Happy Sad Confused - Dan Stevens, Vol. II

Episode Date: May 22, 2018

Settle in and enjoy the sweet voice of Dan Stevens in his triumphant return to "Happy Sad Confused"! Why triumphant? Well, there's "Legion", now in its second mind-bending season on FX, which seemingly is the role and show that fits Dan to a tee. Plus, this is his first visit since "Beauty & the Beast" earned well over a billion dollars! But there's much more on Josh and Dan's mind on this episode than money. They're positively giddy about a third Bill & Ted movie, Harry Potter, and they even revel in Gary Oldman's strangest movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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or stop by one of your locally owned and operated Greater Colorado Springs Big O Tires today. Big O Black Friday savings going on now. Big O Tires, the team you trust. Today on Happy Sack and Fused, Dan Stevens returns to talk about season two of the heady mind trip that is Legion. Hey guys, I'm Josh Horowitz. Welcome to another edition of Happy Sack and Fuse and welcome to Sammy. Thank you. Hi, Sammy.

Hi. We have Dan Stevens back. Sammy. I know you're a fan. And again, I want, oh, we just left 10 minutes ago. That's a hallmark of the show. People love it when you walk in right after the guest leaves. I literally texted you and was like, I'm here.

I had the phone off because I was talking to Dan Stevens. Okay. Understood. And then how long did you wait until you turned it back on and after you left? I'll say, allegedly Dan Stevens was just here. He definitely was. And he was a delight as he always is. As always.

Season two of Legion Going Strong on. effects. We talk about that show extensively. And we just had Aubrey Plaza in recently. What a crazy, like, bizarre show that, and I'm so happy that we live in an age where these kinds of shows can find an audience and succeed. And certainly Noah Hawley, the creator of that show, who also did the amazing Fargo TV series, is certainly an artist that I'm always curious about. And he's he's found a great collaborator in Dan. Dan actually is going to be working with him on his feature film debut, Pale Blue Dot,

that was just announced as we tape this today that Dan's going to be starring in that alongside Natalie Portman. So that's something to look forward to as well. That's cool project. Dan is, sadly, I found out, not a New Yorker anymore. No! Yeah, he left.

He left. Why? He said that, well, they're shooting Legion in L.A. now, and they just didn't, you know, for the family. He's got kids, the wife. He's a good family. man yeah those LA kids grow up look are so much better than you New York kids you new York kids grow up perfect this is an example yeah he saw me and he was like I'm not

raising my kid like that I gotta get him out of here they're so neurotic he'll be back he's gonna come back come back he'll do some theater hopefully love that we know he can sing we can we do know that of course he started in Beating the Beast this is the first time he's been on the podcast since Beating the Beast came out so we talked a bit about that and he's a he's a really obviously he's got this like great voice he's done a lot of voiceover work he's he told me this is very endearing he talked to me about how he's he's been reading his kids the harry potter books and doing all the voices oh i would love to get an ear in on that i was saying like how cool is that he's got to monetize that shit seriously i would pay to hear dan students read harry potter

sure you would um so he like calls up emma and he's like hey can you do the hermione part for him pretty much they love it when you do the hermione So yes, a fun entertaining Catch Up with Dan Stevens Who's always welcome here And as I said, yeah, Legion Going Strong in Season 2 Always too much TV to go around

I just finished Oh, I haven't finished yet What? I'm one episode behind On Cobra Kai I saw you tweeting about this Why are you judging? I am not

I really like Cobra Kai I have one episode to go As we taped this today I don't know what it is You don't know about this? No This isn't judgmental. This is questioning.

This is ignorance. Yes, exactly. Cobra Kai is the follow-up to the Karate Kid. Oh, the Jaden Smith one, right? No. My Karate Kid. My Karate Kid is a hashtag my Karate Kid. No.

Ralph Machio, William Zabka from the original are back. And it is a very smart take on... So your nerdy ass. 80's brain is like exploding. I'm not alone. It's already been renewed for season two. It's very well done. actually. It's a smart concept in

kind of revisiting those two characters who still have a rivalry all these years later. And it's on YouTube Red. The first time I've ever I've ever watched anything on YouTube Red, so they hooked me on that. And yeah, that's my latest thing. And you've been catching up on the smarter stuff. Correct. Well, this is like high TV season. We are ready

to go. It's too much. What do you watch? So handmade stales back. See, I think I'm going to wait till it's all done. And then, because I, you'll find no bigger. I love the first season. I loved it. You thought it was like so funny. My favorite Elizabeth Moss comedy. That's the world I want to live in. Yeah, I just find Joseph I'm so attractive in it.

There's a guy that gets it. Shakespeare. So I did, like I waited for the first three and then I was just like, oh, fuck it, I can't. So I watch the first three all at once and now I'm on the weekly, which is tough. But I also like to, I found, watch it again and read about it. But there's a lot. Yes. No, agreed.

And the other show you're watching I heard is similar to that. The other show is I have to do a lot of studying, Westworld. So is Westworld as... Have you ever watched any of them? Oh, yeah, yeah. I watched season one. Okay. So compared to season one for me because I'm...

