Happy Sad Confused - Jack Reynor

Episode Date: June 20, 2019

You may know Jack Reynor from "Transformers: Age of Extinction" or "Sing Street" or as the guy who nearly was Han Solo but this summer you'll know him as the star of the super scary "Midsommar", from Ari Aster (director of last year's critical fave "Hereditary"). Jack joins Josh to talk about being a certified film geek from the start, embarrassing auditions for the likes of Andy Serkis, and why superheroes might not be for him.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the Volvo Fall Experience event, discover exceptional offers and thoughtful design that leaves plenty of room for autumn adventures. And see for yourself how Volvo's legendary safety brings peace of mind to every crisp morning commute. This September, lease a 2026 XC90 plug-in hybrid from $599 bi-weekly at 3.99% during the Volvo Fall Experience event. Conditions apply, visit your local Volvo retailer or go to explorevolvo.com.

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Knight's definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Today on Happy Sad Confused, Jack Rayner on his scary new movie this summer, midsummer, plus his time in Transformers and that time he nearly played Han Solo. Hey guys, I'm Josh Harowitz. Welcome to another edition of Happy Sad Confused. So excited to bring you the very talented young Irish actor by the name of Jack Rayner.

always been a fan of this guy. I met him, strangely enough, on the set of a Transformers movie, and I immediately was turned by him and knew he was in this business for all the right reasons. He is a true film geek like myself. I may even know more

about some things than me, and I feel a little overmatched, but I still love him. Nonetheless, damn him. He's got a very cool new film that's coming out July 3rd. It is called Midsummer, or Midsumar. however you want to pronounce it, it's scary. It's the new film from Ari Aster, who directed last summer's Hereditary, which made my top 10 list an amazing piece of work. And this one is

just as creepy, just as disturbing, just as frightening, and just as riveting. It stars Jack alongside Florence Pugh, who's also a huge rising new stars. He's excellent in the film. And Will Poulter, who's another great young talent who Jack is good buddies with, and they've worked together on a few films. Jack's been doing great work ever since he burst onto the screen. He was making quality films back home in Ireland and then got this huge break to be one of the leads in a Transformers movie. And since then, has really been doing interesting work, whether it's working on films like Sing Street, Macbeth with Michael Fastbender. He's in a new CBS All Access show. It's actually not so new. It's in its second season called Strange Angel.

And then, of course, there's the time he nearly played on solo, which is a fascinating tale in and of itself. And we do indeed talk about that experience where Jack was very much in the running. He was one of the final contenders, nearly got that role. And to hear his perspective on what it was like to go up for it and what it was like to kind of witness how that film was perceived is pretty fascinating. Not to mention his attitude about films of that size and superhero films and films. and films of that ilk. So great to catch up with him. I should say, you know,

Midsummer doesn't open for a couple weeks. And if you're spoiler sensitive, maybe pause this one for a little bit. We do, I mean, Jack, and Jack really volunteered. He went places that I wasn't expecting him to go to in terms of talking about the fate of his character and things that his character goes through.

To me, it's not a huge spoiler because this really is a film about the creepiness, the dread, the journey, as much as it is of how it all resolves. So that being said, if you really are spoiler adverse, don't listen to this one, or at least don't listen to the first half of this one until you've seen Midsummer.

But this is an entertaining conversation, and I was so happy to catch up with Jack. He's a, as I said, charming, talented young man. Anyway, a lot going on. I returned from Los Angeles. I had a fun time covering the MTV Movie and TV Awards. I did my red carpet duties, as I often have done over the years co-hosting the pre-show.

And it was a blast. Then I went backstage after the red carpet and did the backstage interviews with all the winners. It was so much fun to catch up with Dwayne Johnson backstage, who had received the Generation Award, Sandra Bullock, who won an award,

Elizabeth Moss, a slew of amazing talent back there. All those interviews, we've been putting up all over MTV's, MTV News's YouTube page. I've been tweeting it out and putting it up on my social media, on Instagram, but maybe the best one-stop shopping

is to go to MTV News's YouTube page to watch my interviews there. And, yeah, it was an exhausting but fun time. I should also mention, God, there's been a lot of Josh Harwood's content out there, guys. I apologize, maybe too much. Or maybe an embarrassment of riches. I don't know.

But we debuted a new long-form video interview series for me on MTV that I'm super proud of. The team's done a great, job on it. We call it personal space. And it's basically, it's basically a long form conversation where we take a actor or filmmaker to a place that is of significance to them. It could be their home. It could be a place that, you know, was important to their career. Sometimes it might just be an innocuous environment that we kind of like dress up into, into a place that is filled with meaning. But luckily, the first two that we've done of these under the personal space

banner. I'm so proud of. We talked to Jada Pinkett Smith. I went to Jada Pinkett Smith's house in California, and that was a treat. The Smith estate, the compound, whatever you want to call it, it's big guys. By the way, the Smith's know how to cater. I had some of the best sweet potato fries I've ever had in the space we were shooting in. I was told that Will insists on treating his guests very well and providing delicious food. And guys, there's sweet potato fries that were amazing. There was shrimp saviche. There was three different kinds of water. It was good. Then there was the interview itself, which was fantastic too. Jada is a true presence. She is killing it lately. She has her own talk show, Red Table Talk on Facebook. A really frank and interesting

conversation with her that is also on MTV News's YouTube page. Also worth noting is we are about to drop, a very special conversation that I got a chance to do in Los Angeles when I was there last week, just a few days ago. I went to the Slosson Rec Theater Company in Compton, Los Angeles, where Shia LeBuff is trying to transform lives and teach theater and bring theater to communities that don't necessarily get theater brought to them. And we had an extensive, really soul-searching, deep conversation with a guy that I really admire and I know he's had his ups and downs rather

and he's made some significant mistakes but I'm always rooting for him because I know him well enough to know that he's got a great heart and, you know, we all wrestle with different demons and he certainly had his fair share, but I'm thankful to say that the Shia that I found in Los Angeles the other day seems to be in a really great place. He's been through rehab.

