector Blake – said he was similarly taken aback when he first read the script.
“When I read it, it was a real page turner, and constantly surprising,” he said. “You know, you set off thinking you’re on one journey, and then it takes a right-hand turn, and you’re in a whole different world – in the same world, but a different angle of it.”
And Anvari has said he can’t wait to see some of the reactions from viewers when the film arrives on Netflix.
“I’m excited to see how people react to the twists and turns,” he explained. “And I’m hoping that people like them. I mean, I’m pretty sure I cannot please everyone, but I can’t wait to see the reactions. In my head, I always wanted it to be a bit of a rollercoaster ride, so I hope it delivers on that!”
I Came By is released on Netflix on Wednesday 31st August 2022. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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