what
i'll be real
every time i watch that scene i get
goosebumps whenever i hear like a
motorbike coming towards me i still get
weirded out because of filming this
scene i remember glass was shattering
and all of that stuff like it just felt
so real yo it's michael ward and this is
my gq action replay of top boys season
one
when it goes into this episode you kind
of see
the human in this character and you
start to see what i love about playing
jamie so much which is all of this
three-dimensional stuff this scene here
was never scripted so ray the director
while we was waiting for them to sort
out some light he was just like yeah
let's get the camera up and go in the
room and just let's just film it for me
what disconnected was the relationship
that jamie had with his mum and
obviously if you watch the season you
see that he's lost his parents that's
why he's had to kind of step up to be
the father and brother of his two little
brothers you know and at the top of his
episode he's obviously looking at the
pictures and stuff like that so he
really builds that connection he kind of
sets his tone for the rest of this
episode and slightly for the series
because you see what's driving him to do
the stuff that he does and all decisions
he makes is kind of because of these
moments this is definitely one of the
reasons why it's one of my favorite
episodes i have someone they have high
grade they have everything we need and
they're going to sell it to us for way
lower than what the turks were selling
for anyway
need to think about it still no you
don't i'm going to chat to modi did
ain't nothing to think about except
making peas which we ain't done in a
long time
i'll be real in terms of all the slang
and the language and everything that's
that's me that's us yeah i'm trying to
say that and that's what was so special
about the casting nothing ever felt
force and to be honest a lot of the time
the script isn't like that like what
we're saying is not not always scripted
we're adding in our own words because
we're familiar with the voice of the of
these characters now that i've played
like a few different roles since playing
jamie it's like once you really find the
voice of a character you're able to go
anywhere with it and this scene
especially everyone's free no one's kind
of like held back this is the first time
you kind of see jamie transitioning into
that boss role like i said before he's
young
and he doesn't want to be the person to
say yeah i'm the boss it's just making
that um assertive and sure so even
playing with the scene a few times it
was making sure that everyone else kind
of saw it without me having to say
anything even playing jamie just gave me
a lot of confidence in life as well
because it just made me so sure about
who i am because jamie's so sure about
who he is
sorry i'm late
meeting my mom
putting together a consortium of
investors to redevelop one of the local
estates like a total
regeneration
where do we get to
so basically we're going to need a
supply and it's going to have to be
regular because if i don't deliver to my
people they're going to go somewhere
else totally under basic business
principles does 15 kilos a month sound
like a regular supply to you 15 kilos
that's a low blow
i'm gonna put a big smile on a lot of
faces
well i'm assuming you can handle it
because jeffrey and me were thinking
that if this works out we can bring you
a lot more
we can handle it obviously the
relationship with his bros and stuff
like that on the road like like kit is
is very important to play with
especially in situations like this
obviously jamie's coming into a world
where he's not that he's not familiar
with like with these white people and
with people with a lot of money also
even being in a house like this is a
dream to a lot of people from the from
the road you get i'm trying to say so
it's like showing all of those things
but still remaining confident for me was
um very important when filming scenes
trying to merge those worlds and show
that we're not too far away from it and
everything's attainable
who you
dream unit jme jamie where am i no no no
jamie where's jamie from i don't know
jamie hey what vampire you forgot violin
because of the cameras
blake he's tapped and it's just mad
because all of this is kind of just here
in episode two you know you're just
seeing jamie basically becoming a
chameleon he's never had to really
handle a situation like this talking to
that someone else that's really you know
loose screwed filming in london is
obviously fun because you're filming in
locations that i know i remember was
filming in the um in a chip shop i'm
trying to do the scene and i can hear oh
my is that michael and i'm just like oh
like automatically for me that kind of
takes me out of scene you know if i hear
my name because i'm supposed to be jamie
season one i obviously didn't have that
i was i could kind of be whoever i
wanted to be and when people used to
come to and ask us like what we're
filming we told them that we're filming
like a colgate commercial or something
like that let's have a look
attendance i make sure he doesn't miss
school your attendance is a hundred
percent
homework is it two one for this
organization is two
concentration is three
behavior three
so he's doing good
there's room for improvement
all right
he's gonna improve trust me for me this
parents even this scene was
very funny because it just reminds me of
when i
used to be at paris even my mom used to
come and you're just sweating and you're
thinking oh it's just going to be long
so i kind of wanted to inflict
that feeling onto around when we were
filming the scene that kind of pressure
him to know that yo when we leave here
it's not gonna be okay he's just so
cheeky and it just gave me so much to
play with jamie's had to step up and be
