That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Aimee Lou Wood

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

On this week's episode of the podcast, Gaby is joined by star of Netflix's 'Sex Education' and two-time BAFTA winner Aimee Lou Wood. She is here to talk about her new role in 'Living' alongside National Treasure Bill Nighy, it's out in cinemas now. Since bursting onto the scene Aimee has captivated millions with her various performances and genuine openness about her personal life, her ups and her downs. This episode is an honest and thought-provoking chat with one of the most wonderful up & coming talents in the business.'Living' is out in cinemas right now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And welcome to That Gabby Roslyn podcast, part of the A-Cast Creator Network. My guest this week is the phenomenal actress Amy Lou Wood. I cannot tell you how amazing the film that she is in at the moment is. It's called Living. It stars Bill Naid and Amy. And it is incredible. It's one of the greatest films, in my humble opinion, ever. I loved it.

You will also recognize Amy Lou Wood, of course, from sex education and many. other things. She was a delight, a joy and I learned a lot from listening to this very wise actress. I do hope you enjoy this chat as much as I enjoyed chatting to her. Don't forget, you can keep up to date by following and subscribing, please, to the podcast, where a new episode is released every Monday. Leave us a rating on the Apple Podcast app. And whilst you're there, why not leave us a review? We love to hear your thoughts. Now, on with a show. Lou, I'm going to call you Amy Lou because my daughter is double-barrelled

and I'm the only person that calls her by her double-barreled name so I'm going to do it for you if that's all right. Yeah, that's lovely. Listen, I cannot I actually can't think of the right words to describe how I feel about living. I just watched the trailer again

and I felt exactly the same as I did when I saw the film. I couldn't move. I think it's one of the most beautiful, beautiful life-enhancing films I have ever seen and I know that sounds terribly over the top but I mean it when I left the screening I stopped people in the street and told them they have to see living

and Amy Lou if you don't win every award going I really that's why I was desperate to speak to you massive congratulations for one of the films that will stay with me for the rest of my life oh that is so beautiful Thank you so much. Well, I mean it. Do you feel like that about this film as I do?

Do you know what? I had the most amazing time doing the film. The actual doing of it was just from start to finish, like so magical and special. And I kind of thought the film couldn't possibly be as good as how. how it felt to make it. So I was kind of a little bit worried about watching it because I know how Oliver is, I think, an absolute genius, our director.

And obviously, I just thought the entire cast, the production designer, everyone was just like, unbelievably talented and cared so much about the film. So I did have high hopes, but I thought it can't possibly live up to how it felt, because how it felt was like, transcendently amazing, right, to make it. And then I saw it and I was, I went in to do some ADR and I was, it's the first time I've ever had this where I was speechless.

I was utterly speechless. I was so blown away. I was so emotional. It was because it looked like how it felt, which is, I mean, the highest praise I could give it. Like it looked how it felt to make it. and it feels watching it, it just feels like that too. And so I am kind of absolutely blown away by it, to be honest, because I just had, the whole experience has just been.

Even my friend Alex, who's in the film with me, who plays Peter, he was so worried about watching it for the same reasons, because when you've had such a perfect time making something, it's got to live up to that when you watch it back. And he said the same thing. It was that I actually can't believe it is as beautiful as it felt. So, yeah, I mean, I just, I'm so, so grateful to be a part of it. I can't really believe it, to be honest.

It's still not really sunk in. And I've seen it three or four times. But just hearing you say that, okay, this, sadly we're not sitting opposite each other, but please take my word for it. You just made tears of streaming down my face because that's how you felt about being in it, but that's how I felt about watching it. You can hear, it is a film that we all need.

It's a film that is so vital right now. It's about living. I mean, you know, living in that moment. And, you know, I could quote so many parts of that film, back to you. But I'm not going to. But that's the precious thing. And it just remind, we all just need, every so often we all need it, no matter what age we are. We need reminding how precious life is.

And your friendship, the friendship on that screen, it is what everybody just needs. It really, it's a vital film, actually. Yeah. Yeah. And it was so, honestly, I completely agree with everything that you're saying. and getting to play that part and be in it was such, it was such a nice, it would be on nice, but it was, you know, to be reminded, to be reminded,

because I think it's so easy, I, you know, I can lose myself for days trapped up in my head, you know, thinking, worrying, you know, stuck in the past, stuck in the future, not really here, I can lose days. and I think that this film is a, like you say, it's a real reminder to everyone, you know, how precious it is, how fragile it is, but at the same time it is so, it's got, life is just so full of contradictions, it's like so, it's so ferocious, but it's so fragile at the same time, like, it's just, it's, it's, it's happy, it's sad, it's, and I think that the film really reflects life. because it has all those contradictions. And I kind of just being in it, I felt so present, going to work every day. I was like, oh my God, I just feel so, I feel like Margaret.

