‘Below’ Star Rohan Campbell on Finding That Newfoundland Accent and Losing Himself in Roles

While the rest of the Penney family in Below are off dealing with a large sea creature situation, Rohan Campbell’s character Jay was dealing with problems of a more human nature.

The series centers around Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett), a fisherman in a remote Newfoundland town, his family, a marine biologist (Mackenzie Davis) and a looming sea creature. In Below, Campbell plays Jay, Calvin’s son, who returns to his hometown. Trouble from his life away from his hometown finds him quickly, and he spends much of the series dealing with that instead of the creature lurking below.

“It was a big relief for me,” the 29-year-old actor tells The Hollywood Reporter. He’s taking a brief moment away from filming his current project to speak about his experience on Netflix‘s latest sci-fi limited series. “Yes, there’s a giant sea creature and the town’s under attack, but it’s just hilarious to me that all Jay can think about is his own bullshit, his own issues and his own shortcomings,” he adds.

The actor finds the short-sightedness to be a good space for comedic moments. “It was quite a nice thing to be on my own adventure and to let Josh and Charlie and everybody hold it down in town,” he adds. “It’s really fun.”

Below, no pun intended, the actor digs into joining the project, trying to nail the Newfoundland accent and how he found his way to the project.

How did this one come about?

It was so funny. I actually got connected with Jesse [McKeown], our creator and showrunner, from a different producer about a different project that he was working on. We sat there at lunch, and he started to ask me questions about my life and where I was from in Calgary. We were talking about being Canadian, and I have British parents. He sort of had this look in his eye and then he told me, “I’m doing this other thing. It’s like Jaws Fargo, and it’s set in Newfoundland.” I said, “I’ll do anything to be in this show.” Then four months later I got an audition tape, and it all came together.

The setting is such a big part of the show. I don’t think you could do this show elsewhere. How much easier was it to find the character being in Newfoundland?

Yeah, I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world that you can shoot it. The show inherently is about Newfoundland. Yes, there’s a sea creature. Yes, there’s all this stuff, but it’s so culturally Newfoundland that it had to be there and that’s where the story was. It was important to Jesse and everybody that we were on real boats, so you’re craning camera cranes onto boats. You’re on the water all day and shooting in real texture. I don’t think it’s comparable. If you try and cheat that, it’s just a different thing. When you’re out there, like you said, it’s breathtaking, but it’s very wild. You need that wildness to come through because I think that’s why people in Newfoundland have such heart is because they live in such wildness. It’s just a part [of it]. It’s beautiful.

You co-star Charlie [Heaton] said that most of the extras on set were actually just people from the town. The accent there is really quite something. Very specific. Were you nervous doing the accent knowing so many local people were going to be there?

Yeah, I think learning that accent is a humiliation ritual. It’s really, really, really hard and really specific. Then, on top of that, you drive 30 minutes and everyone sounds different. You’re never too sure. A, it was learning the accent. B, it was trying to get everyone in the family to be on the same page regionally, which is often very difficult. Everyone there is so warm and welcoming. It’s Canadian Thanksgiving right now, so happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate. It took about two seconds before someone asked me and Charlie to come over and have Thanksgiving with them. The people were so warm that it’s such an inclusive environment. That really helped with the accent and the culture, as well, because there’s really no roadmap from the outside in.

There is a sea creature element. There’s a sci-fi element to this show, but a lot of it is about the family dynamics at play. How did you guys find that balance?

It’s one of the things that I’m most proud about the show — specifically the fact that I think right off the bat, you really feel like it’s a family. You really do, or at least I do. That was sort of at the center of our focus. A big part of that was Josh [Hartnett] being so welcoming and really being the core of the family and bringing everyone in. On top of that, learning that accent is so humiliating that you bond immediately. We’re on Zoom every day doing our dialect coaching, and then on top of that, I’m sure you’ve heard enough about it, but there’s a pub in town that we all end up at.

I have heard about the pub.

Yes, the Duke. Between the humiliation ritual of trying to learn that accent and then going to the Duke and trying to get as close to the culture as possible, we just spent a lot of time together. I know people say this, and I’m not sure they always mean it, but I really mean it. Everyone on the show is such a good person, and it was just so easy. I’ve never had a show feel that easy to connect. That’s really rare. I would say this was a singular, very special experience in that regard. Not only shooting in Newfoundland on location, but having that connection with people doesn’t happen every day.

Do you feel that that makes everything just a little bit easier?

Yeah, look, I think every time you go into a project, you’re sort of abandoning your own life to start a new one. You’re picking up from ground zero. What’s nice about meeting people at ground zero is everyone’s trying to attach to something also. There’s this immediate trust. It’s a beautiful thing. You just have to fall in it together. I feel like I have a second family now. Everyone talks. Ever since the show’s been released, the group chat’s been on fire. We’ve been hearing from the Newfoundlanders about how it’s landing in Newfoundland. Josh is in there, Mackenzie’s in there. Charlie and Ruby are like [my] siblings for life now. I really, really love those people. I can’t wait to see them again. That’s rare. This was a specific thing. We felt isolated. We felt like we just had to dive in, and it all happened really fast. That lends to an immersive experience, hopefully [for] the audience, but specifically for us as actors. It’s indulgent and special.

What projects are you typically drawn towards? What are you finding yourself wanting more of?

You go through an identity crisis as an actor, and I don’t know if people talk about this as much publicly. But this thing happens. You’re sprinting to stay above water for so long and just get the job and make a living. Then you have this identity crisis, where that goes away and — you’re not comfortable but you have a career — so to speak. What I really want is an immersive experience, where I can just follow somebody who’s crazy enough to believe in an idea all the way through it. I just want to lose myself in complete service to filmmakers. That’s really what you want. I don’t think I think in sense of genre. I think in the sense of character and tone. What are we trying to say here? Is this person crazy enough to really run it up the flagpole? And do I want to follow this person?

I’ve worked with some amazing, amazing directors. Working with those people, they really do create this environment where I get to be free in their world. If you trust them to build that world, you’re kind of limitless in that space. I don’t know if this is everybody, but I really got into this to lose myself. I’m just looking to further lose my own identity as I get older. I just want to get lost. I really do, because that’s fun. That’s where the joy is for me.