'Fallout' Interview: Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten

(L to R) Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten talk ‘Fallout.’

Premiering on Prime Video beginning April 11th is ‘Fallout,’ which was created by Jonathan Nolan (‘The Dark Knight’) and Lisa Joy (‘Reminiscence’) and is an adaption of the popular video game.

The series stars Ella Purnell (‘Maleficent’), Aaron Moten (‘Father Stu’), Walton Goggins (‘The Hateful Eight’), Kyle MacLachlan (‘Confess, Fletch’), Leslie Uggams (‘Deadpool’) and Michael Emerson (‘Saw’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten about their work on ‘Fallout’, their first reaction to the screenplay, their knowledge of the game, their characters, and the world that Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have created.

Related Article: 10 Things We Learned at the ‘Fallout’ Press Conference with Cast and Crew

Ella Purnell (Lucy) in ‘Fallout’. Credit: JoJo Whilden/Prime Video. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Moviefone: To begin with, Ella, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and what were some of the aspects of your character that you were excited to explore on screen?

Ella Purnell: I remember it perfectly. I was sitting on the couch. I was ill, and every five pages I’d be like, “Wait, this is really cool.” I just kept going and kept going. I was absolutely blown away by the level of detail. I knew of the games, but I wasn’t familiar, I hadn’t played them at that point, so I wasn’t familiar with the tone. I got that from the script. I got the dark comedy, I got the balance of the humor with the heavy post-apocalyptic, and the fifties/sixties retro-futuristic style was so exciting to me. More than anything, it was the character. She, I just thought was so funny and direct, and I really loved her attitudes, which is partly a product of her upbringing and her environment, and partly just who she is. You know when you really want to watch a show that you should really try to be in the show.

Aaron Moten (Maximus) in ‘Fallout’. Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

MF: Aaron, how familiar were you with the game and what was your reaction to this incredible world that Jonathan Nolan and the writers have created?

Aaron Moten: I mean, I knew of ‘Fallout’, right? I was not of my friend group that got into playing ‘Fallout’ but I played other games at the time. Here’s this weird full circle moment where it’s like the world is telling me, “Hey, we’ll give you a chance now in real time to roam through these worlds.” I mean, it is incredibly detailed and it’s so dense, and that’s what makes it fun, especially as an actor to get to really feel like this is your playground for the day. It got so exciting where we would be looking at scripts and when we’d be talking on set about like, “Oh man, I can’t wait to see what they come up with for this setup. And where are we going to be for such and such scene?” It just was so thrilling, honestly, as an actor to get to live in this world.

Ella Purnell as Lucy in ‘Fallout.’ Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC.

MF: Ella, can you talk about Lucy’s journey and what she discovers about herself and the world around her after she leaves the vault?

EP: It’s a great question. What I like about Lucy is there’s so much more to her than what you see, and I think people will underestimate her, and I’m excited to show them what she’s capable of. She’s obviously incredibly naive and innocent. She grew up in a vault underground being drip-fed propaganda from a corporation her entire life. She’s the daughter of the overseer. She’s essentially the president’s daughter. She has a role and a duty and a belief that that is what she was bred and is going to do. I think people don’t know who they are sometimes until they’re put in a certain situation, a challenging situation. Only then do you really know what you’re made of. That for her is absolutely going to the Wasteland. I mean, she really goes through it. It’s tough for her, and she just has this bravery that emerges that I don’t think she even knew she had inside her. It comes from this inherent belief, and choosing to continue to believe that humans have inherent goodness inside them, no matter how evil and lawless they may appear to be on the Wasteland.

(L to R) Power Suit and Aaron Moten as Maximus in ‘Fallout.’ Credit: JoJo Whilden/Prime Video. Copyright: © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC.

MF: Finally, Aaron, can you talk about Maximus’s role in the Brotherhood of Steel, and does he begin to question what he’s fighting for?

AM: Absolutely. I think, that’s one of these things that the characters have a lot of differences, between these three main characters, but they have similarities, and they have these touchstones of moments that they kind of separately share. I agree with until Maximus is put into certain situations, it’s a discovery of what do I really feel about something? I know that the Brotherhood is a harsh reality, and even being born and raised in the Wasteland would be a harsh reality. It’s a tough existence for Maximus and everything I think has been a bit of a struggle for him. So, survival being an important thing for all these characters, I think he’s trying to look out for himself at times but is he making a noble pursuit and it’s about rising-up, gaining power and fighting off his own devils because of that.

What is the Plot of ‘Fallout’?

The show depicts the aftermath of an apocalyptic nuclear exchange in an alternate history where advances in nuclear technology after WWII led to the emergence of a retrofuturistic society and a subsequent resource war. The survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as Vaults, built to preserve humanity in the event of nuclear annihilation. Two centuries later, a young woman (Ella Purnell), a descendant of the original “Vault Dwellers” from one of many Vaults, leaves behind the only life she has ever known to venture out into the dangerously hostile and savage Wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles.