WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 655 - Daniel Radcliffe

Episode Date: November 16, 2015

Daniel Radcliffe has his head on pretty straight for someone who was thrust into worldwide superstardom at the age of 10. Daniel stops by the garage to talk about growing up as part of the Harry Potter juggernaut and how he’s chosen projects like Equus, Kill Your Darlings, and Victor Frankenstein to help distinguish himself from everyone’s favorite boy wizard. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. what the fuckineers what the fucksters what the fuck of barry fins what the fuckadelics i am mark

marin this is wtf welcome to the show thank you for joining us it's been a rough few days in the world horrible carnage evil fucking people fucking just fucking horrible and uh i just want to say up front here that my my heart goes out to uh all the people all over the world and in Paris and anybody who lost. Anybody in that horrible fucking, just fucking monsters. It's just terrifying. Sometimes it's just terrifying. terrifying and i i know we get a little insulated over here in the states and we may not have our our heads in the game in terms of what's going on in the world and we live our little lives and and i imagine you know most people are just doing what they they want to do to get by and have fun

and and then just fucking just horrible evil carnage and it's just devastating and fucking sad and and sometimes it seems so um unresolvable but again um i'm sorry for anybody who uh who lost people and i'm sorry for uh for all of us in a way sometimes uh living at this time in history i imagine not unlike any time it's just fucking overwhelming so what i did uh aside from process it and feel horrible is i uh i played some pretty angry guitar try to send something out into the world but um but yeah you know it's just been it's just been a pretty horrible few days i um i did you know i do sometimes think about that i i you know my my yeah initially i i feel angry and then i feel just sort of despair and then i feel a certain amount of pointlessness and and then you know there's part of me just wants to run away.

But where? Where? We got to move on. We got to remain fearless and not be just fucking psychically

pummeled to a point where we know we can't function that being said uh there is part of me that's ready to start the band i i know that uh that it seems like a crazy dream seems like a ridiculous idea but uh to be honest with you i i went out and uh you know brendan small and uh pete and joe and walter and the fellas that Brendan does, you know, from you might know him from this show or Metalocalypse and great guitar player. They do these shows, these big shows where you tell a story and then, you know, you can play some music. And I just jump at the opportunity to play music with other people whenever I can. And every time I do it, I think well why why why don't i do this this this was

really the dream this was really the dream to be in a band did i mention i have daniel radcliffe on the show today the actor the actor who's who portrayed a character that maybe some of you are familiar with, Harry Potter. I don't want to pigeonhole him. But what a great kid this kid is. This kid's a good kid. Look forward to that conversation. This Radcliffe kid, he's all right. These kids.

I'm old. I'm getting old. The fear's in me. I can getting old. The fear is in me. I can see it. I can see the darkness. That's why I want to play guitar. I just want to play guitar through the darkness. Find it.

Find that life source. Find that. Tap into that well of existential poetry. Just make a couple of, maybe one record. That's my dream. I want to make a, like I disappear for like two or three years. And then I get a small label to record this weird record I did with no, only one take. Maybe nine songs, one take.

Me and a guitar. And maybe a guy on drums. Let's all, we'll throw a bass player in too. Might as well have a keyboard player, but it has to be one take. And it has to be impulsive, no planning. Like, I'd like the story to go something like this. Yeah, you know, I was a fan of Marin. I'm doing a character now.

This is a character of a guy who runs a recording studio outside of Portland, Oregon. Yeah, man, I mean, I was sort of a fan of Marin. You know, I liked his TV show, right? The podcasts were pretty good. You know, I liked to listen to the podcast. I used to fast forward through the beginning, but I enjoyed the podcast for the most part. I knew he played a little guitar, but I didn't know much about him. Then night you know he showed up he just showed up with a guitar no amp it was missing a string and he didn't look good he didn't look strung out but he didn't look good it wasn't like he was on drugs or nothing but he looked like he wasn't eating well he looked he looked kind of gaunt and tired and it looked like he'd been wearing the same pants

for a while and he didn't smell great and uh he just said look i want to i want to cut a record i got the songs right here and he pulled out all these weird scribbled post-its and pieces of paper and napkins he'd written some stuff on his arm and i said i well i mean you know you know it's late i know but but I just gotta he said I just gotta you know I just gotta get these out and I go all right well you know I it's good to see I was a fan of your stuff and I guess you're not doing that anymore but uh but yeah we can lay some tracks down and then he said well do you do you know a drummer and a bass player and a piano player and I said look dude it's like five it's 5 p.m you know it's Tuesday I don't know where I'm going to find those people. I know people. But I mean, we got to do this now. And he said, yeah, we got to do it right fucking now. And I don't know why, but, you know, he's convincing. It seemed urgent. And I made some calls. I got some guys here and they did. You know, he'd rehearse it, barely rehearse it, just tell people the groove.

They're not complicated songs. And, you know, and they just laid these tracks down. One take. All nine tracks. And that's the story behind it. I had no idea that it would pick up as much traction as it did. And, you know, I guess it was a pretty important record for a lot of people. And I've never seen Marin again again i guess most people haven't but uh i'm sure glad we have this record

and that i was part of it and seen that's how i picture it that's how i picture it that's how it's gonna go uh look i uh i want to uh help out my buddy i got my buddy Chris Garcia on the phone. He's recording his first comedy album tomorrow. That's Tuesday and Wednesday, November 17th and 18th at the Punchline in San Francisco. This guy's really one of the funniest guys I've worked with. I love him as a comic. He's a great guy. He featured for me before my upcoming special

that's going to be on Epix December 4th. And yeah, I got him on the phone for a second. So let's talk to Chris Garcia. Hello. Chris. Hey, what's up, Mark? Where are you? Right now, I'm in San Francisco.

