Happy Sad Confused - Paddy Considine

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

Paddy Considine has been waiting for a role like this and now with HOUSE OF THE DRAGON it has come! Paddy joins Josh to rank his favorite ROCKY films, talk why he loves horror but doesn't necessarily need to be in one, and show off some of his DRAGON keepsakes! SPOILERS AHEAD! Make sure you subscribe to Josh's youtube channel to watch all his conversations! Click here! Come see Josh tape LIVE Happy Sad Confused conversations in New York City! October 25th with Ralph Macchio! Tickets are available here! October 26th with Henry Cavill! Tickets are available here! November 11th with Sylvester Stallone! Tickets available here! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter here! Don't forget to check out the Happy Sad Confused patreon here! We've got exclusive episodes of GAME NIGHT, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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or go to explorevolvo.com. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Today on Happy, Said Confused, a deep dive into House of the Dragon with Patty Considine. Hey guys, I'm Josh Horowitz, and yes, we have the king himself, Vassaris, is on the show today. And I'm just going to say this up front. Spoiler warnings galore. I would highly recommend watching at least through episode 8 of House of the Dragon before proceeding because this is an open and honest chat with the great actor that is Patty Considine about a fantastic first season on House of the Dragon.

Okay, spoilers. Good? Good. Okay. As you know by now, Patty has just wrapped up his run on the show. his run as Vassaris, King Vassaris, came to an end in episode 8, and a beautiful episode, and we dive into all of it today. This is a great chat with an actor I've long admired, if you've seen him in way back when I remember him first, perhaps in, in America, the great Jim Sheridan movie. If you haven't seen that, he's been in a bunch of Shane Meadows' work over the years, has done great work on the stage in both the West End and here on Broadway,

and now in his, certainly his most high-profile role because, you know, you don't get much bigger in pop culture than the new Game of Thrones show. And this one has captured the imagination of folks and this performance in particular has captured the imagination of folks, including George R. R. Martin, who has said that basically he did this character better service than his own writing. And so that is the highest praise I can imagine. So this is a great chat with an actor, a self-deprecating, but a truly talented actor in Patty Considine. Other things to mention before we dive into this chat, let's see, just a bunch more events I should mention, you know, again, if you want to see me in person talking to some amazing

folks, we got a bunch of options coming up for you. Let's see, October 25th at Symphony Space, Ralph Machio talking about his memoir, Waxing On, Karate Kid, my cousin Vinny, Kobra Kai, all of it, October 26th at 92nd Street. Why? I'm going to be talking to Henry Cavill, and yes, we have a lot to talk about, guys. Noah Holmes, too, is the film that he's promoting, but we are going to go into The Witcher and Superman, past, present, and perhaps future. More to come on that. And on November 11th, guys, I'm talking to Sylvester Stallone and Terrence Winter about their new show, Tulsa King. Yeah, a deep dive with Sly Stallone.

I am really psyched for that one. And it segues well into this conversation today because Patty actually is a huge Rocky fan, like maybe the biggest Rocky fan on the planet. We talk about that love here, talk about his love of horror films, and for those of you that want to watch this one, and I would recommend actually watching the video of this one

because Patty shows off some great Halloween items, but also some memorabilia, some souvenirs really from the set of House of the Dragon. So if you want to watch this, go over to YouTube.com slash Josh Horowitz. All these links are in the show notes. Remember to hit up the Patreon page. We're putting up exclusive content there, including, by the way, exclusive stuff we shot with Sam Hewin at Comic-Con. That is going up only on the Patreon page.

At least for now, I think I might keep it there. Patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused. for exclusive Sam Hewin stuff that we shot at Comic-Con. That's super fun. That's a lot, isn't it? It's a lot. All right, let's get to the main event. House of the Dragon fans, you are not going to be disappointed.

This is, we really focus on the show, but certainly talk about the broader aspects of his career. But I think you'll enjoy this. This is me and Patty Considine. Patty Considine, finally on the Happy Set Confused Podcast. It's a real pleasure, sir. no thanks for having me so um first of all you come not only not only am i a fan but uh you come highly recommended uh matt smith and edgar wright both have vouched for you as a good human being to me yeah yeah yeah i don't know what you have over on them i have to smack them around a little

bit to get them to say like you know you tell josh i'm good yeah um i i'm smacking around a little bit a little beating here in there yeah how was doing the press tour with matt by your side I've talked to Claire Foya, who's done, had to do that a lot over the years. And I know it's a, it's a, it's a, can be a tough, that's a tough road. How was it for you? It's all right. It's a bit of an assault, you know, if you're not used to do any. And, you know, it's like retraining your brain again to try and deal with it all.

It's, you know, and particularly like post the pandemic thing. I know it seems like it's fading in the distance now, but, you know, I think I forgot how to behave quite a bit, you know. It was really weird. But the press saw went well enough. I found it a bit odd, really, because, you know, you're there with a show. You're unknown. And there's a kind of buzz about something that nobody's seen. So you're there talking about a show that nobody has any idea if it's going to succeed or fail.

