EXCLUSIVE: When Paul Biddiss left the army more than a decade ago, he could never have known that 10 years on he would be at the center of one of the viral Hollywood moments of the year.
Biddiss was espionage advisor on Peacock and Sky’s The Day of the Jackal, a role that was lauded earlier this month by Eddie Redmayne on the Graham Norton Show before the discussion led to Saoirse Ronan‘s withering – and mega-viral – putdown of her male sofa-sharers during a chat about the use of mobile phones for protection.
Paul Mescal, who had also worked recently with Biddiss on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, joked about the ridiculousness of using a phone for protection, before Ronan shot him down, saying: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right ladies?” The incident has generated clicks aplenty and kickstarted a wider conversation about protection.
After the excitement at being mentioned on primetime national TV had subsided, Biddiss told us his past experience advising on surveillance meant that he immediately concurred with Ronan.
“I’ve always said that women are notoriously more surveillance aware and harder to track, because unfortunately they have to be,” said Biddiss. “They have to think about what they have to use in the event of someone pouncing on them. What Saoirse Ronan said was correct.”
Viewing the debate via a historical lens, Biddiss said women tended to make excellent Special Operations Executives during World War II owing to their being “better surveillance operators” and being better at blending in.
While he welcomed the conversation sparked by Ronan, he said “the banter got a bit overblown by the media” in respect of Mescal and Redmayne. Mescal has since said Ronan “hit the nail on the head” with her remark.
Starting out with George Clooney
Paul Biddiss on the set of Gladiator II. Image: Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Biddiss’ journey to A-list recognition – Redmayne called him an “amazing man” and said he has “a huge amount to thank him for” – has been anything but conventional.
He left the army after 24 years in the Parachute Regiment of the British Armed Forces but, as with many former veterans, he struggled to get work and eventually landed a role as an extra on the George Clooney-directed The Monuments Men.
Out of the blue, he started giving advice to the actor-director on how to make certain scenes appear realistic and he subsequently was hired to run bootcamps for extras. He has since worked on numerous blockbusters as an advisor and trainer, while launching a company that helps others do the same.
“The role is more vast than people realize,” he added, noting that he advises on script accuracy from the get-go and produces bibles for all departments including hair, make-up and props.
On Day of the Jackal, Biddiss drew on his experience working in private surveillance. He taught Redmayne and co-star Lashana Lynch about sniper shooting, passive surveillance and using electronic devices including mobile phones for protection. On The Graham Norton Show, Redmayne discussed how Biddiss set challenging tasks for the pair including journeying to Covent Garden to track down his wife, while he threw obstacles at them throughout.
“I was always trying to impart on them not to look suspicious,” explained Biddiss. “I can look at reflections in a restaurant and see who’s behind me while not giving anything away. If you can do that then you’re in a good place.”
For Gladiator II, Biddiss resumed a solid working relationship with Scott that started on Napoleon, and he showered praise on Scott’s military-like commitment to his craft.
“Ridley is great,” said Biddiss. “He’s like a commanding officer with complete control over the set while all the people around him know where they stand. I’ve worked with directors struggling with two cameras and he does it effortlessly with 11.”
Scott’s skills behind the camera were fully on show during the Battle of Waterloo scene in Napoleon, which Biddiss said was one of the greatest challenges he has faced as he prepared extras to recreate the Duke Of Wellington’s infamous ‘square’.
Biddiss put these extras through their paces via a cutthroat bootcamp that featured mental and physical dexterity exercises. “There is no point investing in training guys who are not fit,” he said. “If these guys couldn’t run properly across the square then you would see that on 12 cameras. Every time Ridley has given me a complex manoeuvre to do, the investment in those bootcamps paid off.”
Biddiss is a walking, talking advert for TV and movie advisors and says in the long run they can be moneysavers. He flags a recent project that eschewed military advice and had to carry out a million-pound reshoot because the extras were not properly trained.
“I’ve seen shows receive huge amounts of backlash for the simplest of things that could have been sorted in production very early on,” he said. “These things are such an easy fix and won’t have an effect on the story, so military advisors are a good spend. If you don’t invest in making people do things correctly and look the part then you have wasted lots of money.”
But he stresses that advice is all he can give. “That is probably why there aren’t many of us because people come in like a bull in a china shop, and quickly get their P45,” he added.
Biddiss is repped by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.