How many shows are you doing? Two shows, Tuesday, the November 17th, and then wednesday november 18th and this is your first hour that you're going to make into a record my first hour you know when i was opening for you for your last special in chicago um i was like oh i can do that so uh thanks for the inspiration yeah sure man i try to make it look like anybody can do it. That was my agenda when I got into comedy is I just want people to think that it's easy and they can do it. Well, you fooled me. Well, I love your comedy and I'm glad you're doing it. So what's going on? How's your dad doing? Oh, thanks for asking. He's good. He's pretty stable. You know,

it's hard with Alzheimer's people, you know, they come and they go, and sometimes it's harder or not. But right now, he's hanging in there. So he's pretty mellow, and it's just nice a relative or a parent with Alzheimer's. So I guess not to be insensitive, but has that well run dry comedically, or where are we at with that? Oh, no, man. There's stuff happening all the time. And it's just, I mean, it makes it easier, you know? Yeah. happening all the time it's uh and it's just i mean it makes it easier you know yeah but my mom

um my this is something that happened that my dad uh he started acting like this other woman was my mom so he started acting as if this other very tiny lady was my mom and he was just like holding her hand and being sweet to her and my mom would go to visit and he'd be like who the fuck's this lady and he'd tell my mom to get away and they were um my parents have been married for 52 years you know and um my mom called me up and she was like hey that other lady that lady died this week and i was like oh that's too like that's too bad and my mom was like, oh, that's too bad. And my mom was like, that's what that bitch gets. I mean, it's sad and it's dark, but it's not real and it's funny. And has your father readjusted to your mother yet? Yeah, he's back.

Oh, okay. He's always kind of got the hots for her anyway. Well, that's good, man. And when's the record planning, when do you plan on coming out with it? I'm not sure. Definitely trying to do early 2016. Yeah. Probably going to go with a vinyl release just because,

just an excuse to have my own vinyl record finally. Yeah, man, you're another record guy. How's your vinyl addiction coming along? Pretty good. I've been going into some African stuff recently, which is super cool. Oh, yeah? I just picked up this, you know this guy, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey? No, man.

He sounds important. He's a good guitar player. He sounds important. Like, just real raw. Yeah. And funky, and he's got, like, thousands of albums. Those guys put out like thousands of albums. Those guys put out a lot of albums.

But really good stuff. So what are we trying to do? Get people to your gig? Yeah, that would be awesome. We're trying to get them there. Either night, Tuesday or Wednesday. That would be awesome. It starts at 8.

Okay. They can get tickets at punchlinecomedyclub.com or they can actually call the Punchline box office and avoid paying the fee. And part of the proceeds I'm donating to the Alzheimer's Association. So it'll go to a good cause and stuff. Yeah, buy your ticket, do a good thing, see a good comedy show, help Chris, he's going to be a father soon, and enjoy the show awesome thanks so much dude i appreciate it so much and when's your special coming out

my special is coming out december 4th on epics which a few people get um i'm very happy with it i i i did you know you saw what I did. You were there. Yeah. Uh, I'm excited about it. Did I make the cut? Am I in it? Yeah, you are actually.

Whoa. Yeah. There's a, like in some of that backstage stuff where you come off stage, I think it's where you tell me, um, uh, they're good. They're your people. And then I, I have a look of pain and then I readjust my penis. That's awesome. I think that explains

our dynamic pretty well. Well, break a leg, buddy, and have a good time. I appreciate it, Mark. Take care. You too. Bye. So yeah, again, Chris, November 17th and 18th, that's tomorrow and Wednesday at the Punchline in San Francisco, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the

Alzheimer's Association. Chris is actually one of the few dudes that, you know, his father has Alzheimer's. And, you know, he handles talking about it with such humanity and humor and love. It's really a treat to go see him. So if you're in the Bay Area and there's still tickets available, go see Chris tape his special. That's tomorrow the 17th and Wednesday the 18th at the Punchline in San Francisco

so this is me and Daniel Radcliffe his new movie is Victor Frankenstein that opens November 25th he plays Igor but the twist is that Igor is a genius yeah, yeah that's the twist alright this is me and Daniel Radcliffe

Calgary is an opportunity rich city home to innovators, dreamers, disruptors and problem solvers All right, this is me and Daniel. and they're helping put Calgary and our innovation ecosystem on the map as a place where people come to solve some of the world's greatest challenges. Calgary's on the right path forward. Take a closer look at CalgaryEconomicDevelopment.com. Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Cla die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga

based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series

streaming February 27th exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. Radcliffe. Yesterday I went to... Pull it into your face. Yesterday I went to ESPN,

which was fucking awesome because I've never got to, you know, because there is, I'm the rarity of like an englishman who really like loves american football and like a lot of other sports oh really and so i they i think somebody found out about that and so they asked me to go and scott my publicist was saying that like normally actors are just like oh i don't want to go to bristol connect and i wasn't like but i was just like yes absolutely that sounds so cool because i don't want to go to Bristol Connect. But I was just like, yes, absolutely. That sounds so cool. Because I don't watch all the entertainment shows that I have to go on. But I do watch his and hers and all those shows.

So it was like I got to, and Highly Questionable, so I got to go on them. So you knew all of them and you knew their shows. Yeah, and I was able to genuinely go in and be like, hey, I really like you guys. That is a rare thing where you there is so many shows that I imagine most of the time

you go in and you're like alright what are their names well it's weird though actually because I've had I'm in kind of

an oddly lovely position of like having been interviewed by a lot of these people since I was 10 or 11 so they all know you look you're growing up yeah

I go back to Kelly and Michael and Kelly Ripipper's like, I've known him since he was 11. And she's genuinely incredibly sweet. So some places, I was thinking about this the other day, actually. If you told 15, 16-year-old me that one day you'll be able to go on these shows and not just be shitting yourself beforehand and not just be terrified and you'll

actually be able to like go on and be kind of relaxed right i would have blown my mind really yeah because well now you're an established guy and and uh and you're sort of a sort of a kind of easing out of uh yeah i mean it must be a relief at some point i think i would be more nervous uh to you know kind of wonder how long will it be before they stop going. Harry Potter is here. You know, I think I sort of did myself a favor by letting go of that worry a long time ago. And just kind of accepting, like, that's always going to be there. Like, it's going to be when I die, that will be the first line of my obituary.