You're playing some boring king, as far as they're concerned, you know, some good king who's kind of a boring guy. And you're going to sit there and tolerate all the nonsense. And just in the back of my going, I wish, you know, if I was in season two, for example, it would probably be a lot easier. Well, the good news is now you're getting a little bit of a run to get to, you know, dig into the juicy stuff. And it's, I mean, it's just a remarkable arc for your character and a great first season for this show.

But before we get to the show itself, I just do want to mention, I see the Jacko' Lantern behind you, and I've been informed that you are a big Halloween guy. Now, my understanding growing up was that Halloween isn't necessarily as big overseas as it is in the States, but was that not the case for you? No, obviously, it's got its roots in Celtic. It's a Celtic thing. You know, it went over to America, so it wasn't originally from America Halloween. We appropriated it and made it into a, you know, a McDonald's holiday.

Like we do everything. Yeah, exactly. But my, you know, if I'm honest, though, when I was a little kid, It wasn't a big thing in England, but we did use to do stuff as little kids. You know, we'd make potatoes at pumpkins out of potatoes and wrap ourselves in newspaper. My mum and my next-door neighbor would wrap us in newspaper with pins and make little witch's costumes when we were really little. So it was obviously around then. But I think my love of Halloween grew up, my love of horror films and also, you know, American movies.

You know, as a kid, you'd watch films like E.T. and it'd be Halloween and you wish that it was like over here because it wasn't at the time but it's grown more massive over the last, you know, 20 years or more in England. I'd love to hear a little bit more

about your horror movie taste because Edgar was saying you're just like a fanatic for horror films and like you're a couple years older than me but we both kind of sound like we came of age in the 80s and I know that there was a bit

of the slasher films of the era but then we have John Carpenter in that era. What's your Mount Rushmore of horror? What's your like? like top five. Well, I, I loved Carpenter. I absolutely love Carpenter as a filmmaker.

I think he's amazing. An amazing body of work in that period of time from Halloween, you know, onwards. But do you know something like Edgar Wright, Edgar's one of those people that's a real filmer and can talk about a film. And I'm not really that sort of guy. I'm not a factoid on things.

And I just like the things that I like, you know. But my first experience of seeing horror film or a horror moment was when Salem's Lot was on television in England and I was only a little kid and I came I had this woke up one of those weird deliriums you know and gone downstairs and the rest of my family were all sitting up really late watching the television so I sort of crept into the room and sat at my mother's feet and I'm going what's everybody watching you know because they were just like glued to this thing and it was a scene in the police cell where you first see Mr. Barlow and there was this prison cell, you know,

and I'm going, what's going on? And then the lock and then the claws and then, oh, you know, and I just let like a cat from the floor onto my mother's lap and screamed like, not just scared hysterically, hysterically. And I loved horror from that moment onwards, but I was scared of watching horror films. The first of the Halloween films, it wasn't even the original. It was on video and it was the John Carpenter. Sorry, it was Halloween 2. Sorry. Oh, okay. Got it. It was Halloween 2, sorry. So I hadn't,

I didn't really see the original. But I was watching that, just terrified. That was the first horror film that I braved sitting through, actually sat through it and thought, I'm going to try and watch this and not leave the room. So that was quite a triumph. But there was another funny one. I remember, like, at the time, because the evil dead was banned in Britain.

and you couldn't kind of watch it on the cinema and it wasn't around on video so all they had was people would have pirate videos of it and have these little viewing gatherings and I got sent to fetch my sister from a friend's house and I walked to the house and I knocked on the door and it was pitch black in the day and my sister's friend answered the door and said,

what do you want? And I said, my mum sent me to get Mandy, she went, come in, we're watching somewhere, but be quiet and I walked in and I stood in the edge of the doorway and I'm looking at this film playing And again, these gang of kids are all glued to watching it. And I can see this film. And it's like, it looks blue.

You know, it's got like a blue filter on it. And it's nighttime. And it looks blue. And then you see Bruce Campbell and all that. And I'm going, I didn't know anything about it. I'm a kid. And I'm looking and I'm going, oh, this is blue. And I'm like, oh, this is what they must mean by a blue movie.

You know, like a porno film. I didn't have any concerts. went, oh, so this is a blue movie, you know. Very little, very literal, yeah. And then the next thing, it must have been a bad pirate. And the next minute, she shoots out of the ground, you know, and he chops her right off of the Spain. And I was just like, ooh.

It's funny because, like, I get it. I get it. I totally relate. I have those memories, too, of seeing, like, you know, the It miniseries as a kid, of seeing the exorcist on a late night when I, and in the edited version. version even of the edit of the exorcist on like basic cable still just scarred me for life in the best possible way but those stick with you and like yeah it's fantastic i'm curious like you actually haven't worked like have you ever worked with any of like the quote-unquote horror

masters have you you haven't done like the i don't know the kronenberg the carpenter hasn't happened yet hasn't no never have you know never have and probably never will really but it's all right you know sometimes i sometimes i just prefer being a fan of things and, you know, I can just sit back from afar and enjoy it. And I think, you know, sometimes when you get involved with things that you love and, you know, you see behind the curtain and then you go, oh, I kind of wish I hadn't done that now. The magic's been spoiled. And in what we do, you know, it's, we're constantly, you know, seeing behind the scenes of it all. And I just want to keep that illusion there in some respects

with some things. So I don't have a burning desire to be in a horror film. anything like that. I'm just a massive fan. That's fair. I still, I could see you. I feel like as a, what, you got something there? Oh, I've got lots of things, lots of Halloween. What do you got? Three little mini masks here and all kinds of crazy stuff. I've got a Halloween free, a Ouija board.