He's clean and sober. And he's also putting out great work into film and theater. He's got the movie Honeyboy coming out later this year. That's getting huge acclaim. He wrote that and stars in that as a version of his own dad. All of which is to say, this conversation is about to drop on MTV News's YouTube page. And I just saw a cut of it. And it's something I'm very proud of.

So I hope you guys check it out. It's his first extended sit-down. I think in years, truly. Like, I don't think he's done a long-form conversation like this in a long, long time. So very privileged that Shaya trusted his story with me, and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed catching up with him. Anyway, that's a lot of Josh Horowitz's business. Oh, God, I didn't even mention all the after hours.

I'm going to say this really quickly. We have a new Comedy Central after hours we did with Zachary Quinto. That is so fucking funny. I'm going to say that. Not to tube my own horn, but to say Zachary is hysterical in it. It's called an actor acts. It's a second installment of that series. We did one with Benedict Cumberbatch.

He is amazing in it, and I really need you to watch it because I've never seen Zachary be this funny, and he really brought it. Go to Comedy Central's YouTube page. Lookup Comedy Central After Hours. Zachary Quinto, please watch that because we put a lot of hard work into that, and it's one of the funniest things I've ever been a part of. Okay, that's it. That's all the advertisements.

I apologize. a lot today. But we're, it's a busy summer, guys. What can I say? Here's my conversation with Jack Rainer. Remember to review, rain, subscribe to happy, say, confused. Spread the good word. Go see Midsummer, however you want to pronounce it. Uh, and enjoy this chat. It's been too long. Mr. Jack Rayner has come by the office. I'm eating sweets right now. Sorry, I'm going to be like crunching, tickbacks. You're freshening up for me. Yeah. It's for you. I was going to say, when you walked in, that breath,

it could destroy human beings. A lot to cover. We haven't seen each other for a bit, and you're in a crazy, fucked up, great new movie from Ariaster. What do we, is it, Midsomer? It's interesting. Because it's not even set in the movie, right?

No. The Swedes call it Missommer. Midsomer. They just dropped the D all together. Right. We were always calling it Midsumar. Right. And now, since it's starting to,

get a bit of traction, people are just going, it's midsummer. Yeah, ugly Americans are just being like, midsummer. It's midsummer. Just put an A on the end of it, that's. Well, let's, okay, let's start by my discovery the other day, which I was just telling you about, which is not only are you on Instagram, but you have two Instagram accounts because you are a cinephile, Mr. Rayner. That's right.

And you devoted a whole portion of your social media lifestyle to this. Yeah. So is this like an effort to expand your horizons where you already like always a hardcore film geek and this is just a way of it. I've always been a hardcore film geek. It's been developing exponentially over the past seven or eight years and I find it hard to actually find people to talk about movies with enough. And I'm not like I'm not a big social media person. I got rid of my Twitter last year. I think social media by and large is fairly toxic. I saw your goodbye on Twitter. It had an ominous sort of like, thanks for the road.

Thanks for nothing, suckers, basically. Exactly. But I thought that, you know, writing about movies, which is like what I love most is a good way to engage with social media. And if it can broaden some people's horizons of cinema, you know, then great. If there's stuff people are going to find on there, they're not going to find on Netflix or they're not going to find in a big, you know, like chain theater. Right. Great. Yeah.

I mean, you were even just saying to me, you're doing a live podcast tonight. alive with tonight and you already like showed me up by mentioning a film i'm not even aware of so i'm really resentful yeah yeah son a teen but it's great great Takeshi katano i don't if you know my my foreign film knowledge is woefully right and pretend i mean i obviously i've seen some stuff but like i so like okay when did you when did you develop a passion for film like what like what age and how did it kind of develop and well i was really young when i kind caught the film bug i don't ever remember there being a point where i wasn't watching films and like just absorbing them you know what i mean like from the first time i think the first

movies that i ever watched were like the jungle book the original animation of the jungle book and i remember the for some reason the mighty ducks was like my favorite movie when i was like you know four or five it's on the a file list it should be yeah it's so it's so It's so weird, though, because the Mighty Ducks is like, we don't have hockey in Ireland. You know what I mean? So it's like a sci-fi movie to you. It might as well be a side-fine movie, yeah. And so those are the first movies that I remember watching, and I was like, really like, I was just mad into film.