Like, that's a reality. Harry Potter slash you know did some other stuff they wouldn't even put your name on your obituary Harry Potter

in parentheses aka Danny Radcliffe I mean I've what did I have I had I had somebody what did they say to me

because I do sometimes get people saying like can you like when I sign very occasionally now I'll get someone saying like when I saying, like, can you, like, when I sign, very occasionally now I'll get someone saying, like, when I sign something, they'll say, can you write Harry Potter?

And I'm like, no, because that's not my name. Oh, really? Yeah, no, I don't sign Harry. Are they upset about it? Generally, they're okay. And it's so rare that that happens. Are they kids? No, I'm not doing that to kids.

Like, if it's a kid, I'll write, I do my name then, like, in brackets. Because I don't expect them to, they've just started recognizing words. Because then then you just be a dick yeah exactly then you just be being a person they'll grow up that knowing like man i didn't like that yeah exactly that's i think when you have like that yeah when you have that awareness of how well it's much they're gonna remember those interactions like that's well i imagine that some of those fans that were your age when you did that are now like

your age now yeah so it must be sort of bizarre i mean do you how do they make the transition when they come up to you it's are they supportive like when you did equus did you have harry really like that was what was amazing about that was people were you know i guess the people that disapproved of it just didn't come see it and i didn't encounter any of them other people that disapproved of it just didn't come and see it. And I didn't encounter any of them. Oh, the people that could not look at you in any other way. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. And I used to, when I went on The View a while ago, and, you know, that's another show that I've been going on.

There's a lot of ladies yelling at you. Yeah. And Barbara Walters was there. And she said, and, you know, this was, I was like, I was 23, 24. How old are you now? I'm 26. Yeah.

I was doing an interview about Kill Your Darlings where I played Alan Ginsberg. Yeah, I saw that. And there was a gay sex scene. I saw that Sundance. Oh, cool. Yeah. Thank you. And she said, and she was like, hey, no, we don't want to see you that way.

You're a kid. And I was like, well, I'm not actually anymore. Like, it's fine if you don't want me to see you that way, but don't tell everyone else that they don't want to. Yeah, the kid, Harry Potter's taking it. Yeah, I mean, it's not like, it wasn't. Well, you were the age of Ginsburg at that time, I imagine, maybe even a little older. And I was lucky to be able to,

I was very lucky that people gave me opportunities directly after Potter finished to play more grown-up stuff. Because I could have been like getting teen offer types. Right. Well, yeah, you could have been doomed

to what happens to child actors. Well, that, what are the perception of what happens to child actors? Well, let's go through it. Let's go through it. Let's lead up to that and I'll write that down

to make sure I make, I get you back to it. But like, when you got the role of Harry Potter, I mean, you were like, it was,

I was 10, 11. Right. But it completely, I mean, you were like, it was... I was 10, 11. Right, but I imagine it was completely under your parents' sort of guidance and control and... Yeah, well, initially they didn't want me to audition for it. Well, are they in show business? They are. They were, yeah. They were both actors when they were younger.

Like how young? Like, I guess they probably stopped when they were in their late 20s before they had me. So they'd given it a go. Yeah, and come out the other side. Was there bitterness there? There was not bitterness because they both really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun

and had found other places in the industry that I think they honestly enjoyed more. My mom became a casting director. I have to point out at this point, she never cast me in absolutely anything. Do you have to say that's your personal clause? Yeah, I have to point out at this point, she never cast me in absolutely anything. Do you have to say that's your personal clause? Yeah, I have to say that

because as soon as, because there was also a moment on the first Potter film where one of the producers, coincidentally, his surname is also Radcliffe. Right.

And so all the people when I came in for the audition, because I was auditioning, I auditioned quite late for Potter in terms of how long the process had been. And so I think they were like,

oh, wow, now we're really scraping the barrel. We've got producers' kids coming in. and it was not so my dad became a literary agent so my dad was an agent for writers and directors like any writers we'd know um who he used to represent joe wright he used to represent uh hetty mcdonald jonathan harvey lots of british playwrights um joe penhall so you grew up in this world. Yeah, I grew up surrounded by like, I grew up with a knowledge of it,

but I went on set once with my mum to a set visit with her for one of her projects. When you were like earlier than 10? Yeah, when I was like maybe seven or eight. And were you taken with it? Yeah, I mean, I've still, there's a photo of me at home with like the clapperboard on like,

so I clearly like had a nice day. You let the kid clap this scene out. Yeah, exactly. And it was also a film with a lot of teenagers in it. And they took me under their wing for the day. I was playing football with them and stuff. So yeah, it was a lot of fun. And where did your parents come from?

They're both British? My dad's Northern Irish, and my mom's English from Essex. And your mom's Jewish? My mom is Jewish. Yeah, we're not practicing at all. We're like Christmas tree Jews. We're not like religious. But did you have a Jewish grandmother?

I do have a Jewish grandmother. I still have a Jewish grandmother. Oh, good for you. Yeah, absolutely. And she's, yeah, she's wonderful. Oh, cool. I've just seen your presidential stuff. Yeah, the president sat where you're sitting.