Then, kick of three studios. It's all a bit of a mess at the minute. Is there, is there going to be like, is there a Halloween night tradition? It is for us, yeah. You recognize that guy. That's amazing. This is, this is,

does the family support your obsessions? Yeah, they love it. Well, you know, my little daughter as well is a big fan of horror. She has been for years. She watched the Chucky films way too young, but she loved them. And the first horror films she watched was Mama. And, um, I like that. And she was about four or five years old.

And we were like going, she shouldn't be seeing that. And then I was outside, you know, sweeping up or whatever I was doing in the garden. And I found a piece of paper and opened it. And it was a little drawing and a little note she'd written to Mama and thrown out of her window that night, you know, to give her a message. And I went, oh, God, I'm out of awakening something. You know, well, she's awakened something there. But she's always been fascinated with horror herself. So, yeah, we get all these conventions together.

Oh, really? That's fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. We just had a Comic-Con here in New York, so it's always fun for me to walk around that insanity. So, okay, I do want to talk. Let's get into, I mean, we can talk about horror for hours, but let's talk about House of the Dragon because it's fresh on my mind. And you have just, man, you've completed an amazing run on the show.

Congratulations. Like, this is, it's stellar stuff. I know, I don't know how good you are taking compliments, but you must be feeling, I don't know, tell me about this. Like, because my sense in reading about you is you are tough on yourself. how does that jive with what people are saying about what you've done with this character, which is very positive stuff. Are you able to accept

the love? That's a no. Yeah, it's strange. I don't know if it's part of me and part of my condition or whatever or a condition of mine, but I just you know, but I'll put it this way, all right, I'm not great at

accepting things. But I'm okay to acknowledge that you know I'm rarely feel any fulfillment from anything that I do and then work wise you know um and I think for so many years I was sort of in the background a little bit even if it was you know films that I've made myself and and right they were you know these these big expressions and explorations I've still felt like I was sidelined in them in some way and and then so I think to finally sort of be in some something where I feel like when I played Versaeris, like a lot of things came together for me in that part.

It became quite unpersonal for me. And I think for a long time, feeling sort of partially sidelined to be able to be in something like that on this scale and for it to be global. I think it was, I don't want to call it an arrival, but there's a part of me that was always going, hello, I'm here. I'm here. I'm capable of doing. these things I just want the chance and in England I was just becoming a guy from

Dead Man Shoes and it'd been like for nearly 20 years and after a while you got appreciate you love the film but I'm capable of so much more than that but that's all I was becoming and I knew that I could do other things I just wanted the chance and you know Bissaris

and House of the Dragon get me the chance and you know I loved I loved the character from the beginning from the minute I read him and I thought he was a massive gift and I've said this in other interviews but you know I always in a very self-deprecating way but I always say who's turned this down then who don't want to do it because like this is great and it's like well nobody's turn it down because they haven't offered it to anybody it's yours if you want to do it and I've got to give

full credit to Miguel Sopochnik and Ryan Condal they were the people I met first and had a conversation about it for thinking of me for it and offering me it um i you know i thought he was a gift but there was a definite sort of there's something redemptive in it for me that i i felt like oh finally they've seen what i can do and they are that invisible day no you know and it's hard to quantify that and it's hard to and i get it though but like yeah because i'm sure in your brain for those of us would act brains that think about this stuff. It's like, wait, if and when I get the shot, if I, if and when I get that center role in the center of culture,

what if I fail? What if people don't give a shit? What it like, and then it's, the good news about this conversation is not only did people watch, they really accepted it with love. And not happen. Yeah. I mean, I, but I genuinely, that aside that as well, I genuinely loved the character.

Yeah. And I worked really hard on him and put a lot into. to him and George O'R. Martin's been really complimentary about what I brought to it. And, you know, it was a really tough job, but I felt that sense of fulfillment that I rarely, if ever, feel. And, you know, and I think you're allowed to feel that every now and again. I just felt like all the hard work I'd done. I wasn't trained as an actor in any way. Right. And I always felt there was a part of the puzzle missing with me. I always felt like a bit of an imposter.

I wouldn't go as far as that. I didn't think I have talent because that would be untrue, but I don't know, there's a part of me that was always hiding and holding back and, you know,

just feeling uncomfortable and I got to a point of acting in this country and I was going, I don't know what to do with myself anymore. I'm trying to break the mold in some way,

but I can't escape my beginnings in acting. You know, I can't get away from that. And like I said, I'm capable of so much more. Well, I will say, well, what you're saying resonates. And I honestly, it's maybe the most recurring narrative in my conversations with the folks over the eight years of doing this podcast is like I trust the ones that have the imposter syndrome and I don't trust the ones that feel like they are entitled. I mean, as you say, you know yourself enough to know you're obviously very talented.