It's very... In terms of like the structure, it's very similar where you don't exactly know what time and where you are and stuff. But this time you're a little bit more equipped to be looking for that. that stuff. But it's still very much like there's a lot happening, but you don't really know exactly what's going on. Okay. So that's another one.

Shout out to Vulture for their wonderful episode. Recaps. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. You need that. For a show like that, you do need. I need that, at least. I will definitely watch both Handmaidstale and Westwood is just we love her. She's a friend of Josh's

who's a friend of mine. But I just, she's like not only just a statue, like a beautiful piece of art, but she's so good. I just, I've become a very big Evan Rachel. I was going to

try to abbreviate and then I was having trouble with it. ERW, a big ERW fan. Did you watch the, uh, and James Morrisstone off. What about the, um, when she sang for that, that fake, uh, when they were going to spoil the host season. Did you see that? The, um, the, the, the, uh, you know, they're never going to give you up song.

Oh. Did you see you're saying that? No. Oh, you need to look this up. Okay. What do they call that? Rickroll? Yeah, Rick rolled.

Yeah, Rick rolled. Rick rolled. So they were good, they talked about how they were going to spoil the entire season before the season came out ahead on Reddit. And the producer said that. And then instead of doing that, so they put up the video and you think they're about to like summarize the entire season. And it cuts to Evan Rachel Wood. And Angela Serafin, I forget. I'm getting her name wrong.

She's on the show as well. she's on piano she's like a concert level pianist and Evan Rachel Wood singing never going to give you up I love that it's amazing you'll love it and she is the most beautiful voice she's like insanely talented you're acting like the movie that I can't remember the name of across the universe isn't one of my

favorite movies one of your favorite movies you can't remember the name of yeah I'm getting older I'm 30 now although Jim Sturgis I'm still waiting for a big Jim Sturgis vehicle well he just had a TV series too I'm still waiting for that big Jim Sturge vehicle. Okay, okay. Anyway.

Anywho. Speaking of wonderful television, check out Legion, now on FX, still a few episodes left to go in season two, and support the good work of a lovely man in Mr. Dan Stevens. We're sad that he's left New York,

but he's still a New Yorker apartment to me. Oh God, they always come back. You'll be back. Remember to review, rate and subscribe to Happy Set Confused on iTunes. spread the good word and enjoy this chat with dan stevens yes still going out to you dave franco and alison alison brie franco still waiting for you to rate review and subscribe thanks so much they don't have to put their own name on it but we'll know yeah they do okay i think

it would help they have a strong celebrity name it could be good close season two coming soon man nice to see you uh we're talking about uh audio equipment your delicious voice uh being used to entertain your children yeah you know you once did a uh you narrated my brother does a show called once upon a time on abc oh you did one of the kind of like comp show like narration i did because um now who's the regular i can't remember who they used it was somebody like i know they used the guy that does the harry potter books at one point yeah and i was it oh god this name is going to escape me but yeah He was, I don't know, on holiday or something, so they, like, called me up. And, oh, God, it's going to kill me who it was.

Frank, not Langella. Is it, what realm is he from? British actor. Brilliant, like. I'm going to look it up while we talk, okay? So that doesn't kill us. I know. But you're a man that likes to have their way around a microphone?

I do, yeah. I've always thought if I, in another life, or maybe in a forthcoming life, I will, like, do a sort of radio thing. I feel very happy in a radio studio. Yeah. My first love at college was radio. Absolutely. I hosted a talk show like this for my college radio station. I loved it. I've done that. So much fun. I don't think there was such a thing at my college, but maybe there was. It was a really, I was at a tiny school and I knew how to like game the system, like where it was an NPR affiliate and I would, but like 400 people would maybe listen, but I would tell people when I was booking guests, I would be like, yeah, we're an NPR affiliate

between Syracuse and Rochester, New York, which is all true. You just say NPR, and everyone's like, great. Next thing I know, I had Jimmy Carter on the phone. I'm like, this is amazing. Yeah, yeah. I guess the English equivalent would be like a BBC or something. Right, right, right. And you just go like, yeah, the BBC member.

Right, right, right. People are go, great, yeah. I can't do two things at once. So we're just going to have to know this another time. It doesn't matter. It's going to come to me about three quarters away through it needs to be, and I'll just say his name randomly. Perfect.

And, yeah. I'm just looking at your list of names on the wall. The New Yorkers. He's not on there, I don't think. So, wait, you were just saying, so listeners know, I've got the New Yorker list that always comes up. Dan's been here before, so he's familiar with this list. He's on there somewhere, but you have just told me, and this really upsets me, Dan. I know.

He left us. I don't qualify. You're going to have to wipe me off the wall. Yeah, well, they moved Legion to L.A. And we shot the first scenes in Vancouver, and I was still living in New York at that point. And when they moved us to L.A., I and my wife, disliked me. that it was not fun being the other side of the country from each other for long periods of time when I was working on a crazy show like Legion.

So we've all gone down there for a bit. But I suspect we'll be back one day. I don't know. We'll see. So, yeah, because you moved to New York. We talked about this last time after, after Downton, you did the play here. And was it a decision like, I'm going to do the play and I'm going to live here for a time? Or was it just sort of, did it just kind of develop?

