'Last Light': Pro-active Extraordinary Television Ripped Directly from the Headlines
The opening evening of the 61st Monte-Carlo Television Festival saw the world premiere of the first two episodes of five-episode environmental thriller 'Last Light', produced by MGM International TV Productions, in association with Peacock, Viaplay, MBC Group, Stan and internationally distributed by MGM. Based on the novel by Alex Scarrow, 'Last Light' is directed by Dennie Gordon and stars Matthew Fox, Joanne Froggatt, Tom Wlaschiha, Amber Rose Revah; etc. The series marks the return of 'Lost' alum Fox who hasn't played any roles on TV in more than a decade, with his last appearance on the big screen being in 2014.
'Last Light' explores what would occur if something were to happen to the world’s oil supply and questions the world’s dependency on this precious natural resource. The series follows petro-chemist Andy Yeats (Fox), an expert in the oil business. While on a business trip to the Middle East, Andy realizes that his worst fears are coming true. Andy’s teenage daughter, Laura (Alyth Ross), is alone at home in London while his wife, Elena (Froggatt), and young son, Sam (Taylor Fay), are in Paris. Amid this chaos, each family member will sacrifice everything to find one another and make their way home, despite the distance and the dangers that separate them.
Following the international premiere of the series, a press conference was held the next morning, featuring Fox, Froggatt, Ross, Fay and the series' director Dennie Gordon who revealed details about the filming process and the storyline and its relevance to the current world events.
Dennie Gordon commented that as they took the project on, they knew it was ripped from the headlines, it was already happening, coming out of the pandemic and we could imagine where our dependency on oil would take us. The team saw what was happening in cities around the world but they couldn't have imagined the petro-chemical was in Ukraine, so many things that are happening with the climate change but they knew they were going to be current. The team behind the project wanted to start a pro-active conversation about what we all need to be doing before the lights go out, pro-active about climate change and oil dependency. Gordon commented that the show is about the dying light, the series is called 'Last Light' and this became a thematic image that the lights will go out, that the lights will go down for all of us unless we do something.
Joanne Froggatt added that while seeing stories about people queuing for petrol in her home country England, the cast witnessed the same thing while filming in Prague, it was happening in front of their eyes.
Matthew Fox reiterated that 'Last Light's main theme looks at a timely subject and that climate change is on everybody's mind at this point. Part of the attraction to the story for him personally was the family being torn apart, having this as a backdrop of this crisis, addressing this but trying not to be too directly political and those four family members trying to reunite. "Considering these past years that we gone through - the pandemic and how prevalent climate change is affecting our lives, you see it every day, seeing radical weather affecting people's lives, affecting family lives every single day, it is just undeniable today, even though there are some people out there still in denial, although this is changing rapidly... The world that we are living in, what's happening in Ukraine, the pandemic, climate - it is a very worrisome moment for us all". Fox commented that the bad guys are the good guys and the good guy is kind of a bad guy and that there is a gray area in this respect.
Alyth Ross also shared her thoughts on climate change, saying that the Western world is not feeling a lot of the effects, with developing countries feeling the effect now. The series shows how families are being torn because of it and viewers can relate, noting that the subject of climate change is really timely and really important. Ross commented that we need to stop using oil today.
The youngest star in the series: Taylor Fay was praised by both Fox and Froggatt who play his parents about his role in the project. Director Gordon revealed that the team saw hundreds of young actors from around the world and when they saw Fay, he was such a natural and she thought "this is a massive talent", Fay being their big discovery. Froggatt commented that she learned all sorts of things from Fay every day, to be in the moment and live in the 'now', be authentic and true, to be playful together. Ross who is also new to acting (her only previous role being in 'Traces') also took a lot from him, especially learning how not to be nervous. Fox learned a lot about soccer from the debut actor who was nicknamed 'Chocolate Escobar' because he was giving out specific candy to all the other actors every day.