But I don't know. We all, all the good ones feel enough self-doubt that keeps them sharp and keep some. And I could have just carried on doing similar things in this country and I could have stayed in my lane and at my level, whatever that is, you know, like I was told once. But I'm like, no, I, no, I'm here because this is a choice I made and it's a journey and it's, and it's a really, and it's not a sprint either. It's a marathon and I'm here to learn. I'm not saying I'm the finished article. I never want to be that, but I just felt that there was all this untapped potential. And I went out to make myself uncomfortable.

I wrote and directed my own films and went through the glory and the absolute disappointment of that. I took myself, well, I got these opportunities, but you've got to turn off. I went and did a play. I was never going to do a play. We did that in the West End,

and eventually on Broadway. I was never going to do Broadway. That's not, that was never a plan of mine. But it came, and it was a life-changing experience. And I just feel like during that period of time, I got to have an education. I got the chance to learn a little bit more about acting because, you know,

there's this argument about natural talent and talent and craft and things like that. And I'm like, well, you know, if you've got some natural talent, what's wrong with kind of bringing in some craft to that? Right. There's nothing wrong with it. If I was a fighter, a great trainer, if they can make me a more refined fighter, then you'd learn the craft.

so that's all it was ever about to me and I think all those lessons came to a, you know, came to a collision and, you know, through Viseris Targaryen, I just think that I was able to, all those lessons are learned, I was able to put them into him and deliver that kind of bones. So when this one comes around, as you said,

like it was something clearly you wanted to do, but I mean, and you knew, presumably when they come to you, they say, I mean, the character is the character. We know his end at the beginning. And by the way, this is spoiler-a-word stuff for folks that haven't seen through to the end of episode seven, eight, eight. Maybe take a pause.

But I assume they said from the beginning, this is the first season, this is what's going to happen. You're only in it for the first season, but we're going to trace the arc of this. Like, would you have been interested if they said this is potentially going to be stretched out over three to five years, or was the one season of it all exciting for you?

Not if it. it was a, if it wasn't going to be an interesting character, I didn't want to be standing there in armour for, God knows how many months and years of my life and just, you know, every now, and I've been offered jobs on epic things in the past and it all sounded very exciting. And then when you got the scripted and looked at it, you were literally standing in the background with a spear and all these other actors got to play and you've stepped up. And I'm like, no, I'm not doing that, you know. Um, so this was different. I think when I read it, um, and I, I, I, And it didn't bother me that it was one season

because he had a story. He had a beginning, middle, and an end. And I thought he was a beautifully, brilliant, complex character. You know, I used to drive me nuts when people talked about. It was, you know, you're weak, you know, and all this. And I'm like, I think you're under-escalating me, you know. Bissaris was no idiot in my eyes. And he certainly wasn't weak, that's for sure.

And it was interesting watching that tide turn from the beginning of the beginnings of the show. You know, it was a bit of a competition. It was all about favoritism and things like that. I'm not here for any fuckers competition. I'm not here to be your mate or to be anybody's favorite. I'm here to play for Seris Targaryen. And a friend messaged me today, actually,

and they said, you watching it, they said, like, now seeing the end of it, it's almost like at the beginning, like you knew who he was from, the beginning and I'm like, yeah, I did. And I think that was the difference. I knew who he was from the start. I just had a sense of him from the very, very beginning. And to be able to have one season, but to be able to go in and make an impact like that, I think what more would I want really? I mean, I could turn up year after year and dip in and dip out and you won't

see me for four episodes. I'm like, no, I came in and I did. it and I died and I was gone and that's it. That's it. Why not? You've been very kind in talking about the director and the creators and the writers and your fellow actors. And I want to get the pronunciation of her name right. Sean Brooke. Is that how you pronounce her name?

Sean Brooke. Yeah. Yeah. Who you've been saying like that's the key to the character for you is the loss of that character. That really casts a shadow and down to his dying breath. Yeah. And that was clear to you from the start.

This was going to be the inciting incident or the incident that would really just cast the shadow over the rest of his life. Yeah, I understood what that event did to him. I had an idea what it did to him. But because you take on a character and I'm talking about acting so nath and pretentious, you go on a journey.

And because I've directed as well, when I direct, I'm very open to things. things moving, you know? Like the first film I wrote and directed, Taranosaur, it was very, it was scripted. It wasn't improvised film, it was scripted and they stuck to the script. But ideas came and went in it, new avenues opened as we were making it. And I was never afraid to explore those possibilities. And I think I'm like that as an actor as well, particularly when you're living with

a character for a really long period of time. So what I'm saying is you're receptive, I'm very receptive. to things and people and events. So when I knew that the death of Emma would devastate this areas, but until we shot it, and I worked with Sean for what was just a few days, and I think what determined it was because what we shot was 10 times more brutal than what you saw. And he was 10 times more devastated than what you saw.

