Gangs of London's Paapa Essiedu has defended the action-crime drama's brutal scenes, arguing that it's "necessary to tell the story" the way co-creators Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery wanted to.
Taking a break from talking about I May Destroy You, Michaela Coel's critically acclaimed BBC series that's currently airing weekly on BBC One, the actor said he knows that violence is often integral to the Evans and Flannery's work having been a big fan of theirs as a child.
"I watched their Indonesian films when I was younger – The Raid and The Raid 2," he exclusively told Digital Spy recently. "Obviously, violence is a big part of their work. But everything is deliberate.
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Essiedu, who plays Alex Dumani on the show, went on to say that its fight scenes, as well as its blood and gore, never feels gratuitous in their work because they're always "very specific".
"There is an artistry in their use of it. It doesn't feel strenuous," he noted. "It doesn't feel out of control. I think there's a massive skill to be able to do that, as opposed to just violence for the sake of violence.
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"'What's the biggest explosion we can do?'... 'How many heads can we chop off?' That kind of thing. It's a codified language that I feel like they're in control of.
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"It feels like a part of the language that is necessary, or a part of the vocabulary that is necessary to tell the story the way they want to."
Also starring Peaky Blinders' Joe Cole, Gangs of London centres on Sean Wallace, a young man who's forced to take over his father Finn's underbelly dealings after he's killed.
Gangs of London airs on Sky Atlantic. All nine episodes are available to stream now on NOW TV.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