I mean, I'd always wanted to live in New York. I always used to come over here from London to kind of get my fix and I always dreamed of living here and in the course of doing the play that brought me over here I met Scott Frank who was directing a film called Walk Among the Tombstones

that shot in Brooklyn pretty much straight after the play and that afforded me the opportunity to move here really and spend a bit more time here and so I was like okay well there's one movie let's see what else comes

and then yeah we just decided to sort of stick around and it seemed like a good time to maybe not be in England. And so, you know, just to take a bit of a break from that and explore over here. And it's just been, that's been like that for the last six years, really. So how's the acclimating to L.A. Treaty? Have you ever lived there for a long period of time?

Not this long. No. No. I mean, I've spent time there. But, no, it is different when you get there. And, I mean, it's great to be back in New York because every time I come back here, I'm like, oh, yeah, this is great. But there's a lot of people here. Yeah. You forget that. I forgot how many people are in. this place is really insane maybe hundreds yeah and and also in sort of new pockets like even in

the few months since we've left like areas like dumbo has just like it's gone bananas like there's no empty spot of new york it's all been and even bits of green point that i love are kind of being colonized and it's sort of you know um so that kind of old industrial right Brooklyn is really being chipped away um you know with good reason you get the best view of manhattan from over there, and so there's lots of buildings popping up, left, right, and center. But anyway, it just, it only takes a few months for New York to just completely transform. And I still love coming back here, and I think, you know, I'm always going to be coming through for one thing or another. Totally.

Well, this is good problems to have, because, you know, since we last had you on the podcast, the Legion is now deep into its second season and it's found an audience. And I mean this in the best possible way, I'm kind of shocked. I love the show, but I'm shocked that there's an audience for it in some ways. Do you know what I mean? I do, yeah. I hope you take that in the spirit, it's met. I think so, yeah, and I hope it has found an audience.

I mean, certainly the people I know who are watching it seem to be really getting a kick out of it. I guess not. It is so different. It's so bizarre. And I was fully prepared, and I think with my sort of pessimistic British hat on, I, even after the pilot, I was like, oh, this might be too crazy. Like, if the network came back and said, like, yeah, this is not going to season, I would have understood. But, you know, if I, like, it's like nothing else on television. Yeah, and it's like why, you know, it was a huge leap of faith on FX's part to give that money to know her and say, okay, go and make something really weird and really beautiful and, you know, and then to do it again, you know.

So even after the first season, I was like, well, maybe that was too weird, you know. And then we did the second season. The second season is even weirder and more beautiful, I think, than the first, you know, will they be crazy enough to give us a third season? it, I don't know, but, you know, each time around, it's like, I would fully understand if, you know, because, yeah, there's nothing to compare it to, really. And, I mean, I guess there's like, there's like Twin Peaks kind of in that sort of world of weird. I mean, they're not that similar, but in terms of how disorienting it can be to watch, it is.

But Twin Peaks is not something that's going to run and run for like 12 seasons. It's like, it'll do one here and maybe it'll do another one in 10 years or something. I don't know. But, but yeah, so to have a sort of recurring, recurring. series like this that is so willfully weird and beautiful is so unusual that yeah i mean each time around it's um it is it's a leap of faith but i'm i'm loving it and i love that people are getting a kick out of that i mean there are some people who are watching it just going this is too weird it's like it's fine there's 499 other shows for you to go watch but you know i think it's i think

it's great now that there's there's space for that and legion really demands that as a as a character and as a little corner of the X-Men universe. Yeah. It's very strange. It's very weird. And every time that character comes into the mix, really, really epically weird stuff happens, you know? Well, it does share in one aspect,

some commonality I feel like with Twin Peaks. And that, like, so much of television is, like, plot-driven, right? And there's certainly plot to chew on needles to say in Legion. Yeah. But it's experiential. It's mood. Definitely. As much as it is, like, reading the Wikipedia list of the events that have happened.

Yeah, it's not an A to Z kind of thing, and it is very much an experienced delivery device. It's not delivering a kind of, you know, a conventional narrative. Although, as you say, there is story underlying it. I think what you find in this season is getting very texturized. You know, it allows the time in the middle of, you know, what might be in another show, the sort of chaotic, dramatic climax of a season, you'll suddenly just look into a character's backstory. And I feel like the last three hours really have been taking quite a deep exploration

of three of the key female roles in the show, which is in itself great and quite unusual and, you know, worth mentioning, I think. And particularly that Sid episode where you kind of go in and just sort of just look at where she's come from. And that, to me, felt overdue. And then the following week to look at Lenny and, you know, what the hell's going on with her and that whole story. And it's just great to watch because, I mean, I can only sort of really speak from my own perspective on the show, which is just like undeniably fun and challenging every single week. I'm always hopeful that everyone else is having as good a time as I am.

I think, you know, like I probably get like the lion's share of the crazy stuff to do. But it's been really fun this season to watch other people join in with that. So you have like Katie Asleton in the last episode, you know, getting to join in all these sort of multiverse characters and playing older and weirder versions of herself. And then, you know, I thought that that episode with, with Aubrey, where she kind of comes back and is interrogated was outstanding. And, you know, some of the best work I've ever seen her do, I think. She was just here a couple weeks ago, actually. And she, yeah, she was pretty frank and kind of like, I think she had mixed feelings about sort of where her character was going in this season. She expressed that to you.