I mean, he was inconsolable. He was absolutely distraught. And there was a scene that didn't make the cut. where I'm sitting on the bed, there's blood on the bed, and I've got the dagger, and one of the maesters brings, I don't know if he brings Baylon to me, and I can't even look at him, or I think the thing was, he comes to tell me that actually Baylon hasn't lived. And so Viseris was hit with this double whack of devastation of his wife, and then the kid, you know, his son. And then there was this sense of like,

you know, like that cruel twist of fate of like, I'm not surprised, you know, I'm not surprised. Resignation, just like amused resignation. Yeah,

yeah. Yeah, and they cut it and probably rightly so because it just cuts them to the funeral pie, but that's probably the right choice really, but it was just the impact of those scenes, the amount of motion that we put into it and the amount of effort and emotion that Sean put into it,

there was such long, hard days filming and she left such an impression with her work, even in the more tender scenes that I just, she left a kind of imprint everywhere and she left this impression on me. And it just changed the course of how I played the character. I just went, this is it, this is the thing that this man carries for the rest of his life.

And this is the thing that he can't get over. And my secret then became, you know, when she's burning, it's like, I don't want to live anymore. So when he starts to, he's starting to get these injuries from the throne and he's starting to get this kind of, you know, the stuff on his back, the blistering on his back, when it starts to develop into something else, he doesn't care because, if you look at the story, he doesn't ask the maesters for a cure, he's not scared,

he's not going to help me, my arm's falling off. It's everybody else going, let's try the least. Let's try this. Oh, there's an old technique. He's not. He's just silently accepting his fate by way of punishment for what he put his wife through in those final moments. And that's how those days with Sean changed the way that I went about the character.

Because secretly, I just went, this is a love story. And one day he'll be reunited. So by the final scene when he's lying on the. the bed and all I had in my head was that he reaches up and touches her face and then he I improvised that moment where I say my love and the beautiful thing as well about that episode was that they just picked up every new ones you you give good work to people and they don't see it they don't see the little moments they don't see the crown falling off the head and use it you know they they stop and go again whereas the accidents are where you've

things happen and Gita allowed for these things to happen. And not only that, put them in, put these little nuances in, put those moments in and I was really grateful because, you know, a lot of your performance too depends on the work of everybody else and the choices they make in the edit. And I can say with my hand on my heart that I thought the choices they made were fantastic. So I was just so. It's funny. Because what you're talking about, like people talk about improvisation, et cetera, but like the point is these are building on the foundation, the building blocks of the script and your actors. And the two things you've just mentioned of that deathbed moment and that like I'm going to get like emotional just thinking about you and Matt is just like such a, it says so much about that relationship, that very complex relationship that as as crazy as this story as we all can relate to, many of us have brothers and sisters. and it's a human extrapolation of what's on the page.

It's fantastic. Well, you know, the messages I got from people who were just like, I watched my parent die, you know, and that's what it was like. And I went, well, that's what it was like for me when I watched my father die. And that's what I played in those moments. And the shocking thing was when my wife said, you've got to just see this last bit, because I don't really watch myself.

because you've got to watch this last bit when you go and I went okay and the first thing she put on was this image of me in the bed and I just burst out crying and you know my daughter Franau came over and put her arms around me and I went that I wasn't just it didn't just remind me of my dad I looked the image

the image of my dad when he was dying you know and that was his real shock I didn't know it was going to be like that at all and that was frightening but that's what we do, you know, just what we do. Yeah. So you haven't watched, it sounds like you haven't been watching the show. Will you watch it now?

I mean, now you can watch it from a distance, or is that going to be weird? I, I, look, you know, I'm a funny creature. I'm very self-critical and cripplingly so. and you know I feel like I watched the first episode a couple of times

we had our premieres and I crept into the second episode and saw bits of the third but not all of it and okay and then my wife showed me a scene from one of the others and I thought I was awful in it and then I couldn't watch it anymore

you know I watched other people's bits I watched some of the other people's scenes in the show you know I made sure I looked at my colleagues and my comrades and saw what they were up to so it's not that but I couldn't you know

and it kind of did my knotting for weeks and I went I can't watch this fucking thing it doesn't matter if Sosaise De Niro Pacino and Sam Rockwell all the people

Phil Offman were there standing a line going paddy that's amazing what you're talking about it wouldn't matter to me on that note let me read, and this might make you cringe and want to like run into the other room, but this is what George R. Martin said, and I just want to say, for the record, the character he created for the show is so much more powerful and tragic and fully flesh than my own

version in fire and blood that I'm half tempted to go back and rip up those chapters and rewrite the whole history of his reign. Patty deserves an Emmy for this episode alone. If he doesn't get one, hey, there's no justice. So that's the guy. Well, there are far greater injustices in the world but but george to say that i you know it's it's really humbling and i can't you know i think that's the amazing thing to do to have the author and creator of that world say those things you've made a character you know the thing is that you know visceris was on was was on the script you know when i talk of improvisation i don't mean we went in and it was like goodfellas you know it wasn't it's just the odd flourish it's the thing you felt

and I always had this thing of when I die I know what I see and I know what I want to see and I kept that a secret and I don't know if I even spoke to Geacher about it, I can't remember but to have the, it was always there but what happened early on was like the

you know we did a dreadful read through it was COVID we were all 20 metres apart from each other it felt like we were doing it on megaphone it was like in a spaceship it was odd it was weird everybody was projecting you know and all this shit

it was horrible and afterwards Miguel looked worried and I thought oh is the part where they know they fucks up and they've hired

the wrong person and he went we need to put more Paddy in it and I went okay and he went it's missing Paddy

and I just went bang you fucking got it then if you want Paddy let's do it and it just gave me the confidence and the licence to go right

I'm bringing everything to him. And that's what I did. And just from that moment on, when you know you're allowed the freedom of a character and you're not there battling over the minutiae and nonsense that can happen sometimes, I think after so many months in, it was like, just trust the guy.

