Steve Coogan admits he wore precise merchandise of Jimmy Savile’s when taking part in him in controversial collection
Steve Coogan took the phrase ‘put your self in another person’s sneakers’ very actually when making ready for his function in The Reckoning.
Launched in October 2023, the four-part collection dramatised the sordid double life which disgraced TV star Jimmy Savile led, whereas delving into the sickening abuse he inflicted on a whole bunch of adults and kids.
Coogan is finest recognized for taking part in the comical Alan Partridge, amongst different humorous characters, so he was extraordinarily aware of the ‘critical topic’ matter when starring as Savile.
He had explored the intercourse offender’s psyche earlier than the BBC collection, although, having carried out an impression of Savile in 1988 whereas additionally voicing him on the satirical puppet present Spitting Picture.
Coogan beforehand defended his determination to tackle the function in The Reckoning after receiving a good deal of criticism, explaining that he believed it allowed viewers to ‘get below the pores and skin of Jimmy Savile’.
“And the rationale that that’s an excellent factor to do, to convey him to life once more, is to find out about how this has occurred, to cease it taking place once more and to see how he operates,” Coogan stated. “To light up issues that you may’t with witness testimony or public inquiries and all the remainder of it.”
Coogan has now doubled down on his stance on The Reckoning throughout an look on Louis Theroux’s podcast, telling listeners that the BBC present was produced with ‘correct diligent utility’.
“I made positive we met the survivors,” the Manchester-born star stated. “It was necessary that we did it in a really grown-up approach, with correct diligent utility.
“There was humour on set, actually, however I needed to be very cautious – I could not begin goofing about in public, as a result of it is a very critical topic.
“However typically, there was a gallows’ humour…to not do with what he did, [but] as a result of it was so heavy.”
Reflecting on the ‘very unusual, intense interval’ of filming the present, Coogan confessed that he was shaving his head twice every week whereas capturing The Reckoning in order that the Savile-style wigs would match his napper properly.
However the largest bombshell got here when he revealed that to assist him craft his character, he had strolled round in a pair of sneakers which as soon as belonged to Savile.
“That is one thing I’ve not stated earlier than, I wore his sneakers, his precise sneakers,” Coogan stated. “So I used to be strolling, actually, in his precise sneakers. It was simply…it was there and the [wardrobe department] stated, ‘How’d you’re feeling about this?’ I paused about it lengthy, and I assumed, ‘Effectively, if I will go there, I will go there.”
“I felt like I must be in for a penny…I dived into it with out fascinated about it an excessive amount of,” the actor defined.
Coogan says he does not perceive why viewers usually describe him as ‘courageous’ for taking up a nefarious determine resembling Savile, as he ‘thinks it is only a job’.
“My job is to execute this character in probably the most correct approach attainable to assist inform a drama that’s truthful and never do a caricature, as a result of that finally is a disservice to those that survived his abuse,” he added.
“For those who do some kind of pantomime villain or one thing, that is additionally not very accountable.”
Savile by no means confronted justice as he handed away earlier than his crimes got here to gentle. He died in 2011 on the age of 84.
Coogan additionally confessed that starring as Savile did weigh on him mentally, as he recalled returning to his trailer after sooner or later of filming and wanting ‘to burst into tears’.
“It was like I had this enormous cloak on me,” he stated. “Very unhappy. In the direction of the tip, I simply needed it to complete.”
The Louis Theroux Podcast is offered on Spotify now.
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