Happy Sad Confused - James McAvoy

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

James McAvoy is an unabashed geek and a fantastic actor and storyteller to boot which makes him the perfect guest for Happy Sad Confused. In this episode he chats about his latest scary flick, SPEAK NO EVIL, how he landed X-MEN and SPLIT, why he passed on STAR TREK and HARRY POTTER, and more! Subscribe here⁠ to the new Happy Sad Confused clips channel so you don't miss any of the best bits of Josh's conversations! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! ZocDoc -- Go to ZocDoc.com/HappySad UPCOMING EVENTS! Kathryn Hahn 9/13 -- tickets here! Kate Winslet 9/23 -- tickets here! Zachary Quinto 9/29 -- tickets here! Andrew Garfield 10/4 -- tickets here! Anna Kendrick 10/22 -- tickets here! Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Josh's youtube channel here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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paper on your phone? It's not a paper on my phone. Children. My children. My children. It rotates different children. And my sister's child. Prepare your ears, humans.

Happy, sad, confused begins now. I'm Josh Horowitz. And today on Happy, Sad, Confused, he's done so much in his career. He's kicked the ass of a. a journalist in a gym, he's had sex with a computer, he's robbed a restaurant high on PCP, and that's just sketches with me. I forgot about that one.

It's the one and only James McAvoy. Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here as always. It's good to see you, man. Congratulations, we talked before about this movie, but this is the Deep Dive. Speak No Evil, this is a fun one. How you feel on?

Good, I'm really proud of it. I thought when I read it, it was, it was scary. It was potentially really funny. And it felt like it was about something more than just, I don't know, a piece of scare entertainment. And that's kind of what Blumhouse do so well. And it's kind of, it's got something underpinning it socially to say about the people in it. And I thought it had potential it would be something more than the sum of its parts.

And I think James has done an amazing job. James, not myself. I only speak of myself. When James reads a script. James killed it in this one. The director is also called James Watkins, and he did an amazing job, and he's just really brought it home, and everything that I thought it could be, he's managed to nail. I wasn't able to be there for your premiere last night, but I would imagine this is an audience movie. How did it play? I thought that I would see the peak audience at San Diego Comic-Con, which, and they were really, they were really interactive.

But last night was, it just went up on a crazy level. No, look, it's a premiere, and it's we're all there, and there's hype, hype, hype, and it's free, one. wine and cheese and that kind of, you know, wine and cheese, it really gets your audience going. But if you're there with a crowd seeing this on opening night, Friday the 13th, and you've even got a crowd that's only half what they were, it's just, it was electric, it was so much fun. They were screaming at the screen. It was so good. Have you had the opposite experience at a premiere where you've realized, oh my God, this just isn't going to, this isn't going to play?

When you're just like, what is that noise? And you just, like, I'm like, it's just like, boo, boo, go home, Maca boy. No, I've never been booed. I have actually been booed. I did a play called Out in the Open, and in the opening scene myself and another Scottish actor had to make out as two men, because they were in love with each other. And I got booed a couple of times by. a couple of older gentlemen

and then they walked out as well and that happened more than once in that theater I've got to say how long ago was this that was back in 1946 you know back before the war we were still on Russians no that was that was probably

2001 a theater Odyssey did the audience rally around you did they ostracize these folks that weren't so tolerant hopefully or no they just I remember the first person that did that his wife hit him and told him to shut it and then that's why you left. Good for the way. I know. I don't think she said shut it, but she told him me to stop.

Right, right, right. But she hit him, which I thought was quite, like, to the point. When is violence ever good? Maybe that case. That's the case. Yeah. What's it like for you? I always wonder, like, you know, obviously you've read the script, you have the experience on set, you have good vibes. The first time you see a movie, are you filled with dread or excitement at this point in your career when you see a finished cut of a film for the first time? I'm pretty half-full guy and I'm pretty half full guy I don't know as I'm a pretty I'm a pretty

glasses half full guy is the full sentence and so I go in hopeful I definitely go in hopeful wanting them to be good but to be honest with you I don't think I can really I think I can tell whether I did my job

i.e. did I tell the story right is it believable is realistic is something that people enjoy watching I don't know but I can tell whether I've told the story or not So I can't really understand whether it's really good or not

until I'm watching it with an audience. And really, I don't, I think watching it in isolation it's just a kind of vanity project really. So, but watching it with an audience is incredible because that's why I did it. I did it to try and have an effect on a bunch of people sitting in the dark and getting to be a part of those people

