In what is quickly becoming the Year of the Biopic, “The Imitation Game” is special. Based on the true story of how gay Brit Alan Turing cracked the Nazi’s Enigma code machine during World War II and won the Allies the war—before being so hounded by the police during the 1950s about his sexuality that he ultimately committed suicide—“The Imitation Game” operates successfully on several different levels, from a thrilling war picture to a damning look at repressed attitudes regarding homosexuality to a period drama about living and working in England during the war to a coming-of-age story.
Period films can often be tricky, especially in the 21st century, but director Morten Tyldum and casting director Nina Gold (“Game of Thrones,” “Rush”) were able to populate the film with actors capable of convincingly portraying the era.
Gold points to Keira Knightley, as sole female code breaker Joan Clarke, as one example. “She can really carry off that period. It’s really difficult to do the style and voice of that period, but she really can carry it off,” Gold says. “And she and Benedict [Cumberbatch] made it extra easy.”
Knightley’s name came up early in discussions regarding Joan, whose platonic relationship with Turing serves as the film’s heart, humanizing both it and the awkward, socially maladroit Turing himself. When Tyldum and Gold were able to meet with her to discuss the role, she quickly became their only choice.
Likewise, Matthew Goode was an early contender for the role of Hugh Alexander, whose relationship with Turing began as pleasantly competitive, rapidly became antagonistic, and then melted into grudging respect. “He was just a guy we thought would be totally perfect,” Gold says. “For Matthew Goode, it was all about timing it around the birth of his child. But it all worked out perfectly because his wife kindly agreed to have it early!”
More complicated was finding the child actor capable of playing a young Turing at boarding school. The role is a tricky one, setting up many of the adult Turing’s neuroses and complexes while maintaining a child’s innocence, and Gold was thrilled to find exactly the right actor onstage.
“I’d seen Alex Lawther in a play and thought, Oh my God, he’s the one!” Gold recalls. “But then you see loads of other people to prove yourself right. That was a really difficult part, and you had to find someone who was incredible beyond their years. He was just amazing; finding him was such a good moment.”
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