There's something always that I thought was really magic about it. So from, you know, as long as I can remember, I always wanted to work in the film business, you know? Anybody in your family remotely connected to acting, theater, the arts? Yeah, there's a, there's an uncle. on my grandfather's brother basically and he was for a long time one of the kind of main characters in a soap opera in Ireland called Fair City

yeah and but it was kind of that I think for me it was just like more of a case of like nobody ever tried to influence me towards or away from cinema it was something that I was led to organically develop by myself you know and what was so connecting films to something like the films that Ariostar's

been making, the filmmaker behind her editor in Midsomar. Yeah. Midsomer. Midsomer. Swedes hate me for my horrible accent. They're going to fucking hate us for this movie, dude. I was wondering. Swedish tourism. Oh my God.

Their new campaign is going to be like Sweden, nothing like the movie Midsomar. We promise. It will not happen here. But what was Do you remember early films of that sort meaning films that kind of like blew your brain away, like blew your head up in terms of like kind of stuff that maybe you were too young for at the time that opened up your mind a bit?

That's an interesting question. It's hard to compare anything to this movie because it's it is quite unique, you know? Like, you know, from having seen it yourself. I mean, I remember films that got under my skin when I was a kid. and like I mean I probably watched Chinatown when I was about 13 or 14 and I remember just being like whoa it's a dense movie it's a complicated plot that's even hard for adults to kind of figure out hard for anyone to impact let alone a 13 year old who hadn't even conceived of something like that being able to happen well not to mention like it has the one of the most famous iconic last lines in a film that is like metaphorical and like what does that even mean like forget it Jake it's Chinatown like exactly what it was that dude so yeah i was young watching that you know so like that was one of the movies that really stuck with me when i was a kid yeah um but the thing that i love about cinema is that even now

i'm 27 years of age and sometimes i watch films that give me the same feeling and that rock me in the same way you know and like i watched a movie last year and that gives me a similar feeling of discomfort to Midsomar, which is called In the Realm of the Senses. Have you ever heard of that film? No. Damn you! You got to check it out, dude. It's one of the most sexually

explicit films of all time, and it basically features just like it's all unsimulated sex scenes for the entire movie, and it's super intense. A masterful piece of filmmaking. Is this just a piece of pornography? It's not. Okay. And it's interesting. You can see this thing. If you get, you can get a

criterion copy of it. Right. And they have all supplements in there but it's a that's the kind of the big point to contention is like is this a pornographic film or is it not and the director always said you know negisa oshima he always said no it's a pornographic film if you censor it and you blur out all of the right what is kind of you know like the private parts or whatever like you make it profane you make it obscene but if you don't do that yes you'll see that as a as a filmmaker i'm not shooting it from angles that make it participatory like porn you're watching it objectively so you see the story if you watch it's also all about intent of the filmmaker and that hopefully is conveyed

exactly but that movie sat really heavy on me you know like last year i watched that and i was like jesus christ i'm glad i watched this on my own midsumar is that kind of film too was that before or after you had shot midsumar that was before i shot midsumar is it revealing too much to say that there's some very interesting sexual activity in this film no i think we should talk about it i think we should talk about it because i don't know what screening you were at but i was at a q and a day the other night i wasn't at the q and a one Okay, so I was at the Q&A, and I asked, okay, we're not given too much way, but it's not a happy ending, okay? It's not a happy ending. I think that's safe.

Let's just say, I'm not going to be in midsomerate, too. So, be fair, I don't think anybody is, but. And there is one particular scene of, like, a sexual nature, which is pretty intense. It is one of the most disturbing sex scenes I've ever seen. And people react to it in different ways. Like, I went into that screen and when that scene was going on, and a lot of the, audience were laughing and then some other people were looking going what is everybody laughing at you know and so I at the Q&A asked the audience show hands who thinks that I should have that that I deserve

to meet my end as I did because it's horrific right how I go out in this movie right and and there was like almost half the people in the audience put their hand up immediately they were like yep he deserves it he's such a dick he deserves it you know and so I've been doing interesting interviews about it today and talking to people about it. When I signed on to the movie, it's like, yeah, this guy's not a good guy, you know what I mean? He's like, he's kind of a, he's insensitive, he's not emotionally available to his girlfriend. He's, you know, like, the way he, he just can't take accountability for his actions, things like that. That's things that we're all kind of guilty of.

What's insidious about it is that he's like, and yet, and yet he's, it's kind of very passive, very passive aggressive. Like, and, you know, you obviously have, like, a natural charm and charisma that, like, comes across, and I think that's probably, thanks. Well, aside from you showing up me up with your film knowledge today, but, like, in a way, it kind of sneaks up on you, like, you're kind of, like, not anticipating, you're kind of waiting for him to show his true colors that you hope and anticipate might be better than the sum of his parts. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you don't, yeah. But at the same time, you know, like, I do, like, I tried to play him in such a way that it feels. It feels like he's to some degree, like a well-meaning character. He just doesn't have the capacity to be a good dude. Yes, to step up when he needs to step up.

Exactly. There were a lot of scenes that we shot that were cut out of the film in the final cut where there's some more compassion coming from this guy, you know what I mean? But I think for the purposes of making it divisive for the audience, a lot of that stuff was left out. So it's interesting that half the people are like, no, he deserves it. And then the other half are just like, maybe not. Maybe not the way he goes out. I love a good divisive film.

I love the ones that, like, inspire arguments. Those are the ones that are worth. I mean, the last thing you want is a film that's just going to go right through you. Exactly, dude. Have you ever seen the last house on the left? I have seen the last house on the left. Okay. But, yeah, okay.

