Dougray Scott: Sea Fever is ‘uncomfortably relevant’ during pandemic

Dougray Scott admits ‘Sea Fever’ is "uncomfortably relevant" amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 54-year-old actor plays the role of Gerard in the new sci-fi thriller, which follows the crew of a marooned fishing trawler who find themselves under threat from a parasitic infection.
Dougray admits it’s not hard not to see the similarities with the COVID-19 outbreak which is claiming lives all over the globe.
In an interview with Collider, Dougray said: "It’s very relevant, isn’t it? A little uncomfortably so, for sure."
He feels that the movie has a number of parallels to the modern world, in terms of both the political climate and the danger posed by the threat of disease.
Dougray explained: "Sadly, it’s very, very current, with the themes of the film. Even when I read it, what’s happening in the environment, with the change in the political climate and the climate change, a film like this is incredibly relevant because we know what we’re doing to the world.
"Yes, it’s about a creature in the sea, but that is representative of the unknown and all of the things that we don’t know about the damage that we’ve done to the planet, whether it’s on land or in the sea. And we don’t know what the payback is gonna be, for the choices we’ve made, over the years. So, yeah, there’s a huge amount of parallels, at the moment."
The ship is helmed by Freya and Siobhan, played by Connie Nielsen and Hermione Corfield respectively, and Dougray admitted that the opportunity to appear in a female-led film drew him to the movie – which is available to view via on demand services from April 10.
The ‘My Week with Marilyn’ star said: "I thought it was very female-driven when I read it, and I liked that.
"I thought it was really interesting that Freya was the boss, as Gerard said. That didn’t scare me. As a male actor, I’m a huge fan of working with female directors and actors. I’m not intimidated or, in any way, misogynistic about it.
"I enjoy, very much, working with women. I’m all for giving women a voice within the storytelling world of movies and television. For years, they’ve been sidelined and put in the background, and it’s important for movies to have main characters that are female. I think this was an ensemble piece, in many respects, but you have Freya and Siobhan, which is great."