and feel the experience they're having or not if the film sucks. I mean, that's the ultimate. sort of if there is any validation if there is any sort of reward other than financial which of course is the other reason I do it right um that's it is to get to see it land with somebody well and then you have to remember as well like for every 20 people that are sitting they're going like oh my god it's the best one ever seen um there's like another 20 people going like um right right I mean are going like oh my god why did we come

and see this shitty movie that fucking Scottish actor is he Scottish Irish That guy, he's want to be Tilby McGuire. Is that the aspiration? When he grows up, he wants to be Tilby McGuire. Fuck that dude. Like a young Scottish man, he wants to be told him. You've got to know that, like, you've got to take every time you're like, God, that really works.

Yeah. There's people there just sitting going like, this sucks. Yeah. So this one, to set the scene a little bit for the audience, there are two couples at play here. You know, I don't think it's revealing anything because the trailer kind of reveals. You're not necessarily the nicest dude in this. Well, listen, there's a contract that you're saying when you come to see a scary

film, isn't there? I'm not going to call it a horror film because it's not really a horror film. Right. When you come to see a scary film, there's a contract, isn't there? And it's like, I come to see some bad stuff happen. Yeah. And then I guess unless it just blows its load This is why, yeah. You're welcome, everybody. Buckle up.

Four minutes in, we got there. Yeah. Unless it just resizes its jizz in the first So I'm getting for the inappropriate James McImore drinking. I'm getting really staring looks from my publicist right now. I'm so sorry. Unless it just... Yeah, come on.

You got it. Go on more. Unless the man jam just comes in a... I can't even make that rhyme with anything. Man jam and a traffic jam? Okay, so what am I saying? Unless you deliver upon what the audience came for, like straight away and you just start like doing it every five minutes,

there's sort of a joy in going, all right, you came here for something scary and bad to happen. We need to keep that away from you as long as possible. and fill that time with tension and other stuff, like comedy and inappropriateness and all sorts of things. And that's the contract. So them knowing that I'm a bad guy from the trailer doesn't really matter. I don't think so.

And also I would- That's why they're there. Right, exactly. This is what I signed up for. Yeah, you don't want to sell a different bill of goods. You're getting what you paid for. It's also, it's a remake of a film. I haven't seen the original.

People love the original. What's your attitude on remakes? Because I always, I get annoyed about it. I get annoyed about folks that, like, get annoyed of remaking stuff. It's like, I'm the weird guy that was, like, cool with Gus Van Sant doing Psycho. Like, I like to see reinterpretations and experimentation with work. I mean, do you have a similar attitude? Like, what's your, what's your vibe on?

I do have a similar attitude. Look, I've been remade. I've been remade in America. And I'm glad because although I made a TV show in the UK that everybody loved and was like a cult hit and all that and people went crazy for it, people in America weren't really going to watch that to them obscure British probably quite

so British it was alienating to them show so the fact that they remade it is shameless that show here I was fine with was it weird for me to watch totally there was a guy playing my part I think he's the guy in the burner and he was doing stuff that I improvised

on the day and you're like wow they're really like taking it I think they then went off and did their own amazing stuff that was different to what we did. I didn't realize it. The German, Alan White was replayed your character. I think I may be wrong. We'll go back to the IMB to the back to check. I'm just going to pick really great actors and say that they've like, played my own. It was Lawrence Olivia. I remake.

Al Pacino played James's part in The Chronicles of Narnia, the remake. I would watch it Grega Gerwig. Lipsy. How would that go again? Lucy. I can't do.

That's, I can't do Alperchino, and I'm really sorry, Mr. Puccino, that's, that was, he's a big fan of the show, so he's, yeah, good. He loves me. So, what would we say? I don't know. I don't know. So, no, look, I've got a couple of views on remakes. This is one of them, right?

Get ready. If you're going to shoot your, no. If, um, like, I've done, I've done Macbeth, right? Right. And I've done tons of plays. I've done Serino de Bergerac. And I did. not remake them right they don't get remade you you just do your version of it sure and

that's what we do in a film it's not necessarily a remake it's this is we're telling the same story differently and we're going to tell it as our relationship and our response to the material so it will be different but the other thing I think is as well let's say this movie was an English language film that the original was an English language film and it made 600 million worldwide and which is what we're aiming for by the way And like everybody saw it, and it's on TV or that there's no reason to make it. This really great film didn't reach a massive worldwide audience, unfortunately. And so there is still, I think there are people out there that would enjoy this story

who would not watch a foreign language film if they're in an English-speaking country. And so I still think there's a valid reason for doing it. And then I also think there's going to be a lot more people go back and watch the original who would never have heard of it and would have gone Danish film. No, thanks very much. I come from a country where we even speak English and people won't watch our movies, Scottish films. And so that's when we speak English.