That's right. In that chair. Do you like that? Yeah. But you weren't brought up with any religion in the house? No, not really. And Northern Ireland. stuff yeah the president sat where you're sitting that's in that chair do you like that yeah but you weren't brought up with any religion in the house and uh no not really and northern ireland so did you spend time up there i did yeah my dad's uh sister and her husband like where what part bambridge just that in county down just outside belfast it's beautiful right it it is yeah it's

it's like it's i ruined to me it's like stunning no it is i mean actually like bambridge is lovely and and obviously i don't want to like cause any trouble talk about another place but like the west coast of ireland as well i spent time there uh as well and it it is like stunning and it's one of those coastlines that i think people don't because you know you think of ireland you think rain and there is a lot of rain but there's also like it's kind of just epic and it's really yeah it's like green and beautiful like i didn't uh you know i have nothing invested genetically in ireland but i went there and i'm like i think i'm home i don't know what the fuck it was no i i have to say there is something incredibly like just comforting right and like it's it feels like yeah life just sort of ticks over there in a rather

lovely and calm way yeah um the people are great but then i think i think i haven't grown up in city i don't know did you grow up in a city or you not really i grew up in albuquerque new mexico you grew up in london yeah so i think i would always i think i'd find it hard to be totally divorced we'll wait till you're on the other side of it i'm starting to lean more towards the idea that maybe i could be comfortable isolated somewhere in a pretty place maybe it's not your agenda right now that's the thing thing. Like sometimes I have those moments. Like I definitely like sometimes like, oh yeah, I could, I'm really,

I'm very good at being alone and like I'm a happy, but yeah, I think I feel cut off. But I'd have to assume like, you know, fortunately, I don't know if you've shaved your head for a role. I have, yes. I've not become very, very right wing.

But the film is, it's about an FBI agent who goes undercover with a bunch of white supremacists. Where's that being shot? It was shot actually very close to where those white supremacists were literally arrested yesterday. In the Midwest? In Virginia, just outside Richmond. Really? Yeah.

And who's shooting that movie? It was a guy called Daniel Ragussis. It was his first film, first feature film. And he wrote the script as well. And he's like, movie? It was a guy called Daniel Ragussis. It was his first film, first feature film. And he wrote the script as well. And he's like, he's the nicest man. He's just, it was one of the, I've been like really lucky this year to have just amazing experiences with directors. Just like great people. Did you, did you speak with an American accent?

I did in that, yes. In fact, I spoke with an American accent in that the whole time from like morning till night. Like nobody ever, nobody on that, nobody working on that film heard me in an English accent. And it was a Southern? No, it wasn't. I actually was learning a Southern American accent for something else.

And I really enjoy it, man. It's weirdly, it's closer to an English accent than a lot of other American accents. I imagine that's true. Because the R's are less pronounced. But did you, would you do have to get tapes of people going, how are you? Yeah.

What do I do? I listened to the guy. In theory, it was going to be for somebody I would be playing. So I listened to a lot of the guy himself. And then I listened to, and then I got like a coach. And then, yeah, you just go through the script. And then they go through it. There's various ways of doing it.

I've got some friends who literally go through it with the International Phonetic Alphabet and they've learned that and then they get that written out for them and that's how they learn it. That, I just have to listen to that. It's like math. Yeah, that's why I can't do that. So I just have to listen.

But that's interesting because as an American, you'd think like if I had to speak with a Russian accent in a film, you'd have tapes for that. But I didn't really think that there would be coaches and tapes for speaking Southern dialect. Oh yeah, absolutely. Of course there are. I mean, that's the thing, that's the thing that

always I find hilarious about America is that America and Americans have a thing about the southern accent as sounding sort of dumb and like silly, whereas like the rest of the world, as you know, thinks they sound fucking cool. Yeah, right. Like we're all just like, they sound like cowboys, they sound tough, they sound awesome. Like that is a great accent.

Yeah, I don't know what the comparison would be. I think that, that like I used to I think they do get stereotyped I stopped doing that yeah because you like you can't well you spend time down there and you're like holy shit it's beautiful and there's so many like awesome people

exactly and I went everyone I tell I film this movie in Virginia everyone's like oh oh Virginia and I'm like no guys like it's lovely the people are great they are

like Richmond Super like it's not. The people are great. They are. Like, Richmond's super. Yeah. It's not like, you know. But speaking about, like, reprieve or, you know, the idea of being somewhere calm and peaceful, I mean, I can't imagine that your life is easy. You know, everyone sort of has that impression. But, like, I think I've managed I've managed to simplify my life a lot.

I know what I like doing. I like hanging out with my friends. And also, you're fortunate that you're growing up. Yeah. And that you do look a little different, and you can probably get by. Have you ever said this? When someone goes, like, are you Harry Potter? You go, no, I'm not. I don't do that, but I do, but I will.

But if you just come up and say, are you Elijah Wood? I will say no, and I won't tell you who i am because my girlfriend confused you too really it's happening so and it's happening even more with a shaved head i don't know she said does he dj i'm like i don't think he does because elijah's really into records yeah are you guys friends no we've met we've met once and we've communicated through other people a couple of times. It's because of The Hobbit, though. It's not because you look alike. It's because the idea of us is the same.

We're both kind of short guys with big blue eyes and brown hair. And you did fantasy movies of a specific type. And we did fantasy movies that came out almost the same time. Originally, when Harry Potter was first coming out, you sort of forget now that originally the first, those first movies were coming out kind of alongside each other and they were like

billed as like the fantasy movies like versus Lord of the Rings. Yeah, yeah. Like that. You guys have to do something together like a road movie.

I would love to do like, I'm thinking of trying to like write something where like with some sort of mistaken identity thing or where one of us, you know,

kills the other one and takes over their life or something. You know, there's got to be some much. You identity thing or where one of us kills the other one and takes over their life or something. There's got to be some much. You could do a short one for Funny or Die or something. He's like, even his, somebody who was producing a film that he was working on came up to me and was like, hey, Elijah.

