SPACE BRAWLS BALLS
THE FIRST EVER SEQUEL EPISODE OF BLACK MIRROR BEAMS DOWN – SFX SETS AN INTERCEPT COURSE
WORDS: DARREN SCOTT
AS WAKE-UP CALLS GO, SEEING A ballsack wasn’t necessarily on the list of things we were expecting. At least this time the ballsack is in space.
It’s early morning on Thursday 2 May 2024 and SFX is at Shepperton Studios in London to step back onto the bridge of the USS Callister once more (see SFX 294) for the first ever Black Mirror sequel.
In the original 2017 episode from series four, “USS Callister”, Robert Daly, the creator of multiplayer game Infinity creates digital clones of his co-workers and places them inside a version of it based on his favourite sci-fi series, Space Fleet. But the cloned crew manage to kill him and escape into the game.
Now the crew – led by Captain Nanette Cole – find their problems are just beginning.
THE SEARCH FOR SPUDS
It’s the penultimate day on the ship, with nine scenes being filmed – seven on the bridge and two in the corridor. This time, the bridge is much sleeker – it’s a full 360 degree set with a ceiling – and everything
gleams. There are LED lights everywhere in shades of green, white and blue, all facing a huge viewscreen with a view of outer space. So far, soTrek. Or should we saySpace Fleetwith an upgrade? It’s about as high-value sci-fi as you can get.
Well, until we hear actor Jimmi Simpson ask loudly: “Can you prep my balls?” Director Toby Haynes bounds across the set with a look of glee, rubbing his hands together.
Simpson – returning as Walton – is dressed, barely, in a loincloth. His hair is long, his skin dirty and he’s sporting a full beard. There is, obviously, a reason for this – it’s Black Mirror after all. The loincloth is ill-fitting, and there’s the prosthetic we never imagined we’d see on an SFX set visit.
The clapperboard comes in – it has the codename “Polygon” in a Star Trek font – for scene 59 alpha, take six.
“So why am I disgusting?” Simpson asks. Milanka Brooks, back in blue make-up as Elena Tulaska, gives him a withering look from across the bridge. “Because ballsack visible.”
“I’m going to go and put on more clothes,” Simpson responds, leaving the bridge and showing a cheeky flash of buttock. Nerd fact – the script actually says “scrotum” but they’ve been trying different variations. It comes as no surprise that there’s lots of laughs in the finished episode.
But for now the hilarity is on set, with the cast, including Osy Ikhile as Nate Packer and Paul G Raymond as Kabir Dudani, ad-libbing and trying various set-ups under the watch of Haynes.