us tom© Photo: BBC

Tom Hollander reveals how he was cast in BBC's Us 

Are you enjoying the David Nicholls' show?

TV & Film Editor
September 27, 2020

Tom Hollander has been brilliant as Douglas in Us so far, but how did the Birdbox actor win the role? Chatting to the BBC about realising the David Nicholls' character, he revealed it was the author who suggested him!

READ: Viewers are saying the same thing about BBC's Us

"I think it was David [Nicholls, Writer] and Greg [Brenman, Executive Producer]’s idea to cast me in the first instance," he said. "Possibly suggested to them by Sarah Crowe the brilliant casting director." 

WATCH: See Tom as Douglas in the Us trailer

He continued: "But we’ll never know… that’s the thing about casting. It’s a mysterious process! We then worked closely with Sarah on the rest of the wonderful cast. She cast Rev for us all those years ago, so it was lovely to work with her again."

© Photo: BBC

Tom opened up about the role

Speaking about the role, the star explained: "Douglas Petersen is a man whose wife wants to leave him but he doesn’t want to be left. His son Albie gets on much better with his mother than he does with his father. Right at the beginning of the story, Douglas is told that his wife thinks their marriage is over. Their son is about to go to art college and they have spent months planning an art tour of Europe.

© Photo: BBC

Have you been enjoying the new show? 

The star also opened up about the incredible filming locations, explaining: "It was wonderful to be shooting in the actual places. It was particularly magical as we had access to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a couple of rooms in the Louvre in Paris for an afternoon, the glorious Joan Miro Fundacion in Barcelona for a day and in our very own National Gallery. 

MORE: 29 brand new shows to get excited about this autumn

"These all felt like a great privilege and it was magical because there wasn’t anyone else in them. It was very challenging for production and shooting in four different countries. There were four different crews and we were shooting out of sequence as ever." 

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