And I'm like, no, I'm not. And he was like, we're working on this movie. And I'm like, no, you should, if you're working with Elijah Wood, you should know I'm not him. Know what he looks like. Yeah. So you hang out with your girlfriend,

you find, but you don't. I don't have friends. I'd like, I just, I don't, I mean, I work,

I work and I'm really like lucky in that. I, that's the thing I got lucky is, and is I loved like being on set. And so that's what I love doing. So that could be six months a year to a year, a full year. This year, a full year sometimes. This year I've done,

I've like, I've done two and a half movies because one was back in the last year as well and a TV film. So that's probably accounted for like five, six months. Right. And that's like great.

And the rest of the time I've been like either working on trying to get other stuff going or just chilling out or promoting stuff. But it's i i i know the routine of this world very well now because i've done it for a long time and i'm very like comfortable in it and i sort of don't know what my life is without it which is a problem in and of itself possibly to down the line but like i i'm lucky that i took

to it like i did in terms not in terms terms of being a great actor necessarily straight away, because I definitely don't think I was that, but just in terms of loving it straight away. Okay, so you get the role. Now, at the beginning, you'd done what? Two other roles before you took Potter? Yeah, basically. Just little ones.

A TV movie for the BBC and a small part in a film. And your parents were into it. They're like, oh, this seems to be working out for them. So now they get this huge offer where they immediately like, yeah, great, go. No, what it was actually was that they, because originally the offer was to make, to sign on for all the movies

or at least I think six movies. They knew they were going to do six at least. Yeah. And then, and it was to sign off all of them and, or maybe they didn't know they were going to do them, but they certainly wanted to make sure they had me if they needed me. You needed some consistency

with the main character. Right. So they wanted to sign off six films and they were all going to be done over here in LA and my mum and dad,

I didn't even hear about it at this stage. I never heard that this was a possibility. And you didn't even hear it was offered to you? No, no, no. My mum and dad were just like,

no, that's a crazy disruption to his life. We don't want that for him or want him to, and frankly, want me to know that that was a thing that was going on. Right.

I do, I think that was definitely right. And anyway, then time passed and the offer then changed to signing off for two films and they were both going to be done in London. Right. At which point my mom and dad were like, and then we had this sort of moment, like, I don't believe in fate, but my mom and dad do.

No religion, but fate. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think my mom and dad believe in God. Yeah. But, and yeah, and but fate. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think my mum and dad believe in God. Yeah. But, and yeah, and definitely fate. Because then they started, like, we went to the theatre one night and the producer of Potter happened to be there in the row in front. And I was just having this really weird moment of being like,

why isn't he watching the play? Why is this dude in the row in front keep turning around and looking at me? Because I still had no knowledge that an offer had been made or anything like that. Or an offer to audition, sorry. It wasn't an offer. And then I remember my mum and dad rushed me upstairs at the interval

and I was sort of standing there looking like, what's going on? And my mum and dad being like, do we leave? Do we go back down? He's going to want to come over and talk. And they were negotiating still so that you couldn't talk to him.

No, no, no. My mom and dad were just thinking, like, if he talks to him, then we're going to be out. It's going to be about Potter. And then, you know, and we don't know what the situation is. And so then we went back. And they didn't, I guess, still know how they felt about it. And then. So their concern was he would come up to you and go like, are you going to do it?

I don't know. Or maybe that he would talk about it and then I would feel that they've been keeping it from me. I don't honestly know, but they, um, but I, I do think like they would just, they would, they were aware of what a potentially big deal this was. And they were kind of freaking out about like, is this the right thing to do? Because I remember I turned around to my mom when I was like six years old

after seeing like a pantomime production of Aladdin and going like, I think I want to be an actor. My mom was like, no, you don't, trust me. It's like, it's not all fun and games like that. Your father and I did. Yeah, kind of that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Heartbreaking business.

Yeah. And so, but then after we went back in and took the rest of the play and we did indeed speak to david and it was absolutely fine there was nothing mentioned about it um and then when we went home my mom and dad i think that they were like maybe this is maybe this is the universe they were supposed to be it was supposed to be um so they let me audition and then yeah i think i only had like four or five auditions compared to rupert and 11 rupert and emma who had like 10 or 11 each really yeah so they were pretty sure that this was going to be a monster like they i mean i on some level had you read the books i'd read the first two but did you like them yeah but i was also not a reader right like i found reading really like a

trial at that point in my life i love it now but like at that point i hadn't it hadn't clicked yet right all it just felt like a chore um and and also i was always i suppose slightly like contrary in the way that like if everyone's really into something why would i have to be like okay well i'll wait and see if i like it later after you guys are unfashionable oh no i'm much better about that now like i'm i'm i'm not like i used to be i remember like i was thinking about this the other day like what dick to be I remember like I was thinking about this the other day like what a dick I was to some like

ex-girlfriends about their taste in music like what a pretentious arsehole I was about it's just like it's a deal breaker sometimes yeah when you're a teenager you're like

it's so important like oh my god how painful or sometimes I'll just be like no I don't like it because everyone else likes it and then like 10 years later I'm like well that's pretty good

that's a pretty good song yeah exactly I remember I read I read I read, I read, I read, I was, I was doing an interview recently with NME in England.

And so I went back and read an interview I'd done with them when I was 14. I didn't read very much of it. Cause it was all, and there was one bit in it where I like, I was, they were like, what bands don't you like? And I was like,

no, the white stripes, man, they're really repetitive. And I was really like, what are you talking about? You idiot. The white stripes are great. No, I think think impulsive maybe instinctively you might be right but maybe you didn't quite get it because there is a repetitive like if you listen to a few white

stripes problems you're like well they're sort of doing the same thing but they are but now like i have such an affection for that music because it was the music of my teenage years yeah like i i you know you sort of net you rarely love any music as much as you love the music i think when you're a teen i think that's true i unfortunately when i grew up there you know the music available on the mainstream level was uh you know you really had to you know find your way through it right or i would be listening to foreigner records right now right yeah yeah that's that was a that was a tough era like and everything like before it was so good yeah it was you have to work for it but the good stuff that was not mainstream i had to find my way back to because

i just didn't have access to a lot of it and now i'm sort of like how the fuck i missed this well it wasn't you're given what you're given through the outlets you're giving you got to know a guy is going to tell you like oh you don't know who they are yeah yeah that's yeah oh yeah so what was your relationship or is relationship with jk row? I mean, do you, I mean, are you guys like, we're not like tight. We don't, you know, we don't like to, but I just like, like, we always got on really, really well. And she was obviously incredibly kind to me and really supportive of the films. And she came and saw Equus and was really supportive of that. And yeah, she's just been, she's been great.

