INTERVIEW: Alex Lawther & Jessica Barden talk about ‘The End of the F***ing World’ | CROOKES MAGAZINE
‘The End Of The F***ing World’ — It’s a 8-part roadtrip tale with a darkly comic twist — and it’s f***ing hilarious!
Interview by Adam Crookes
I spoke to Alex Lawther and Jessica Barden about their starring lead roles in this brand-new series on Channel 4, based on a comic book of the same name by Charles Forsman.
James is a loner. Alyssa is all angst. Together, they embark on a darkly comic road trip.
How did you initially react to the title of the project?
Alex: I think the title for me was explained by Chuck Foreman at the end of his comic, something along the lines of “of course it’s not the end of the world, they’re teenagers”. And reading that made sense of the stakes for Alyssa and James. Everything is do or die for them, literally. Everything is big, everything is important, everything is the end of the fucking world. And that’s a fun thing to play.
Jessica: I thought the title was really cool due to it being so shocking. I think it is the perfect title to represent the show, it tells you straight away that the show is going to be quite fearless.
Did you read the novel before filming? How long did it take you?
Alex: I read Chuck’s comic in a day before one of the first readthroughs. But the world we were playing in was Charlie Covell’s, and to me her James and Alyssa live in a sort of parallel British universe to that, and I felt it made sense to put my attention on tell the story she had written above all.
Jessica: I was sent this script about 6 years ago, so I read the comics before they were put together as one whole book. I found some and also my friend had some as he has been a fan of the comics for years. I don’t find comics take me long to read which is why I like them.
What was your favourite line that you got to say?
Alex: In Episode 6, at the petrol station. “It’s a Glock 17MB. Ambidextrous magazine catch. Recoil operated. 19 rounds.” And then knowing in Alyssa’s head, in her voiceover, she was responding with “Yes James!”, which Jess had written all over her face.
Jessica: I loved everything I have to say! Charlie is such a brilliant writer, every line was so well thought over by her but at the same time she somehow managed to make it throw away, I feel like this is very true to how young people speak. She created a rhythm with her dialogue on the page and those scripts are always my favourite ones to act.
What would your alternative title for the show be?
Alex: “Not waving but drowning.” I think that sounds sort of catchy. It doesn’t have anything to do with the show, not really, other than poetically, maybe, but I love Stevie Smith and I think she’d get why Alyssa and James would steal a car and jump town.
Jessica: I think a good alternative title would be “Bye Marvin”.
Was there any improvisation at points?
Alex: Not in the sense that we were making up lines as we went. There is a strict rhythm to this piece of Charlie’s writing, and if you start trying to naturalise it with ‘uhms’, and ‘ahs’, I found for me that messed it up. And James is not a man of many words. He seemed on paper, especially in the first half the series, to be allow himself to operate only in a painfully small box. A “yeah” or an “ok” is about as much as he can often muster.
The End of the F***ing World is available now as an exclusive boxset on All 4.
