Interview with Tom Burke, who plays Cormoran Strike
Interview with Tom Burke, who plays Cormoran Strike in The Silkworm.
Published: 31 August 2017
The Silkworm takes place in the world of the literati - you get the sense that this is a fragile world to be a part of
Where do we find Robin and Strike in The Silkworm?
The Silkworm takes place in the world of the literati, which is treated in the same vibrant and detailed way the fashion industry was in the first book.
It’s quite a toxic world. The book is peppered with quotes from Jacobean tragedies and a couple of comedies as well. I think there are a couple of Ben Jonson lines in there. You get the sense that this is a fragile world to be a part of. There’s a line in The Duchess of Malfi about the floors of courtrooms being like ice sheets that you can drop through at any moment - there is that feeling in this book.
It starts with a disappearance; there's a hunt to find this guy, whose body is eventually found in a rather bizarre way - it looks like some sort of ritual sacrifice. He was an author and he’d written a book that exists in manuscript form but hasn’t been published. It says a lot of things about a lot of people, so immediately there are a lot of suspects.
Robin’s very much part of the business now, but they’re not partners so there’s still a bit of give and take about what’s going on and who is doing what. Strike’s got a bit more money and many more clients, Robin’s put her touch on her part of the office.
When you read The Silkworm did you wonder if it is JK Rowling venting her feelings on the publishing world?
You read that book differently knowing that that is very much her world. But then there’s a film producer character in The Cuckoo’s Calling - there are all these people who appear in one way or another.
How did it work for you working with one director on one story and then to another director on another book? Do you have to shift the way in which you work?
Michael [Keillor - director of The Cuckoo's Calling] said to me the other day, "I like the way you go at your own pace" and I thought, do I? I think the main thing I’m aware of as an actor is that it’s not your rhythm controlling the day, it’s the director and the First AD, you’re fitting into their day… but I suppose when you’re pretty much in every scene, you do pace yourself in a particular way and you do make sure you’re taking time when you need to take time.
I suppose people communicate in different ways. All three directors were different, in lots of ways. There was a whole team around them that was absolutely on board with where they were taking it. Because it was three different books there was perhaps a little bit more freedom to put their signature on it. Because I think, with a lot of TV shows, there is this idea that things need to follow on, seamlessly. At the same time there was a respectful nod to what each other was doing.
Elements of Bombyx Mori - the novel within the novel - are totally macabre. Does that take us into a different realm?
Bombyx Mori seems to be a cross between William Burroughs and Mervyn Peake. Strike’s reaction to it, certainly in the book, is that it’s a bit pretentious.
Kieron, the director, loved shooting that stuff because you could go anywhere with it. It was sort of dark, nightmarish Guillermo del Toro at its weirdest - but with a lot of sex thrown in. Those books do exist, they are out there.