He is, for serious, he knows this guy. And you have to do that as a riot there sometimes. You just got to hand this over to somebody and go, listen, I'm here to guide you, but this is your journey now. Right. But for George to say that is the greatest compliment. Yeah, it's amazing, really. Is, you know, we've been talking about the kind of that, you know, self-doubt, that imposter syndrome thing. And, like, you had, you know, early success once you kind of committed to acting. I mean, I would say, did you, like, was there, like, was there a job that scarred you or something? Like, were you fired from an early job? Like, what happened? I would, no, I never got fired from anything. It wasn't that. I, you know, I was, I was, I was.

a very lucky kid in that. I got out the blocks with a decent body of work, you know, I mean, Ken Meadows got the, you know, he's the guy that got me back into wanting to wax again. So there was Romeo Brass with him. I worked with

Pavel Pavlikovsky on a couple of his early films, you know, Jim Sheridan, I work with Michael Winterbottom, you know? Absolutely, yeah. It was just, it was amazing. I feel that something got stuck at some point, and it was probably around the time of Dead Man Shoes.

Right. That something got stuck and something in me was going like something's not working here for me. I feel like I have all this potential, but I don't really know what to what to do with it. And, you know, I got offered, I'd had a role in the Bournemouth to Maiting, which was a really big film. But it was a big film. It didn't need me in it at all, you know, and that's not self-deprecating. It's the fact I loved working with Paul Greengrass. I was a great, great filmmaker

and I was working with Matt every day you know, but I was playing this journalist who'd sit in there watching Matt do kung fu and that I'm going, well, I can do that. I'll open you one. I'm fucking fucking right.

And you're sort of sitting there. I know, what am I doing here? You know, like there wasn't a big film, but I knew that it wasn't a moment for me in a career sense or even an acting sense that people would go, oh God, you were great. is that guardian journalist

in the former to mate it. People rarely say the eighth lead in the action movie they're not going to say this is the one this is it,

yeah. I get it. But it's a great film. Yeah. And I was absolutely grateful for the chance, but there was a couple of moments on that even when I thought,

you know, I'm not sure about this anymore. I don't know what's going on. And I started to feel that early. And then, you know, Dead Man Shoes was something. I did the Red Riding trilogy,

which, It was a great show that we did in India. And you look at it now. I mean, it's smashing. You know, if you pull that out on Netflix or brought it out as a new drama, it's smashed. Oh, totally. Andrew Garfield, an amazing cast.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we had an incredible cast of fucking everybody was in here. We all got paid nothing. Of course. I remember being on the fight of that. We stood with Peter Mourlin and there's Dave Morrissey and, you know, there's Sean Bean. And like you say, there's Andrew Garfield.

And everybody's doing their thing, you know, We're all crossing over because we're shooting these different years. And I remember I'm in a conversation with Peter Mullen about the fact that we were getting paid nothing. And I said, well, why did you do it then? You know, and he said, well, I did it because they said you were doing it. And I went, well, I only did it because you were doing it. And everyone was going to go, well, I only did it because you did it.

You know, this isn't shown everybody. But the vibe on the set was, oh, I did it because they said you were doing. And I went, they got us all to do it. on the back of each other. We're all idiots. You know, that's how the chap of all who got us on it. But it was a really

great piece of work. James Marsh directed because of the one that I did. You know, nothing's gone on to do some great documentaries and film works. So, you know, I think I think Dead Man Shoes

is probably the thing that just became a bit of a weight, not in terms of the film. It's an incredible film. and I think it's a powerful performance but it became a weight around my neck for a long time and I couldn't break it and it didn't matter what I did it so you'll never beat Dead Man Shoes

and I'm going, I'm not here to beat anything and then Dead Man Shoes is further and further in the distance and I'm going to, is anything going to come to change the consciousness just the little bit because I could say all the Furman, Gary Oldman all, you know, Made in Britain and Tim Roth, I could pick out of those guys But they kind of did work that, you know, sort of push them further on down the line.

And I'm still sitting here going, what's going on? I'm still the guy in the Green Code. And sometimes it builds up a, well, it did. It built up a kind of resentment. And it was only because I'm going, I'm capable of more. That's great. And I can do that. But in some ways, playing that character wasn't a challenge to me.

Playing Viseris was a challenge. But playing that character wasn't a challenge. And, you know, just having that sense that you've got so much more to give and that you want to learn about this thing that you're now suddenly doing and you're making a living from, but you're feeling so, you know, I'm terribly insecure about. I'd been offered a script years ago, and it was to play this leading role. And it was so one-dimensional.

And I said, I can't do this. I said, I can't do it. It's all about running and jumping over shit. I said, I'm like, there's nothing there. And there was another role in it of King Charles, the first. And I went, I'll play the king. Yeah. And I looked at it and I went, I could do some of that.

