Aaron Paul has shared details on his two different performances in the Black Mirror season 6 episode “Beyond the Sea.” He sheds light on how he approached playing both Cliff and David.
“This is a period piece, and so you could tell that Cliff is heavy-handed. I’m sure his father was even much more heavy-handed,” Paul said, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “So, in his mind, he’s probably a really sweet, delicate, nice, loving father, but the romance, the passion has drifted away from husband and wife [played by Kate Mara].”
Paul continued: “Whereas David, like you said, he’s the romantic. He is well-cultured, and when you meet him, he’s drawing portraits of his children and then Cliff and Lana’s [played by Auden Thornton] beautiful home. So, I just tried to study Josh [during rehearsal]. Again, I’ve known him for so long, and he’s very much like that. He’s well traveled and very smart. He’s just got an inherent charm rooted within him, and so I just tried to absorb as much of him as possible.”
Paul is then asked why Cliff avoids intimacy with his wife Lana. To the actor, the robot aspect only partially accounts for his character’s discomfort.
“That’s part of it, but I feel like he’s just got some deep-rooted baggage,” he said. “Some of the excitement has drifted away, and he’s just not comfortable communicating to help this relationship. He’s kind of stuck in his ways, and what’s so tragic is that everything that happened forced them to have these hard conversations.”
What’s Aaron Paul’s Next Role?
Paul will next headline the sci-fi horror Ash alongside Eiza Gonzalez, who recently starred in Ambulance and I Care a Lot. Gonzalez plays a woman who wakes up to find the rest of her space-station crew dead from unclear circumstances. Paul’s character is sent to rescue her, but both question if they should trust the other. The film is directed by musician Flying Lotus, who previously helmed the Ozzy’s Dungeon segment of V/H/S/99.
Paul also recently reunited with Breaking Bad co-star Bryan Cranston. The two actors appeared as themselves in the fifth episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 16.