Why Cillian Murphy Described His Intense Peaky Blinders' Scenes With Sam Neill As A 'Great Problem'
You never forget your first.
Of all the various foes that Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his gang have faced over the years in "Peaky Blinders," arguably none have quite managed to measure up to the level of loathsomeness that Sam Neill brought to the role of Chester Campbell, accent and all. Established early on as the show's first major recurring antagonist in seasons 1 and 2, the relentless police inspector (soon promoted to the rank of Major) was handpicked by Winston Churchill himself to take a militant approach to cleaning up the law enforcement of an entire city that had fallen into corruption and avarice. Naturally, that meant taking on the Shelby family and all their interests in an epic struggle that eventually turned brutally personal.
Like a fragile ecosystem that can only sustain so many apex predators at once before tipping over into collapse, the streets of early 1900s Birmingham could hardly survive the full-fledged war brewing between the Shelby crime lord and the vendetta-driven cop dogging his every move. No, the initial setup of Campbell using the tenacious bartender Grace (Annabelle Wallis) to spy on Tommy wasn't the most unique storyline ever conceived (to the surprise of nobody, Grace and Tommy falling in love ended up driving yet another wedge between them and the jealous Campbell). But the narrative seeds planted by these major characters have reverberated all the way through to season 6.
Looking back, it hardly seems surprising that Murphy would hold both Campbell and especially Neill in such high regard. As it turns out, that push-and-pull between an utterly unlikeable villain and a fan-favorite performer was one that Murphy has praised as a challenging balancing act while on set of "Peaky Blinders" each and every day throughout the first two seasons.
'He's such a despicable character, but you can't help but love him'
If you want to imbue a certain role with a sense of humanity, charisma, and a deep well that hints at darker elements to come, you hire Sam Neill. Between the Russian submarine captain Vasily Borodin in "The Hunt for Red October," his most recognizable appearance as Dr. Alan Grant in "Jurassic Park," William Weir in "Event Horizon," and even the curmudgeonly Hector in "Hunt for the Wilderpeople," the actor has made a career out of adding all sorts of new layers to roles that may have seemed straightforward and simple, at first glance.
Neill's work on "Peaky Blinders," however, may have done the most to upend the lovable character actor's perception among general audiences in the best way. Just take it from his co-star, Cillian Murphy, who worked side-by-side with Neill for the majority of the show's first dozen episodes. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph just before the premiere of season 2, Murphy opened up about his experience working with Neill. To hear him tell it, the vast gulf between Neill's lovely personality and his character's hateful methods turned it into a "great problem."
"He's a good friend and I love him dearly, but we have this hatred in those scenes, so you go from hanging out and laughing to deep vitriol. He's such a despicable character, but you can't help but love him."
One has to assume that's exactly what played the biggest role in creator Steven Knight casting Neill in the first place. "Peaky Blinders" became so successful in part due to the brilliant writing that subverted what we may have expected from the cast. Without Neill's work early on, the series may never have become the phenomenon it is now.