So I was talking about this with a couple of people earlier on today. I watched that movie last year. And as cinema goers, I think we're all accustomed to seeing, like, horrific sexual violence against women, right? And that film really, like, it went off in my head like a light bulb, but I was like, wow, the scenes of murder in this are so expositional of these girls

and they're, like, they're being exposed in a kind of a really gross way, right? And at the end, there's this payoff, which is like the revenge of the parents where they kill these guys who did it. But those guys, those actors, they don't face any of the same. Exposition. They don't go through what they had to. They don't go through what those girls, those female actors had to go through, which is so gross, you know? Even like one of these guys gets his dick bitten off, but you don't see it happening. You just see his face, you know? So for me, one of the big draws with this film was that this character that I'm playing has like a 40 minute long, really humiliating death sequence. It's insane, you know? And it's fully expositional. And it was like, I think two or three days before we shot that scene, the big sexy and I said,

all right, I've got to come running out of this place and it's got to be forefrontal nudity. You've got to see everything because you've got to put him in that position where he's completely vulnerable. Exactly. To kind of try and flip that thing on its head. And for, okay, I'm just going to say, and I'll put this in the preamble to the podcast. For those that are worried that we were like, we were splitting the whole movie, trust me, it is the, it's the journey not the destination necessarily for this one. You'll get your bang for your book.

Yeah, you will. I mean, so you, it's interesting you mention the reaction in your audience because at the same thing happened in mine. And I hope you don't take this wrong way. I was laughing actually quite a bit throughout this movie. And I don't know, did that, did that, did that, did that, catch you off guard? Did that read in the script or what you were shooting? It totally read in the script. And Ari and I are both huge fans of this guy called Chris Morris, who was a British satirical kind of filmmaker. He used to do a TV show called The Day Today, which is where Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan's character comes from. It was like a satirical news TV show. And then he did

another one, which was like a prime time show called Brass Eye, and it was the most black humor. I mean, really challenging, you know, like the membrane edge of comedy. And he was basically ultimately taken off the air. But Ari and I are huge fans of this guy, you know, both of us are. And that was something that we really bonded over. And I remember reading the script and thinking there's a lot of really dark humor in the film. And it's there to challenge the audience. It's there to make you kind of go, I'm laughing, but why am I laughing? And it's a lot of. And it's a lot of is this really just horror or is it something to laugh at, you know? And you

can see it with the audience. Like when people are sitting watching this film, there'll be one person laughing one person laughing and the person sitting beside them will not be laughing at all. I was even, I was kind of like monitoring the film Twitterverse and the first reactions to it and I was seeing like this like, and someone commented that like New York seemed to laugh a lot and LA didn't laugh

at all. I don't know what that says about the towns. When we watched the film, the cast and like we only saw it for the first time a couple of nights ago. And I was expecting it to be heavy, but for the first two-thirds of the film, we were laughing at these kind of moments of black humor. The final third of the film was silence. There was silence in the theatre. And when the credits rolled, none of us spoke to each other for about 10 minutes.

And we all had horrific nightmares. Did yours involve you running naked in a field or? No, I don't, I don't remember. My girlfriend, Madeline, she had a nightmare about our dog being vivisectioned, basically. There is a photograph of our dog in the film. He made the cut of the movie. And so she had that dream. I won't tell you Will Poulter's dream. He can tell you himself.

It was horrendous. Being in a movie of this type must be kind of a dream for you. Like knowing what I know about you and even what you've conveyed in the first 15 minutes of talking today, just loving film as much as you do and loving films that inspired conversation,

as we said, is that kind of like the ultimate kind of I don't know, appreciation for you as an actor when you're in a film that you know this is going to be argued for decades. Why do people love or hate this? I mean, that's the hope, you know?

Like, that is, that's kind of the endeavor. And when I read the script, I was excited because it wasn't clear to me exactly how you could execute a film of this scale and of this level of ambition, you know? It was just, like, it was a huge undertaking. And I'd watched R. his shorts and you know hereditary hadn't come out at the time but i remember thinking just from looking

at his shorts i was like this guy he knows what he's doing so you hadn't seen hereditary hadn't seen hereditary okay and but i i and and and listening to him talk about cinema the way he does he's so articulate yeah you know and he's such a sinful um so listening to him and the pitch that he gave me about how technically he was gonna he was going to achieve all this stuff was was great And, like, even after that, I was still going, okay, yeah, but how exactly are we going to do this? And that's exactly what I want as an actor, you know? I don't want to go into something where it's like, okay, we're just going to make this thing and it's going to be easy and it's going to go like this. I don't know.

It should be fucking hard. This, yeah, this movie, I feel like, is the last nail in the coffin of me ever considering going to Burning Man. This is what I imagine, anything like that to be in my nightmare scenario. So, okay, so let's go back a little bit. We met, I guess, five or six years ago, probably on the set in the, streets of Detroit for six years ago six years ago so you were filming transformers and that was like a huge kind of shift for you obviously and we can go back further in terms of talking about like your big breaks back in Ireland but

like that was the big kind of Hollywood moment what were like where was your head at during that shoot was what were you appreciative were you on edge like what the fuck did I get myself into it was it was hard it was hard that was such a I mean I was just not prepared you know what I mean I just couldn't really have, I couldn't conceive of the intensity of making that film and making a film like that, you know, it was just nuts. And I mean, I loved, like, I loved all the traveling that we did on it. That was pretty amazing, you know, like going, going and shooting in Hong Kong and stuff, you know, that's just like stuff that you don't really expect ever to get to do.