Yeah, she always has mixed feelings about a lot of things. Yeah. And she would never be, yeah, she's just not the sort of person who would go, like, I was awesome in that. Like, you know, and that's, that is for me to say and not for her to say. But, you know, I really think she was. And I think, you know, Rachel Keller in that, in that fourth episode was just, it was just such a different, you just saw such different sides of people who you've

already been working with and admiring their work. But then we're just given such great writing to chew on. and, you know, such interesting challenges each week to sort of explore and develop. And I hope it's entertaining everyone else as much as it's entaining me, you know, because it's just never a dull week on the show. So you wouldn't, it's safe to say you enjoy seeing the final product because, like, shooting this, I mean, reading it's one thing, shooting it must be another thing, but then seeing the result must be a whole other experience for you.

I don't think I've enjoyed watching anything back as much, you know. I mean, I guess there's sort of beauty and the beast of it all where it's just like, okay, what we shot was just so different. Like, I was just very hopeful that the end product would be different. With Legion, like what we shoot is great. And if you were to put it together, how we shot it, it would be pretty great. But what they do with what we do is just so mind-blowing. And, you know, you do a whole scene and you realize that it's actually taking place inside a marble or somebody's eyeball or earhole or whatever. You know, it's just like, oh, okay, they've done that with it.

or they've turned it upside down or they've put this music over it and it's not even that effects heavy it's actually, you know, the effect is more in its arrangement in like juxtaposing scenes and just putting things in such a context where your brain is doing half the work

you know and you're laying narrative on stuff and actually in that last episode you know they're borrowing stuff that we had either used in first season or stuff that you know maybe hadn't been used but you know parts of scenes that were used were brought in and it just kind of deepens the whole thing

and I don't know it's such an interesting structure to the whole thing and it is slightly terrifying being part of something that's so you know it's breaking new ground and it's very experimental because yeah there's no

there's no way of saying well you know this is going just as well as breaking bad or whatever yeah yeah yeah yeah there's no template there's nothing you know so you're like Patrick McGowan on the prisoner like 40 years ago like there's a lot of prisoner references

in the leash actually yeah I mean, that show must have blown people's minds of the time, right? Yeah, yeah, in that sort of, you know, just the weirdness factor. And I think, you know, it's a fine line to tread because we don't want to, I don't think you actively want to alienate your audience. But at the same time, you don't want to, nobody wants to spoon feed with this kind of thing. And you just want to sort of, you want to entertain, really. And I think if you're engaging people and people are, like, you know, actively asking what is going on,

like, that's a good question to be asking five episodes into something. you know and hopefully by the end there'll be some clarity again not too much because it would be great if we could keep going you know but but I just love the playfulness of it I've always wanted to be on something that's as as kind of cheeky with its audience and and yeah just very inventive and you and Noah clearly have you found a a collaborator that Needles say you trust you're going to be it sounds like you're going to be working with him again on a feature I am yeah first feature he's directing this summer with Natalie Portman

and John Hams as he beats and yeah I will be staying earthbound for this one which will be nice actually it would just be you know in itself it'll be a departure for me

to sort of play one character who stays on earth has some relationship issues you know but it's a really beautiful script and yeah terrific role for her and yeah

it should be That should be really fun. Have you picked his brain about this Dr. Doom project that he's hatching up? Yeah, no, no. I can't believe he's got that cooking as well. The mind boggles of what he's going to do with that, too. I know. Yeah, there's so many things up in the air at the moment.

But yeah, yeah, I'll find out. Yeah, no, it strikes me. Like, you know, you were talking about sort of like, it's great that there's this part of the Marvel universe that can exist as well. I literally just came from seeing Deadpool 2 this morning. Oh, how is it? It's good. It's good. I mean, if you love, like, Deadpool.

I like Deadpool. And it goes for Broke. Yeah. It goes for it, man. That's good. I mean, that in itself is a, that's a movie that's kind of being very cheeky in its own corner of the X-Men universe. And I like it. You know, it's a sort of, I guess it's a weird cousin of Legion in some ways.

Yeah. Legion's probably not quite so self-aware. This is true. You know. Yeah, I don't want to ruin anything, but there's some nice surprises in this one, as you can imagine. I haven't managed to work in any downtown abbey gags after the region yet. But I love. Season six, it feels like that's where you're going.

I love how. just like goes through and just like dissect his own career through that role totally it's pretty special are there is it is it analogous in any way to the downton experience yeah are there any possible parallels i think there couldn't be anything i was going to say yeah much more different it's almost like there are cameras there are there are some cameras although they've got some very weird lenses on them sometimes i don't know um no not really it's just a world the way. Yeah. Yeah. I noticed that you, I know you have kind of a love, hate, maybe mostly hate thing with social media, but you have embraced some of the fan art, which must be

sweet. Yeah, Instagram, I don't mind, because it's mostly visual and you're not quite so like confronted with the, like the responses out there, you know, what shall I say? Like, no, you, I don't know. Yeah. It's easy to, to not see the negativity on Instagram. Graham, it's just sort of like the prettiest food and places people are going and you're not seeing the... And I just like taking weird pictures of weird stuff sometimes

and I'll just put that up and whatever. Like I just feel like posting it. Sometimes it has to do with the show a lot recently. But yeah, some of the fan art for this show has been really, really cool. And that in itself just makes me very happy. Like any piece of art that inspires people to go out and experiment and try doing their...