When asked about his long break from TV and film, Fox commented that he had a bucket list in his mind of things that he wanted to accomplish in the business, and after he did ‘Bone Tomahawk’ in 2014 that had kind of completed the bucket list. “I wanted to do a Western. It’s a very odd Western, but it’s a Western. And so that sort of completed the bucket list. At that time in my life, our kids were at an age where I felt like I needed to really reengage. I had been focused on work for some time, and Margherita (his Italian wife) had been running the family so beautifully, but I felt like it was time to be home, and I really felt like I was retiring from the business, and working on other creative elements that are really personal to me – some music and writing.” After that he thought that this 'bucket list' also included executive producing which he hadn't done before so when the opportunity for 'Last Light' came along, he wanted to give it a shot, being the right time. Fox had previously worked with Gordon on 'Party of Five' and he said it was the moment to jump back in, and see how it felt to be in front of a camera again, and to act again and that it was surprisingly rewarding. "I felt really good doing it, and with this incredible group of people, and the collaborative aspect of it, and how well we all bonded, how much we believed in the project. And it turned out to be a fantastic experience.” He added that in the past 7 years he was just living his life with his family and pursing things he was passionate about but storytelling is in his DNA and this kind of storytelling was something that he wanted to be engaged with. Gordon commented that it was not an easy feat to lure Fox out of retirement and it took a project of this caliber and this cast and important story to lure him. Fox added that TV has changed immensely and the streaming world has taken over and to have the opportunity to tell as story that arcs over five episodes - that is a beautiful thing that streaming has offered us, opened a whole new area and it has been really good for television. In 'Lost' and 'Party of Five' - one of the things I have been frustrated in the past - you have these premises that are driven a little bit longer than they should be and the audience senses that so streaming is moving us in a direction that stories are being told just in the amount of time that they need to be told in.
Gordon commented that in this new age of rising of fantastic streaming material around the globe, the audience's expectations are extremely high and producers are required to deliver is not ordinary television but extraordinary television and this is why it is important to go to extraordinary locations, give it a global scope, telling a global story and production value is very important. The bar is very high at the new age of television and so many fantastic shows are being made on foreign soil.
When talking about his character, petro-chemist Andy Yeats, Fox commented that "you begin to imagine this world and this character and when you get into the work it is always shocking to me how much harder it is than you think it is going to be". Talking about the stunt work in the series: "I had a lot of moments where I thought: ‘You know, I should have gotten in a little bit better shape for this'. The physical elements of it - those sequences in script sometimes, they are brief descriptive things and when you get to doing them, they require a lot more physicality, more flexibility than you think they will require".
In terms of direct actions undertaken by the team of the series to battle climate change, Gordon commented that she had put solar panels on her rooftop in LA, her family switched to electric cars and they are much more mindful to open technology and support government leaders in this area.
'Last Light' explores what would occur if something were to happen to the world’s oil supply and questions the world’s dependency on this precious natural resource. The series follows petro-chemist Andy Yeats (Fox), an expert in the oil business. While on a business trip to the Middle East, Andy realizes that his worst fears are coming true. Andy’s teenage daughter, Laura (Alyth Ross), is alone at home in London while his wife, Elena (Froggatt), and young son, Sam (Taylor Fay), are in Paris. Amid this chaos, each family member will sacrifice everything to find one another and make their way home, despite the distance and the dangers that separate them.
Following the international premiere of the series, a press conference was held the next morning, featuring Fox, Froggatt, Ross, Fay and the series' director Dennie Gordon who revealed details about the filming process and the storyline and its relevance to the current world events.
Dennie Gordon commented that as they took the project on, they knew it was ripped from the headlines, it was already happening, coming out of the pandemic and we could imagine where our dependency on oil would take us. The team saw what was happening in cities around the world but they couldn't have imagined the petro-chemical was in Ukraine, so many things that are happening with the climate change but they knew they were going to be current. The team behind the project wanted to start a pro-active conversation about what we all need to be doing before the lights go out, pro-active about climate change and oil dependency. Gordon commented that the show is about the dying light, the series is called 'Last Light' and this became a thematic image that the lights will go out, that the lights will go down for all of us unless we do something.
Joanne Froggatt added that while seeing stories about people queuing for petrol in her home country England, the cast witnessed the same thing while filming in Prague, it was happening in front of their eyes.
