Telling a story in real time is a brain-racking pastime few directors enjoy. British film and television director Jim Field Smith clearly enjoys it as much as Idris Elba, who stars in the new AppleTV+ show Hijack, which began its streaming schedule on June 28.

Elba slips into the role of Sam Nelson, who has a lot going through his mind as he boards a seven-hour flight. His tall frame slides into a business-class seat but the gruff laugh that his stature demands is missing. At the same time, his cold, calculating eyes keep resting on his fellow passengers, trying to decode their body language.

Hijack sets out to achieve what the classic TV series 24 has done many years ago — keep things in real time. The context is set soon after the flight takes off — a bunch of hijackers are on the plane and they have somehow managed to sneak in guns. Elba’s character, Sam, has to use his brain and not brawn to save the day.

“This is like a real plane, just in a studio. The confinement of that just really applied to the drama. Even for the crew, figuring out how we’re going to do a top shot without being able to take the roof off was a challenge. The crew, the actors… everyone’s sort of tight, and that’s where it becomes almost like watching a documentary being made, while being in the documentary,” says Elba to a group of journalists over video.

Living one minute to another

For writer George Kay and the director, Hijack is not the easiest of projects. Since the events unfold in real time, they couldn’t make changes to the script midway. They had to get everything spot-on from scene one — be it the clothes everyone wears or the quirks of each character. It’s a plane full of people and nowhere will you get the feeling that it’s a set with many stages.

“It meant that we could stay in the moment and let the scenes play out. When you're dealing with hijacking, it's about people reacting and trying to figure out… live… how to get through the next second, how to get through the next minute. We were able to bring some of that into the actual making of it. We used a lot of unbroken shots; we often moved with Sam's character… Sam moving through the plane. It was all about wanting to feel engaged in the drama of it and not feel like it was artificial,” says Smith.

The writer Kay came upon the idea for Hijack during a train journey on the Eurostar.

“I was doing a lot of work in France and we were in the tunnel and the train stopped quite abruptly. And even though I knew everything was all right, it flashed through my mind what if there's something going on this train; whatever was happening in the different carriages. I looked around me. There was a businessman eating his lunch and a squabbling family. And I wondered how we would cope as a group of people if this was a serious incident. Will the tough-looking guy be actually tough or will the weedy guy rise to the occasion and cover himself in glory? Who are these people really? And then I thought of a plane, which is much more visual; we could really open it up,” says Kay.

That, of course, begs the question whether Sam is the weedy guy or the tough one. “When Idris came on board to play Sam, we all had our understanding of his interests as an actor. He doesn't have the skills of a member of the Royal Marines but he looks like he might. So it's quite fun to play with what the hijackers think of Sam Nelson and what Sam Nelson thinks they think of him,” says Kay.

Elba, who has heard enough rumours about him being considered for James Bond, is happy to be the “weedy” man or a tall businessman. He is blessed with sharp features. “It’s all subjective and I am sure that I am not good-looking to everyone. There’s something George said earlier about the weedy man versus the strong man. My size or shape has made people say something like, ‘You’re a big lad.’ I have taken on roles that, at times, feed into it a little bit. On this particular occasion I was really interested in the position Sam is in. He is quite vulnerable and he has a lot going on internally with his family. I was interested in that. So I played against type, if you could say that. And remember, some camera angles are not sexy, especially on a plane,” says the 50-year-old actor.

Tough fight sequences

One of the challenges for the director was to narrate a tale that mostly unfolds inside the plane. “There are two problems with that. One is to make it engaging dramatically and not feel dull and flat. And the other thing is to make it feel like you are actually in an airplane that's moving through the sky. Those are definitely very challenging. The plane you see in the show is a millimetre for millimetre replication of a plane. We sort of made it as hard for ourselves as we possibly could and hope that translates on screen. It's something that feels really convincing,” says Smith.

At the same time, enough tension had to be maintained to take care of a seven-hour flight. “What I realised while writing was that in a hijacking situation it is not immediately about life or death. You need to know what those hijackers want, where they're taking the plane, what they intend to do… all unknowable things at the start of our story. We had to build that tension,” says Kay.

Where there are guns, there will be action and some fighting. But inside an airborne plane, bullets can’t hit the window. “By design we didn't take this plane apart and made it easier for us to shoot. We designed all the action sequences with what we've got. Sam does a lot of sneaking around the plane. The fight sequences were certainly hard to shoot. They were choreographed within the space. The fight sequences are based on what we (passengers) would do rather than this being just a fight sequence,” says Elba.

Of course, there are two questions on everybody’s mind: Does Idris Elba like flying and what would he do on a plane with real hijackers?

“I am more informed about flying now. Saying that is weird. I love flying and I love travelling. I have always said ‘hello’ to the staff on the plane. It felt interesting to be on a plane again after making the show,” says Elba with a smile.

The more difficult part is the second question and for a man who has played some tough characters, his reaction is quite practical. “I would shut up and mind my business. I wouldn’t be Sam. If I had an opportunity to talk to a hijacker and if I thought, even for a second, that person would listen to me, I would go for that. Maybe I would say, ‘Dude this is very stupid’ or ‘Dude, can you please get me a drink.’ I wouldn't be the guy who would like to outsmart hijackers but I certainly would want to help the staff and if they need a volunteer to do something, I would be in,” says Elba.

It’s a different story in the limited seven-part thriller series. Sam puts his negotiating skills to use as soon as he gets an opportunity. His words serve as a punch, just like the real Elba.