She's been great with all of us. and yeah, she's just been great. She's been great with all of us, I think, to be honest. Like, she's, you know, she really seems to care about what happened to us, as everyone did. Like, that was what was remarkable about those films looking back. Yeah.

You know, Chris Columbus, all the producers, Warners, you know, and more than that, actually, way more than that, like, the makeup and hair people who were there for 10 years, my dresser, who was the same guy for 10 years, you know, all those people, like it was an incredibly caring atmosphere.

It's a family. It was. Like you're doing this every year for a decade. Some people passed away. Yeah. Some people got married. Some people had babies. Like there was a girl,

in fact, there was a girl called Bonnie, Amanda Knight's daughter. Amanda Knight was the head of hair and makeup, well, head of makeup on the films. And she did all eight films for all 10 years. And Bonnie was born two weeks before I got the part. Yeah. So then, like, you know, we get to the end of the movies and she is a 10-year-old girl. And, like, now I'm meeting her and she's, like, 16. It's nuts.

Feeling old, are you? It is crazy when you've got, like, so many physical yardsticks. But then I realize that that's what I am for a lot of other people. Like, the fact that I, like, am 26 now really makes some people feel old when they hear that. Sure. The people that loved Harry Potter are now starting families. that's that's what's amazing about potter as well is that it or if you know if you were like yeah if you were 14 when the first one came out um when the first film came out and you've been like probably like 10 when the first book came

out and got into it and then you're probably maybe starting a family of your own right now and maybe introducing those kids to it already the videos this is what we watch over and over again yeah and i'm thankfully still at an age where like i can just about be recognized as the same person like there is going to come a point where their parents are going to be saying to their kids like this is harry potter and i'm like and they're like no it's not yeah exactly you know and that's probably the point where they'll remake them. With a new kid. Yeah. Well, yeah, or a TV show. It seems like it's just an evergreen property. At the moment. But it was weird because you're talking about,

when we were talking about things not getting things, like when I saw people, grown people, reading Harry Potter on the subway in New York, grown-ups. I used to do a bit about it. I was like, it's for children. I was livid about how many grown adults I saw reading Harry Potter. I was mad about it.

It had nothing to do with you. No, no, no. But I was like, what is happening to this culture? Never. They're really good. All right, all right. That's the thing. You've read all of them?

Yeah, I have, obviously. Like, can you imagine if I hadn't? No, I'd love it. I didn't read the last one. I got the script i get it i get it i have like i in my heart of hearts i think maybe that's true of rupert yeah i think he maybe just read the last script like he says he read it no i'm sure he did that's that's a joke but um it's no i know people say that you know but I like I'm so deliberate about what I read

I don't read for entertainment if I'm going to read something it's got to be fucking great and people recommended it to me but I was not going to be one of those guys on the subway it's going to have to be

some guilty pleasure that I do alone well they make they make adult edition covers now so you can buy one of them I can read on Kindle too that's what I always like

is that that's what I always found that funny that there were like there was clearly some acknowledgement that like the from the publishing company who like made grown-up covers for them as well that it was like we have to make this more palatable for people reading this on the subway people are starting to get you know they're starting yeah marin's starting to talk about it on stage he's doing a bit we gotta yeah

i wish i got that kind of attention but uh well so at what point did you become sort of aware of what could be, like sort of, not just, not a pigeonhole, but the, when we started talking about that, the perception of child actors and what happens to child actors. I mean, from the word go, like there was, I remember pretty much the day after I was cast, there was an article written by a former child actor in the UK, or by him or about him,

basically saying, like, you're all doomed. In fact, John Borman, who directed the film, the little part in the film I'd had before Potter was a film called Taylor Panama. And I think even he came out and said something like, well, that's his childhood gone. So from that moment, I was like some awareness of, okay, that's what people think happens to child actors and then what were you afraid of it no never really

because like i was like yeah everything my life was like like i you know i was on set i was uh i think you know as i got older and that i i became i know why that stuff happens. Yeah. But I do get it, and I get why it hasn't happened to me. Okay, explain. Well, I think, anyway, there's no definite answer, obviously. But I think one of the reasons it didn't happen to me, because most actors, acting's a weird life. You go from job to job, and there's very little consistency with who you see, particularly if you're in America.

British film industry is small. If you've done one job in Britain, you'll probably know someone on your next job sure like over here i've yet to work with the same crew member twice right right so it it's you know if you're doing that in this country it's a lot harder you know a lot fewer people if you've if your parents don't aren't aren't right then like that's gonna screw you well isn't there some protections now about that? Because I know there are stories about some other child actors whose parents sort of pimped them out and took all the money.

Yeah, but I'm not talking about even financially ripping off the kid. I'm talking about just having parents who are either really pushy or crazy or trying to live out their life through you. Do you have any of that no i'm incredibly lucky with my parents like they were always amazingly supportive but they said to me but between every film if you're not happy don't we don't have to do the next one like you know it was um you know they they were they approached it with caution i think the whole way through um how did they respond when you started going outside and like you were swarmed by ten-year-old girls my well?