Were you there the day that a guy attacked Michael Bay with an air conditioner? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And bit his shoe. the guy bit Michael Shoe too Yeah and he had a he had this Nike That had like air bubbles in it And the guy burst one of the bubbles That's a hard bite And you saw this

You were a witness to the occasion I remember there was a bit of a ruckus going on I think I'd stepped into some little T shop or something and And I remember hearing some screaming More than the usual on a transformer But the thing about it was like This guy attacked

You know Michael Bay who had, I mean, there had to be like 15 security guys standing right there. So the minute the guy even touched him, it was over. He had a football team on top of him. You know what I mean? It was crazy. But yeah, it was a different world, man. Coming out of independent Irish film, it was just like, you can't be prepared for that.

So it was kind of a baptism of fire in a way. But then, I mean, of course that film afforded me the opportunity to go and shoot things like Macbeth or go on and do like free fire or yeah you know these kinds of movies that I also like love making were you were you calculated about it and I don't mean that in a negative way even back then like when you signed on for it knowing like you know what a Transformers movie is going to be at best or worst and but you also realize that it's going to afford you at hopefully other opportunities exactly that was part of the algorithm of course of course yeah um go on did you did you and I'm curious because I'm always struck by like, you know, Bay has this like mystique around

him. But most of the actors that have worked with him actually really enjoy him. Like they kind of appreciate that he knows his shit. Yeah. He's, you know, he's not going to suffer fools. He's abrasive. But he's also just sort of like, he is what you see is what you get, right? Yeah.

Yeah. And he's not like, he's not masquerading as somebody who's, I don't know, going to be compassionate towards people who don't do what he wants. wants them to do. Yeah. I always say I was a badge of honor on that set. He got on the bullhorn at one point and just said, Josh, I needed to move.

We're shooting over there. I need you to get out of there. And I was like, Michael Vaj just yelled at me. She's yelled at you with a bullhorn. Yeah, great. This was why I got into this business. No, me and him got on pretty well, to be honest with you. There was definitely about a month of hazing,

which is something that we don't even have in Ireland. So I was entirely confused by it. I was like, what the fuck is this guy? what is his angle? And then I guess there came a point where he just realized that I was just there to do my job. You know what I mean?

That's it. But we, yeah, we got on really well. And I remember he came to Ireland a couple of months later and I just brought him around Dublin for a weekend drinking points of Guinness and well, he drinks Heineken's. It's probably a sponsorship deal.

Yeah, exactly. But I brought him right in Dublin and it was great. Nobody knew who he was. Nobody really gave a shit who he was. And I think he really enjoyed that. Wow. So did the weird, that kind of crazy experience on that kind of ultra-budget thing

color your experience when you were obviously very much in the mix for solo? Were you kind of like wary even going into something like that, even at best if you get that role knowing this is going to be, there's a lot attached to this. Yeah, partly, partly. I think for me more than anything else, it's just like you've got to be, you've got to be fully you know how can I put it if you're going to commit yourself to something that's that big you want to be sure that in five years time or 10 years time you're still going to be

you're still going to be engaged and you're still going to want to talk about it and you're still going to want to be involved you know what I mean like I would hate to ever get myself into a situation where I was working on a project where there was multiple films or where it was like and and I just kept having to go on press tours again and again and if I wasn't in love with it it'd be a nightmare for me you know I find it difficult to do anything that's more than three months a three month shoot is about as much as I can do before I'm going this is it it's I'm over it you know what I mean like really um yeah you're doing this well gets out the series in a bit but you're in second season which but that's down to three months now you're like you

Got it. I'm like, sweet. So what was the, it must, you must have had a very unique vantage point in watching the whole, all the solo shenanigans go down in terms of like, like, were you, like, I don't know, what was your take on just sort of watching the turmoil associated with that? And did you even end up ever seeing the film? I watched it, yeah. And I actually really liked it. You too. Yeah.

I thought Alden Aaron Wright did a great job. And to be honest with it, I think it's probably my favorite out of all the recent Star Wars movies that have come out. it was one of those things where like no matter what way that film was released some people were going to love it some people were going to can it you know what I mean and and that was what happened but I thought it was I thought it was a big achievement I thought it was really good but it's also like again like you're going in to take over a property for everybody involved not this isn't doesn't just apply to the guy who plays Hans Solo. It applies to everybody who is working on the production. You're taking something

that's precious to people's childhoods. Yes. And you're trying to either reinvent it or give them more of the same. And some people are going to be disappointed either way. But personally, I liked it. Good thing is you also obviously, Lord and Miller clearly respected you. You respected them. Yeah. Down the line. Those guys make good stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So backtracking a bit. So you raised in Ireland, moved to Dublin when you were a teenager? Two and a half. Oh, no, no, no. I moved to Dublin from Wicklow when I was 12?

