Entertainment
The Mysterious Benedict Society’s Tony Hale teases ‘twists and turns’ in new series: ‘It’s wonderful and surreal’
Esteemed actor Tony Hale has revealed that we should expect a lot of ‘twists and turns’ in his latest series, The Mysterious Benedict Society.
Based on the books by Trenton Lee Stewart, four gifted orphans are recruited by the peculiar Mr Benedict (played by Tony) for a dangerous mission to save the world from a global crisis known as The Emergency.
When the headmaster, Dr Curtain (also played by Tony), appears to be behind this worldwide panic, the kids of The Mysterious Benedict Society must devise a plan to defeat him.
In an exclusive interview with Metro.co.uk, Tony shared what the heartwarming show has in store for us all, as well as how they handled filming during a pandemic.
‘[Filming] it was many things, it was wonderful and surreal and I was doing a story that I really believe in,’ the 50-year-old actor said.
‘My character, Mr Benedict, pulls together these four gifted kids to try and find the source [of The Emergency] and what I love is that these kids don’t have magical powers, their superpower is their intellect, creativity and their empathy.
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‘After the year we’ve had, they’re the superpowers we need in our world. I hope that’s what people get from it and that the show is a really fun ride with a lot of twists and turns.’
The cast and crew shot the series in Vancouver for five months, with no one being able to return home during that time.
While for some that might cause a lot of homesickness and heartbreak, Tony said it brought the cast and crew closer together as they created a ‘found family’.
‘We were shooting this from August to October and it was difficult to not constantly look at the parallels of what’s going on [with Covid] so that was very wild,’ he said.
‘I had a lot of respect for these kids because not only are they on a set, which can be challenging at that age let alone during a pandemic, we didn’t get much time together.
‘When we were on set we caught up but mainly we all had to isolate ourselves because of Covid, so it was challenging but they were huge troopers and they totally stepped up to the plate.’
Tony added that he’s excited for viewers to see what the young actors ‘brought to the table’.
During a time when a myriad of TV shows had to shut down filming – such as the likes of You, Stranger Things and Peaky Blinders – Tony said the fact that they weren’t is a testament to the hard work of the crew.
‘They really worked hard to keep everybody safe and everything was so well done,’ Tony explained.
‘I’m just so amazed we didn’t have to shut down, it was really hard to hear how many productions did have to shut down, that’s well and truly challenging.’
Proving his appreciation for those he worked with, the Arrested Development star continued to leap praise on his colleagues.
‘I think the actors are a very small piece of this pie, this pie is filled with makeup, hair, wardrobe, production design, the camera shots, lighting, it’s a world of design that these people have created and it’s such a whimsical palette,’ he said.
‘I hope people can see the artistry that went into this show. With the amount of noise that can be in our world, the things that stand out are moments of empathy and hearing somebody that is speaking truth, understanding and compassion. That is a superpower, that can make a change.’
While everything ran smoothly, for the most part, Tony said the weirdest part of filming during a pandemic was the crew having to wear face masks the entire time.
He revealed that now filming has ended, he wouldn’t be able to recognise most of the people he worked with if they didn’t wear a mask.
When filming wrapped, Tony was given a book by the crew that was filled with pictures of them both masked and unmasked.
‘It was the wildest thing, I remember Kristen Schaal and I were looking at this book and when you see a mask on someone’s face you create what their face kind of looks like,’ the actor said.
‘Then when they take the mask off, we were like, “Oh my gosh if I had seen this person at the grocery store without their mask I wouldn’t have known it was them and I just worked with them for five months.” That was very surreal.’
The Mysterious Benedict Society will debut on Disney+ on June 25, 2021 and consists of eight episodes.
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