Tom Bateman had just days to write the script for 'Magpie'.
Tom Bateman had just days to write the script for Magpie after his wife Daisy Ridley quickly sold the idea to producers
The 35-year-old actor is married to 'Star Wars' actress Daisy Ridley and explained that his wife initially came up with the concept for the new film - which follows a couple dealing with their young daughter becoming a movie star - but she so quickly sold the idea to producers that he was left with limited time to complete the screenplay.
He told Movie Web: "Daisy had the initial idea, she was working on a movie out in Canada and she had a little girl playing her daughter. She became fascinated, children have no ability to lie or comment. They are just present. And at a point, this little girl almost believed Daisy to be her mum and Daisyw as facisnted by this blur of reality that can happen when people are creating things.
"So I picked her up from the airport and in her jet lag state she said 'What do you think?, I think this could be a really cool idea for a movie'. And we talked about making something together before. I've been writing for a few years and she's been so supportive of my writing. And she said 'Do you think you wanna write it?' and I said 'Yeah, that'll be so fun, leave it with me.'
"About two days later she said 'I've set us up a pitch with these producers, and a few days later they called back and said they were really interested. So I was given the task to effectively write this script yesterday. They needed it ASAP. So I set my alarm at 4am every day, and took a jug of coffee to this little barn and I would write for four or five hours. Daisy would come down in the morning and read what I'd written, I'd pace up and down nervously chain smoking."
Tom added that Daisy - who plays the role of matriarch Anette in the film - helped him "steer" the project through to fruition but her initial vision changed as time went on.
He added: "She helped me steer it and was my sounding board all along. I think I turned in the first draft after about two weeks. We just went from there but it was interesting that Daisy's initial idea was an actress infiltrating the family, that's where she thought it would go. But as I was writing, I started to get more and more fascinated about this woman who was left at home."
Tagged in Daisy Ridley