‘Living the Dream’ and filming in the Georgia heat

Q: What attracted you to playing Mal Pemberton, a Brit who with his wife purchases a Florida trailer park sight unseen in Britbox’s “Living the Dream”?

A: I think what appealed to me about it was the fact that it was showing a couple in their middle years in a positive light. You know, we’re so used to seeing couples’ kids grow up and then they turn around (to each other) and say, “I hate you. The last 10 years have been hell. I don’t want to be with you.” And we just wanted to show a couple that actually in their middle years wanted to have an adventure, really. They’re going to do something different and sort of throw a positive spin on a marriage as opposed to a negative, which you don’t see very often, I don’t think, on telly.

Q: Savannah, Ga., where you filmed, looked exquisite on camera. How was it filming in the late spring heat there?

A: We spent a good seven weeks there in two blocks but we did it so it felt like quite a long time being there … . It looked amazing but then the bugs. And you’d be in the middle of a scene and suddenly you’d hear this (makes buzzing noise). Buzzing around you.

Q: In the first episode, you punch your co-star Kevin Nash in the face. How were you able to choreograph that scene given the difference in height between you two?

A: Can I have a box? No, it kind of made it work, that whole height difference and we played on that. I said to Kevin, “It’d be great if you’d just come up, then the shadow would just sort of loom over me.” And then the camera would be there and … I’d be like up to there (points to midsection).