Charlie Brooker - Inside Black Mirror

Annabel Jones:We went out for dinner with Jon and he talked about how much he loved the show.

Charlie Brooker:And obviously, Annabel was being sick because Jon was so ugly.

Annabel Jones:This matinee idol is sitting in front of you, speaking intelligently, and I began to realise what it must be like to be a beautiful woman where a man is looking at you, but not really listening to a word you say. Anyway… too much information. Distractingly handsome. But we didn’t mention the White Christmas script.

Jon Hamm (actor):What I remember most about that evening was how genuinely pleasant everyone was. Very enjoyable drinks turned into dinner, and I had the nicest time just talking about stuff. I wasn’t auditioning – or at least I didn’t think I was!

Charlie Brooker:I started thinking about whether this Jack-the-lad version of Trent could translate into Jon.

Annabel Jones:And we were like, “Do you think Jon really wants to do it? Will we offend him by asking him?” So fucking British. Anyway we offered him the role of Trent.

Charlie Brooker:So I sent Jon a PDF of the script, went to sleep, then when I woke up he’d replied, saying that he loved it and wanted to do it. I was really groggy and looked at his email, thinking, “Fucking hell! That’s a stroke of luck.”

Jon Hamm:I loved the whole of that script: especially the tone, which was so right on the border of thriller, horror and sci-fi, etc. Such an exciting place to be. [The American comedian and actor] Bill Hader had originally told me about Black Mirror when we went to see a friend’s movie. I went home, watched The National Anthem and was immediately hooked.

Barney Reisz:Jon is a huge star, but the sweetest and most charming man. He also has a history of doing things that he fancies. He’s his own man.

Shaheen Baig:Casting Jon was one of the easiest American deals I’ve ever done. Normally you speak to 25 lawyers and it goes on for weeks.

Annabel Jones:It worked nicely, the idea of Jon being this Californian dating expert. This handsome man, telling these young dweeby guys how to pull.

Charlie Brooker:Jon is just incredibly hypnotic, and not just because he’s good looking. You want to know what’s going on in his head, because he looks like he’s thinking all the time. He’s really good at being sinister and charming in equal measure at the same time. He’s also got good comic instincts, so he knows when to hit a note.

Jon Hamm:Mostly I wanted Trent to be a likeable, affable guy… that does these truly heinous things. I think that juxtaposition is what makes his comeuppance extra salty.

Charlie Brooker:In the original script, Trent was deliberately a little grating. Oddly, it remained in the script that he makes a terrible Christmas dinner, but you don’t really notice because Jon is so charming. He’s got a magnetism and this sort of sinister charming glint to him throughout.

Annabel Jones:Trent’s manipulation works well against Potter, who’s very convincing in that taciturn, reserved way…

Charlie Brooker: …and who then has to explode later on and be vulnerable.

Carl Tibbetts:It’s the classic odd couple, isn’t it? It was perfectly cast, in terms of how they’re so different. You probably wouldn’t have put Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall together, but Rafe plays Potter so well – he bears the weight of that thing he’s holding in. And Jon Hamm is playing this flamboyant, sleazy salesman, but it’s infectious because they’re both charismatic actors who you can’t help watching.

Charlie Brooker:We were shooting around October, at the point where the weather turned, and everyone started getting bugs. Vomiting bugs went around, which terrify me. Jon and Rafe both had really bad, heavy colds throughout filming.

Jon Hamm:Rafe and I got on like a house on fire. I really enjoyed working with him and getting to know his family. The experience of working together was not unlike being stuck in a cabin, as that one set in Twickenham was where we shot all of our things – and obviously we were the only actors in those scenes. It was very much like doing a cool one-act play. I had a fantastic time, despite being under the weather. Working on something as rich and different as Black Mirror , and with such talent, tends to heal all for me.

Carl Tibbetts:Rafe had the hard work. I won’t say Jon had an easy time, but Rafe certainly had the headspace to get into. He had to get into a certain place, which was challenging for him. Jon’s the consummate professional: great to work with, so generous. They were different from each other, but in good ways.

Charlie Brooker:I don’t know quite how actors prepare, but it must be really hard to think, “My character is basically a bit of code.” Both characters are actually copies of themselves in a simulation, but only Jon’s character knows this. So Rafe has to play someone who can’t remember exactly why they’re there – and his character hardly says anything for ages. A lot of actors would flip through that script, going, “When does my character fucking speak?” But you don’t notice Potter’s not really talking, because he’s giving you so much.

Annabel Jones:You know Potter’s withholding, you know there’s a secret, and you know that he’s troubled. And he knows that Trent is trying to manipulate him, so he’s on his guard.

‘It’s a job, not a jail’

Charlie Brooker:It’s a really difficult thing to have pulled off. You get the sense that Potter doesn’t trust Trent, but he doesn’t know why. He’s openly disdainful: a little bit off with Trent from the start.

Annabel Jones:And yet Potter also can see the environment shifting and changing and he’s aware that he’s not really in control. So he is terrified.

Joel Collins:A lot goes on in that cabin, but you have to look quite carefully to see. As we go through the three stories and keep coming back to Potter and Trent, so many details change. It slowly turns into the house where Potter commits the murder, but you have to keep your wits about you.

Charlie Brooker:For instance, Potter notices the novelty bird clock on the wall. I literally once had to stay in a B&B which had that fucking clock, making bird noises and stuff.

Carl Tibbetts:The cooker changes behind them and the work surfaces change. The fireplace changes, just slowly as it’s getting closer and closer to Potter’s confession. Every time we go back to them, the background is changing slightly as we flipped the set out.

Robyn Paiba:There was a strong element of back-engineering the design, so that the cabin could be turned into the kitchen for the reveal at the end.

Charlie Brooker:I wasn’t sure people would notice it, and you don’t notice exactly! You pick up on it without noticing, as it creeps up on you.