Sarah Solemani, actress and showrunner of ITV's The Party, has opened up about working with Luke Evans and admitted that filming the series made her "want to move to Wales". She was approached by World Productions, the team behind The Pembrokeshire Murders, to adapt Elizabeth Day's critically acclaimed novel of the same title.
Luke Evans, who read the novel during the Covid-19 pandemic, pitched The Party as a series to World Productions, with himself in mind for the leading character. The programme stars Luke Evans as Martin Gilmour, a journalist whose existence has been shaped by his lasting friendship with a wealthy and charismatic politician portrayed by fellow Welsh actor Tom Cullen. They are supported by Lydia Leonard, Lindsay Duncan, and Sarah Solemani herself.
Concerns over script changes
Discussing the importance of including powerful female characters in the series, like Sarah's character Lucy (Martin's pregnant wife), the screenwriter said she was concerned how Luke would react to the changes she made away from the book and away from his character.
Sarah said: "When I was writing, 'cause I hadn't worked with Luke before- even though I knew he was very nice, very charming- I didn't quite know how he'd react when he got five hours of script delivered, and he's read that I'd taken the show into multiple female directions and told the stories not just of the principal characters, but their spouses, and the way the spouses interact, and the mother."
"I was preparing myself for the sort of 'What about me?' question that you sometimes get when you write for actors, and he never said that. Then later when we became closer, I said, 'You never called me back on those sprawling storylines', and he went 'because it makes it better. That it tells the story.'"
"That shows you kind of just how intelligent he is, that giving a bit of screen time to these other characters enriches the journey and the project overall."
Authentic to Wales
She also stressed that she wanted to make the series "authentic to Wales" and feature characters speaking Welsh. The series wasn't originally meant to be set in Wales, however they strayed away from the book's setting of The Cotswolds to make it more authentic to Luke and his background.
Sarah said: "Being authentic to Wales, it was important for me to put the Welsh language in. I wanted all of those scenes subtitled. I wanted the Welsh language to be respected and presented in the show."
Speaking of filming in Wales, Sarah said that shooting the series has made her want to move to the country. She said: "I had the best time! I want to move to Wales! It was so beautiful, first of all, just stunning. The people, so friendly and the voice. I t was one of the crew members' birthday, and the whole crew sang Happy Birthday. It was like a professional choir!"
They were even treated to a song from Luke, who is a trained singer and recently was performing in The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Broadway. There were several scenes where we got to see him sing a little in the series, and even the younger version of his character sang a touch of Calon Lan.
Sarah said: "I think I made him sing in one scene, just to get it in, because he's such a great singer, but then it sounded too good for the character, so he had to turn it down a bit." You can watch The Party on ITVX.
