It has been 16 years since writers Colin Trevorrow and longtime collaborator Derek Connolly wrote the action comedy Deep Cover. Nearly two decades later, it’s now in the running for an Emmy nomination for outstanding television movie.
“Deep Cover was initially set in America,” explains Trevorrow of the Amazon Prime Video flick that takes place in London. “We were about to give up on it. We both went on and did other things. Many years later, I asked our producer, Walter F. Parkes, if I could bring it over to the U.K., where I have lived for almost 10 years.” Once he got the green light, British writers Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen came on board to “rebuild it.”
Deep Cover sees Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed play a trio of improv actors recruited by the police to infiltrate a gang in London’s criminal underworld. However, things get out of control pretty fast. The film’s supporting cast boasts Paddy Considine (MobLand, House of the Dragon), Ian McShane (John Wick, Deadwood) and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings). That second tier of talent, more commonly known for gritty, dramatic performances, brings a gravitas to Deep Cover.
“Derek and I wanted this structure to be able to hold up as a cop thriller on its own if it wasn’t a comedy, so bringing in people who were going to play characters who took themselves seriously was essential,” says Trevorrow, who also produced the film. “For Ian, Paddy and Sean to come in and do a version of what we’ve seen them do before [in previous projects] — in this heightened space, that creates stakes for our three comedic characters that feel completely real. I do feel like they’re going to die at certain points.”
Howard, with whom the filmmaker worked on Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Dominion, headlines, but she only came on board as shooting was about to start. It was her first time doing a comedy.
“She was scared by it, and I think when she gets scared as an actor, that’s exciting,” says Trevorrow. “She was coming out to a relatively low-budget movie in East London, shot mostly on the streets, but she threw herself into it. I was very proud of her as a friend for having the bravery to put herself out there like that,” he adds, likening the dynamic of Howard being the only American in the all-British cast to Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Julia Roberts in Notting Hill.
Bloom’s character, an actor who takes himself very seriously, was something the real actor wanted to have fun with.
“He was ready to take the piss, as is the British expression,” Trevorrow says with a laugh. “At the time we were talking about this, there were a lot of articles about method actors, and what they would do, so we took that and went to the next level. He really nailed it. I love those surprises where it feels like it’s a new actor.”
When Ashenden and Owen were reworking the original script, Mohammed’s character evolved with the Ted Lasso actor in mind, given his friendship with the pair.
“This is a character who is probably closest to Nick as a person than other things that he has played,” Trevorrow shares, highlighting the subtlety and relatability of his performance. “He’s the outsider who comes into comedy and is really just looking for friends. It’s such a lovely approach and angle. If anyone reading this interview wants to do a romantic comedy with Nick Mohammed, I’m in.”
Trevorrow continues, “We’re really just trying to get them to consider Nick for James Bond, so we’re finding ways to get on the inside at Amazon. He’s right there.”
When it came to Deep Cover‘s look, Trevorrow used the unpredictability of London’s weather to his advantage, aping the work of the iconic filmmaker who helmed Top Gun, Man on Fire and True Romance.
“We didn’t shoot it like a comedy,” he recalls. “We wanted it to look like a Tony Scott movie from the mid-’80s. When you shoot a film that way, it suggests a different set of stakes. There’s a darkness that runs within it. The good thing about this is that England doesn’t necessarily have the best sunlight available on the Earth, and if you’re making a moody crime thriller, it’s perfect. It was always raining, it was always gray, and we just got to lean into that and the colors and the desaturation that happen naturally in a sun-free film.”
Up until Deep Cover, Trevorrow’s experience of filming in the U.K. was limited to his two Jurassic World movies, where he was “pretty contained” on Pinewood Studios’ soundstages. While Tom Kingsley was on directorial duty for the Emmy hopeful action comedy, the writer-producer relished the opportunity to make a movie set in the place where it was shot.
“In a time when we’ve been shooting a lot of films in a completely different part of the Earth than they’re supposed to take place in, you rarely have a sense of place and real environment in the film,” he muses. “Not since Safety Not Guaranteed and the first Jurassic movie in Hawaii have I been able to be where the film was set.”
Although Deep Cover premiered on Prime Video, Trevorrow wants viewers to remember that it is an independent film with a modest budget — not a studio movie.
“The path for independent film does not lead through the theaters as much as it used to, and I’m very grateful to Amazon and the other streamers for continuing to support these films,” Trevorrow says. “This one may not play like an indie because we intended for it to be able to compete with the other big-budget streaming movies that they make, but it costs about a 15th of what one of those movies costs.”
Concludes Trevorrow, “I got a WGA award for this. I never thought I’d win one of those in my life. I’m deeply honored by it. My wife put it outside the bedroom door so I can see it every morning to boost my self-esteem.”
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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