Right. So when do you get serious about acting and how quickly does that kind of accelerate? Dude, again, like it was like I did an ad when I was like six years old. And even before that, my family were all extras in a micro-budget feature that was shooting right by where I grew up in the countryside. side and I turned up after school one day with my folks and they were all like it was a period shoot you know so they were all dressed up in this period year right and I asked the costume or oh can I have can I put something on you know whatever so they gave me an outfit and the director called me over to do this like basically like special insert it was just a close-up on me um and I just

like I think from that moment of standing there in the middle of set up watching people laying track and getting everything ready to shoot and then just the experience of the camera coming towards me it was just like okay this is it done right done deal you know um so what do you do between those years and when you start to have just watched a shit load of movies like everything yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah never did homework just watched films pretty much man honestly and i did a couple of like improv like groups and stuff when I was a teenager did some school plays things like that but I you know I was kind of like I'm going to get through my second level education I'm probably not going to go to college I'm

going to give this a shot and see if I can do it yeah and that was what I did in it like it was crazy because I booked my first feature when I was finishing up secondary school so it was like the February before I finished in June and I went straight into the shoot my first feature in September and yet I've been from what I gather, was that dollhouse? Was that? Okay, yeah. And then you go from that to the Lenny Abramson film, which was huge back home, right?

And got you a ton of acclaim and a lot of attention. Did that translate here? Because you did the festival thing here, as I understand it too, right? Yeah, it went down really well in Toronto. Yeah. And I think you know, I just signed with WME right as that movie was coming out. And I guess, you know, my agent, James Farrell over there, he just did a phenomenal. nominal job of getting the word spread around about that movie.

And so within a couple of days of me arriving in L.A., I booked this DreamWorks thing, which was great, which was the delivery man, the Vince Vaughn movie. So I was shooting that, and then there was kind of, I guess, some advocacy from Steven Spielberg to Michael Bay, saying you should have a look at this guy for Transformers, and that was how that went. So did that all feel, like when you look back to that Toronto?

It was ridiculous mental, man. It was crazy. You're playing a bartender yelling at Vince Vaughn. Yeah. And then you're hearing Spielberg is recommending you to Michael Bay. Yeah. Like how, that's a, within six months a year, that's... Within all of that happened, I mean, from, like, the Toronto, Toronto was in September.

I didn't know whether what Richard did was going to, how it was going to be received at all. We had no idea. And so from between the September and the December, everything happened. I was in Transformers in December. That's crazy. It was mad. And did you feel even backtracking to delivery man? Like when you get on like a big Hollywood film set opposite a movie star, Vince Vaughn,

are you like, this is where I'm meant to be? Or I'm like so I have such imposter syndrome. It's not even funny. Or is it the hubris of youth? And you're like, yeah, I can handle this. Yeah, I think there was part of it. Yeah, I guess part of it was the hubris. Right?

Yeah, but also it was just like I'd been fantasizing about it and trying to prepare myself for it for my whole life, you know what I mean? It was just like, yeah, it was all I'd ever wanted to do. So to be there, not that it felt natural, but it felt like I'm here now, you know what I've been dreaming of this since I was a kid. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. And relatively early on in those days when apparently, apparently, you and Will Poulter are only going to make movies together. How many films have you done?

We've done four films together. And you've directed him in a short, I see, too, right? Yes, that is one of the projects, yeah. So did you guys just get along famously from the start? Yeah, right from the get-go, right basically from the first day we met. We got on, like, a house on fire. And I think, yeah, like, we actually talked about it at New Year's this year. We kind of spend our New Year's together.

And we were talking about this year, I was like, dude, like, are we, like, what are we going to do? Are we going to stop working together? Like, we're doing it a lot. And I think, you know, he said, he was like, look, man, each of the projects that we've done, you know, like Glassland, Detroit and Midsomar in their own right have been really solid pieces of work. And by the way, as different from each other as humanly possible. Exactly. And then we've got the short as well, which we're both really proud of. And so I think we've kind of both agreed that as long as the quality of work remains, then we will continue.

you to work together. I'm in awe of that guy too. I mean, I haven't talked to him quite as much as I've talked to you, but he's, I feel like he's like

going to be like one of the great character actors like a lot of time. Like he can just do anything. He's brilliant, man. He is. He's amazing. And not afraid to be like

despicable on screen. In this film, he's just like, yeah, hissibly delicious. But also like in the, in the short that we directed, man, it's a, it's a, it's a,

it's a, it's a, it's a, it's adapted from a Japanese folk tale, but I said it during the great famine in Ireland. and he is playing this guy who's just suffering through the most unimaginable trauma of what the great Irish famine was and like you want to see just the authenticity in his performance

and it was great because he's an English guy playing an Irish person suffering through what the British government imposed on the Irish you know what I mean? So like for him it was an exercise in empathy and it really I mean everybody who was involved and it was really proud of it and I'm just like I'm so grateful to him

he's just such a brilliant guy Do you feel is there a community of young Irish actors Like do you know Like do you know Are you texting Sirsher Ronan Are you spending Christmas

With Liam Mason Like what's it Is there a secret Irish film After club? It sounds like a The next taken film Yeah I guess it's a small community We all kind of know each other

