The young stars of Richard Gadd’s new drama Half Man have revealed they went through a “boot camp” to prepare for the filming of the new six-part Glasgow-set series.
Mitchell Robertson and Stuart Campbell, who play lead characters Niall and Ruben in their younger years, have praised the time were given to prepare for their many intensive and emotional scenes together.
The pair, who lived together in Glasgow before and during the filming of Half Man, rehearsed for around two weeks with director Alexandra Brodski and Gadd - the writer and executive producer of Half Man - before filming began.
Ruben and Niall - who are played by Gadd and Jamie Bell later in life - are “thrown together” as teenagers when Ruben is released from Polmont Young Offenders Institute and moves into Niall’s family home.
The show, which spans more than 30 years in the lives of the two characters, explores themes of toxic masculinity, violence, repression, brotherhood and male relationships.
The young actors, both from Lanarkshire, worked together for the first time when they had a “chemistry read” during the audition process for the show, to follow-up to Gadd’s hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer.
Campbell, who was born in Bellshill, said: “The first drafts of the script I saw certainly captured my attention. I wanted to be involved in it in any way I possibly could."
Robertson, who was brought up in Cumbernauld, where Half man was partly filmed, said: “It felt unique to me.
“I had never seen a Scottish story like it or a character with the softness or gentleness of Niall as a protagonist in a Scottish story.
“There were a lot of things about him that I could relate to in terms of how he sometimes feel. It felt like a really interesting look at what it is like to be a bit of a softer male in the west of Scotland and where that can later lead to.
“We got to rehearse with our director, Alex, for a couple of weeks before we started filming. In that time, we were also doing costume-fits, make-up tests and camera tests. It felt a bit like a boot camp.
“We went through all the scripts with Alex. We played about with every scene and spoke about the nuances of every scene, as the relationship between the two characters is always shifting throughout the story.”
Campbell said: “This is most certainly not the case on every job I’ve worked on, but we were given the space to do what we needed to do so that the characters almost start creating themselves for you.
“Throughout the rehearsal process, we kept trying to encourage a kind of unspoken connection and energy between the two characters, which we hopefully create in those early episodes and justifies where they go later on. It was really important to see the lightness as well as the darkness between them.
“The themes of male violence, rage and repression needed to be given time, but it was also really useful to be able to flourish a friendship, and show the lightness, the humour, and the connection between them and why they are drawn together.”
Half Man opens at Niall’s wedding, which Ruben has turned up to as an unexpected guest, as an explosion of violence erupts, before the audience are taken back several decades to when the characters were teenagers.
A co-production between the BBC and HBO, Half Man’s episodes are being released once a week, with the second instalment only just available.
Campbell said: “Ruben comes out of the young offenders institute as a bit of a lone wolf. He is self-sufficient and does not seek validation from anyone.
“Ruben has an intensity and a fragility which interact with each other in the same scene.
"He has a lot of freneticism and pain which has built up because of stuff that has happened to him in his younger years.
“The gentlenesss and meekness of Niall is very different to anything he has interacted with in the young offenders institution.
“Niall provides something that Ruben has never really experienced. They form a bond very quickly."
Robertson said: "Niall is at school and is really struggling socially when we first meet him.
“We watch Niall and Ruben as their relationship develops and shapes both of them.
“Niall and Ruben are so drawn to each other and need each other. They are two young men who are quite vulnerable and carry quite a lot of shame. They both need support and they get it from each other.
“You see the ways in which they are good for each other, but also see the ways in which they are bad from each other.
"For Niall, Ruben holds a lot of qualities that he wishes that he could have.
“Even though he can be scared of Ruben he also can be quite in awe of him. And in some ways, Ruben also brings Niall a sense of safety that he has maybe never had before."
Gadd said: "The two characters come into each other's lives at an extremely crucial point.
"Niall is going through such a terrorising time at school and is looking for acceptance for who is. Ruben has been completely displaced throughout his entire life. He now has his first chance of security and stability. Niall offers him stability and loyalty that he is not used to.
"They go through experiences that bind them together, for better or worse, all their lives. But when it gets to their adult lives, things change."
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