And so I think that the whole thing of why are they remaking it, so that more people can see it. So more people can see the story. You fell into a lovely Al Pacino there. It reminds me that I've heard you a lot of wonderful impressions voices over the years. When you were growing up, little Jimmy McAvoy,

was he doing a lot of impressions? was that? Tell me about little Jimmy. Tell me about little Jimmy. Let me tell you about me as a wee boy. I think I was highly sensitive. I was quite quiet. I think I watched a lot. I think I didn't really come into myself until I was a teenager. What was TV and film an escape for you as a kid?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I had no idea that I could do anything with it. there was no acting class or anything like that or no performance but um but i loved i loved film i love television i love cartoons um i mean one of my earliest memories is watching the term not earliest but like must have been about five i think and the terminator was on we got out in a pirate DVD not a pirate DVD a pirate video like where you can see people walking back in front of the camera and all that and you had to give it back we had to rent the pirate video yeah What kind of video store were you using? A pirate one.

It was like a guy in the pub. Do you know what I mean? And it was so popular this movie, The Terminator, that you had to rent the pirate copy, which was like all green and that you couldn't see properly and all that sound was awful. Ever get to James Cameron meeting? Ever meet Jimmy Cameron?

No, but he called me once. He called me once to play a part in a movie, which I didn't end up playing. we connected over something we connected over split because I'd been sent a script a million years ago that Joel Schumacher was going to do I know exactly it was it was the minds of Billy Milligan it was called at a time and and James Cameron had had worked with Billy and had spent a hell of a lot of time with him and I will not tell his story because it's his story but he told me an incredible story of something that happened to him with Billy Milligan that it happens in split. Amazing. Okay. Now I've got a follow for his name's camera next time I see him. Thank you.

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It was next gen. It was next gen for you, right? Oh, Star Trek? Yeah, Star Trek. I thought we said Shrek. And I was like, why have we spoken about Shrek more? Was it Shrek forever after for you or Shrek the fourth that you love for? No, I want to nerd out on Star Trek. because I'm a fellow Trekkie.

What was your bag, what were your obsessions with Trek in your young life? So when I was really young, I did watch a lot of the original series. It was William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy and all those guys. It was just on all the time.

And I really enjoyed it. It was so, it was just, it was like a comic in some ways. I mean, it was so colorful. But then when I got a bit older, next gen really pulled, me in and the kind of through line narratives of next gen were so good the stuff that kept coming back and the cutest and all that that whole show line was amazing but I

also loved the movies the the the original cast Star Trek movies which were so far on like so much later than the TV show yeah they were brilliant Rath a Khan's an absolutely amazing film just like a yeah there's so much sentimentality and there's so much like there's so much yeah they're really sentimental those films as well I find because even from the first one it feels like they're going back right you know what I mean getting the band back together though you mean the motion picture the first one yeah yeah yeah which is a little ponderous a little slow but still I mean no I

don't get me wrong and it's got a little bit of space opera coming here that I tried to take from like 2001 it felt like too clearly it feels like yeah yeah definitely which I didn't realize because I hadn't watched 2001 at that point and I didn't realize that like they were riffing it and making it mainstream and trying to like you know appropriate that but um but I loved it I loved it how Have you never been in a trek by now? After all these times, did you ever? Came close.

J.J.'s? Came close. Was it McCoy? Uh, I can't tell you. Can't tell you who. Did you, did you want it? Did you like, I got offered something. Okay.

I didn't want to do that. I suggested I could do something else. They wanted to camera test me and I was like, do you know what? Yeah, it's all right. Don't worry about it. Not because I wouldn't, but because I just didn't. think I was right and um and what I said to JJ uh and here's when I said to

JJ I said you want to get yourself no um what I said to JJ about what I thought the role should be and the kind of actor that should be they absolutely got and they like I'm not saying that he got that because I said that to him as well but the kind of person I thought that I'm not is exactly the person who got it and it was it was brilliant and I love the new ones I love JJ's films excellent me too I defend the second one. Into darkness is great, too. I think it's really good.