And I think that she is a very present person. She's very much in her experience of life and very much here. And so it was so nice to play her. Oh, my God, I was like, God, this is a nice break from me. You have an incredibly wise head on very, very young shoulders. Thank you. Well, you do. It's, I mean, you know, because I knew we were talking.

I remember, I thought you were so outstanding in Uncle Vanier as well. And, of course, we'll talk about sex education, but I want to just talk about this film, and I want to sort of live and breathe it with you and talk about you. But you have a tremendous wiseness, and there is an incredible innocence. about Margaret, but yet she has a knowing. And if I may, I'm going to say that I feel that about you as well.

You have this wonderful wide-eyed innocence and excitement about life, but also this understanding of emotion and understanding of people. Because, I mean, you're very open about what you've been through personally as a young girl. But you're very wise. Where does this come from? Well, I think that I don't know. I mean, my mum always tells me that from the age of about two, I would listen to sad songs and just sob. And mum would say, why are you crying, Amy?

And I would say it makes me very emotional. I'm very emotional. So I've always, I think I've just always had, I've had a lot of emotion always. always. And I think that's just something that kind of, it always fascinated my mom. Like she was like,

what is, you know, this child that, you know, I could watch films from start to finish and never get bored or restless. Like I was always just very curious about things. But I definitely think that my, over time, I became more guarded with all of that, you know, because life happens. and things happen and you've become more self-protective.

And I think it was very, it was actually really moving when Oliver said to me, our director said that, you know, he said to me, you are just like Margaret. Like that's what you are very much the same to her. And I was kind of like, wow, because it's all, it's very much like the film. Like Mr. Williams sees something in Margaret that she doesn't see in herself.

Yes. And I kind of had that with Oliver, where he was like, but you are Margaret. And I thought, no, I'm not. Margaret is aspirational to me because she's very, yeah, like we said, she's very here and she's very curious and she's very present. And I was kind of, it was nice to be, it was very moving to have someone say, oh, but I see you like that.

I think you're like that. And I think I can get so, like I was talking about before, you know, I've got lots of kind of, as I've spoken about before, lots of kind of mental health stuff and all that. And I think it's sometimes, because I can get so lost in, you know, that kind, my brain cannot be my friend a lot of the time. It can be very much against me. And I think that I kind of have to, this film really help me remember that, yes, that's a

part of me, but also underneath that is Margaret and is that kind of, that free. person and the little girl that I was that was very open and emotional and curious and not scared. I think a lot of the time I feel like I'm like very much feel like a sense of threat. At the same time as feeling, you know, really glad to be alive. I'm very grateful. but at the same, you know, it can be quite tiring sometimes, feeling so, you know, feeling that way. And it was just, yeah, it's just really lovely to be this whole film. I was like, oh my God, like the way that we see ourselves

can be so different to how other people see us. So damaging as well. I mean, you know, it's, I've, you spoken so much about being shy as a child. And I literally couldn't open my mouth because I was the shyest child so people could never work out why I wanted to be a presenter. And you're saying, there you were as a very shy child, but you were writing these incredible stories, and then your teacher said you should be in drama.

And yet you still let your self-doubt get in the way and those moments where you looked in the mirror and felt you weren't worthy and you were too fat or you were, whatever it was. But yet you still go out there and do it. And that's, I cannot tell you. how much I wanted to talk to you because your story is so real and the story in living is so real and that's where Oliver sees the connection. You are like Margaret because you're very real, Amy Lou.

You're so real. You're going to make me cry. I don't mean to. It's lovely. It's lovely. And I think, yeah, I think that the bravest, I'm learning that the braveest, I'm learning that the brave. this thing is to do things whilst you're scared. I think I used to have this notion, I don't know where, but that you kind of have to overcome every fear that you have,

you have to overcome, you know, you have to battle it, you have to fight it. And actually, you don't, you actually just have to live and do things whilst you can be scared. You're allowed to feel scared whilst you're doing things. And that's, like, that is courage. You know, I kind of always felt like my, I don't know, like the doubt and all that stuff had to be, like this thing I had to really fight. And I actually now I'm kind of like,

no, you kind of have to just, you kind of have to just like nurture yourself and not be fighting all the time. But just, it is just courageous to do something whilst you're afraid. You know, because the scary thing, is, or the thing that's going to me is that, you know, that fear might not ever go away, but it can't stop you from living. It can't stop you.

