In Tyrannosaur, you play one of the most revolting and abusive characters I’ve ever seen on screen. After playing such menacing, strange or insidious characters, does it take you a while to “come down”? writeronthestorm,
MattDarcy7 and HamesJoyce
No. I play nasty people all the time. It never really affects me. The only thing that ever affected me was when we were making the BBC TV drama God on Trial and I had to read up on parents in concentration camps whose children were 500ft away in a children’s barracks. That really upset me.
Do people think you’re nasty in real life? TopTramp
I don’t think they do. Having said that, [director] Paddy Considine and I were doing a press tour for Tyrannosaur, waiting outside the screening room for the end credits, to do a Q&A. Three women ran out in tears because they were so traumatised by what my character had done to Hannah [Olivia Colman’s character]. The first person they ran into was me, and they screamed.
How did you get into acting? Did you always have a passion or were you inspired later in life?
VerulamiumParkRanger
It came to me later in life. I did plays at school, but wasn’t aware of any means by which I could pursue it. I left school at 15 with no academic qualifications and went to work as an apprentice printer. Me and my friend were dancing in a club in Hackney [east London] and some guy asked us to dance as extras in film called Empire State. I’ve never seen it, because the night I was supposed to, someone burned down the ABC at Mile End. It must have been really bad.
You come across very grounded, but what’s been your most Hollywood moment? Kellysahero1970
I was doing a film in Virginia – Terrence Malick’s The New World – and they put me in this hotel with a fountain in the middle of a roundabout at the front. I was sitting having breakfast, and this stretch limo pulled up to pick me up to take me to the airport. Everyone at the hotel was really impressed because it made me look like a big Hollywood star, but the limo got stuck going round the roundabout. I certainly lost all kudos there.
There’s an intense scene in Gangster No 1 where you are being interrogated and intimidated by Paul Bettany and a remarkable amount of snot comes out of your nose. Was that the snottiest take? LomaxCommodities
I think they were all snotty, really. As an actor, you’ve got to put yourself in context, have no vanity, and let whatever happens happen. If the director thinks it looks authentic, they use it. I’m quite proud of the snot because it probably meant that I was being truthful. Was it stunt snot? No, it was all mine!
Does your new film Vesper have anything to do with those irritating Vespa scooters, or arming up to overthrow our new wasp overlords? HamesJoyce, Cambrinus and spleety
More the latter. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world that has been ecologically damaged by the elites who now live in these massive citadels. Raffiella Chapman, Richard Brake and myself are the poor people scrounging off the land trying to get scraps.
What role that no one would associate you with do you think you would be perfect for? IndebtedYouth
I don’t know, really. My great-grandfather came from Trinidad, so if I’d have turned up in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series, people would have had a shock. But I am actually of Caribbean descent.
Your performance as Bob Dylan as part of Sky Arts’ Urban Myths series is one of the finest – if not the finest – portrayal of his Bobness. The whole show was an unexpected joy, and if Bob isn’t like that, he should be. How did you get into character, and where do you stand on the
debate that Dylan is one of greatest contemporary musical artists of all time? Gauchiomurphio and JuniperHill
I think he’s one of the greatest contemporary musical artists of all time. When actors talk about research, you have to give credit to the writers. The writer was obsessed with Dylan and knew every nuance. I worked on the physicality – the voice and walk – and got into the mindset based on the choreography of the script. It’s a poison chalice playing biopics because people can get it so wrong. I hope I did him justice.
Do you remember appearing in Jack in the Beanstalk at the theatre in Chipping Norton in the 90s, throwing sweets into the audience – one of which hit me on the bonce? Do you rule out ever returning to pantomime? Bertolduso
That was my first paid theatre job about five years out of college. I played one of the brothers – the clown of the pantomime – and had to throw sweets to the audience. Some of the little bastards threw them back and they were really hard. I then went on to play Dandini in Cinderella at Salisbury Playhouse in a big curly wig, which was horrific because it made me look like Fred West. I do love comedy, so I’d love to play Widow Twanky.