Yeah, amazing. doing their own stuff, and there's some incredibly talented fans out there who have, yeah, have just kind of really, they've really just got the show, or they've just been really inspired by it, and that makes me very happy. So, yeah, Fan Art Friday's been a thing for the last few weeks. I also noticed from Instagram that you share as much excitement about the Bill and Ted sequel as I do. Oh, it's most excellent.

It really is. I was really happy about that. I've been thinking about that movie for a while. Like, I don't know why. Are you excellent adventure or bogus journey? Which is your favorite? Which is the one with Socrates, or is he in both? I think that's the first one.

I'm going to betray my lack of knowledge now. That's okay. I once interviewed. So the first one is Bogus Journey. No, excellent adventure. Oh, man. Bogus Journey is the second. Yeah.

Right. Here we are. See, I actually edge towards Bogus Journey because there's more, there's death. There's William, oh, that's the death one. The death one. He's so good. Yeah. Okay.

I've kind of got to go with that one. Yeah. The Seventh Seal, all the Seal stuff. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. They sort of. merge into one giant awesomeness sort of movie really um it's okay i once actually interviewed keanu

and i asked him what it was like to play bill and he had to tell me i played 10 and i lost all cred right there yeah um but you know it's going to be great it's going to be fine um but it's no it's it's a hugely influential movie that for people of our generation and um i you know the fact that i know who socrates is probably thanks to that that movie. Night the museum has maybe is like a distant cousin

of that. Genuinely I watched them when I did night at the museum because that was that in my mind was like the closest relative

was like some crazy like modern day like going through history being very irreverent and playful and like that was yeah it was directly in my mind directly linked

I don't know if Sean Levy or Ben Stiller would like no I see it but like yeah it's definitely ripe for a revival so yeah so when you were growing up

were you were you watching both American and TV? What was the, yeah, exposed to all of it? Well, I would say more American movies. I mean, there was some American TV that came over, but it would be quite, it was odd. It was odd the sort of shows that made it over and the ones that didn't. You know, even, even sort of lately, like, I'd never seen modern family, like things like that. Yeah, yeah. Never really made it over there in quite the same way, but I did, you know, I was watching like Twin Peaks. Not Twin Peaks. Well, I was watching Twin Peaks, but Quantum Leap. Oh, sure.

was, I just remember that being like a big part of the 80s of like sitting down with my mom and watching Scott Bacula do some like, like, what crazy adventure is he going to go on this week? A lot of time travel in this conversation. Yeah, the Waltons, you know, like stuff like that would air and you're like, oh, this is America, you know. I've got a big shock when I arrived in New York. It wasn't like the Waltons at all. But yeah, so it was more like cinematic elements was big, but TV, you know, it was kind of, I don't know, it was just at the Willow. of the network commissioners what they could afford or whatever.

I mean, obviously things like the Simpsons, you know. Did you spend much time here in the States? Like, when did you first visit here? First visited on a theater job after I left college, so, which was awesome. It was, we played Bam in a Shakespeare production. So I was in my early 20s, so the whole place had only existed in my imagination.

What was the first thing you did when you came to New York or the story? Did you tour? stuff? What did I do? I think I just walked a lot. I was staying with a friend who was studying at Columbia and we were playing BAM and I was I guess 21 at the time and so could do this without killing myself but I would walk from like 110th over the Brooklyn Bridge. And for those not familiar with New York geography, that's a walk. Yeah, it's like at least I would say like a two and a half hour walk probably like yeah it was a good two hours I think.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. These days it would probably take me even longer. But back then, I was just like, yeah, let's just walk New York. And it's a great, it's an incredible city of walking. And I still get a huge kick out of walking anywhere here. And so that's what I did. Yeah, we just walk down like through the village, you know, and just just walk everywhere and see everything. It's just, it's still a very inspiring place from that point of view.

Totally. So since, I think since you did the podcast last, we had talked about Beauty and the Beast, but it's now made the gazillion dollars and was the success that we all hoped it would be. Is that what it's at now? A guillian. Officially a gazillion. I wasn't a math major. So does that change your career?

Because it's an odd kind of a job, right? It's like, you know, your face isn't in it. No, no. It's funny how people don't necessarily make the link. Right. You know, can be a good or a bad thing. Yeah, it probably doesn't. Whether they like the film.

Yeah. But kids probably don't like recognize you on the street. For that, at least. And what's funny is that, you know, so you get a lot of things where like somebody's somebody's mom or a parent will know that I was the beast right and so they have to explain it and it's just weird so they go out of their way to like explain to this sort of four or five year old it's like that's the beast and then what happens is you just get a tiny child looking at them being like well either my mom is lying

or like this is just so weird like that is not the beast and like and then they just look at you like you're not the beast and like and then there's like a standoff where it's like Like, I hate to disappoint this kid, but I'm, I mean, he's kind of right, because I'm not. Like, I'm standing there, and I'm not the guy. Do you have to do the voice then? Do you have to try it? Sometimes, you know, or I just, like, roar in their face and scare them. And then that just, it never ends well.

