Go Behind the Scenes of Sanditon with Jack Fox
The actor shares his favorite photos from the set of the historical drama, now in its third season.
"There's a famous phrase about public school over here," Jack Fox says, "which is that it teaches a lot of people how to lead, but they still have no idea what to lead." Fox thinks this phrase applies quite well to Sir Edward Denham, the character he plays on Sanditon, which is returning for its third and final season March 19 on PBS.
Sanditon, of course, is based on an unfinished novel by Jane Austen, and follows the life and loves of Charlotte Heywood. For Fox, who will also star in the upcoming film Operation Napoleon, tell it, part of the charm of the series is that it takes Austen's work and creates a world around it for characters she never had a chance to fully develop. "There was a real drive and determination to do justice to it, finish the story properly, and to give fans of Jane Austen a romantic finale," he says. "And I think we've achieved that with some really principled, really thoughtful, caring people who want to do it justice."
Here, Fox opens his personal camera roll to T&C to share a behind-the-scenes look at Sanditon, and the moments that didn’t make it on screen.
"We were filming just outside of Bristol and I think it was in the Earl of Gloucester's house. He had pictures of horses, and then underneath the pictures of the horses these little hooves that were the hooves of the horse that is obviously no longer living now. And if you opened up the lids of the hooves, inside were the teeth of the horse. It was absolutely bonkers. This photo was down one of these corridors where they these antlers; my character in the show is a bastard. He is a real cad who just is constantly trying to take things to new limits, and I thought this was a good image for him because it was sort of like him being a devil."
"We were shooting six episodes at a time, sometimes multiple episodes on the same day, and so you would be fit and measured for things whenever you went on set. If you had 10 minutes to grab a coffee, you were always being chased by someone from costume who was desperately trying to get your measurements. They were working overtime, sewing and building and making and creating, if not for the next day, certainly for the next episode."
"This is Crystal Clarke, who's a brilliant, fun, talented actress. She plays Georgina on the show, and there was some late shooting days and these ridiculous things where we would wrap in the morning and then we'd have to go to dance practice. To be fair to Crystal, she's a better dancer than I am, but you would end up just dancing until you were exhausted and then coming back to set, and people would be falling asleep at the table."
"During this shoot, there was a lot of sitting outside on trailer steps. And basically, I decided that I would have a mustache in the show because one of my relatives from yesteryear fought in the army and had a mustache. So, I sort of thought, Oh, I'll have a mustache as well. And by the end, anyone who was on the show would just draw on their last day a mustache on my name placard on the door. I don't know if you can see it, but there's many, many mustaches, which was a nice touch."
"There's always that thing as an actor where you're separating your worlds out. I lived at that time above a Sainsbury's [grocery store], and it it was not as glamorous as being on set, but there's kind of a nice thing to that, in so much as you can easily separate work life and real life."
"One of the dogs is called Rosie and one of them is called Florence, and they would come to set with me all the time. Helen, the lady who ran the makeup department, had a dog called Barney and therefore her rule was you can bring dogs to set. So, I would bring the dogs and they would just climb into set bins and eat bananas and banana peels and just destroy everything. On days when I was feeling slightly cheeky, I would take them into makeup with me and cause all kinds of chaos. It probably wouldn't happen so much on an American set where people are more sensible, but in Britain, we're a bit eccentric."
"In this season, I was lucky enough to be mainly in military attire, but it didn't stop me from, on multiple occasions, smashing myself in the head with various props that I was entrusted with. Here I am holding an ice pack on my head. Charles Sturridge directed an episode in which I had to take off this sword in quite repeatedly fast fashion, and I almost ended up sort of executing myself at one point."
Adam Rathe is Town & Country's Deputy Features Director, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.
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