Yeah, I agree. I've never heard the story of how you got first class. Did you have to audition for first class? No, it was pretty simple. My first child came, and I, neither myself nor my wife at the time worked for about six months to a year. We just stayed at home and looked after him. and I we weren't like we weren't penniless we didn't have any debt but we had pretty much nothing in the bank and at that point and I needed to work but I wanted to work from home in London so that I could

I didn't want to just disappear from the kid X-Men came in I went where's it filming they went Pinewood it's 40 minutes from my front door I was like awesome and I was also like X-Men great I loved the cartoon when I was a kid that I'd be brilliant. I love the movies that they came out in 2000 and Brian's original movies. They were brilliant. And I was like, what part?

And they were like, it's Charles. And I was like, great, I'm a Trekkie. I get to be fucking John Luke Xavier. It's going to be brilliant. And they said the script is like underwraps. So you need to go to this restaurant and they'll give it to you and you read it. And then you have to give them an answer like quick.

And so I went to like, it was like a chain restaurant. It wasn't even like fancy. And not like a McDonald's or something like, but it was like, you know, like a Burger King. And classes. And I go in and I meet Matthew Vaughan. And he has a quick chat with me. And then I sit and read the script. Nobody tells me that there's only like 60 pages of it at this point.

And I feel like it's good. Jane Goldman did a great job. It's good, but it's incomplete. You don't really know what it's going. But I was like, this is a three-picture deal, they're paying well, it's 40 minutes from my front door, I'm a fan of the original material, I get to be young Jean-Luc Xavier. And I was like, this is a no-brainer, so my agent wrote me, and she was like, what do you think? And I was like, it's a work of genius, we're doing it. I love it.

I know. But it was like, sometimes you take, you make the right choices for the wrong reasons. And I made Usually when I would make choices Based on all those criteria for selection It's not You're not choosing right It worked out amazingly in that one

Because I did love playing Charles I had such an incredible time Exploring him for those movies And And shared some of the most incredible times With castmates and friends In beautiful places around the world Because after the first one which was in London

It was great for me We then bogged off to Hello Canada, here we go It was like Monsuel Montliswale. And... Bonjour, Montréal.

And that was my crap French. And so it was... It worked out incredibly well. And I really was a fan of the original material. So it was... it worked out so good. How do you... So there were four of the films that you guys did, your group.

I mean, how do you rate, like, is first class the one you love most? Like, how do you kind of look back at that quartet? First class, I think, is my favorite film. In terms of the journey. for me as an actor and what I got to explore of Charles I'd say days of future past but I love

I think Days of Future Past Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix they're much more sort of classical films and classical sort of superhero films I think first class was trying to do something with a kind of different sort of energy and feel which I had responded

to at the time when I was I mean this is 15 years ago nearly I'm 13 now I was 30 then I'm 30 now I did it when you're 15 that's right I did it when I was 15 guys I'm only 30 now I was 30 then and so yeah it was the right movie for me at the right time but um so I don't really rank them all but in terms of the journey and what I got to explore with Charles I mean I couldn't have wished for more yeah in days of future past that was like that was like an acting workout

doing that role like compared to some of the more art house films that I've done even so yeah I loved it did you watch the new cartoon the retro X-Men 97 people are loving that waiting to watch it with my eldest nice nice um I just I just actually speaking of the comic because I just ran to Nick Holt in in Toronto or buddy what do you think about Nick doing Lex Luthor amazing I mean if you're going to go bald you better look like him he's helped I mean he's gorgeous I'm excited I'm really excited because I think he's got such good I think he can be

really malevolent and I think he can also be really funny and I think those two things together it's clearly what I like doing especially for speaking We call that the Maccoy Special. McAvoy Special, malevolent and humorous, with a smitch of predatory. But I think he's got that, like, for free. And he's so, he's so deft and subtle in a way that you don't quite realize.

And I think, I don't know, I think he's gonna just blow it away. I feel like the common denominator, but like all the great actors is like, they're also very intelligent. Emotionally and just like, and he's a smart dude. Yeah, no, definitely, definitely. He's been in, listen, he was, I think he was 80. when we first started working together

and he was like in a weird way totally yeah but because he was he was the one sort of act in his age and that's actually the most mature thing you can do right um do you feel like your superhero dance card is full now having

done Charles like would you ever do DC is that intrigued you I could see you like not to pigeonhole you in the villain thing but a Batman villain in the Matt Reeves universe I mean they're so I've been asked to be a villain in something else and I didn't want to do it because I didn't think it was good enough.

