Atlanta star Zazie Beetz says filming for Black Mirror was ‘hazardous’

By Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter

Atlanta star Zazie Beetz has said that filming for Black Mirror was “hazardous” as she was “running through wild forests that were not pruned”.

Series six of dystopian show Black Mirror debuted on Netflix on Thursday, with Beetz, 32, playing paparazzi photographer Bo in episode Mazey Day, starring Clara Rugaard and Danny Ramirez.

Talking about what it was like to film the episode, Beetz told the PA news agency: “It was very hazardous running through wild forests that were not pruned, through the brush and the bushes, and I think the night-time (filming) definitely made it dicey, but I guess that makes it more real.”

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— Black Mirror (@blackmirror) April 26, 2023

Mazey Day was shot in Spain and follows a troubled starlet who is constantly being followed by members of the paparazzi.

Parts of the episode take place at night, but Beetz explained that some of the scenes were faked to look dark.

She said: “We actually had a lot of daytime things that kind of get faked for night. So a lot of the running, not all, some of the running in the woods, it was daytime.”

Portraying a member of the paparazzi who follows starlet Mazey Day, Beetz said that she enjoyed having the opportunity to switch up her perspective and explore something new.

“It was interesting to adjust perspective for the character and to understand sort of the motivation or empathy for someone who chooses to be paparazzi”, she said.

“I think it’s a profession that a lot of people perhaps judge in terms of invasion of privacy and encroaching on people who don’t want to be encroached upon, but I also understand that there’s an element of symbiosis between celebrity and paparazzi.”

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— Black Mirror (@blackmirror) June 5, 2023

She added: “I enjoyed that element of growing the character and learning the character and coming at it from her point of view.”

Talking about Bo, Charlie Brooker, creator of Black Mirror, said that Beetz was able to balance the character’s complexities.

He said: “Bo is a flintier character having to make some hard choices, but she’s got a conscience.

“We see that she’s slightly troubled by what she’s doing, but she’s also quite tough in that episode as well.

“Zazie is very charismatic, but she balances the complexity of the character. It’s a tricky role to pull off, but she’s more than capable of it.”

Series six of Black Mirror comprises five hour-long episodes and stars actors that include Aaron Paul, Kate Mara, Salma Hayek, Annie Murphy and Rob Delaney.

Brooker said that the sixth series of Black Mirror has a greater variety of stories than the last “because each episode is so radically different in terms of setting and tone”.