EXCLUSIVE | 'Code 404' star Amanda Payton plays more than a 'token sidekick' in the 'Black Mirror'-type comedy
At first glance, Peacock's new British comedy 'Code 404' looks straight out of a 'Black Mirror' season, give or take a few layers of comedy and replaced with twisted indiscretions or thrill. The story follows DI John Major who dies on the job and is then brought back to life as a fully functional human slash robot by the genius brains behind his recovery — Dr Alison Parfait.
Funnily enough, Amanda Payton, who plays the brainiac, never thought of the sci-fi charged "dark dystopian futuristic" plot as something that would fit into the world of 'Black Mirror'. For Payton, the thrill and excitement were primarily in the fact that at its core 'Code 404' was a British comedy. And while she couldn't be more different from her on-screen persona, it is exactly that which drew her to the series.
"I got excited the moment I read that it was a British comedy," Payton reveals in an exclusive chat with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW). "I love British humor. I remember studying episodes of 'Absolutely Fabulous' early in my career to try to understand just what made British comedy so funny. I think it's a combination of the puns, innuendos, sarcasm and self-deprecation, and Code 404 has it all," she quickly adds.
That isn't all 'Code 404' tempted Payton with. It was the prospect of playing someone so different than herself that really sold the actress. "Alison could not be more different from me. She's a computer genius while I sometimes need help figuring out how to turn my computer on," quips the young Payton, elaborating how "She's content spending all day in an underground laboratory while I thrive being in the company of other people and spending hours outdoors. She physically moves differently than me, she speaks differently than me, she dresses differently than me, she wears glasses and I don't and her specific goals, dreams, and ethics are very different than mine. She's based in logic while I'm based in emotions."
So where does she find the common ground to connect with Alison? "We are both motivated strongly by a deep desire to leave our fingerprint on the world through our work," Payton claims. "I think we both strive to better the world (in very different ways) and I think that passion drives us both to try to be the hardest worker in the room. In that way, tapping into the role was surprisingly fun and easy."
Gushing about the insane proportions of comedy in 'Code 404', Payton touts how much she "really get to push the boundaries with this one. I am also so excited to be playing a role that is so physically different from me. Spending time in London isn't too bad either," she notes, adding how much fun she's been having "geeking out on the science of the series."
"It's so off-the-wall. I would love to bring some levity and joy into the lives of the viewers. We need that so much right now," Payton spills about the best part about playing Alison. But that said, "Growing up, I never saw examples of either female or Black doctors or scientists on screen, let alone both. It's so important to me that little girls of all shades see themselves on and off-screen as more than just a body, pretty face or token sidekick. That's just one of the many reasons this project is so near to my heart."
Alison's arc sees her "get more and more comfortable around her colleagues; she definitely lets her hair down a bit. Throughout the show, you start to see more and more of her personality shine through. She is... unconventional," Payton teases about what's to come. And on that note, one can never forget all the screen time she shares with Daniel Mays, who plays her AI muse on the show — DI Majors.
"It's so challenging to keep a straight face!" Payton confesses about working with the "hardworking actor who somehow has the boundless energy of a puppy even after 12 hours on set. I don't know how he does it and I'm still trying to figure out his secret!"
With the plot set vaguely "in the near future," Payton is "happy when I am working on an interesting character and story with a thread of truth I can latch onto. I have an insatiable appetite as far as what roles I would like to play. Part of the reason I became an actor is that I want to be, do, and experience everything in every genre." As of now, living in quarantine has been "tough" for the actress, but she has her schedule filled with staying creative and doing Zoom readings of plays with her friends, she tells us.
For fans eagerly anticipating about the prospect of a second season of 'Code 404' that had originally debuted in the UK on the Sky network in early 2020, Payton teases: "I got really lucky in that I was also able to fly back to London (quarantining there for two weeks) and filmed Season 2 of Code 404." And when not filming the second installment, Payton has been keeping busy with "a lot of meditation, caught up on every television show and documentary, and learned how to cook the perfect pancake. I even learned a bit of Russian."
'Code 404' premiers for the US audience on Thursday, October 1, on Peacock.