‘Ozark’s’ Mark Williams On ‘Safe Harbor,’ About Tech Geeks Caught in a Drug War, and Loving Keeping Things Gray
One of the highlights of Mipcom premiere screenings on Oct. 21, the buzzy international action thriller “Safe Harbor” repped by Eccho Rights, gathered in Cannes its starry creative team: Showrunner and “Ozark” co-creator Mark Williams, actors Colm Meaney (“Gangs of London,” “The Patriarch”) Alfie Allen (“Game of Thrones”) and Martijn Lakemeier (“Maxima”, “Marie-Antoinette”).
At Mipcom, Night Train Media-owned Eccho Rights was discussing the show with broadcasting clients and platforms.
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Led by Mediawan’s Dutch banner Submarine, producing alongside Germany’s Night Train Media and Williams’ Zero Gravity for Dutch streamer Videoland and Belgium’s Streamz, the series combines the best of Hollywood savoir-faire with European talent and production expertise.
“The European [filmmaking] world is new to me,” admits the Emmy-nominated Williams, who serves as creator, executive producer, head-writer and co-helmer on the show. “As the only American onboard, I could help them expand a little bit more than what they’re used to. I loved the process and had a great time,” he told Variety.
Inspired by true events, the story turns on hacker Tobias (Allen) and his ambitious best friend Marco (Lakemeier), who are intent on cracking into the tech billionaires club. They are plucked from obscurity and plunged headfirst into organised crime when they cross paths with the Irish mob. Leading the operations in Holland for their father, the Irish patriarch Keiran Walsh (Meaney), are the classy and brainy Sloane (Charlie Murphy of “Peaky Blinders”) and her brother Farrell (Jack Gleeson of “Games of Thrones”’), a sociopath with a heart.
The siblings decided to hire Tobias and Marco to hack into the security system of Rotterdam harbour, Europe’s largest shipping port, to secure undetected deliveries of drug shipments.
The initial idea for the show came from Submarine co-founder, producer and two-time Emmy-nominated Femke Wolting (“Last Hijack,” “Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World”). She had first read about a case in Belgium in which drug traffickers had recruited hackers to breach IT systems in a major harbour. “I loved the story, felt it was cool and could make for a great international thriller series.” Wolting says. “Mark and I met, he loved the idea and we spent time brainstorming. That was two years and a half ago.”
“Yeah: Femke gave me the blip of the idea of these tech guys caught in the middle of a drug war and I found this super interesting, even kind of funny, and that’s what I’m always looking for,” Williams adds.
To feed the story and bring authenticity, Williams and the production team did research into the narco-war between the Netherlands and Belgium and around hacking, although the Emmy-nominated showrunner was keen not to get techno-specific to avoid the audience being “bored and confused.” “For me, it was about understanding it enough so that I could speak the language, but not so deep that I would be a kind of professor in the field. [The show] was really about the relationships between the characters and their significant others. That’s where the heart was and the focus.”
As with most Williams works (including Netflix’s “Ozark,” the pics “The Accountant” starring Ben Affleck, Liam Neeson’s vehicles “Blacklight” and “Honest Thief”), the main characters in “Safe Harbor” navigate in the gray space, where their morality gets challenged. “Gray is my favourite color,” says the seasoned U.S. executive. “We all live in that gray space even though we pretend that’s not the case, and everything is black and white, good or bad. We’re not all one thing or another. And it’s all about finding those characters. Even if Tobias and Marco are a bit on the darker side, they are breaking the law, have relationships with women – some going well, others not so well: they are human.”
Yet again, Williams insists, the dynamics between the two main characters, their constantly-evolving and challenged friendship, is the core of the show. “It’s about friends who become family,’ he explains. “Then you have the big Irish patriarch who wants his kids to be happy, sophisticated, but they aren’t necessarily on that path. He brought them up in a very corrupt and dangerous world, so they are trying to explore that for themselves.”
Picking up on his character, Meaney who boarded the show via a recommendation from fellow Irishman Neeson, describes the Irish mafia godfather as “fascinating.” “He’s run the drug business for years, got into nasty situations and did pretty nasty stuff, but he’s at a point in his life where he’s comfortable. Easing back into semi-retirement, he lets his kids take over the family business. He’s on both fences – “agreeing with his son Farrell’s old school methods, while favouring his daughter Sloane. For him she can do no wrong!”
Allen for his part sees Tobias Chapman as a guy at a crossroads in his life. “He has to come to terms with his tough upbringing and tries to build his life around his love for his girlfriend, hoping to be the bread-winner, but that doesn’t quite work according to plan.”
“His sincere friendship with Marco was also attractive to me. Both try to get the best out of each other, and complement each other.”
The setting itself in Rotterdam, Europe’s largest shipping port and primary entry point for drugs was equally appealing for the British-born Allen who was already in Williams’ mind at script stage. “Having this bleak background was visually exciting and reminded me of “The Wire” Season 2 set in the docks,” he says.
Rotterdam-born Lakemeier who recently landed the coveted role of Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander in the mega Dutch royal series “Maxima,” was thrilled to join the prestige international cast and crew and to shoot in his native town. “Filming in English was challenging but I was helped by everyone,” he says.
Asked about his experience of working on his first Europe-based TV show, Williams says: “It was great to have someone holding my hand the whole way,” turning towards Wolting. “That said, it was shocking when I showed up and there were 20 people only in the production office! I’m used to having a lot more people involved. We did grow [as a team] over time, but it was never to the scale I’m used to. It was more about me getting used to their [European] system which works very well but is just different to me.”
Season 1 of “Safe Harbor” is co-helmed by Arne Toonen (“Amsterdam Vice”) and Belgian directing-duo Inti Calfat and Dirk Verheye, aka ‘Norman Bates’.
Besides Williams and Wolting, the show is executive produced by Herbert L. Kloiber, James Copp and Adam Barth, and received support from Creative Europe, ScreenFlanders and the Netherlands Film Fund.
The premiere in the Netherlands on Videoland is set for January 2025, to be followed right after in Belgium on Streamz.
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