Jules Verne’s basic novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Underneath the Sea has been the topic of a handful of Hollywood interpretations, from the 1954 James Mason and Kirk Douglas Disney authentic to the 1997 Patrick Dempsey and Michael Caine TV miniseries. It even was a significant Disney World attraction from 1971 to 1994, the place friends might take their very own underwater journey and see legendary creatures throughout the park’s lagoon. Now a brand new journey awaits viewers in AMC‘s action-drama Nautilus (premiering Sunday, June 29, at 9/8c), which shares the origin story of the famed Captain Nemo, an Indian prince robbed of his birthright and household, who was taken prisoner and is now out for revenge.
The ten-episode journey is impressed by Verne’s ebook and follows Nemo’s (Shazad Latif) escape from jail and quest to hunt justice upon the individuals who wronged him and his household. Get an unique have a look at the motion forward within the Nautilus clip above.
“It’s enjoyable to play a man who has a lot vitality and doesn’t cease, who has a lot drive, the place you simply get to inform folks what to do. He’s only a little bit of a psycho in that sense,” Latif tells us. “He’ll cease at nothing, and that creates nice drama as a result of it’s harmful for different folks, as you’ll be able to harm folks alongside the best way. In addition to being an action-packed sequence, it’s obtained a variety of coronary heart, and it’s a revenge story — this man’s spouse and little one died, there’s a racist [element with] the British East India Mercantile Firm, so the underlayer may be very darkish, he’s fairly a darkish character. There’s lots to it.”
On trip in Australia after ending taking pictures Wuthering Heights reverse Margot Robbie (the movie is coming to theaters in 2026), Latif additional caught us up on all the small print of his character Nemo and the large 11 months of taking pictures Nautilus.
Inform us about your familiarity with the character and the ebook previous to diving into this.
Shazad Latif: I’d seen first the outdated Disney film, and I used to be conscious of the work and the opposite tales, after which I had a variety of time really to type of prep for the character, which was nice, so I simply dove into the ebook and went all in on it and went loopy. The ebook’s obtained so many nice beginning factors, there’s so many descriptions of his character — the best way he stands, the best way he feels, nearly constructing the entire backstory. After we arrived in Australia, I had two weeks in a Brisbane airport resort as a result of we needed to do a COVID quarantine. So, I had two weeks staring on the tower and simply ready to be let into the nation correctly. I type of went insane in there and had time to totally prep this man’s thoughts.
That sounds depressing.
It was horrible. It was my very personal penal colony, so yeah, it was being in jail for a bit.
How are we first launched to your character Captain Nemo?
After we first meet him, he’s in jail. We meet him all roughed up. He’s in an Indian British colonial penal colony. That’s the place the present kicks off, and he escapes on the submarine. It’s an entire full, action-packed loopy scene.
When he escapes from the jail together with a motley crew of fellow prisoners, the place’s his head at from that time?
He’s in full revenge-plan mode. He’s been constructing this ship with Thierry Frémont‘s character [Benoit], so this plan has been lengthy in his thoughts, so he decides to flee. However it’s full revenge mode. The very first thing is to steal the sub and escape, after which he could make his means again to London. [Nemo’s friendships] are on a little bit of a need-to-know foundation — he lets folks in somewhat bit, however not totally. He’s obtained separate little plans in his thoughts, and that comes up within the present.
That is fairly the journey sequence with a great deal of particular results. Discuss concerning the physicality of this function and what you discovered difficult.
It was an 11-month shoot and it was 10 episodes the place each episode was in a brand new location, totally different set piece. There’s an incredible stunt group that we labored with to determine all of the stunts, and there was a water coaching group, so we did some underwater coaching, which was unbelievable. We had a extremely cool surf teacher who taught us the respiratory strategies. After which the totally different battle sequences — the sword combating, the submarine, the explosions. Day by day you didn’t know what to anticipate, which made it very enjoyable and difficult. There was an entire sequence the place Nemo has to go underwater and smash the entrance of one of many different ship window screens with an ax. However we had to try this all day in a tank after which holding your breath for one minute underwater about 10, 15 instances. So, it was a fairly unbelievable expertise, it was very enjoyable to do. … We had been additionally in Australia, and it was boiling sizzling, so it was good to be within the water for a bit.
What was the development of the Nautilus ship and set like? What caught your eye by way of the brilliance within the crafting and building of this elaborate set?
The entire building and manufacturing design group was unbelievable. We had two working flooring, so we might stroll from one finish of the ship to the opposite. It was all actual with an higher deck, after which one other complete line. Each little element … simply the screens the place you may look out onto the water was simply an unbelievable factor, as a result of that’s such an iconic factor within the ebook and the tales, that wall that appears out the place you’ll be able to see whales going previous. It was fairly unbelievable to see since you didn’t need to do the work. You’re simply on this world. You’re immediately actually on a ship.
Nautilus, Sequence Premiere, Sunday, June 29, 9/8c, AMC