Jeremy Swift is best known for his loveable turn as Leslie Higgins in “Ted Lasso” or his role as Septimus Spratt in “Downton Abbey. But in the new film “Grow,” he dabbles in some villainy.
“ He’s not an out-and-out bad guy, and he turns a corner, so a bit of a spoil there,” Swift said. “It’s fun to play something different like that.”
The movie centers on a young girl with the magical ability to communicate with plants. She moves to live with her Aunt Dinah in a town obsessed with growing giant pumpkins for an annual competition.
Swift said the movie’s themes include found family and the importance of nurturing things we love and allowing them to grow.
5 questions with Jeremy Swift
Does it require you to flex a different acting muscle to play a quasi-villain?
“ It involves a lot of eyebrows and a lot of snickering and evil laughter, and I play a kind of madcap confounded scientist growing a pumpkin in the pumpkin competition that’s featured in the movie, because everybody wants this £100,000.
“He’s using devious means to do it in a laboratory. So I get to wear a white lab coat and have a white streak in my hair, you know, like a ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ homage. So what’s not to like?”
What drew you to a project like this?
“ The film is about making connections and growing relationships, and it’s about found family, and I’m all about that. I’ve got adopted kids, and I know that sometimes you have to make these links and you have to listen sometimes.
“ I’d just love to add Charlie and Dinah’s story. Because it’s a struggle, you know, and it isn’t easy. Parenting generally is not easy, and no matter what the circumstances, it doesn’t flow like the sweet stories that we see on TV or read about.
“I like that, the fact that it had to be won and it had to be sort of slightly thoughtful. Amidst all this fun and magic and seasonal magic, I loved all that.”
What is it like to work with kids, especially when you see them doing this big, ambitious thing like making a feature-length film?
“ I don’t do it a lot. I haven’t done many movies or shows with kids, but these kids were extraordinary, and, you know, you can’t believe that they’ve only been on the planet like five minutes and they’ve got all this capability. They took notes really well.
“I did a scene with Dominic [McLaughlin] where he has to sort of chastise me and he did it pretty well. John, the director, he’s quite a young guy, and he’s really tunes into people brilliantly, and he just gave him such good notes, and Dom picked them up.
“It was only after that that I said, ‘So what have you done before?’ And he said — he’s Scottish, and excuse my terrible Scottish accent — he said, ‘Oh no, this is the first thing I’ve ever done.’ I was like, ‘What!’”
“[Priya-Rose Brookwell] is just wow. I can’t believe that she’s so capable. I really hope that she keeps at it, because she’s so capable and a delight.”
I have to ask about “Ted Lasso.” You’re in the middle of filming season four, and most of the show’s fans thought the show was over. Was it a surprise to you that it’s back?
“ I thought it could go either way. It was so well wrapped up, the story that they’d envisaged before they even shot season one. But at the same time, taking the growing analogy a little bit further, there were some seeds planted for the women’s team idea. So there’s stuff that you could go further with than that. So in a way. I wasn’t surprised. But I was very pleased.”
What can you tell us about the upcoming season?
“ It’s the same but different, which is going to be a really annoying thing. It’s got a different dynamic in that it’s got a bunch of young women in it.
“But to a certain extent, the same ethic is there, the same surprises and the same intelligence in the writing and just beautiful comedy is at a high level. I love the show and I’m very proud to be part of it.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Kalyani Saxena produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Mark Navin. Grace Griffin produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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