'Murder Is Easy' Interview: David Jonsson and Morfydd Clark

The cast of ‘Murder is Easy.’ Photo: BritBox.

Premiering on BritBox in North America on March 1st is Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder Is Easy,’ which is based on the popular author’s classic mystery and stars David Jonsson (‘Rye Lane’) and Morfydd Clark (‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with David Jonsson and Morfydd Clark about their work on ‘Murder Is Easy,’ being part of an Agatha Christie mystery, their characters, the story, and changes that were made to the source material.

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(L to R) Morfydd Clark and Tom Riley in ‘Murder is Easy.’ Photo: BritBox.

Moviefone: To begin with, Morfydd, were you an Agatha Christie fan before joining this project and what was it like for you to be in one of her mysteries?

Morfydd Clark: Yeah, pretty much. I was so excited to be asked to be in an Agatha Christie. I’d grown up watching them, listened to lots of the books and just found the world she creates funny. I love a murder mystery that also isn’t too terrifying. I think that the way she writes people is brutal in that she really homes in on people’s flaws and weirdness. There’s nowhere to hide when an Agatha Christie detective is looking at you. You know Poirot, Miss Marple, Luke Fitzwilliam, they really see the core of people. That’s something that’s quite fascinating and can be quite confronting as well as a reader if you recognize yourself in certain wild behaviors. But also, they’re unrealistic in the fact because I mean, there’s serial killers in every kind of little English town in the Agatha Christie world, which is quite a high stress, and exciting way to live.

MF: David, what was your relationship to Christie’s work before becoming part of this project?

David Jonsson: It’s more the fact that I think Agatha Christie is amazing. She’s a kind of a British institution. She’s an incredible writer who’s made an immense amount of great works, kind of like Shakespeare. But for me, the role is everything. So, it’s kind of got all the check marks and I think this one was scary in the way that I like it to be.

David Jonsson in ‘Murder is Easy.’ Photo: BritBox.

MF: David, what were some of the aspects of this character that you were excited to explore on screen?

DJ: Well, I guess on paper he’s a young black policeman who works in the force, and who comes over to solve a crime, I guess. That’s never happened in Agatha Christie history, playing the first black lead. So that comes with a big amount of responsibility, but also a big amount of invention and fun to be had. It was just about striking the balance between that and hopefully somewhere in the middle finding the truth, which was fun in the end.

MF: Morfydd, is fun being in an Agatha Christie mystery?

MC: Yeah, for sure. It feels like as an actor, your kind of stepping into a genre of itself. We are lucky, me and David, that we worked with lots of very funny actors. Also, we were lucky to work with people like Penelope Wilton. There’s a huge age range also in Agatha Christie, which is fascinating, and I love.

(L to R) Penelope Wilton and David Jonsson in ‘Murder is Easy.’ Photo: BritBox.

MF: David, your character takes over trying to solve the mystery when Miss Pinkerton is no longer able, can you talk about why he does that?

DJ: Well, I think he’s just doing the right thing. I feel like Luke has got a very strong moral code, and that’s kind of sometimes alien, isn’t it? When a lot of people think about themselves. I think he’s quite selfless in that scenario, which kind of drives a lot of his character.

MF: How does Luke’s friends feel about him going to this village and then once he gets there, how is he treated by the people there?

DJ: Well, I guess it’s all in retrospect, isn’t it? On the way to the village, he’s only got one thing in mind, which is just to kind of help and report this murder. Then when he gets there, it’s a completely different thing, isn’t it? Which is I think a lot of the black experience generally. What I find quite incredible about this one is the parallels between 1950s Britain and today. A lot has changed, but we’ve still got a long way to go. I think that’s cool about this one, because it’s maybe a bit more polarized than some of the other Agatha Christie books.

David Jonsson in ‘Murder is Easy.’ Photo: BritBox.

MF: Morfydd, can you talk about Bridget’s reaction to Luke when she first meets him?

MC: Well, I think they kind of have quite an instant connection. They understand each other quite deeply, quite quickly on a certain level, but also in lots of ways, they are worlds apart. I think that Bridget, the rest of her life, she’ll have been a much better person having met him. I think she learns a lot during this state of murders and meeting Fitzwilliam.

MF: Finally, Morfydd, how would you describe Bridget in your own words?

MC: She’s no fool. She’s not wealthy, and she doesn’t have a huge number of prospects because she’s a woman in the ‘50s, the ‘60s haven’t happened yet. She’s limited, and so she finds herself a kind of tamable rich man. That’s the best option, and she does it well. Luke really kind of opens her eyes, I guess.

(L to R) Mark Bonnar and Mathew Baynton in ‘Murder is Easy.’ Photo: BritBox.

What is the Plot of ‘Murder Is Easy’?

Luke Fitzwilliam (David Jonsson) is a Nigerian attaché on his way to Whitehall when he meets the mysterious Miss Pinkerton (Penelope Wilton) on a train. Pinkerton discusses with him that a series of deaths in the village of Wynchwood-Under-Ashe are not accidental and there’s a killer on the loose. Later, Miss Pinkerton is also found dead, and Fitzwilliam steels himself to discover the murderer before he strikes again.