Yeah. But, yeah, you know, awkward standoffs with four-year-olds is really not what I signed up for. But, yeah, that happens sometimes. Have more performance capture or musical opportunities come your way since then? A little bit. I mean, there's a bit of music in Legion, which is forthcoming, I think. And, yeah, I would say, I would say, yeah, I don't know about the motion capture quite, but there's definitely a couple of things sort of, you know, these, I mean, these things are so, like,

in the distance, some of them in terms of their development. But I love that way of working. I would definitely embrace something in that world again, if only to have awkward standoffs with kids who are like, you're not the guy. You're not the beast. My mom's lying. Mommy, that's not the beast. You take him away.

Do you do voices for your kids? Are you an entertaining dad in that way? I think you've got some skills. I'm enjoying reading them, the Harry Potter's. What happened was I read the first like four or five books to my daughter who then learned to read and then read the finished one. She just finished them all herself. And now my son is back.

on them and we're reading them to him but he's probably going to learn to read before I get to like book six as well so I'm probably never going to finish I've never read six seven or eight of the Harry Potter I've read the first five twice. Dobby doesn't make it okay I hate to root it for you. Um but they're great fun to read you know full of voices we just started reading Treasure Island um so do you do you go into different voices as you're reading like Harry Potter yeah of course that's amazing yeah you should you can monetize this man this is I think somebody's already done that yeah but still I think there's a more money to be made round for the reboot of the audiobooks or something.

I think Stephen Frye did the British recordings very well. I'm sure. But I'd still rather read them to them as well. And it's fun as well because they're like, what does that mean? And then my daughter really struggles with spoilers. Like she very much wants him to know that she knows what's about to happen. So we have to kind of put a lid on that sometimes. You can't spoke, but she knows all the spells.

And that's like prompted a conversation about Latin, which is cool. A lot of Latin in a Harry Potter, which I'm never going to complain about. I love a bit of Latin. Are you going to take them to the play, the cursed child when they're in New York? If I can get tickets. It's a tough ticket. I mean, Jesus, yeah. I know.

You've got some friends. I'm sure you could make it happen. Pull some expensive strings. Exactly. Yeah. Does the kids factor into the jobs you take now, whether that's lifestyle or also the content of the work? It sounds like Apostle's not going to be made for them. We'll get to that in a second.

I want to talk about that. But I'm Beauty and the Beast, clearly, that must be a part of the algorithm too. Definitely. Yeah, I mean, that was a huge part. I'm night in the museum as well. Sure. And I hope, yeah, going forward, you know,

every few years I'll make something actively that they can enjoy both visiting and watch back because that experience is fun too. Yeah, I think they do kind of inform choices. I mean, I still want to make things for me and for my friends and, you know, the kind of things that I know, they are not going to be able to watch for a bit but um but yeah i mean it's it's a it's a spur in all sorts of ways both to keep working period um but also yeah the choices and the kind of things

and even in the i would say you know in the things they can't watch you know like the apostles and the guests or whatever like there's something in them that i still stand by and and want to make not for them but i i you know i would want to be able to be able to to justify to them in 10, 20 years' time why I did that. Of course. Rather than be like, oh, it's so embarrassing,

why did you make this? Which I'm sure there will be plenty of those. But, yeah, they definitely have a part to play. So I do want to talk about Apostle because I'm very curious. It's a Gareth Evans,

a new film. And for those who are doing on Gareth's work, I'm just the guy, the raid, too. I mean, this is hardcore. This is his first English language film, I think, right? He is, yeah. He's the only Welsh director in the world who has only, up until Apostle, has only directed in Indonesia. As far as I know, as far as I know, the list is short, I may be forgetting one or two, but I have a feeling he's the only Welsh person who's

exclusively white in Indonesia. And not only in Indonesia, but in like Indonesian Kung Fu, so using this sort of Asian martial art style of shooting, which is in itself very interesting. and, you know, a style of filmmaking that I've not been exposed to and that he uses a bit in Apostle. I don't want to give too much away. It's not the Raid 3. I hate to disappoint people. People think that it's like this huge ruse

that we're suddenly going to unveil the Raid 3. I wish. It's a Cloverfield movie. I sadly don't think I have a part in the Raid 3. But, yeah, I mean, he's just, he's a masterful filmmaker. You know, you only have to watch those Raid films to be like, oh, wow. This guy has both great ambition, great energy and enthusiasm and knowledge of film,

but is also just incredibly inventive with his DP, Matt Flannery, who's worked with out of college, and they initially went to Indonesia to make a documentary about the amateur martial arts scene, and these guys who were just like working a job 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, and then at the weekend would go into this club and just do insane stuff and really high-level martial artists. There's one guy who's in the Raid films, the guy with the long hair and the sort of long mustache. who during the week makes bras. And then on a Friday night or a Saturday,

he goes into martial arts, just kicks ass. And he's also brilliant. And after a point, they were making this documentary and they thought, well, why don't we just make, why don't we start writing films for these guys, make a martial arts film, make a star out of this guy. I forget the name of the lead, but they made Murantau, which was his first sort of feature.