Has that film come and gone already? Yes. Yes. And have I been asked to do anything else? Superheroy. Might have been... It might have been... Yeah, listen, I'm not adverse to do in anything.

As long as it's interesting and I think it can be entertaining or disturbing or upsetting or depraved. No, um... Or funny. Or funny. And romantic. As long as it's complex and interesting

and does something cool to the audience, I'm up for it. As long as I get to do something interesting to deliver that to the audience, I'm up for it. It doesn't matter whether it's a rom-com or a war movie or a superhero movie, you know? And also as well, I feel like more and more and more superhero movies can't just be superhero movies. They need to be something else

because you can't just go like, this was a kid, something bad happened to them. Then they got over it and then they're, it's just like origin. story off their origin story so you've got to have you've got you have a superhero isn't enough right yeah i don't know bruce wayne's parents were killed in an alley once were they yeah we've never seen it depicted on screen did they ever dance the devil in the pale mean like that's what i want to know can imagine if he'd have gone like yeah we did that was last tuesday night yeah the pavilion

ballroom it was awesome and then the joker's just like oh great okay never mind yeah um we're talking about a lot of genre stuff because A, you love it and B, you've done a bunch of it. And even early on, I think, of Children of Dune. Was that a big moment for you as a young actor, not only the role, but also to be in an interpretation of Dune? Yeah, totally. I mean, I'd read all those books, which are, by the way, increasingly, if you're a fan of Denny Vial News films, which are brilliant, they're going to get wild.

I know. They get mental. They get, like, I don't know how, I'm not cast aspersions on Frank Herbert. I don't know if he was any mushrooms and psychedelics, whatever, but it gets wild, man. Yeah, it was, it was great, and it was, you know, I've got to play this big old part running around with my top off in sand pits in the Czech Republic in Prague, pretending I was in the desert with people like Alice Krieger and, and Stephen Berkov and. just incredible people, Alec Newman, Julie Cox,

like incredible actors right at the beginning of my career and kind of do space opera, kind of do classical stuff. And the fact that I'd had a classical theater training, I think, helped as well, because you've got to sort of lean into that a little bit. 100%. You've got to be a little bit Shakespearean about it. And by the way, Patrick Stewart was in...

Of course, Derney Halley's ones as well. So just bringing it back, Patrick, bringing it back. still literally looks the same 40 years later like insane if you go back to that 84 movie oh my god I love that movie by the way I love that film too they like the weird armor that they have the force fields

but yes so it was brilliant it was great and I kind of got to flex a lot of muscles I had no muscles at that point but I mean like I got to flex a lot of acting muscles that I really enjoyed you got to flex a lot of acting muscles look at that segue and split you referenced it earlier As I recall, the great Joaquin Phoenix was actually attached to that one. That's my understanding, yeah.

Is that weird stepping into a role when they've gone down another road with an actor at first and maybe it's in that director's mind? No, definitely not, because I think I'm confident enough to think that I'll do it better anyway. I'm joking, I'm joking. I'd just like saying the wrong thing. No, you're kidding. He's an amazing actor. I think he'd give a very different performance to the one I did,

but I think he'd give an incredible performance. And then it's fun. Do you know what? Sometimes coming in last minute is the best way. Not to overthink at all. Yeah, exactly. And I think he ditched it like two weeks before they started shooting. It was really last minute.

So you only had literally that amount of time to play? I had a couple of weeks, yeah, it had two weeks. But, you know, the script was well put together. So a lot of it was actually pretty clear what I wanted to do straight away. There was a couple of characters that took a little bit longer to find. Patricia came real quick. Dennis came real quick. Hedwig took a little while.

And it wasn't until the read through the table read, which I was really nervous for because I was like, you know, table reads generally feel bad. You never get a good performance in a table read. And generally if somebody is performing really well in a table read, it's because they're being big and too big for a film almost. Right. So if you're trying to do what's appropriate for what will work on the shoot on the day,

it just doesn't come off the page, it doesn't come off the table, right? Anyway, so I'm sitting there going like, God, I've got to do all these, like, 15 characters and be judged by everybody in the room, including Universal, shirio execs, including, like, Jason Blum and all that. And I'm like, oh, and I haven't even found some of the characters, and it just came on really, really quick. And then Knight actually said to me, like, I want you to do Headwig with a speech impediment, with a sibling's.