Please rank the following directors in order you’d like to go with them for a pint: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Martin Scorsese, Mike Leigh. PaulMariner
I’ve been for a pint with Mike Leigh, quite often. Scorsese is fascinating to talk to on set, when he’s engrossed in what he’s doing. We had a conversation on the set of Gangs of New York about why he had never made a film about Frank Sinatra, how Italian Americans are depicted on screen, and why Sinatra means so much to them. Alejandro would be great fun to go to a bar with. He’s got a twinkle in his eye.
How would you fake your own death, like in The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, to maximise success? DeJongandtherestless and TopTramp
I don’t know, really. I’d probably make a public announcement that I had died and would then stay in for the rest of my life with my wife and kids, and hide upstairs when people came round.
Did you base the driving instructor in Happy-Go-Lucky on a real driving instructor? Do you remember your own driving instructor? When you’re feeling a bit down, does shouting “en ra ha” work as well for you as it does for me? Carefree, DarkAnaemicI
and Geordie_Dave
I did go on about 50 different driving lessons and sit in the back, to watch them give instructions. When you work with Mike Leigh, you come up with list of about 100 people and he says: whittle it down to two. Scott was based on somebody I knew who was obsessed with conspiracy theories, so Mike made me study conspiracy theories for a year, which was quite dark. My driving instructor was an old bloke from Stepney. I took the test three times, then eventually passed. People shout “en ra ha” to me all the time. Someone shouted it to me the other day when they were driving past. If I walk around the US, they shout: “Hey Terry, where’s Bunchy?” [from Ray Donovan]. But must recently I get: “Where’s your canoe?”
If you could have one last drink, like in The World’s End, what are you drinking and where are you having it? MrSOBaldrick
I would have a Jack Daniel’s and ginger on ice, with my kids, in the living room, having movie night. Do I screen my own movies at movie nights? I try to, but they never want to watch them. My daughter has just gone to university, my son has just finished his GCSEs. I’ve got four teenagers now. Life is so busy, there’s loads of films I’m in that I’ve never watched because life just carries on, you know what I mean?
Fav pie and mash shop?
zblargx
Ellie’s cafe and diner on Bethnal Green Road [east London].
Which part have you most regretted turning down?
Paperingover
I was approached to play Arnold Rothstein in Boardwalk Empire, but couldn’t, because we had two children under the age of two, so it just wasn’t the right time to move to the US. The guy who played Arnold [Michael Stuhlbarg] is a brilliant actor. I think he did it much better than I would have done anyway.
Do your political and social beliefs influence the roles you choose, and is it fair to expect performers to choose work that aligns with their values?
BossSaru
I think 90% of films do align with values. I don’t like didactic films. I like films that make people think, but don’t tell people what to think. Ridley Road was very close to my heart. [Writer] Sarah Solemani and are friends. She’s Jewish – I’m not – but she said: “I’d like to make a drama about the history of Jewish people taking on antisemitism. I’ve written this part for you, would you do it?” Things like that I enjoy because they’re informative. I’m doing a TV show for Amazon called The Power, based on the New York Times bestseller by a friend of mine, Naomi Alderman. It’s a brilliant study of power, gender and political dynamics. I love things that make people explore. I thought the Adam McKay film Don’t Look Up, about the meteorite, was a brilliant film because it’s exciting but still makes you think about what we’re doing to the environment.
Is the term “character actor” useful in describing your work? wenders14
Every actor creates characters. Even if someone says: be yourself, you’d be what you think you are. I remember an old American actor saying to me: “What you are is a doughnut actor,” because in the industry, they can’t afford to wait for somebody to rise of their own volition. They have to have money invested in the next big star. Some people do rise of their own volition, but others are manufactured. You can tell manufactured stars because they make films where they’re surrounded by lots of really good, capable, talented character actors. The reason they call it a doughnut is because in the US, it’s a ring doughnut, the centre is vacuous, there’s nothing there, but you surround it with stodge and sugar and that’s what characters do. So, I’m a doughnut actor.