Matthew Fox reiterated that 'Last Light's main theme looks at a timely subject and that climate change is on everybody's mind at this point. Part of the attraction to the story for him personally was the family being torn apart, having this as a backdrop of this crisis, addressing this but trying not to be too directly political and those four family members trying to reunite. "Considering these past years that we gone through - the pandemic and how prevalent climate change is affecting our lives, you see it every day, seeing radical weather affecting people's lives, affecting family lives every single day, it is just undeniable today, even though there are some people out there still in denial, although this is changing rapidly... The world that we are living in, what's happening in Ukraine, the pandemic, climate - it is a very worrisome moment for us all". Fox commented that the bad guys are the good guys and the good guy is kind of a bad guy and that there is a gray area in this respect.
Alyth Ross also shared her thoughts on climate change, saying that the Western world is not feeling a lot of the effects, with developing countries feeling the effect now. The series shows how families are being torn because of it and viewers can relate, noting that the subject of climate change is really timely and really important. Ross commented that we need to stop using oil today.
The youngest star in the series: Taylor Fay was praised by both Fox and Froggatt who play his parents about his role in the project. Director Gordon revealed that the team saw hundreds of young actors from around the world and when they saw Fay, he was such a natural and she thought "this is a massive talent", Fay being their big discovery. Froggatt commented that she learned all sorts of things from Fay every day, to be in the moment and live in the 'now', be authentic and true, to be playful together. Ross who is also new to acting (her only previous role being in 'Traces') also took a lot from him, especially learning how not to be nervous. Fox learned a lot about soccer from the debut actor who was nicknamed 'Chocolate Escobar' because he was giving out specific candy to all the other actors every day.
When asked about his long break from TV and film, Fox commented that he had a bucket list in his mind of things that he wanted to accomplish in the business, and after he did ‘Bone Tomahawk’ in 2014 that had kind of completed the bucket list. “I wanted to do a Western. It’s a very odd Western, but it’s a Western. And so that sort of completed the bucket list. At that time in my life, our kids were at an age where I felt like I needed to really reengage. I had been focused on work for some time, and Margherita (his Italian wife) had been running the family so beautifully, but I felt like it was time to be home, and I really felt like I was retiring from the business, and working on other creative elements that are really personal to me – some music and writing.” After that he thought that this 'bucket list' also included executive producing which he hadn't done before so when the opportunity for 'Last Light' came along, he wanted to give it a shot, being the right time. Fox had previously worked with Gordon on 'Party of Five' and he said it was the moment to jump back in, and see how it felt to be in front of a camera again, and to act again and that it was surprisingly rewarding. "I felt really good doing it, and with this incredible group of people, and the collaborative aspect of it, and how well we all bonded, how much we believed in the project. And it turned out to be a fantastic experience.” He added that in the past 7 years he was just living his life with his family and pursing things he was passionate about but storytelling is in his DNA and this kind of storytelling was something that he wanted to be engaged with. Gordon commented that it was not an easy feat to lure Fox out of retirement and it took a project of this caliber and this cast and important story to lure him. Fox added that TV has changed immensely and the streaming world has taken over and to have the opportunity to tell as story that arcs over five episodes - that is a beautiful thing that streaming has offered us, opened a whole new area and it has been really good for television. In 'Lost' and 'Party of Five' - one of the things I have been frustrated in the past - you have these premises that are driven a little bit longer than they should be and the audience senses that so streaming is moving us in a direction that stories are being told just in the amount of time that they need to be told in.
Gordon commented that in this new age of rising of fantastic streaming material around the globe, the audience's expectations are extremely high and producers are required to deliver is not ordinary television but extraordinary television and this is why it is important to go to extraordinary locations, give it a global scope, telling a global story and production value is very important. The bar is very high at the new age of television and so many fantastic shows are being made on foreign soil.
When talking about his character, petro-chemist Andy Yeats, Fox commented that "you begin to imagine this world and this character and when you get into the work it is always shocking to me how much harder it is than you think it is going to be". Talking about the stunt work in the series: "I had a lot of moments where I thought: ‘You know, I should have gotten in a little bit better shape for this'. The physical elements of it - those sequences in script sometimes, they are brief descriptive things and when you get to doing them, they require a lot more physicality, more flexibility than you think they will require".
In terms of direct actions undertaken by the team of the series to battle climate change, Gordon commented that she had put solar panels on her rooftop in LA, her family switched to electric cars and they are much more mindful to open technology and support government leaders in this area.
