Prior to this week, Amy made a decision that she wasn't going to go ahead with investing. What has changed between then and now when she's about to find herself really at the heart of the Institute, and everything that they do?
The pressure just is really, really mounting up from Rowan, he's using lots of tactics to make her feel guilty about not investing, and make her really feel like this is a huge mistake, and that she's missing out. This, combined with Leanne's efforts as well, is just really putting the pressure on to the point where Amy thinks I have to invest in this. This is a great idea. They've got a point. I am going to be wasting my life if I don't do this, and she puts ultimate trust into Leanne. She's being told if you don't do this, you can't get to that next level, you can't be happy, you can't get rid of all this stress that you've got right now. So I feel like Amy's ultimately backed into a corner.
Do you think that Leanne has maybe told Rowan a little bit about Amy, and he knows which buttons to press, and will know which key words and phrases to use and how to get into her psyche of it?
I think Leanne's been very clever. Leanne knows that the pressure's mounting on her, and she knows that a way that she can get around this is by putting it onto somebody else. She knows things about Amy. She knows that if she tells Rowan these things, that he will do his thing. He will know which buttons press. He will know what to say to her to get her riled up and to get her onto his side. Leanne knows what she's doing. In some aspects, she's not completely innocent.
I guess Leanne doesn't think she is setting Amy up for a fall. Leanne is also someone who has been taken in and she's passing on what she's learned from Rowan isn’t she?
Absolutely but she just doesn't want the pressure of having to invest the money, because obviously she's asked Nick and he keeps telling her no. So she knows that the other way around it is by getting somebody else to do it. And that is because obviously she's misguided. She's completely indoctrinated.
So you have touched a little bit recently about Amy not really having a parental figure around, and she thinks she's very grown up, and she thinks she's very mature. Can you tell us a little bit about what it's like having Tracy and Steve as parents for Amy at the moment?
Yeah, Amy's always lived in a very dysfunctional family. I think just now, it's more prevalent than ever before because Tracy's gone away. Amy's been trying to get in touch with her, and Tracy keeps saying, I'm not coming home because I want to sunbathe for a little bit longer. The motherly instinct is not really there. So Amy's getting frustrated with her mother. Also, she feels like all this pressure has been suddenly put on her because she should just be going to uni. She should just be like any other girl her age, but she isn't. She's having to manage all of the mess that her mum's left behind for her, as well as dealing with Mary at the florist, which is a whole other thing in itself. Then with Steve, she feels like she is his mum. She feels like she's having to tell him how to do everything. He seems to not know how to do anything but get up in the morning. So she's very much acting like the parent in between her parents. I think it feels really lonely and really, really stressful, and that's why she ultimately turns to somebody who she sees is functional and also a family member of sorts. Leanne is, to all intents and purposes, a sort of distant family member, isn't she?
What happens when she finally says yes to investing the money and they decide that she needs to do an upload?
So they say that before she invests this money, she has to do an upload, they say that she has to upload all of her darkest secrets to essentially alleviate her and free her from that. if that makes any sense. But what she isn't aware of is the fact that Rowan is recording her to obviously later use against her. So she sees it as an opportunity to unburden herself and tell him all the darkest things that she's ever done. From her rape by Aaron to her kidnapping a man and spiking his drink. It goes from literally the least important things to the most major thing she's ever done, and she tells him all, and afterwards, she feels relieved so understandably, that's going to make her believe what he's saying, of course, because in some ways he is right. He's using things from therapy. He's using techniques that people use and that's why it works. That's why people do see some sort of results from it. But obviously he doesn't have pure intentions, even though some of his things will result in progress.
There's a really dark side to it, and we see a little bit of the dark side this week. How did you feel when you found out that that was what Amy was going to have to go through?
I was shocked when I first saw the script, I hadn’t anticipated it would be that extreme.
When she gets there, she has no idea what this is going to entail. She's just told that it's a malware session that is what they call it. So she doesn't know what that means. And anytime that she's tried to ask somebody, what is a malware session, no one's given her a response because they don't want to tell her, because if they told her, she wouldn't do it.
What happens when she gets there?
She's nervous because she doesn't know what to expect. Rowan reassures her and says, you're going to be absolutely fine. Just assist with it, and you'll be great. So she gets walked into a room. She's blindfolded. She can't see what's going on. She doesn't realise that there's other people in this room. She assumes it's her, Rowan and Leanne. This is obviously not the truth. She very, very quickly then realises she's actually in the middle of a circle surrounded by other members of the cult who have all been told all the things that she's told Rowan, and they're all using it against her. So she is essentially faced with all the things that she's ever done wrong in life, or that have ever happened to her in life, and she's completely vulnerable in this blindfolded circle.
What was it like filming that? Did that feel strange with all those people sort of chanting?
I've never filmed anything like it was a really surreal experience, because I didn't, I didn't wear the blindfold until we were actually going for the take, because I wanted to feel that sense of discomfort. I feel like when you do it too often, you can almost get comfortable, yeah? And it takes away that initial feeling. So we did the rehearsals as normal, and even the rehearsals felt strange, because it's very, very unnatural to walk into a room and stand in the middle of a circle. So when we went for the take, I put the blindfold on, I obviously ended up crying as Amy, but it was real. It felt really real because you feel so disoriented. You don't know where you are, you don't recognize the voices. It's all done to make Amy feel that way, and that's how Rowan gets you. It's because he wants you to feel uncomfortable, because then you rely on him, he breaks people down for him to be able to sort of build them back up again.
How did you feel when you found Amy was going to be involved in this story?
I was pleased because I find cults really interesting. I find them really just intriguing because no two cults are the same. Even though a lot of them have the same central concept, a lot of them end up being the same. Nobody who is the cult leader will ever call themselves a cult leader. They don't see themselves in that way. I love watching documentaries on people who are entirely unaware. And I think it's interesting as an actor as well to put yourself in that position. Because when you think about it, and you watch these shows, you think, how could anybody ever do that? How could anybody ever end up getting involved with a cult and not see it for what it is? But then, when you're acting it, and you're reading the scripts, and you understand why Amy's got there. You completely believe that she does start to trust in this man, she doesn't see it as a cult, she Sees it as a sort of Business Institute. Rowan is very plausible.
Amy has been through a lot in her life. How do you think without giving too much away, how is she able to cope with this scenario?
I think it really catches her by surprise that she's been fooled. She doesn't think that could happen to somebody like her and that's what makes it a bigger shock. If she saw it coming, or she knew that this was something that could be that dodgy then she'd be more prepared for the outcome. But because it is completely out of left field. It just took her by surprise. It knocks her and completely knocks her confidence. She doesn't know what to do, and the only option is to get on with it and deal with it. She has no idea she is going to lose her money.
How is this going to affect her relationship with Leanne?
She will never be able to trust Leanne again ever, regardless of what happens now, because, obviously, in some, in some respects, she'll feel sorry for her, because Leanne's not done this to be malicious. She hasn't set out to con Amy but ultimately she's still responsible.
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