The State Within
Lennie James plays Luke Gardner
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Lennie James plays Luke Gardner, a former British paratrooper and Falklands War hero, who is sitting on Death Row in a maximum-security jail in Florida.
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He is awaiting execution for the murder of two teenage girls - a crime he claims he did not commit.
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A British human rights lawyer Jane Lavery (Eva Birthistle) is campaigning to have to his conviction overturned.
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Lennie, who has headlined in such memorable dramas as The Family Man, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Undercover Heart, Snatch, 24 Hour Party People, and Cold Feet, found the part of Luke irresistible.
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"There is such a lot to play," asserts the actor, who has previously portrayed a prisoner in both Buried and Lucky Break.
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"Once upon a time, he was a basically good man. But he has been accused of doing a terrible thing, which he probably didn't do.
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"However, in the past he did do other terrible things, so he's racked with guilt and self-loathing. He is waiting to be punished for a crime he did not commit.
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"It's a gripping journey about how one faces one's own death.
He's a soldier, so he's prepared to die - although not in the way that he may be forced to die here."
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Lennie, who in 2000 wrote and starred in an outstanding 主播大秀 film about disaffected youth called Storm Damage, carries on that Luke's story has an epic quality to it.
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"It's almost Shakespearean in the emotional twists and turns he has to confront.
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"It's such a compelling piece. In most contemporary dramas, you don't get to play that many different notes. But the more we put this character on his feet, the richer he became."
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Lennie reveals that filming certain scenes for The State Within in a real prison "did get to me. We shot in a real wing of a maximum-security prison in Canada. You're not sent to that prison unless you've committed really heinous crimes.
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"We were filming in actual cells, and at first the inmates did not want to make way for us. But then we asked them what they would like in return for vacating their cells, and they replied 'KFC and board games.'
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"So we took a massive order for KFC and brought in loads of different board games, and they left for a week."
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He admits that the atmosphere in the real prison was decidedly eerie.
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"We had strict warnings about what we couldn't touch in the cells, because of both privacy and HIV. Also, we couldn't go anywhere in the jail - even to the toilet - without a guard.
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"Of course, you are unsettled in an actual prison, but what really hits you is the smell. Imagine a whole bunch of frightened men locked up together for years on end - if you're there, you just have to get used to that overpoweringly awful smell.
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"When the prison guards tell you stories about their equivalents of Fred West, that's obviously disturbing. You use what you can, and all these experiences help you get into character. But fortunately I knew I'd be going home at the end of every day."
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The actor believes that The State Within is "without question a polemic against the death penalty. We don't have the death penalty in the UK, but I'm currently working in the US, a country which does, and it makes a marked difference. It really affects the way people process the law.
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"The death penalty in the US has become a political tool - and it should never be that. The way Luke is being used in The State Within is a testament to how there is always a vested interest in whether you put someone to death. I find that very disturbing.
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"It's the same with guns. When you operate in a country like the States where guns are widely available, it infects the national psyche. It affects everything - their art, their TV and how people interact with each other.
If a man pulls a gun on you, he instantly wins."
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Lennie applauds the 主播大秀 for taking on a project with this level of intellectual complexity.
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"Apart from State of Play, we haven't done much of this kind of grown-up, thought-provoking drama," he muses.
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"We've just been doing cops and robbers. The State Within demands a certain intelligence from its audience. It doesn't just wash over the audience - it asks for commitment. And that's a really good thing."
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The actor is currently starring as Robert Hawkins in the CBS series, Jericho. "It's set in Jericho, a small town in Kansas," he explains.
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"America has been hit by a number of massive attacks, and this town is the only place that has survived. It is cut off from the rest of the country.
The residents don't know why the US has been attacked, and have to figure out a way of reaching the outside world.
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"I play Robert, this mysterious guy who arrives in Jericho two hours before the bomb drops. He says that he's an ex-policeman and that he's with his wife and kids, but he might not be any of those things. He wheedles his way into the community. He's an enigmatic and intriguing character."
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Lennie signs off with a mischievous joke. "Having done Buried, Lucky Break and now The State Within, I know how grim prison is, and I'm never going to
do anything that might land me in a real jail!"
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