And then that guy went on to be the lead in the raid movies and, you know, he was a huge star in Indonesia now. And that guy who makes bras also features as, you know, it's just a great character actor who just shows up and does some awesome stuff. And they, you know, they really, they play to all their strengths and just shoot in such an inventive way. And he actually brought some of his Indonesian crew over to Swansea in South Wales to work on Apostle. And just having that kind of, you know, I guess the faith that they already had in him infusing the Welsh crew. crew. And also, you know, just, it's great for Garrett to be able to bring filmmaking to South Wales.

And there's a real boom at the moment in, in South Wales, particularly in Swansea and Cardiff. A lot of money going in Paramount and have now got a studio in Cardiff. And Swansea, you know, it's really expanding. And it's wonderful. You know, the crew there are amazing. And it's a country that I'm very much in love with anyway. I lived there for a short time growing up. And so, yeah, it was a very, very intense experience. It's not, it's not, it's not the rate three, but it is. There's not the rate three. there's a couple of action moments and yeah he uses that that style where you never you'll never run the sequence you know beginning to end you just you just piece by piece by piece he knows exactly

what shots yeah he'll previs the whole thing and you're basically just going in and just like filling in these is that's how for you as an actor though I would think like the the it's strangely not like I found it it's much less exhausting because what you do is like okay for this shot he just so focus he just needs like this like one two punch or something or like a a bite or a snap of an arm or something. It's just like, okay, we just need this one... Kind of sounds like the raid. Moment, yeah, it's getting there.

It kind of sounds like the raid three. And, you know, we just need this one little beat. And so you can put all of your energy into that one take. Yeah. And that one moment. And then once it's cut together, the energy that you have, and you see it in like Jackie Chan movies or anything. The energy that these guys have from beginning to end.

Now, admittedly, you watch a Jackie Chan, and actually there's some takes where he's doing, like 27 moves back to back, and it's ridiculously impressive. But still, just to have that, you know, a three-minute fight sequence, which you could never possibly shoot in one wide. Right. It just never work. And it wouldn't look as good either. You know, he knows, in his mind, exactly how he wants it to look.

And you're just, like, leaping into that. And I love being in that kind of safe pair of hands where he's just got such great vision for it. And I've seen teeny tiny snippets of Apostle, and it's pretty wild. I'm very excited about it. And that's coming on Netflix in a few months. It sounds like that. In September, yeah, as far as I know. So how much of the year is taken up now?

Legion. Is it like a six or nine month kind of thing? It's about five. Five months. Because you did like 12 episodes this year or something. We did 11. 11. Well, we thought we were doing 10 and then I don't know. For some reason we're doing 11. Okay. Okay. All right. So that does leave you enough

time to hopefully a little bit of a life and raise children. Yeah. And sneak in some other work. I mean, Legion is, I mean, you know, it sounds like this is the perfect match for you. Like you're loving this thing. authentically so it really is like I couldn't I couldn't ask for more from a from a series you know

in terms of like day and day out going in and being so entertained by you know and challenged by the work I'm being given and as an actor I'm just I'm just never bored on that show and I think that's a big fear of a lot of people that you know they sign on to something that could go for years is like well what if this turns out to not be very interesting and that's just that's never going to be the case with anything that I think Noah is involved in exactly and you know He's also very good at attracting nice people. I mean, it sounds silly, but like just like good people to work with. Like Bill Owen, Jermaine Clement, Gene Smart, Aubrey Plaza,

like Rachel Keller, who was on Fargo with him. Like, he knows that these are good people. They're going to bring good energy to a set. And it's just fun people to play with. And I think you can't ask for anything more really from a show like that. Is there any itch that's not being scratched right now creatively for you then? I mean, in terms of like, do you find yourself kind of losing sleepover, like, a kind of a role or something that you're not getting access to?

No, I think in my own mind, I always wish I were writing more. I think, and I, whenever I get busy doing other things, that inevitably falls by the wayside. But I'm getting better at sort of pairing up with people to develop some of those ideas so that it's not just me lying awake at night going, God, I wish I was doing this, but actually trying to, you know, nudge some of these things down the road. And when you talk about writing, are you talking about writing for film or TV

or... A bit of both. I never quite know what form and ideas going to take necessarily. I'm always

scribbling stuff. And yeah, definitely some screenplay ideas. Like, when eventually one of these gets made,

which will, is there a commonality in terms of like what a Dan Stevens idea or effort like that looks like? It could be genre,

it could be tone, it could be something. I'm just curious. I mean, I have a sense of you having now talked to a few times but I'm just curious like what that outlet looks like in written form and what I think there's a certain kind of like irreverence a certain kind of weirdness factor you know not sort of so out there but