And I was like, what, just at the last minute? You want me to just go for it? And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we need to try something. I was like, all right, cool. And so we did it in the read through. And after like one scene of doing it, we were like, done. Coaching is good. This episode is brought to by Tron Aries.

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Handcrafted cold foam topped with toasted cookie crumble. It's a sweet summer twist on iced coffee. Your cold brew is ready at Starbucks. You know what also I have to say is now Glass honestly has more resonance for me as a Bruce Willis fan because I mean I mean obviously we're all like feel horribly of what he has to endure and then in his life now and like to be quick I mean he must have been struggling even even then to get through that in retrospect now we know but yeah I think in retrospect I think you could see that yeah yeah yeah but your experience just again like that's again we were same age basically so growing up with Bruce to be around him in that situation amazing I used to watch Moonlighting when I was was a kid and like those first couple of seasons of Moonlighting when he was like hilarious yeah smartest and funniest coolest guy oh my god he was so funny um i remember like really kind of thinking like i hope i'm i hope i'm like that with a woman one day like i hope i'm able to be funny like that for some nice lady one day and make them laugh

and make them like me god i'm really sad i don't know i hope i'm able to be make a lady like me one day? It's really sort of pitiful, isn't it? It's just sat there, self-harming. Not making jokes about self-harm, Jesus Christ. Right, moving on swiftly. Back to the edit, yeah. Maybe I'm not joking.

Back to the edit. No, I was going to say, I can edit anything else. It'll be like six minutes left of this interview. Yeah. Okay, it's official. We are very much in the final sprint to election day. And face it, between debates, polling releases, even court appearances. It can feel exhausting, even impossible to keep up with.

I'm Brad Milkey. I'm the host of Start Here, the Daily Podcast from ABC News. And every morning, my team and I get you caught up on the day's news in a quick, straightforward way that's easy to understand, with just enough context so you can listen, get it, and go on with your day. So, kickstart your morning. Start Smart with Start Here and ABC News, because staying informed shouldn't feel overwhelming. We've talked before about your directing.

This is the next big gig. Let's talk about my directing. Okay. Let's talk about your direction in life. It's a real problem. You are going to be directing your first film. Yeah. this is a very big moment an exciting moment for me anyway for all of us we're

excited for you I'm excited for you is this something that you've been wanted to do for a long while or yeah yeah yeah I've been thinking about it for the ages and I think I was sort of I was I worked quite a lot in my early career with a lot of first-time directors who maybe were a bit at sea with their grasp of a set and the grasp of maybe how he worked with actors and stuff like that Hi Jennifer Hudson Wow After working with each other

For 20 years I'm sad to say it's time that we partner with Is it 20 years? You had a good run 50? You had a good run Okay For the record he's not talking to anybody There's nobody in that corner

It's just Imagination So yeah I got work with a lot of people Maybe we're just a bit fresh And a bit new And didn't know what they were doing And so

And that sounds really damning but hey-ho that's what you can do after 30 years in the business you can say what the fuck you like and it made me think like I could do this I know how to do this

and then I started working with some people who are like actual masters of their craft and I was like I can't even see what it is that you're doing so well it's so invisible to me it's like magic

and that gave me pause and made me think I actually need to do some more time on this and not just go like oh well that's made him he's made a mistake there I won't make a mistake or I know how to not do that mistake

actually seeing the actually trying to recognize what it is it's something makes so beautifully sometimes it's harder to see than the mistakes so it's learning from positive it's harder than learning from

than the negatives but the lesson that you learn is so much stronger that you take away so is there a specific that you're even thinking of that you've now kind of like you're hoping to internalize as you step on set that you've seen I don't want to

yeah maybe I think that I think certainty is really important because how can you take direction from somebody if they don't seem certain Yeah. So if somebody's asking you go out in a limb and try something really wacky, weird, or hard, challenging, upsetting, whatever it is. And they don't seem to believe in themselves or believe in the movie at times or really understand if I've seen works or not. Like, it's quite hard to go like, yes, sir, I will run through the flames for you.

Because you seem 40% sure of why you're like. Yeah, exactly. And you know, I've also had really good working relationship with directors that are like, I don't know. What do you think? What do you think of a job? What do you think? I don't know. And this kind of worked out.