You know Yeah and search And I would be in touch From time to time Email each other You know Once in a Blame moon um yeah and like sam keely i don't know if you know sam keely is but he's brilliant brilliant

actor my age he did um that ron harrod movie the heart of the sea and okay yeah yeah um yeah he's fantastic um so yeah it's a small community and we all kind of we also were to support each other and we all are invested in one another's success you know what i mean because it is it's a small industry man and and over the past 10 years the irish film industry has just gone from strength to strength to strength and we're exporting more and more talent all the time more writers more directors more actors and uh it's exciting and we're we're not we're done being fucking begrudgers man we've been begrudging each other for long enough in ireland you take a special pressure when you get to like work back home and whether it's like with like a legend like jim sheridan or john carney that must

be like a special it's great it's great and you know And I'm friends with all those guys, close friends with them all. And these are people whose movies I watched when I was growing up, you know what I mean? And love, same thing with Lenny, you know. But it's just like, yeah, I don't know, man. I'm just like, I'm filled with just excitement and optimism more and more about where the Irish film industry is going. And like the last film that I made in Ireland was The Secret Scripture, was James' movie. And that was in, I can't, it was two days in 15, we shot that.

So I haven't been in anything at home since. But going back and making my short there last year was just such a breath of fresh air, you know. But I want to do more stuff at home. Is that still home? I mean, are you, like, where are you at right now? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, down in County, Wicklow, in Ireland. I live right where I grew up. I live a mile away from the house I grew up in.

Amazing. Yeah. I moved back. And I love it so much. I identify with that place so much. And it gives me a lot as an actor. Was there ever. a moment where you're like I'm going to give the LA thing a go where management was like

this really would be good for you just to be in people's faces a little bit more um I don't know maybe once when I had a hangover why not punish myself and live in LA yeah I don't know if I'd be able to live in LA man yeah and I'm lucky in that it's not I don't really need to you know know what I mean? You're making your work. Yeah, my work has been extensive enough and I can fly out and meet people if I need to. And, you know, people, people send me things. So that's great.

So I have the luxury of being able to live exactly where I want to live. A couple more films I want to mention. Anybody that's seen Sing Street is like, you know, tells 10 people around them, you have to see Sing Street. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I still get that all the time, man. People, that's the one, not Transformers, not nothing else. Seeing Street is the one that everybody's like, oh, God, fucking Seeing Street, amazing.

Right, and imagine if you wore your hair like that, you'd be recognized like that every day. Every day. But is that a good memory in particular of shooting that one? Big time, yeah. Loved making that film and really felt that was a kind of a, after the few years that had preceded it, that was such an amazing film to come home to, and it just felt like a celebration of everything that had come before us. And I was working with John, who had known, you know, even before we shot dollhouse so you know that was that was a real pleasure and there was people

who were on it who had worked with before crew who had worked with before on it and I just loved every minute I'm making that movie and it's all about music which I love I love talking about music on the other end of the spectrum not to say it's a worthy piece of work but probably enjoy is probably the wrong word to attach to Detroit that's whoa that was hardcore yeah that's you know, Catherine Bigelow, the subject matter, night shoots, just, it's, uh, the night shoots were mad. I don't know, it's, I'm still trying to figure out why we were shooting. You're inside anyway, wait a second.

Inside a tent at night for two months. A month in where you're like, Catherine, could I talk to you for a second? Why are you doing this to us? Why, yeah. I mean, we all went crazy on that movie. But it was very, I mean, that was incredibly intense. And I think, you know, obviously, um, will's character in that film you know i think i think that took its toll on him trying to play that

guy and uh course you know for algae and all the rest of the guys it was it was a nasty place for them to have to go it's a weird headspace to be in for for all of us yeah for all of us nobody nobody was enjoying um the you know the kind of context of of what we were shooting and And some of the stuff that we were saying to those guys, you know, it's just like, yeah, it's just horrible. And, like, partly in your mind, you're like, oh, yeah, well, it's not real, it's a movie. And we're just actors just playing a role. But there are certain things that you can say to people, and no matter what the context is, whether you're an actor or not, you can see him, which it hurts. Yeah.

How nasty it is, you know. So we, but everybody committed. Everybody went there. Everybody gave it 100% on that movie. On a much lighter note, it's funny that you mentioned two of the films you watched growing up one of them was Jungle Book. So that must have been a treat to work with Andy Sturkis.

Total trip, man, yeah. And also, we shot that in a hotel. Which is crazy. One of those black box kind of, like, were you mocap in that? Was that performance capture? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the balls and everything, the whole crazy thing?

Well, we didn't have the balls. We had, it was kind of facial capture. Yeah. But what they did was there was a big conference room in this hotel in Watford and so they set up um basically like stages in in the way that they were going to design the actual set and they put cameras all over the room and then we each had these kind of um head mounted cameras right and we just did the whole thing it was like a play for two weeks and it was just crazy it's like the first morning i came down and like andy circus is

like okay here you go here's your arm extensions and i'm going to teach you how to run like a wolf now and I'm just bounding across a room with Andy Circus, you know what I mean? That was the most insane experience but to audition for that movie was probably even crazy. Tell me what happened. We were in a room an office that's probably a quarter of the size

of this room. By the way this office is not that big guys. And so basically I had to perform the audition scene but do it like I was an animal like I was a wolf so I'm like on the ground in the corner.