I've always enjoyed that like slightly kind of you know something with a bit of a twist to it you know where it sort of looks like one thing and then it's like you know like a sort of gondry or a Spike Jones type world where it's just like something is slightly skewed yeah um those kind of things have always always sort of appealed to me. And I guess, you know, Legion fits right into that where it's just like, oh, yeah. So, I mean, yeah, talking about itch is being scratched. I mean, you know, Legion is doing a lot of, a lot of that work for me right now. But I think, you know, it won't look and feel like Legion, I'm sure. But, you know, to take that spirit into some of the other work I do is, has already been very valuable, I think, just the presence of mind that's

required to take on Legion and just to sort of just be yeah just be present for each script that comes in rather than like you know I can't over prepare right but at the same time I can I can sort of prepare myself to just take what comes in like that's that you know the script that came in for the episode last week which is this sort of multiverse episode and you know however many different iterations of David it was like okay I've got to be I got to be up for it you know yeah it's not the kind of a part or show where you just show up and read the lines. No, not at all.

But at the same time, like, I couldn't, you know, if I sort of overthought my character and I thought, well, this is who David Holler is, and I can't possibly do that. Like, you know, I can't get in the way of it, you know, it's, I've just got to just go with the flow already, and it's quite a flow. I saw a photo of you at an event in L.A. recently with the great Gary Oldman was hosting an event. Paul Smith dinner, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Do you know Gary at all? No, I've never met him before. Every actor, I have a film buff like myself, like, you know, the God in Armagh. Like, we all like to worship at the altar at Gary Oldman. It was kind of a, it was nice. They've been friends. He and Paul Smith, the designer, have been friends for many years. And he was coming through L.A.

And just wanted to sort of host a kind of celebratory dinner, really. And, you know, now that the dust has somewhat settled on the Oscar moment, you know, it was just like, I think he just turned 60 and Oscar year. And so, yeah, it was just a very cool, cool thing to be invited to. Yeah. What's your Gary Oldman role of choice? Was there one that inspired you or one that's... I don't know. I mean, I'm a big fan of that Dracula turn.

We could talk for an hour about that film. I mean... I'm obsessed with that film. It seems trellish to mention tippy toes in his Oscar year, but have you ever seen that film? Yes, yes. People need to look up that. People really need to see the trailer for that movie because that's all you need to see, really. And I, I mean this...

Cape back in sale. With the hugest respect for the man, but it's like... The fact that you can do that and then go on to win an Oscar is like it should give everybody on the planet hope I think he plays a dwarf and he plays a little person whose brother is

Matthew McConaughey I don't want to give too much away just like just go watch the trailer but it's true I don't know if I've actually ever seen the film but the trailer is like cut by clearly a company that like was not solvent

financially speaking it did not feel like it was a I don't know what the financials were on that film but no I listen like Gary Oldman is I mean he's insanely talented and I've you didn't bring up tiptoes to Gary Old Did you? Did you mention tippy toes? Oh, Dan. But I mean, even from like Rosencranton Guilden, which is going way way back with Tim Roth, you know, you could just see like the energy

and just this kind of like like a really, really passionate performer. And I think, you know, like everything he gives to that, to that Dracula as well, you know, it's just, it's so beautiful and lush and weird and kind of, yeah, it's just a delight really is. Fantastic. And to be fair, Tipitose, like he goes for it. Like he's not like, There's no hard measures. Like, he's really, it's an amazing, it's an amazing thing. But I love just to sort of, you know, it's important. I like balance.

I like remembering, you know, the good with the bad. So what shall we see of your work that balances out the, the Downton Abbey's in the Legion? I don't know if I've quite, if I've made my tippy toes yet. I think that's like, it's, you know, it was actually, it was a script here for you today. Tippy toes too. It was Aubrey Plaza who put me on set because we, Um, we enjoy, uh, you know, a love of sort of, you know, curious cinema, I say, like those films that might be forgotten by the, uh, the everyday theater goer. Um, and we like to

keep those, you know, keep those cards. And when she heard that I hadn't seen it, she, in that moment, I think she was around in my apartment, she was like, we're watching it now. And she like, she like, canceled her next, like, appointment was like, we're going to watch tip he does. And she didn't put it on and we just made, like, made me sit through the whole movie. I mean, it's important to share these things. No, it is. If listeners take nothing else from this conversation, keep checking out Legion. You haven't caught up in season two, check it out. Yeah, watch Legion first. And then maybe, you know, for contrast. For dessert. Yes. A little digestief. Exactly. Go see the great Gary Oldman, Oscar winner. Yeah. And it was

Alfred Molina was the writer. You got it. I'm the one spot. I told you. I told you it would come just in time, just in the nick of time. Melina was narrating. What a voice, what an actor. Yeah, he had a week where he couldn't make it. There are worse things to be than to be offered Malina's backup. Hey, I'm happy to be there. Yeah.

It's always good to catch up with you, man. I'm sad we've lost you as a New Yorker, but don't be a stranger. I won't be at all. You're always welcome here. And again, great work on Legion. Thank you so much. I'll talk to you soon. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused.

Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from The League, Veep, or my non-elvie. for Academy Award role in Twisters. We love movies, and we come at them from different perspectives.

Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas, and I don't. He's too old. Let's not forget that Paul thinks that Dude, too, is overrated. It is. Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-season, and case you misdoms. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone.

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