But so I think certainty is a big thing. And then, anyway, so that happened. I waited a long time. Then I kind of thought, now's the time. And then because I'm Scottish, even though I've done roughly 2.1 Scottish jobs in my life, everybody sends me gritty Scottish drama, which is great. And I'm from a gritty Scottish place. I'm from a council estate or a project, as you guys call it.

I think you guys call it a project. And that's great. I love those stories. I want those stories to be told. It's not necessarily the kind of story I want to tell. I want to tell stories about people from that background 100% and I will be in my film. But I don't just want it to be like it's black and white and it's grim

and it's like everybody's on drugs and then we die. Do you know what I mean? Because actually there's a lot more life and ambition and aspiration in a community like the one that I came from. And so even though the story is set in a different city, it's from people who have limited horizons and who have limited opportunities and they're striving to get through a glass ceiling. And they're doing so in a really entertaining way that can actually, hopefully, be about those people, but not just be the type of style that is branded for those people. I wouldn't guess knowing you over the years, this is going to be one of those first time, like, self-serious kind of autort. It's just going to be, you like, you like, entertainers.

Cut two. You cut two. Your ass review. Whoa. What was that wrong? Wow. Navel gazed for 40 minutes. We'll see.

It was black and white. It was really great. They were all on drugs. They are on drugs in this film actually sometimes. But fun ones. Fun drugs. Yeah. You know, the fun ones.

Is there anything I need to help manifest? You're not wanting for opportunities in your career. Do we need... Acting wise? Yeah. Do we need, I mean, again, we've talked about all these genre opportunities. Do you need to be a Harry Potter teacher? Do you need your Star Wars role, finally?

Did I actually, did I, I can't, oh, I was nearly in Harry Potter. What? Almost, yeah. You can say this. I can probably say this one. The very first movie, I think it was, and it was, and it was, um, was it, who was the, was it, Tom Riddles in the first one, right? In the very first one?

But he's, like, in it for, like, a scene. Okay, yeah, yeah, that sounds like that. And a flashback or something like that. Okay. And they had. I seemed to remember it was right at the beginning of my career

I auditioned for it and I think they wanted to put me on a retainer and they offered me something like it was crazy I'd hardly done any work and me and I think maybe 10 other actors

or something like that they wanted to put us in a retainer so that they could hold us and keep us to choose later which who it would be it was a really strange thing and they offered quite a lot of money for me at that time

it was a ton of money it was like 40,000 pounds or something like that and I'd done very little work and I wouldn't be able to do any work for about seven months I think it was right and I said to my agent what do you think and Ruth Young who's been my agent since well for what is it 24 years at least 25 maybe she was like absolutely not don't do that and she was like we're gonna go and do something

else and I ended up doing the play the I got booed of got booed by homophobic gentleman. I did that instead and got paid I think 275 pounds a week. But it was was part of the making of me and it was like I actually got an acting workout. It was actually learning and doing all that. And now you can play Harry Potter in the reboot. Now you haven't eliminated that as an option so you can go back and since you still look spry and young. HP. HP sauce. I don't know if there's anything that I'm really missing in terms of what I've covered. I don't think I've done enough sci-fi just because I love it. Well, because all I've done is, I did Children of Dune, right?

And then anything else? You know, you're right. I mean, I guess the things we're talking about aren't strictly sci-fi. X-Men, I guess, it's sort of sci-fi, but it's different. No, you need like a Danny Boyle sunshine. You need like a... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love sci-fi.

I don't think I've done enough comedy, but I've been able to be funny in things that aren't comedies. I was trying to bring the gags. Look, they just need to look at the after-hour sketches we've done. I can personally attest you are a gifted comedian. There's no one kind of. that I miss, but I think I'd love to do more sci-van. I'd probably love to do more comedy. All right, let's end with this. The happy second fuse profoundly random questions for you, James. Dogs or cats? Dogs, but I'm allergic to both. Oh, okay. Do you collect anything?

