Last month, we shared with you that we attended STARZ’s Fightland premiere, which also included performances by 50 Cent and G-Unit as well as an after party at PH Live in NYC! We have enjoyed this boxing crime drama as the character dynamics and storyline has been drawing us in on its inaugural season that is currently streaming now with new episodes dropping until the Season Finale on Sept 25th!
We had the pleasure of interviewing Nicholas Pinnock (For Life, Long Bright River, Hedda) who we have been long time fans of his work, and how he immerses himself into the characters that he plays! As Kingsley Marshall, the head of an iconic boxing family in London, we are taken into his enterprise and how he has been successful in the industry! We wanted to know more about how he came to the role, what he likes about it, and what he is excited about with this series!
ATHLEISURE MAG: We have enjoyed seeing a number of projects that you’ve been on and we’ve enjoyed seeing you in Fightland as well! It’s great to connect with you.
NICHOLAS PINNOCK: No, it’s a pleasure. Thank you for talking to me!
AM: Well, before we delve into Fightland, what do you love about storytelling?
NP: Oh, wow. I mean, telling stories is universal. You can touch anybody anywhere with a story. Somebody will identify with something or someone in said story and the human condition is such that we’re more alike than we are different. That’s what I really love about it.
AM: What was your creative process like when it came to connecting with the character of Kingsley Marshall?
NP: Finding him was all in the script. What happens when I approach a character, and especially I remember very clearly with Kingsley, was I read the scripts and from the way that the rhythm of the dialogue is laid out and how I find the rhythm, an accent or a vocal quality comes into my head and that’s where I started. That’s where I normally start.
AM: Oh, wow.
NP: Then I start to imagine what that voice looks like. What does that look like?
AM: Right.
NP: Then I try to decide, okay, now I get a look and a sound. What’s the feeling? And the feeling then happens a lot later when it comes to finding out what he wears. And then the physicality, because I can’t, I don’t know who my characters are until I’ve got them dressed.
AM: Exactly.
NP: That’s the final piece. Then it all comes together. And so Kingsley, yeah, it was really, really interesting. And, you know, the voice dictated what the beard would look like and how short that hair was and all these specific things. Then, it was how he would come into a room. I mean it was so specific with him and luckily the creatives, the show runners, and the writers - they allowed me to really explore it and find it without too many restrictions. They thankfully trusted that I had a handle on who I believed Kingsley was and I can just only hope that the audiences are as happy with it as we are!
AM: Well, as someone who loves boxing, it’s our favorite sport. We’ve been watching it since we were 3 years old. The subject was already exciting and we grew up seeing great fighters prior to when they became known to everyone else. So to see this series, Fightland and to combine the elements of crime, revenge, etc, it’s exciting.
What drew you to want to be part of Fightland?
NP: The biggest draw for me was working with 50 Cent again. Working with Curtis again was by far the biggest draw. I knew after the first time, that we were going to work together again. And when this came along, it was an absolute no-brainer. But, you know, when you’ve worked with somebody like him who you know, you trust, you respect, you love as a brother and you’ve got a friendship and more than anything as a collaborator! I would have come on and done one line for him and left.
AM: Right.
NP: So to have the privilege of playing Kingsley was just - it was amazing. Yeah, that was the biggest. But then on top of that, I read the scripts and the scripts were fantastic. I’m a big fan of the POWER universe and it’s in keeping with that. So I find it completely entertaining. So, you know, another opportunity for me to entertain an audience.
AM: Absolutely.
NP: Then I looked at the cast, who I was going to be working with and it just, all the things fell into place.
AM: We’ve seen a number of the episodes. We were at the premiere that took place at Jazz at Lincoln Center and being able to see you guys as a cast as you were literally sitting 2 two rows behind us –
NP: And you didn’t say hello?
You know what? It’s kind of like - I’ll tell you what it is. It’s like your boss giving you a pat on the back to say, job well done. Because my audience, the audience is who I make it for. They’re the boss. They’re the people that, you know, forget what critics or anybody else says. If the audience has something to say, that’s what I’m interested in, really, really listening to. So whenever anybody comes up and asks, you know, for a photo or they want to talk about it or they want to say how much they enjoyed it. You know, no matter where I am or what I’m doing, I will give that person the time because it makes you go, okay cool! I will continue doing this because it’s offering an audience something that they still want! So thank you! I’m still happy to do it for you so never be too shy to say hi next time!
AM: Next time!
What do you love about playing Kingsley? He is quite a character with such a presence!
NP: Yeah, and you haven’t really seen him yet, have you?
AM: Exactly. But the little we have seen - you give good face. You give good presence.
NP: What I loved about Kingsley more than anything was, this is new territory for me.
AM: Right.
NP: If you look at the roles that I’ve played in the past, they’ve always been, you know, the moral compass. They’ve always been the upstanding citizen. They’ve always been a tortured, troubled kind of kind of guy that has, you know, a story to to break through and become something else. This was completely different.
AM: Yeah.
NP: He’s the antagonist. He’s the villain. He’s the crime boss. He’s the head of this family. He’s the person that no one takes any shit from. To be in that territory within my body was very, very tough. You know, people don’t know that the subconscious aspect of actor’s releases the same chemicals as if it were real life. So I was carrying around a lot of heaviness and a lot of power in a sense that didn’t sit well with me, Nicholas, but it was tough. It was absolutely new territory for me. So it was different shoes to fill, but that was the challenge.
AM: Right.
NP: You know, that’s what I wanted. That’s where the fear really sat with me. Can you bring this character to life in a way that is real and believable for an audience and that really... has the effect on the other characters in the piece to make them do what they do and react in the way that they react. Because it’s a specific tone that’s needed you know for Kingsley to have a knock-on effect on the rest of the players in the scenes, for them to do what they’re doing, for them to go on and tell the rest of the story to the audience. And that was my turn. That’s what really, really drew me to really wanting to explore Kingsley as much as I did.
AM: Mmm.
What do you want viewers to take away when they’ve seen this season after we see how the dots connected?
NP: Honestly, there’s no real philosophical thing that I want to go away with. I want them to be highly entertained and want more.
AM: Mmm.
NP: That’s all I could ask for.
AM: Well, it is such a pleasure. We have loved seeing you in so many different things. To see you play a number of characters and to now see you in this way, as soon as we see Kingsley, he stands on his own and your performance of him is believable - this is a badass man.
NP: Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment. Next time, say hi, right?
AM: Absolutely!
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | STARZ
