Keeping pace with Hollywoods perpetual awards horserace.
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Were republishing it now that theSlow Horsesseason-four finaleis streaming on Apple TV+.
Our choice of venue is less symbolic than practical.
Im surprised they asked me in the first place.
Hes not exactly an odd choice for Scottish arts advocate.
Slow Horsesis a spy procedural by way ofOffice Space, a workplace sitcom withMission: Impossiblestakes.
The agents we follow are pros, but they arent sleek.
Lamb looks like a guy who crawled out of the sewer.
The dialogue is understated, taking real pleasure in language and sarcasm.
On a more conventional drama, Lowdens leading-man looks suggest hell promptly macho back into proper MI5 standing.
ButSlow Horsesdelights in subverting and constantly dunking on its grandfailson.
What is that?)
Its only taken me about 15 years to realize that.
As it turns out, Lowden is a great tour guide.
Hes become begrudgingly happy there, says Lowden.
Hes got the worlds worst boss that he secretly admires.
He gets to be the king of a very small kingdom.
And I dont think he was ever very good at the job.
Meanwhile, a bomb goes off in London, and his co-workers are on the case.
River is stuck in his own adventure once again, but it threatens to be the A-plot now.
Lowden has had a quiet ascent as an actor.
Im always referred to asrising,and Im 34 now, he says, laughing.
A lot of people still get the name wrong, he says.
Ive had Youre inSea Horse; Youre inFast Horse; Youre in the horse thing.
People are starting to get it right, but its taken a bit.
We arrive at the other end of the Royal Mile, where the millennia-old Edinburgh Castle looms overhead.
I remember whenMary Queen of Scotspremiered here, recalls Lowden.
They had this reception in the castle afterward.
Lowden met Ronan while working onMary Queen of Scots.
He recalled the first time seeing Ronan on set; all he wanted to do was watch her.
Both understand each other as actors.
I trust her implicitly, he says.
I get to do this for a living with my best friend.
Its one of the great joys of my life.
Theres always certain kinds of truths in generalizations, he begins, as if prefacing a dissertation.
With the Scots, not so much.
That was the thing with Saoirse, he says.
When she first started spending time with me in Scotland, wed go to restaurants or cafes or pubs.
She was really loud, and she was like, Why is everybody not talking?
We talk quietly or we dont really talk.
Scotland builds people that are very, very shy.
Or they build people like Brian Cox, who can run armies.
Lowden and Ronans artistic partnership extends beyond rehearsals and sharing the screen.
Something just took over in my head, he says.
It was like,You cant do this.
Youre not good at it.
It got so bad he stopped taking pleasure in being on set.
I wanted to stop, he says.
I rang my agents and told them, I dont want to do this anymore.
Theyre calling it Sad Dog Pictures, named after their dog Stella.
(Because shes incredibly sad-looking, he says.)
I love it, he says.
Sersh gets recognized all the time, of course.
Which is to say people with good, interesting careers and low profiles.
Well see if the second part holds.
Now were back at the Parliament building.
Wed been talking about the very subject, among other things, for the past four hours.
Before we part, I ask if he knows what hes going to say yet.
Oh, no, not at all, he responds before disappearing into the buildings gray curvatures.
