He says that Frank was always destined for this story and he as an actor was told from the start where he would be heading. Most viewers are aware that Frank tried it on with Maria awhile back but Frank brushed it off as "getting the signals wrong." But we've also seen Frank being controlling and devious at times. Andrew says "It's far from over - it's far, far from over for Frank. He's a very clever man, and he can twist and manipulate people very easily it seems. It'll be interesting for people to see what happens in the days after the attack - the way Frank twists and turns and manipulates. He'll lie and be deceitful, and there'll be blood on the street."
He enjoys playing a darker character. Both he and Alison King did research for the storyline and rehearsed a lot to make sure they'd got it just right. Filming the scenes was tough but rewarding for the actors.
Andrew has long been a fan of Corrie and has really been enjoying working with some of his favourite actors, Chris Gascoyne and Jane Danson but gives Alison a lot of credit for their work. Andrew will be familiar to many viewers from his parts on The Bill, City Central and Hillsborough.
Part one of the interview is here and part two is here.
11 comments:
Hate this storyline. I'm not interested in Frank, and he is unconvincing as a villain. Andrew Lancel runs the gamut of emotions from A to B. I used to be a fan until he so conspicuously failed in this role.
As for doing research to "get it right", Coronation Street used to be highly respected for doing just that. After all the mistakes and idiocy, it has absolutely no credibility at all as far as I am concerned. I am constantly wondering would a Prison Officer say that or a Police Officer do that. It's a real shame.
I think this could have been very good and quite scary if they had used a different actor. Andrew Lancel has the emotions of a shop dummy as was said when he was DI Manson and he is playing Frank no differently. Perhaps its Botox but he is just too expressionless and monotone to be a convincing villan. Miscasting again in my opinion.
For me, Frank being so bland is what makes him so very creepy - he comes across as so sincere and vanilla, that's why nobody believes how menacing he can be until it is too late. Look how many people on the street have been saying nice things about him lately - we've seen the factory workers, Peter and Leanne, and various others all saying what a nice guy he seems to be. None of them have the slightest inkling how dangerous he could be to them if they crossed him...although I suspect Peter (and Leanne by association) is about to find out. His blandness is what makes him so convincing which is what makes him such a good manipulator. He currently has Carla completely backed into a corner, he's taken control of her completely, yet he's done it so subtly and so gently that she doesn't know how to explain how trapped she feels to anyone without sounding insane.
No, Frank is working well, for me. I find him very sinister.
Dangerous? Frank? He might be able to overpower a woman, (though I'm not entirely convinced about that), but Karl telling Frank to beware on the Street when Karl was behind the wheel was far more scary than anything Frank has ever done. His blandness is just boring, not some clever ruse to disguise his evilness. And even if it was, Richard Hillman did that a lot better.
I don't mean physically dangerous - there are plenty of other ways to destroy an opponent. Frank is quite calculated. He comes across as very genuine and believable and that is where the danger lies. Like, for example, if he's angry about Carla still being in love with Peter instead of him, all he has to do is accuse them of having an affair and voila, he's destroyed Peter's marriage and made himself look like the good guy in his separation from Carla all in one fell swoop. Because he is plausible, people are more likely to believe his accusations than their denials.
I don't find Frank menacing and I don't see him interacting enough with other people to show that people think he's a nice guy. So basically, he's not anything. Unlike Tony Gordon. IMO, Gray O'Brien was brilliant at sinister and genuinely lovelorn.
On another note and probably nobody will agree with me, I'm not much enchanted with Alison King. She does 'evil witch' well enough but I don't get her vulnerability like Paula Lane. And her accent sounds a trifle false. There ... I've said it.
Kylie is rubbish and nasty, just because she cries crocodile tears and tries to give us that bad past rubbish doesnt make her a decent nice character. She is vile beyond words.
And if Frank was real, people would find him menacing. You dont have to be a psychotic killer to be scary.
Frank comes off as about as menacing as a pair of bedroom slippers. Carla could knock his block off in a heartbeat but we are to believe that suddenly he becomes a terrorizing rapist. I haven't noticed a 'dark side' at all or was that one raised eyebrow last week an attemp at deviousness? OMG...wake me when it's over (said Carla during the rape).
Wow Frank was so sinister tonight as a spoilt infant. At one point, I was really scared. I thought he might stamp his foot. Oh and his cutting insult to the Faktry girls dripped menace, ... , err ok no it did not. Carla can sound nastier without trying.
I think Alison King does a tremendous job. Carla is totally incompetent as a boss, treats nearly everyone with contempt and is meant to be a wealthy, confident, independent woman, yet supposedly moons after an alcoholic backstreet bookie. That the nation does not giggle itself stupid every time Carla appears is testament to Alison King's skills with dreadful material.
I'm really disappointed in Corrie putting this storyline together. It's very dark, way off the usual. I get that it's ratings driven, I get that it's supposed to mirror a very real and tragic situation, but the point of Corrie is to entertain, not be a CSI or Law & Order or Unforgiven (ITV) or documentary type of show. I watch all kinds of programs, including ones that detail real crime like this storyline. But those programs are expressly for that purpose. I just feel Corrie is not the program to broadcast this topic. It almost devalues the experiences of women and men who suffer from this terrible type of crime because Corrie is an entertainment show, not a documentary.
Carla is supposed to be the hard as nails cookie from a tough northern Council estate, remember how she grabbed the gun and shot Tony's henchman in the hostage situation. Now we are supposed to believe that she is being browbeaten into this wedding and terrorises by the robot like Frank. Preposterous if you ask Frosty.
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