Photos Courtesy-of-Prime-Video
By Janet Susan R. Nepales
Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham may seem like an unlikely pairing in person, but they are perfect onscreen as partners in the action-adventure comedy series “Ride or Die.”
Created by Tessa Coates (“Massive Dad,” 2016) and streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, the series follows two close friends who must go on the run from a mysterious enemy, forcing them to confront the secrets between them.
Spencer portrays Debbie, the American wife of a member of Parliament, who discovers that Judith, her friend of 20 years, is actually an elite assassin. Waddingham portrays Judith.
Spencer and Waddingham share such strong chemistry that it feels as though they were meant to work together.
The series also stars Bill Nighy as the Director, Judith’s employer; Ed Skrein as Billy Donovan, a member of a crime syndicate; Jamie Parker as David, Debbie’s husband and an MP; Calam Lynch as Sam, Judith’s handler; Savannah Steyn as Queenie, Judith’s technology and weapons specialist; and Jacky Ido as Jacques.
During an exclusive interview and a global press conference, Spencer and Waddingham discussed why the series is special to them, why they enjoy working together and the challenges of portraying their respective roles in the eight-episode series, which is available in more than 240 countries and territories.
Octavia Spencer (Debbie) and Hannah Waddingham (Judith)
Why is this a passion project for both of you, especially since you are not only actors but also executive producers?
Octavia: I have to say, at this stage of my life and career, I get to play a middle-aged character, although I hate to use that term.
She gets to reinvent herself. I also think it demonstrates how vital, capable, beautiful and inherently different all women are. We get to see these very different women exist in such a meaningful way. I loved it.
Hannah: We are both seen as actors in a very different way in this, and that is why we wanted to do it. Octavia has been given a chance to really stretch her comedic legs. For me, I get to do action, even though I thought they had perhaps cast the wrong person.
We would have been insane to say no to a show with all those things, even though we were both at the bottom of a very steep mountain. We did it together. It is incredible to be able to put out something that challenged both of us, but we left it all on the screen.
I hope people will see that we have totally given ourselves to this project, often in areas where neither of us felt comfortable. But that is what we have left on the screen.
You both have great chemistry. How did you bond onscreen, and what did you discover about each other?
Octavia: Here is the funny thing: Hannah and I met for the first time over Zoom. We just clicked, and we had spoken only two or three times before we started filming. When you came to town, we did not have much time together.
Hannah: We had lunch, and we had a shower.
Octavia: We had lunch, and we had a shower moment at a spa. I think that shower moment perhaps sealed the deal.
But we are both professionals, and we understood that friendship was at the center of the story. I think it was also the fact that we were both terrified of the heavier lifting. For me, it was the comedy, the amount of dialogue and trying to balance that while finding the truth in it. We simply leaned into each other for the friendship part.
Hannah: It was a little like she would go off and do the heavy lifting in one department, and I would go off and do the heavy lifting in another. Then, when we came together to do the more dramatic scenes, it was like, “Hello. Thank you.”
These characters are both lovable and empowered women. What do you think are their greatest strengths and weaknesses?
Octavia: I would say Debbie’s capacity to love is both a strength and a weakness. Of the four important relationships in her life, those with her two children, her best friend and her husband, two are not what they seem. Her capacity to love and trust is both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness.
Hannah: I would say Judith’s strength, in many ways, is learned strength, based on the way she has focused her life on who she is as an assassin. That is where she thinks her strength lies, but she actually finds strength in the darkest way possible.
And my gosh, Debbie is her joy, for sure. Debbie is her joy, and with her, Judith switches off. There is a kind of duality in both characters across so many things and so many twists and turns, and that duality is tested.
My favorite scene is when the girls from the hostel come together to help Judith and Debbie. I really liked that demonstration of female solidarity. Do you remember an example of female solidarity in your own life, either given or received, that has stayed in your heart?
Octavia: I have five sisters, so absolutely. I also have a large group of women whom I consult, and they give me counsel on every facet of my life. There is not one example that stands out. The relationships themselves are tantamount to my existence.
Hannah: It almost does any one person a disservice to single her out. I have a panel of women who are not elders, but in my eyes, they are elders because I go to them for everything.
Even with my team, I never want to be around yes men or yes women. You want people who will say, “Hold on a minute.” That is where true friendship and true love from friends lie.
You filmed in Prague and several other beautiful European locations. Which place became your favorite, and why?
Hannah: We loved Karlovy Vary, did we not?
Octavia: Yes, we filmed all over Prague. We loved Karlovy Vary. I filmed in Prague 14 years ago, almost to the day, and it was great to go back. It is one of the most romantic cities where I have ever worked, and I love the people. But you filmed in Austria.
Hannah: Austria was an eye-opener. Ischgl was an eye-opener. Ischgl looked beautiful. Later in the day and into the evening, I was totally there for the cheese fondue and the après-ski.
The next morning, there was quite a lot of the contents of people’s stomachs around Ischgl, so that was not so great. But it was cleaned up by the time everyone was on the slopes.
Personally, as someone who is not a skier, I can understand why people go on holiday just for the après-ski. It was nice.
The series deals extensively with female empowerment. What did you like most about Tessa Coates’ writing?
Octavia: Here is what was important: Once we were both locked into our roles, we wanted to make sure we had a showrunner who would preserve everything we loved about the pitch.
With Tessa, it was literally all there in the pitch. We wanted to preserve her unique comedic timing, but there was also so much drama. I do not think we are a laugh-a-minute comedy in the sense of it being purely comedic. I think it feels more like a dramedy.
Yes, an action dramedy. But it was all in the pitch, and it was very important to both of us to preserve her voice.
Hannah: Yes, because when the team came on the line and pitched the series to me, I remarked on how extraordinary it was. Octavia said that when Tessa gave her the pitch, it was the most colorful, animated, thorough, inspiring and exciting pitch you could possibly imagine.
Octavia and I were like, “Man, we have to honor this because it was extraordinary.”
Janet Susan R. Nepales is an award-winning journalist and the first Filipina voting member and Associate of the Golden Globe Awards. She has been a member since 2008 and is the first Filipina to be elected to the Advisory Board. She is the author of the coffee table book “FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World” and the co-author of the first FWN book “DISRUPT: Filipina Women: Proud. Loud. Leading Without A Doubt.” A graduate of UST (AB Journalism, cum laude), she is based in Los Angeles and is a Hollywood entertainment journalist and TV correspondent.
