Jason Isaacs And Dyan Cannon Talk ‘Archie’ And Exploring Cary Grant’s Life

The first two episodes of Archie, a four part series about the life of Cary Grant, is now available on BritBox. Jason Isaacs delivers a pinpoint and inspired performance as the Hollywood icon, with Laura Aikman equally up to the task as Grant’s ex-wife Dyan Cannon. Written by Jeff Pope, Archie is partly based on Cannon’s book Dear Cary: My Life with Cary Grant. Two episodes in, I am absolutely hooked on Archie and am glad I had serveral minutes to interview Isaacs and Cannon!

The first two episodes are now available on BritBox with episodes three and four available on December 14. Viewers will get an in-depth look at Cary Grant’s childhood (his real name was Archibald Leach), his dysfunctonal parents, and his drive to become a famous Hollywood actor. Dyan Cannon and her daughter Jennifer Grant are executive producers, so the veracity of this Jeff Pope written project should definitely come through.

Check out my interview with Jason Isaacs and Dyan Cannon below. More importantly, let me know your thoughts on Archie!

Dyan, as a producer, what was the biggest challenge in making sure Archie was done right? Jeff was talking about meeting you back in 2013 and just growing the project together over the years. 

Dyan Cannon: Trust. Trust that I didn’t know Jeff. I have come to know him. And now I do trust him. Trust him to keep his word that things would be as close to the book as possible. That the important things that I really cared about being shown were going to be shown. 

And being a part of casting (and) decision making was a great part of that. I’m very pleased with the result. I’m more than pleased. 

What was it like watching Jason Isaacs and Laura Aikman go pretty much toe to toe, live their life together? Just see them because you it’s also your life, but you’re also an artist. So what was it like watching that on a layered fashion from your POV? 

Dyan Cannon: I must say that at times it was very fulfilling. At times it was very painful because these actors made it so realistic. They brought the words to life. Reading a book is so much different than seeing a film, because the pictures are painted for you. 

These two actors made it seem so real that at times I had to turn away from the screen, especially the third hour.

Jason, I’m a huge cinephile. I’ve loved Cary Grant films all my life, but thanks to Archie, this series makes me appreciate him more on a very personal and deep and sublime level. I can’t imagine how you see Cary Grant now, just as far as embodying him and getting to work on this project.

Jason Isaacs: How I see Cary Grant, the movie star, hasn’t changed that much because I’ve been an actor for 35 years. So I’ve spent a lot of time admiring people’s work on screen and finding out that off screen, they were the very opposite or nothing like the characters I learned to admire. 

It helps me understand why and how he kind of curated his brand, how he created this, this on screen defense mechanism in some ways. Because he was the very opposite. All those adjectives that people apply to him, the debonair, suave, ladykiller you know, he pursued Dyan forever. He phoned her every day.

He pursued Sophia Loren (before Dyan) forever. So (Sophia) had to threaten restraining orders. I mean, this was a man who was very damaged and very out of balance. Now, today, we would apply a million acronyms to him OCD, ADHD, you know, PTSD, all those things. 

But those labels didn’t exist. He created the perfect man. When he shut the front door, when he got off set, only the people in his very inner circle did he drop the mask with. Dyan got to understand (him) and chronicled (their relationship) brilliantly in her book, where the fault lines were that that made him so difficult personally and create such a perfect avatar. 

One of my favorite movies is People Will Talk. I love that movie so much, but after watching Archie and maybe reading Dear Cary, what Cary Grant film would each of you recommend that they see after watching the series and reading your book? 

Dyan Cannon: Well, for me, the best films we made were at home. But my favorite film of Cary’s was An Affair to Remember. 

Jason Isaacs: Yeah, I don’t know. It changes everything once you know how damaged and how much that was a mask to the world, I find it harder to watch any of the films. I’m glad I watched all of them before we made this. 

Thank you guys so much for your time. I really appreciate it. 

Jason Isaacs: Thank you.

Dyan Cannon: Bye bye.

Catch the series Archie on BritBox.