And what I love about, about, you know, Margaret is that she isn't afraid. She does things while she's scared. Yeah. So she's scared to leave. The truth is she's scared to leave her job because it might not work out, but she still does it because she'd rather try another job that might not be seen. as respectful or whatever because she knows in her knowing as you call it like she that this place is going to crush her and it doesn't suit her so she just she tries something else she doesn't

she kind of just tries she tries and tries and I just think that's the most courageous thing and I think that's Mr Williams like you know he's his whole relationship with his son as well it breaks my heart oh don't don't oh the daughter-in-law I mean Bill nice performance in this as well. I mean, you've both got to win Oscars and Bafters and everything. I was about to say Grammy, but you're not singing, but you know what I mean. You've got to win them all. Have a Grammy. You have his little song. You should have a Grammy. Yes. Go on. You've got a Grammy as well. Totally, even though it's not on stage and Broadway. Yeah, you got it all. But his performance and your performance and the two of you together and how you both cope with,

life because I think this film is about coping with life and coping with living and making the most of every moment. And I get that, I'm going back to what I said a moment ago, but I get that from you. You know, when I've seen you interviewed about sex education, there's wide-eyed wonder about it, but also that it's, it has changed you, hasn't it, sex education as a person? Yeah, it has, definitely. It's really, and it's, it's, It's changed. And to be honest, Bill has been so helpful, like, and so kind and so generous about the stuff that, you know,

meeting him has been kind of tectonic for me. It's changed so much because he's, I kind of, we had the most amazing chats and we just spoke about everything. And it's really lovely to have someone that is totally, Because on sex education, you know, you've got, we've all got each other. We've all got each other, but we're all kind of at the same stage. Yes. Yeah.

So we're all, we all have each other to lean on when, you know, when our lives were changing really dramatically, we all had each other. But we were all kind of like all as scared and all as freaked out and all as, you know, anxious as each other. And it's really kind of, and Alex, too, you know, being on this film, having these people that just, there's so much more, like, this is bit like Bill's been doing this for decades and decades and decades. And he just has perspective and he has, he's learned how, you know, he's really learned what works for him and how to live whilst also, you know, being recognized every two

seconds on the street. So he's learned how to not be overwhelmed and how to still have his life and to still hold on to who he is and and and I and not be consumed by it. He's still such an individual and he's so, you know, he's just so him. Oh, I love him. I love him. I probably love him. And I'm, I don't care who knows it. I love Bill Nye. Um, but the, The sex education, I mean, you've got Doctor Who now, you've got Emily, Emma, Emily, you've got you taking over the world because you were about to. When you started out in that, did you have any concept that it was going to be as massive as it is? I mean, did you, because like I said, I think you're very wise.

Was there something in you that just thought, oh, wow, this is something. special. Do you know what? When I first got the script, I was like, I hadn't read anything really good in ages. I was getting stuff through and I was just kind of, it can just get so, it can get a little bit deflating. She's like, where's all the amazing, especially when you've been to drama school and for three years, you do like the best thing and the best writers. And then you get, and then you realize, oh, a part of the job is making quite bad writing good. Like that's, that's also a part of part of when you actually leave because not everything is going to be Chekhov or you know Simon Stevens or whatever it's going to be and I was

kind of going through a phase where I was getting stuff through and I was like bloody how and then I got sex education through and it just it absolutely was just so energized after reading it and I thought this is really good this is really original like it's so like fresh and unique and I really really really wanted to be in it. And I just, and I haven't had that for quite a while where I thought, wow. And, but then I kind of thought, because it was so unique and so singular, when we were filming it, I thought it was going to be like a very much occult following.

I thought it's going to be one of those things that comes out and like a few people watch it and go, hey, this is pretty good, you know, but it's not going to be like a, it's not going be a massive, massive crowd pleaser. It's going to be, because it's just so itself that a lots of things like that, it usually takes like, you know, it's 10 years after that people go, oh, that was actually really good. Yeah. Yeah.

But, so I kind of thought it was going to be like that. And then I remember halfway through filming, I thought, what if it isn't like that, though? What if it's like really big? What if it, what if it? And I kind of thought, and then I started to get a bit freaked out because I thought, no, no, I haven't prepared for that reality. I've prepared for the reality of like, you know, I'm going to be in this cool TV show that's going to have like a kind of a niche following.