like being an animal just going fuck I hope I get this role because if I don't it's going to be the most I hope this is not for Andy Circus's new prank show on MTV and I'm just looking up at him as he's sitting in his office chair just looking nodding at me and it was like okay I don't know how that went but we'll see but thankfully he took me on board

and it was an amazing experience I would love to work with him again he's the sweetest one of the nicest guys I've ever met yeah he's he's the best and not to mention one of the best actors on the planet yeah has kind of reinvented an art form in a way he's like a wizard yeah he's like actually magic that thing so speaking of auditions you know we've talked about kind of the dabbling in and out of the blockbuster thing like for anybody any actor at any age let alone your age where it's like kind of a prime time like leading man territory like is there the impulse the need to like do you go up for the superhero stuff like does

I mean every actor does and how what's your attitude about that stuff now I kind of stay away from it to be honest yet much to the behest of my team they really like they're not happy when i go you don't even go in for it a lot of the time i don't to be honest with you man was there was the one that actually did appeal to you like well the han solo one for sure like it was just like this would be amazing you know what a cool thing to do um there's been what has there been since then i'm not i just i have superhero movie fatigue in a big way and i guess I guess a lot of people don't, so cool. That works for you.

But, you know, like, if I was going to do something that was like a franchise, if I was going to do something that it was three films or whatever, I would want to do something that was more along the lines of alien, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who is the, I mean, as a self-professed cinephile, who is the, who's on the short list right now of filmmakers that, like, you've told. That I'd love to work with? Yeah, that you've told the team, if they call, put them right through.

Get me a lunch, can me anything. Yeah, right. Are they the old school guys? Some of them are the old school guys. I would love to work with Spike Lee. You know, I'd love to work with David Lynch. You know, like, come on. Did you watch all of that Twin Peaks?

How amazing was the return? Crazy. Yeah. Crazy. I would love to work with Jack Odiard. Have you seen any of his stuff? Yeah, what's the way? I haven't seen the latest.

The sister's brothers. Yeah, it's amazing. That's right. You know, he's pretty exceptional. And then there's people I'd love to work with again. I'd love to work with Lenny. again, you know what I mean? And me and Ben Wheatley have done a lot of stuff together since Free Fire.

Well, we did two seasons of Strange Angel anyway. Oh, he's been directing episodes. Yeah, I didn't even realize. I asked him if he'd come on on the first season and do an episode, and he did. And then he came back and he did the first two episodes of season two. Amazing. Second episode is airing tonight. There you go.

There's a Strange Angel plug. CBS All Access guys. Yes. I confess, I'm late to the Strange Angel thing, but I watched the first episode last night, know you were coming in and it and strange is the operative word this is a fascinating like that this even exists is amazing yeah i can only imagine what the the pitch process was for the creators of this to get this actually yeah i wonder yeah it's mad so what's what's fulfilling about this character this this he's a fascinating guy you know um and i remember reading about jack parsons years ago

um for anybody who doesn't know who this guy is he was he was a real guy and um he was one of the kind of founding fathers of the rocketry industry in the States. Right. He started the JPL on a company called AeroJet, but he was also the head of a sex magic cult. Another one of those. Another one of those guys. It's like if the kid from October Sky grew up to be into sex club, sex and magic. Exactly.

So, yeah, he's a really fascinating character. And it's also a really interesting time in the history of America and, uh, pretend. particularly Los Angeles, you know, which is a really culty place. Like, L.A. is super culty. So, you know, it's an interesting show to do. I also feel like there's a, there's kind of like a culture of, a culture of culty things going on. There's loads of shows about cults. You just fucking walk around the street and there's like pentagrams everywhere and all the, all the billboards.

We are in the end of days, Jack. That must be what it is. There's something in the air, whether it's zombies or cults or. It's all about the fucked up shit. Yeah, exactly. And your movie. What a segue back. What a segue back.

Mitzumar. Mitzumar. The most beloved film in all of Sweden. Whoa. What will they think about it there? Good luck going on the podcast there, man. Is your podcast up and running? I need to check it out.

It's not up and running yet. I've got two episodes of it done. I did one with Bella Heathcutt, And I've done one with Josh and John Baker who directed Ken. Okay. I'm going to probably build up eight of them and then release them. And I'll just like see how it goes. See how people respond to one season of it.

And then if, you know, if people like it, I'll do another one. I love it. So it's just going to be friends and filmmakers and actors talking about cool, interesting films. Talking about the industry, you know, talking about how they got into it, you know, what stuff they liked when they were growing up. Basically exactly what you were doing right now. It will be me in your seat. If you want a more attractive version, I'll have you said confused.

And what's the podcast going to be called? I don't know yet. I don't know. TVD with Jack Raynor. This is, I love my podcast for many reasons. One is that I get to catch up with people I haven't caught up with in a while. And, you know, I'm a fan of yours, buddy. And I'm so happy that you're up to cool things working with the likes of Ariaster.

And everybody should check out Mitzamar. Yeah. Be careful, though. Disclaimer. We've given you enough warning. I mean, if they don't, you know, what they're getting into by now, it's on them. Yep, that's true.

But if you see one film this summer where Jack Rayner is running around in the forest naked, let it be this one. Yeah. Yeah. We just sold some tickets. Good to see it, buddy. You too, man. Thanks for having. 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 pressure to do this by Joe. 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-eligible 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 Casey Mistoms.

We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Greece to the Dark Night. We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look. And we've talked about horror movies. some that you've never even heard of like Conja and Hess. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcast.

And don't forget to hit the follow button.