Author: Emma Loggins
Date: 2008-03-14

Interview:
In The Riches, Izzard and Driver play Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, Irish Travellers from rural Louisiana. In season one, Wayne, Dahlia and their three children broke all ties from their community when an unfortunate auto accident provided them the opportunity to assume the identity of a deceased, wealthy and "normal" family. Seduced by the idea of a bigger life as "H. Douglas and Cherien Rich" and armed with the keys to a new house in a posh neighborhood, the Malloys soon found suburban life more twisted and challenging that any of their previous stings. We had the honor of sitting down with Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver to discuss the upcoming season and how the writers' strike affected the series. Here's what they had to say:

I'm wondering what you would say about what did doing just seven episodes mean to the season? What did it mean to the storytelling?

E. Izzard: Well, obviously, it's seven episodes because of the strike. I think the writers were obviously aware of this beforehand, and so we built a sort of cliffhanger halfway through the season. So it really didn't hurt us in any way. I think they're seven very strong episodes. The first season, if you watched it all the way through the tone does move around somewhat. The second season, we just sort of knew where we were going, we locked down, we got on the railway lines, and we just went full steam ahead. So I think it makes it like a tighter punch, and we're coming out now. It's a great time to come out, because there's a lot of stuff normally out on television, not all of it is back on television. So we're very happy to come out, do seven, and give it a big smack in the face.

M. Driver: Yes, I agree with that. It's true. Everybody got hammered by the strike. And whilst we all support the writers, I would have loved to have done a full season. I don't think the show suffered. I think it's going to leave the audience wanting more, which is a really good way to end a season at all, and the addition of Jared Harris to our cast I think has added a kind of weight and a danger that's really fantastic.

Do you think a viewer could start the second season without having seen any of the first season?

M. Driver: I honestly think that condensed trailer that you get at the beginning of any new season is enough to fill you in on where you're at. And really, if you just read a blurb that says, "A couple of con artists and their kids trying to steal the American dream, move into a rich neighborhood in Louisiana," you're kind of good to go. I mean, I think that's what's wonderful about our show is that you can explain it really quickly, it's high concept, and the characters are very immediate. And certainly, we pick up literally 15 seconds after where we left off at the end of season one, so you're coming straight in, in a really dramatic place. I don't know, I think people will just jump on.

Eddie, You were talking about the tone of last season kind of jumping around. How would you place the tone this season and how did you find that tone?

E. Izzard: I think the tone is more locked down. We went through this tone in last season. I think we ended up at the end of the season with this tone. It's somewhat darker. Some of the episodes in the first season were slightly funnier, and they're not, the funny comes out at very dry and bizarre circumstances in this season. It's a drama with some quirky things going on in it. It's just very sure and it's dark and compelling, and it's a train ride. So, yes, I loved that, and I think Minnie did as well. We liked where it was going the second season.

M. Driver: Yes.

E. Izzard: We're keen to go on through the ninth season.

It seems like there's a cliffhanger at the end of or during every episode. I mean, at every moment, it looks like they're about to be found out. I mean, it seems like it's just frantic that way, that they're about to be discovered.

M. Driver: We're serializing the show more this season and I think engaging and keeping an audience in a different way. And you really do, do that by there being a cliffhanger at the end of every episode. The noose is definitely tightening. That's what this whole second season is about. If it's a bad scene, we get away with it in the first season. Now, the more successful we get, the more desperate and dangerous it becomes. The truth, or what that means to each of us, is really at the center of this whole season, and it does lead to a dramatic ending at the end of every show.