I haven't prepared for the alternative. And then I kind of banished that thought. And then when it came out and I kind of knew pretty much straight away that it was, it had been received in quite a big way. And it did shock me. It did shock me the level and the extent to be. honest and I really had not prepared for it. But I don't think I ever could have prepared for it. Yeah, you can't prepare for, I mean, there's a word I absolutely hate, but I'm just going to say it once.

Yeah. But you and shooting and everything, preparing for celebrity. Oh, I hate that word. You can't prepare somebody for that and you seem to have handled it so perfectly. And I don't mean you've sort of gone, hey, look at me, because that's not what I mean at all. And I hope you realise I don't mean that. What I mean is that you've just gone, okay, this is me. Take me, because I've gone through my own shit, and this is me and this is how I'm going to be. Do you feel that's how you've coped with it? See, this is like living all over.

I'm so moved that you've seen me like that because on the inside, I'm very much, that's what I want to be. That's how I'm trying to be is just, this is me kind of, you know, my, I know who I am, so therefore perception doesn't scare me. That's where I want to be, because I think having a solid, like, knowing and euness kind of, it takes away the fear of, you know, millions of people having their own perception of you and your own version. But I really did go through a phase where I was totally flawed by it. Like, I was so overwhelmed. And I just, I kind of, like, was very reclusive.

I did not want to leave my house. Yeah, I understand. Yeah, if I ever saw my friends, they came to me. And again, it was just the practice of doing things whilst you're scared. Like, I had to do it whilst I was scared. And that turned into the smallest things became scary to me. Like, you know, my friend's saying, come to the pub. I was like, whof, that would be like, you know, Rocky, getting ready to get work.

You know, I'd literally be like, okay, okay, I had to really push myself because I thought I can't not. Because if I get too comfortable in this never going out, only ever going out when I've got work, so, you know, being picked up and taken to a set or whatever and then coming home and people coming to me and me never actually, that I'll just, I'll stay. like this. And I thought, I can't do that. I can't stay like this. So it's going to have to be just really small steps into getting back out there and being at the pub and knowing that people are whispering or, you know, whatever or coming over and it being okay. But it's just the, and again, Bill did really help me with that, like a lot because it's about finding your like, having control to a certain... So like, for example,

if we're walking down the street and people are trying to take sneaky pictures of Bill, he will be a bit like, don't take a sneaky one. If you want one, come and ask me and we'll have a cell. You know, he takes ownership. He doesn't, he's never rude. He's never, but, you know, he,

he does it on his terms and takes ownership of it. And I think that's what kind of, he really inspired me in that way to be like, you know, just little things. things like I'm not going to stop and talk to every person. I will be like, thank you so much and carry on walking because what I used to do is stop for every single person. And then I would have no limits. And then I'd be stood there, you know, an hour later. I'm still talking, and I'm thinking, bloody hell, I'm late for. Yeah, but you do that because you have a huge heart.

Amy Lou, I really mean this. I, I, you are very, very important. You are really vital. And I know I use that word already, but you're really important in this industry and you're very important to people to hear you. And you carry on being like you and speaking like you do and doing what you do because you are extraordinary. And I mean, I do, of course I gush about people that I meet and all the rest of it.

But when I saw this film and they can tell you because they're in fact listening in right now that straight afterwards, I said this film has affected me deeply. And please can I interview Amy? Because you have incredible power and just carry on being you. And I hope, I promise that comes from my heart. And I hope you take it as it's meant.

That is honestly so kind. Well, I mean, you're amazing. You're amazing. Shush. No, this is about you. Amy Lou, thank you for the film. Thank you for chatting to me. Thank you for being on this podcast.

I want everybody to hear this because this is the you that I want everybody to know. So we're going to put it everywhere and hopefully you will too. And thank you. Carry on doing what you do. And I hope we get to meet each other face to face. Because I want to give you big hug and tell you exactly. Oh, me too. I can't wait for a hug from you.

Seriously. You're very special. Have a lovely day, my gorgeous. And good luck with it all. And when you get the Oscar, I mean, start practicing the speech now. It was the Oscar, the Grammy, the Tony, the BAFTA. What else is there?

There is something else as well. Oh, God. Well, anyway, you get them all. Yeah. Thank you so much. All right, my love. Take care. Thank you.

Thank you. Bye. Thank you so much for listening. Coming up on the next episode, well, we have a double drop this week. We've got an episode coming out this Friday, November the 18th, with footballer and entrepreneur, Thomas Howell, Robson Canoo. That Gabby Roslyn podcast is proudly presented to you by Cameo Productions with music by Beth McCari. If you wouldn't mind, could you give us a like, a follow, a subscribe, and please leave a review?

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