What sort of training did you have to do for the action elements of this show? Did you learn how to like, fire a gun, that kind of thing?
So, in episode five I scaled down this three-tiered waterfall, after breaking out of this prison that I’m being held in. Throughout the filming I really did try to keep up with the boys, with Luke [Evans] and Michiel [Huisman], who were so buff and so in shape.
I felt like I owed it to the feminine piece of this story to be strong. So I was exercising a lot just to keep myself in good shape to be able to climb around and be suspended off of cliffs and things like that.
So you actually did your own stunts – not a stunt person?
Oh yeah! I even did a 30-foot jump off of a cliff. It was really fun, but I’m very adventurous, so it was natural for me to hop into that.
What kind of preparation were you doing, work-out wise?
I have two toddlers, so that’s a workout, just like lifting them up and down and all of that stuff. When I could, I was squeezing in home workouts wherever I could. There was no gym or trainer involved, but I had fitness bands and I was just on the floor doing pushups, I was doing squats, I was hanging off of trees, I mean, whatever I could. I did swimming too.
What was it like working with Luke Evans and Michael Huisman?
They’re beautiful actors, beautiful people. We got close on this because we were in Columbia for close to nine months, in remote places. We got along personally, and I think that fed directly into what we were doing on screen. It was an important element and I think important to all of us that we felt like we enjoyed each other.
How was filming the wedding scene together, which occurs at the start of the narrative before Amber gets kidnapped? That must have been a serious contrast to all the action-packed scenes.
That was the hardest part for me, honestly. People think it would have been, say, picking up a scorpion or something like that. But finding Amber’s joyful happy place ended up being the real struggle! But it was nice to start the journey filming that scene – which we did at the beginning of filming, to mirror the chronology of the series – because that was a time for us to get really close.
The series – which has been compared to the film Taken – is about a rescue mission. Who would you put in charge of leading your own rescue mission in your life?
Myself! I think I could do it.
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Finally, you’ve played many heavy roles like lawyers, investigators, serial killers, scientists… Is there a type of role that you would like to do in the future, that you haven’t done yet?
I like being surprised by what comes along, and there’s something very exciting about not anticipating that. But I do think it would be interesting to get my hands on a comedy script…
The final episode of Echo 3 is out on Apple TV+ on Friday 13 January. All other episodes are available to stream on the platform.