Ria Zmitrowicz and Eddie Marsan discuss their complex characters on Amazon's The Power and their "hell for leather" audition
Amazon's new sci-fi drama The Power, based on the bestselling novel by Naomi Alderman, takes place in a world where teenage girls suddenly develop the power to shoot volts of electricity from their fingertips.
Ria Zmitrowicz plays Roxy Monke, the illegitimate daughter of crime boss Bernie Monke – played by Eddie Marsan. Their relationship is already complicated when Roxy learns she has 'the power,' causing things to short-circuit. Total Film spoke to the pair about their complicated father-daughter relationship and what it's like to portray such in-depth characters.
Total Film: Were you familiar with the book or Naomi Alderman's work beforehand?
Ria Zmitrowicz: I was kind of familiar with it because my cousin read the book back in 2016 and she sent me a message being like, 'I've just read this amazing book and if they ever turned it into a TV show, then you should play Roxy.' So that's how I was first introduced to it. Bit of a spooky coincidence because then obviously however many years later I got an audition and I thought, 'Oh, that's that book!' So I read the book and I fell in love with it. I thought it was completely visionary. It was really thought-provoking and I just love the way that it holds the mirror up to society.
Eddie Marsan: I read the book because Amazon approached me with the interest in what I played Bernie, so read the book first and I was blown away by it. I thought it was such a fascinating study on [the concept of] power. I thought it was like, uh, kind of a kind of Trojan horse because you think it's about women gaining power, but it's not. It's about an exploration of power, the good and bad. And I love complexity like that. It's easy to act, it's really hard to act simplicity with complexity.
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