Regrets. In a while. I've had a few. Do I collect anything? No. Okay, okay. What's the wallpaper on your phone? It's my paper on my phone. children my children my children my children it rotates different children and my sister's child

who's the last actor you were mistaken for does that ever happen oh yeah no it happens a lot I think just because people go like oh he's Scottish isn't he he's Scottish and they go

and then they kind of go like there's only like three them four of them in there it's like Gerard butler there's jerry you in there's that guy McCovey McAvey there's him and then and is that it like and they go they kind of like I've been called I've been asked if I'm Jerry McCovey once before as well yeah I'm Jerry McCovie yeah one of my favorite actors out there what's the worst note of director has ever given you oh I 100% I'm doing a TV show and we're rehearsing and what we're rehearsing as a walk-and-talk like with a steady cam and we're walking down a big alleyway but we're in a room that's

smaller than this right and the director's like let's get it up and get it on its feet and we're like okay so do you want us just to walk around the room he's like no no no no how can I how can I watch it if I'm walking backwards the whole time it's like all right cool we'll just stand here side by side as if we're walking down the corridor and we will we'll just do the scene it's half-assed and it's like whatever it's like we're in a room it'll be brilliant on the day and uh but of course and um uh we start and he goes boys cut cut cut cut cut cut and we're like what and uh it goes like i can't i can't watch this it's just

it's so fake and we're like what do you mean you don't want us walking but so what's the point and even doing it went well listen all you need to do is on the spot just do a bit of this and i'm like what he's like yeah yeah and he said um he just done god i'm going to name and shame him if I say what the show is he just done a show in which there was a lot of walking okay and like in the wilderness and I won't tell you what it is and he said the way we rehearsed it as I got all the actors to do this in the rehearsal room and I just and I mean I think I was 23 at the time I don't think I'd done I think I was just about to go off and do Last King of Scotland I'd not played like the lead quite a lot but I

was like I was like I'm 23 I'm calling this I was like I'm not doing this mate it's so silly It's so stupid I think we should just sit down and read the scene And he got really angry with me But he was a bit of a dick Anyway, yeah And in the spirit of happy second few As an actor that always makes you happy

You see them on screen, you light up Ben Wishaw It's a good one, he's been named before Great actor Yeah, movie that makes you sad Oh Because it's so good Or because I'm just sad it exists

Because it's so bad I'd like that too What if you want A movie that makes me sad Oh, I mean, loads of things made me sad. Brief Encounter. And then if I'm flicking through channels, I don't do this often. But Atonement still gets me.

If I'm flicking through channels, it's on. And I'm like, oh, God, it draws me in because I just admit I love those two characters. They really touched me. And their story still sits me. But brief encounter, I'd say, is so beautifully tragic and sad. That's a testament to how good a movie is if you're in it and you still can disassociate enough to. I know. I know. And I don't do that with anything else that I'm in. If I'm flicking through channels and something's one, I'm like, oh, cute, and then keep going and watch the football. But that one gets me, but weirdly, brief encounter was a touchstone for us in a tournament. We sort of adopted that acting style a little bit. It wasn't how people behaved back then, but it was definitely how people acted back then. And the way their relationship ends in that story and the unconsumated love that they have is just so sad.

And a food that makes you confused. A movie that makes me confused? A food. A food. A food. More important than movies. Come on. Goat's cheese. Really? It tastes like a headache. When I taste it, that's, I, when I've got a headache, I get the same flavor in my mouth as goat cheese.

So is it, is it narnia related? Because you're kind of like, in that. Because, like, it's just like, it's almost like cannibalism? Yeah. You can't drink your own milk. I think we figured out your hatred of goat treats. You're welcome. Were there any.

female fawns in Nornia. You're the, you were in it, so. I don't know. I mean, I wonder if male fonds can lactate, because otherwise they're going to be cheeseless. Yeah. Let's bring in the animal expert that we always have on staff. We have the fantastical beast expert, please. Thanks very much.

James, it is always a pleasure. Thank you. I think we promoted your movie, hopefully. It's excellent. Speak no evil. Check it out. It really is. See it with a big crowd.

Congratulations. Good luck on the directing effort. Thank you. We'll compare and contrast, compare to your comments now, later. And you'll be tested. No, thanks as always, buddy. I really appreciate it. Thanks, pleasure.

Thank you, thank you. 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. American history is full of infamous tales that continue to captivate audiences, decades or even hundreds of years after they happened. On the infamous America podcast, you'll hear the true stories of the Salem Witch Trials

and the escape attempts from Alcatraz, of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and Charles Starkweather, of mysteries like the Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, and of events that inspired movies like Goodfellas, killers of a flower moon, zodiac, eight men out, and many more. I'm Chris Wimmer. Join me as we crisscrossed the country from the Miami Drug Wars and Dixie Mafia in the South, to mobsters in Chicago and New York, to arsonists, kidnappers, and killers in California, to unsolved mysteries in the heartland and in remote corners of Alaska. Every episode features narrative writing and

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