Yeah, it was weird for them. I imagine they all but they also that's the thing they I remember I went to Japan when I was 12 Yeah, I thought 13 for it for a promotional tour. Yeah, and I arrived there were 5,000 people waiting in the arrivals lounge Yeah, how many 5 000 japanese kids yes it's all of all ages 8 to 80 just like screaming and there was like 100 security there and they were struggling to hold them back me and my mom and dad were like pushing through this crowd it was nuts and my mom's like toggle of a duffel coat got caught on a japanese lady's duffel coat and they were like trying to separate themselves and we end up like getting into the

car and i remember my mom and dad just like no matter like maybe they were really freaked out maybe they were weirded out by it but they laughed and they were laughing about it and they were like hey isn't this fucking crazy they didn't say fucking but like isn't this like and just was laughing about and they i think they always put it in that kind of perspective of like this is mad this is surreal like enjoy it for what it is but don't trust it too much was there ever a point where they were scared or your life was in danger there was creepy threats i mean like creepy letters never really threats but more people like more people that you end up worrying for them more than us really oh really good just

kind of yeah you sort of go you know but uh like people genuinely asking you to use your magic powers to help them and what yeah like sometimes a bit of that but like we also what was something i tell you some of the highlights of stuff i got sent i didn't want to get sent a i once got sent uh like a rock by a super religious family in america oh really and and they said that i was to like hit myself with it when i had like dirty thoughts and i was like this is that's very kind thanks for thinking of me and my moral side you guys but I think I'm all right send a picture to them of you hitting yourself with the rock I think me and my friend just threw the rock away um that's bizarre

yeah so I got but you think that they would uh you would have criticized you for your uh for your my rolling that course I'm sure that like no no your allegiance to witchcraft maybe well i always felt i we even at like 11 we were all very like as kids we were like amused by the fact that like people burned calendars of us and stuff because we saw some of that around the time the first film was coming out and like everything like it goes away like it's i feel like there was a moment of controversy with it and then it's sort of you know even even loads of religious people like harry potter like it's not, it's only very, very certain type. And I also think, like, even when I was thinking about other child actors that, you know, that in this country, it was like people like Macaulay Culkin and stuff like that, is that that was a different time.

And I don't think that, you know, any child actor ever has been involved in a franchise like this. And just the money of it. I mean, you could probably own an island if you'd like by a small country. I don't know. There's no party that's sitting there going like, I hope I don't waste all that money. I'm right. Right.

Right. Yeah. Like I'd have to really fuck. Like, I mean, it would just have to be like, it would be the most epic downfall. But yeah, like I don't i again i'm i'm

very lucky in that sense and was and and the great thing about for the most part that that is that it sort of frees you up to not worry about it which is obviously like a luxury that most people don't have and particularly like to have that young and in this job like to be able to say no i don't want to do that because i think it's crappy and i just able to say, no, I don't want to do that. Cause I think it's crappy. And I just want to do the films I want to do because I think they're good. But did you have some trouble handling the success? Did you,

you know, you, did you get fucked up? I mean, I think there was, there was definitely a time when I was, uh, coming out of Potter into the real world.

Yeah. Um, and suddenly I was in a world where i was like oh i'm not going to have that consistency anymore i'm not going to see all these people every year yeah i'm not going to just like have my friends around me all the time i'm going to have to like and also like who knows because figure out how to live a life yeah and i've and i'd had um you know months of journalists saying to me like so how you know how's it gonna be now that you kind of peaked at 21 yeah it's over yeah gonna be okay yeah and and you know i'd never felt worried

about it and but then you can't help but like infer something when you get asked that question all the time and start going like holy shit like am i gonna be okay is this and i do remember like i was like completely uh i was pretty inconsolable on the last day of potter i was just really like worried and and then you know i was i was living alone and i think i was really freaked out and also also at that point like freaked out about losing that element of family in your life or that consistency and freaked out about like i love being on film sets yeah like i still kind of live with the fear of just like one day someone's just going to turn up and be like hey you're not allowed to do that anymore yeah so yeah that thing you love no you

can't do that no more lights camera action for you kid you're just at home now doing nothing but what were you doing were you getting fucked up i mean yeah i mean i was i i drank a lot and and as has been recorded but that was more about like that was more to do actually with going out in public and and wanting and and like a battle in me to be like no i can have a totally normal life man i'm like this is fine hang out with people yeah a few cocktails yeah and i can and it turns out like and that's the thing most people probably can yeah i definitely can't um and you know i haven't i haven't had a drink now for uh two over two years well over two years this time around um and you just you don't have a tolerance

for you get too fucked up i've been sober for 16 years i know well done yeah well i know what i know the feeling yeah and it's just like you get bored of waking up feeling like that oh yeah how bad were you like what i do yeah like a lot of a lot of that did you have a security detail to sort of manage you but you know i mean you're harry potter you can't be out there getting shit-faced in a pub at first well no but that's like i was yeah you know that's what because that's what there must have been so many people going like buying you drinks yeah exactly like i made friends in a pub real fast. Like, and it was, but then like.

You got to keep up. And I was super fun for like that first hour. An hour? Yeah. And then you get bored of being like the liability and you get bored of being the one everyone has to look after and you get bored of hearing stories about yourself. Well, that was interesting to me.