I could turn that into a Phil Hoffman type, like he was even in a long cane polly. He don't have any flounces on the stake here on that wonderful moment. And I'm like, I can do something like that with this. And I said, I'll play the king. I'll do the king on and I. no we don't really see you as a king you know

so you'd have to deal with that well that's the thing he's got his punko king who's the king now who's the king now mother liquor I also have to say I mean like I took the opportunity

when I knew I was going to talk to you just to dive down the hot fuzz YouTube rabbit hole to watch some of your scenes you and Rafe oh my God it's just it makes me laugh so much Did it feel, I mean, were you, I mean, I know I've talked to Edgar a lot about that film and obviously the Michael Bay influence. Did you go back to Michael Bay? Did you look at like any specific character tropes to, no, it was just all instinct? What was it? Sometimes, you know, this is the funny thing with characters and research. Sometimes research is really, really helpful.

Sure. But I know those guys are very much go to certain movies and look at certain movies. The only thing in it was like point break was the first. film that me and my wife went to see together. We went together 30 years. 31 years this year or something. We were married for 20 years. And that was the first film that we went to see at the cinema together. I love it. But

hot fuss to me wasn't like that. I mean, we did, myself and Rafe did go out to Wells or we went somewhere near Bristol and we met a couple of detectives as part of our research. You know, Edgar sends us on a research trip. And the first time I met,

Rafe actually was in this sort of hotel bar thing when I got off the train and then we got picked up and went to meet these detectives and they were kind of like the Andes they weren't comical but they were like the Andes and you know there were times about all the various murders and the cases in the area and they couldn't wait to show us the pictures of dead bodies you know they had this thing of like you know

this happened to such as such we walked in the room and this body it was like something from Indiana Jones will show you in a minute you know they can wait to get the road test and then at one point one of them says I'm going up the road to the bakery does anyone want a flapjack like in the big you know

everyone's buying cakes and that in hot foot and I always felt like is a cassette they're stuck or something but these guys had so many similarities to the Andes that they were off to buy cakes and flapjacks and things like that but that was the extent of the research

me and Rape just I mean, we were like naughty kids at school. That's the only way to describe it. We were, we became our own little thing, you know, and we became the Andes. We had a good laugh, and it was, well, man, that film is like going to school. It was like being at school in it. Yeah, you can imagine, like, that's the beauty of a film like that,

that is so rich in every smaller character is like you could watch the movie about those characters. You can, you imagine the broader life of those characters. that's what's on screen but I've got to say that's Edgar's right in and that's Edgar and sometimes I wouldn't say give you a line read

but it sometimes he reminded me of Bruce Robinson you know when you see documentaries talking about a nittle by mouth and get at the back of the band and all that you know

Edgar would sometimes riffing with you and he'd say a line and you'd go oh okay is that how you want me to to say it because he's made the movies

in his head already he's got it there Yeah, he makes movies in his head. And it wasn't every time. It wasn't for every line, but you went, oh, okay. And actually, it did inform you of where you could go with the character. And then you could really go to town with all them one line. It's like, you know, you've got a mustache and all that.

But what Edgar does allow for is for those moments, like, I had to laugh because in this Empire Magazine pile of the best shots in Edgar Wright film, the shot from Hotfuss was number one. and it was like the shot where, you know, Simon and Nicker in the frame and there's me and Rafe and, you know, I lean out of a frame and then come back in and then... Oh, my God, you know, a centimetre last, an inch more, whatever. But it's...

How it's like to say, perfect, it's just up to the gods how that happened. We both come back into frame, you know, and that got voted the best shot. And I just laughed and I said to Reger, I said, how ironic for all the whip pans of mad shit that a static shot wins the best two guys coming back. I see it on Twitter every day. It's fantastic. This might be the biggest challenge for you, Patty. Rank the Rocky films for me.

Give me, I know you are an Uber Rocky fan. Yeah, I love Rocky. Where do you stand? Rocky changed my life. Rocky was the film that changed my life when I was a little kid. That was the film that I watched. And I watched that very young. I went, that's it, I'm getting out of here,

and I'm doing something with my life, that was it. I wasn't the film or the narrative behind the film, because you could apply it to both. Like, both things are inspiring. It's the lone story. Yeah, absolutely. It's very much rocky. I was like, no, you know, I want an idea, you know,

that I want to be somebody that's sort of on the water from, you know, the origins and that, you know, I could have been a contender and all that stuff. You can see that in Rocky. And then, yeah, I just want to be somebody. and I think that's what I felt as a kid when I watched it. I used to walk around and roll my shoulders when I was walking on my own

and, you know, do a bit of shadow boxing and things like that. I loved it. I think I would rank the Rocky is the best. The first one is the best. I think Rocky 2 is the second best. I think that's a fantastic film. So many great, great moments in it.

I think Rocky 3 is third. Wow. Okay. We're getting controversial now, I think. But continue. Okay. There's no world in which Rocky Balbova is a heavyweight in that film by the way

even so in the commentary they have to say he looks like a middleweight someone likes going just say that because they're not going to buy it we got to say it got to own up to it yeah heavy weight but it's a great story and I think the great character's great writing brilliant acting and then I would go from through to Rocky Balboa that was a good one yeah yeah yeah And I think the worst is, is, um, it's got to be five, right?