in this position he didn't he didn't
want to do this it's something that now
he has to do especially when he's just
you know come away from that making
basically a drug deal it's always good
to have loads of different sides to tap
into but still make this person feel as
one and this lady like an older lady
who was passed but then she came over
she was like to mum how's that baby
mom said he was born this morning
the lady started busting out she
couldn't believe it so back in her day
you'd had to spend what two weeks in
hospital before you could come out
mum was so strong
yeah now i'm deep in it she went ever
ill
never had a cold
dad too he was strong
he was a real man when he spoke everyone
listened
yeah
that's why we come here in it on their
birthdays
happy birthday mom
[Music]
being able to have the two
different kind of brothers was so fun
because obviously jamie has to move one
way with one and another way with the
other one gets tough love and what other
one gets that you know the warm that
kind of loving side of jamie because
he's younger i mean this this stuff for
me was just beautiful especially me and
me and aaron you know like we haven't
really got both of our parents present
so there was a lot of connection there
and
like i said being able to be there for
him and him be there for me like it was
just a special moment i thought this was
going to be like a mad emotional scene
that we're all going to start crying or
whatever and then
when the writer came this was a real
kind of
experience of his so he said that when
he came he kind of told the story in
like a you know a light happy way which
then actually does make it a lot more
emotional the biggest challenge about
portraying jamie is to
be as authentic as possible but still
stick to a script that's given a lot of
the time
you're kind of battling with
what you believe is real as a person
that knows this world but then finding
all the reasons as to why jamie would do
certain things everyone has different
motives as to why they would do stuff
and that's what was so beautiful about
what ronan's written you know there's
always a reason as to why these
characters would do what they would do
like i said once you find it it's the
way it always works out
who's that what
[Music]
i'll be real
every time i watch that scene i get
goosebumps ever i hear like a motorbike
coming towards me not that i'm
traumatized because it's not that you
know but like i still get weirded out
because of filming the scene i remember
it just felt so real i know
what it feels like now for something to
stay with you after you've wrapped you
know what i mean every time that reveal
of tilly i literally just feel so bad
and it really makes me think about like
people that are really living this life
and the people that kind of get caught
in a crossfire even though it's not
meant to he literally just
moved to the girl earlier in the day
asked her on a date and they've gone out
and now she's that she could potentially
be dead a lot of girls can get their
souls into the situation a lot of men
draw people into these situations that
don't need to be in them but it's also
not intentional and that's my action
replay of top way season one
this season is a lot of
rebuilding bridges right now we're six
months on he gets offered something by
the shade here we're gonna find out if
he's gonna
kind of take the offer or not well i'd
say what you can expect from jamie
obviously getting into this situation
he's kind of
you know messed up with his little
brothers messed up on the roads it's a
lot of kind of piecing those things
together
one of the processes i saw was from
giancarlo who i worked on a movie i'd
seen him come to set one day and he kind
of like took in his domain so he looked
at the house and he kind of scoped it
out and i looked at him and i was just
watching him the whole time he done it
and i was like you know what yeah when i
when i go to sit i'm gonna try that i've
come to set
i've gone inside the court i'm looking
at everything checking my domain i've
gone to speak to the director and he was
like oh yeah by the way i don't want you
going in the court because i want as
soon as you come out on camera that's
the first time you go into the court and
i was just like uh i've already been in
there
obviously i didn't go back in there
until we got on camera again but
probably should have asked the director
first this was actually one of the first
scenes that i filmed as well it was kind
of weird to be on this side and see even
coming in and yeah i'm trying to say it
was just like a weird weird experience
and it just made me think of all the
people that go through this and it's
just like it's never
worth this stress you realize how much
of your future is in someone else's
hands when you're in this position a lot
of the youths that are on road and stuff
like that just realize that being in
this position there it is never gonna be
worth it nothing is ever kind of worth
your worth your freedom
yes
[Music]
it was mad to be filming filming this
with everyone again still i haven't seen
a lot of people in
in a long time like being an actor in
general anyway it's kind of like you're
you're very intimate with these people
and then kind of going away and then
coming back it's like there's a lot of
catching up and this scene especially
this was actually on my birthday so i
was on set filming um the scene when i
come home if there was any scene i
wanted to be filming on my birthday this
season because it's a long dark season
for jamie it would be this you know it
was a lot of fun it was nice to be
around people that i know and i love
didn't feel like work at all you know i
mean and i still had an amazing birthday
so yeah man it was good and that's all
i'm gonna talk about regarding season
two because
boy is mad