“She is constantly the voice of reason. She’s always grounding the audience and the show,” reveals Logan Polish about playing a more mature but still rebellious teenager on Apple TV Plus’ seven-episode drama series “The Mosquito Coast.” She shares, “I think it’s great to have that rock throughout the season, because everyone is so off their rockers. Ultimately though she stays because I think she likes to feel needed by her parents and that is some sort of baggage that she has.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Polish above.
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“The Mosquito Coast” is based on the 1981 novel by acclaimed author Paul Theroux, the uncle of the show’s star Justin Theroux (“The Leftovers”), who plays Allie Fox, an idealistic inventor who uproots his family on a dangerous quest through Mexico to flee the U.S. government. The ambitious action drama was developed by Neil Cross (“Luther”) and author Tom Bissell, who also executive produce the series alongside Rupert Wyatt, who directs the first two episodes, both Justin and Paul Theroux, Edward L. McDonnell, Alan Gasmer, Peter Jaysen and Bob Bookman.
Melissa George (“In Treatment”) co-stars as Allie’s mysterious and elusive wife Margot Fox alongside Polish as their teenage daughter Dina and Gabriel Bateman as their son Charlie. While audiences may recall that “The Mosquito Coast” was previously adapted into Peter Weir‘s Harrison Ford-starring 1986 feature film, the new adaptation aims to be truer to the source material, delving into the motivations behind Allie’s quest to get off the grid and relocate his family away from the government forces that are after him.
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From the opening scene of “The Mosquito Coast,” the audience is dropped into the story without much exposition about who the Foxes are and what they’re running from, keeping us on our toes and always guessing as the they embark on a treacherous journey across the border to Mexico. However, Dina and Charlie, like the audience, are just as much in the dark about Allie and Margot’s motivations and past. While Polish is not as in the dark as her character, she admits to wanting to keep some distance from it to help her get into character. “I tried to not go into depth about what they were doing and tried to stay confused all the time, because I wanted to stay in that head space of being in Mexico and being in our own world,” she explains. “Me and Gabriel both did that, we both never really knew what Justin and Melissa were fully doing. We were always a little bit confused about what their storyline was, and I think it overall helped.”
Playing Dina as the audience’s surrogate is never clearer than in a telling exchange between her and her anarchist father. When Allie tells Dina that they are fleeing to Mexico, she snaps back at him, declaring that “they’re not his family, they’re his audience.” It’s a fascinating insight into the dynamic of this family, and in particular their complicated father-daughter relationship. “I love that line. I found it very cathartic because everyone can relate to having that family member that is in the limelight,” Polish declares. “I love that about her; she’s always saying what we’re thinking. Every time in the script where I was questioning it or wondering what was going on, she was kind of saying it!”
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