Yeah, five's the worst. Yeah. And four, when I watch four these days, I tried to watch that extended cut with a few. Yeah. And I was like, you know, because I loved it. When I watched it at the cinema, by the way, when I was in my teams, the place was absolute. It was like being at a fight. Oh, yeah.

Everybody went nuts. They were cheering. People were throwing coins at the screen when Ivan Drago came on and you can see the screen I thought, wow, this is on, I've never been in a film like that before. But, yeah, for, to me, when I watched it last it felt like a series of pop videos. Oh, it is. I mean, there are montages in there that are, I mean, it is the distillation of the 1980s

in a 90-minute movie. It's barely a movie, honestly. But it's, as you say, I had fond memories of watching as a kid. It is what it is. And do you like the Creed movies? Where are you at on Creed? I didn't like them as much. I didn't like them.

No, I didn't. If I'm being honest, I don't like being really, you know, sour or anything like that or critical of all the word, but I love those Rocky films. I've got a massive Rocky collection, actually,

but it's boxed up at a minute. And I just feel that the heart of Rocky was all those wonderful characters, you know, of Mickey and Pauli and Adrian, and that was the Rocky world to me. And when they died, I think Rocky died and I never quite

I never quite felt arrested by by what's his name his son in it Apollo's son yeah yeah Michael B Jordan as a creed yeah yeah yeah it's not image an actor man it's not no I got you I got you yeah yeah yeah I mean it's the character as you said we fell in love with yeah yeah I never felt that same thing

and I hated Rocky 5 when all of a sudden he had nothing again you know he went And that was a pretty shit film anyway, let's be honest. Yeah, it didn't ring true. They kept going vastly back and forth. His net worth would just go back and forth by such degrees every film.

It was like, where are we at now? Yeah, that's what they became. But the first few, there was really, really great heart in them and fantastic stuff. Yeah. I'll let you go, man. I really appreciate the time. I mean, I could geek out with you for hours.

What do you want to brag the Rambo? Rambo. Oh, God, Rambo films? Those are few and far between my friend. I don't know how you feel. First blood. I have a soft spot for Rambo, the second one, because that's, again, a pure 80s movie.

But the rest? Do you know, Rambo 3, when that came out, I got old of a really terrible black and white pirate version of it on VHS. And I had a screening at my mate's house, and I charge Mates a pan to watch it to come in and watch it. So I fleeced them all for, I made about five to six quid out of it. and they sat there watching a black and white version of it and the picture was jumping all over the place

and it was absolutely all. But everybody sat through it, you know, pinned to it. Hopefully it'll be better in black and white, yeah. Congratulations. What's that? I said it's classic in black and white. Everything becomes classic in black and white. Yeah, that's how you do it.

That's why the only, you've probably heard the criticism, the only criticism, slight criticism of your show is like one of the episodes. People were like, it's too dark. I can't see it. It's classier that way. Just make it darker. It's classy. Yeah, yeah. Just make it dark. They do make it too dark these days. It is true. And my wife even said that actually, she can't see anything. Just lean in. It's like when people come up to me and complain to me about the title music, I don't know. Why haven't they got new title music going? Oh, fucking no, mate. What do you want me to do about it? I'm not, but now I'll just give them a ring and

Let's find out. I just don't know, mate. Let's see the Funco doll one more time before we go. I got it. I got a big moment. I got one of these. Yeah, look. Can you see him?

I definitely can. If I were you, I would have a wall of those. That's amazing. I hope they bring a variance out with his mask and things like that. And what else have I got? Oh, I've got my dragon. The only thing I was giving this, I said I nicked it from the set.

I did nick a couple of these. And they asked for him back. And one of the props guys went, I'll lose my job. And I went, oh, listen, man, I'd listen, I've got them back to you ASAP. I thought, oh, I won't miss them. And they count everything. So all I got here out of this set was this lovely dragon from my model of old Valeria. Well, that's all I came away with.

No mask, no staff, no, no. No mask, and I got a coin. Okay, okay. You won't see what's on it. That's the dragon. and that's me when I'm young with no beard. And I haven't even got Targary and long hair on it. So I don't know what that's all about.

It's supposed to be me, but he doesn't make anything like me. That's the block man. Enjoy Halloween. Thanks for your time. 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 Josh. Goodbye, summer movies, hello fall. I'm Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the Ultimate Movie Podcast, and we are ecstatic to break down late summer and early fall releases. We have Leonardo DiCaprio leading a revolution in one battle after another, Timothy Salome playing power ping pong in Marty Supreme.

Let's not forget Emma Stone and your goal. Los Lanthamos' Bagonia. Dwayne Johnson, he's coming for that Oscar. In The Smashing Machine, Spike Lee and Denzel teaming up again, plus Daniel DeLuis's return from retirement. There will be plenty of blockbusters to chat about two. Tron Aries looks exceptional, plus Mortal Kombat 2. And Edgar writes, The Running Man, starring Glenn Powell.

Search for Raiders of the Lost podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.