Like, you know, because that was something. Go ahead. Forgive me if I get cagey about this, by the way. I'm more than happy to talk to you about yourself. Well, that was interesting to me, like, you know, because that was something... Go ahead. Forgive me if I get cagey about this, by the way. I'm more than happy to talk to you about this, maybe slightly cagey in front of your mic, just because I did talk about this

in an interview, and it's out there, and people know that, but any time I give any more information about it, it's like the... Oh, they take it? The British press is just like,

ah, Britain, like... Well, the interesting thing... This is the story people want to write about me right that i did get that you have this struggle up and yeah yeah yeah they yeah i'm quite happy now well it's well yeah but it's so funny that you know there there was a uh a generation of british actors that just wreaked havoc on pubs for years and it was like the the greatest era i honestly feel like there's a lot of us that feel we have to live up to that in some way really you gotta be burdened in our tool and feel like and shaw and a lot of uh like i find it so much easier to not drink in america than i do in england yeah like by a long long way it's definitely a pub culture i mean it's

like you know and but even at work as well, like is everyone like I can, I'm like people in America, like, Hey, do you want to go out for coffee? Yes. I suppose I do. I suppose that's what I can do now. Um, it's a very different, what I was reacting to though. Like it took me years to realize about my own drinking experience was that I was that guy too, that like within an hour or so I'd become the liability and there was part of my brain that wondered was you know did i want to be that you know did i want to be taken care of or looked after or feel like i had friends like some part of you wants that chaos as well in that sense of like not knowing especially i think probably for me like having a having had always a very structured life and like

90 at the time enjoying that there's just that like crazy part of you every so often that like wants to just rebel against that right and there's some chaos and there's definitely that line though where you're when you no longer know the chaos and it's like it seems like the guys of that generation that could drink that that they were having a good time all the way through them yeah for that like screw all of those people and their consequence-free drinking. I remember people here, and I still do get very envious. I get envious sometimes when I hear people talk now,

and I'm just like, man, how do you do that? How are you okay? I always had a line. I always tell myself as well, they're not really. They're struggling with something. Oh, sure. They don't feel good in the morning. I don't care how swashbuckling you are.

Yeah, exactly. You still feel shitty in the morning. But let's talk about craft a little bit because I imagine going into Potter at 10 that that role evolved fairly, was only relative to aging. And it sort of was natural that the character was the character and you got older in it. Exactly. So there wasn't a lot of deep work that had to be done. No, no. But did you study acting?

I did sort of latterly, really. Yeah. I mean, I got to an age where I was about 16. And before I did Equus, actually, when I was going to like sort of. You had to kind of prepare for that, right? Exactly. So I knew I was, there'd been like a spate of film actors doing West End theater at the time

and the criticism that was leveled at them time and again was they couldn't do it technically and couldn't like project and- Oh, right. They couldn't actually be on stage. Yeah, exactly. So I wanted to sort of limit the ammunition people had in that sense and-

They weren't stage actors, had no experience at it. Yeah, exactly. And I was like, and I knew that like people are going to want to say that about me, like who's this kid coming from a movie franchise? Well, they must have been out to get you i think some were but also there was a certain amount of okay like you do an equus like

that's that that's among certain people that makes them go like he must like he's not a play you do if you don't want to be an actor and also you're the right age for it yeah exactly like it was it was perfectly appropriate casting so were you you, you were aware that I imagine, like, you know, I imagine that you had to sit down with agents and your parents

or whoever your, your advisors were to decide what you were going to do post Harry Potter and what better way to introduce yourself. Well, that was

during Harry Potter though. That was still, well, that was like after the, that was before the fifth film had come out. But there must have

been part of you that was looking ahead. Oh, God, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But I always felt like it was more, it would be much easier to start transitioning to stuff by doing it between Potter films and then going back to Potter. So everyone was like, oh, he's doing something different.

And now we get to see him in the thing we know him in. And it just transitions everyone easier, I think. And people liked you in Equus. Yeah, and it went down really well, thankfully. So how did you prepare? I went I had a amazing coach

who I still work with because at that age I was like okay there's the people who go to drama school what do they learn like I need to learn

that stuff that's what you said to the guy no I said it to pretty much actually yeah I said to Barbara Hausman is her name

and she's she was recommended to me through Kenneth Branagh so I was like that's a good strong recommendation for theatre based text work Barbara Hausman is her name, and she was recommended to me through Kenneth Branagh. So I was like, that's a good, strong recommendation for theater-based text work. So, yeah, and I work with her on literally every role I've ever done since. For that, it was specifically working on projection and vocal stuff. But since we've just been doing, like, she's somebody that I go through scenes with and have, like, I trust that I can just, like, you know.

She's somebody that I go through scenes with and have, like, I trust that I can just, like, you know. Well, because I noticed even in the new movie, in the Frankenstein movie, in Victor Frankenstein, that, you know, it was interesting because the first few minutes of that film, that blurry part where you're just sort of, like, you know, hobbling and the voiceover comes. My first thing was like, is that the monster? Like, cool. Like, because I thought, like, are they going to humanize the monster? Yeah, cool. Well, that's that is a sort of the version. One of the things we're doing in the film is like showing Victor is kind of the creator of Igor as well.

When he meets me, I don't have a name. I'm just living this sort of. Yeah, but like I could see that you had done some work around physicality as well. I really liked all that stuff. It was something I did when I did the musical. I did a musical on Broadway a few years ago And that was like I was like oh I kind of like Using my body and being physical and doing stuff and so every I've had a lot of opportunities to do stuff like this You know it's next time you have elephant man Franny Cooper's just done it. It's been to to recently revived. I've got a way at least 10 15 years

To twist up yeah, you gotta wait a bit now Yeah I've got I've got a wait a bit for that i did but i did have like i did i did the cripple of an inch man and then frankenstein and the cripple of an inch man again in new york what is that it's a martin mcdonough play um about a a kid who also has um in in the play it's not specified sort of what he's living with but we we sort of uh kind of made the leap that it could be cerebral palsy after the things that i described so i played a character with cerebral palsy in that and then eagle was much less specific kind of made the leap that it could be cerebral palsy after the things that are described so i've played a character with cerebral palsy in that and then eagle was much less specific kind of

made up condition that i sort of just came up with yeah i like that the that the evolution of the frankenstein movie in this particular manifestation is some sort of bizarre buddy film yeah of two very attractive men that eager eager just turns out to you know you you stand him up straight and you clean his face up and he's Daniel Radcliffe. Well, yeah, I can't get it, you know. Igor gets the girl. That's what it should be called. Somebody said, James's alternative title for the film is Frankie Goes to Hollywood, which I quite enjoy.

So what were some of the things that she told you? Because it sounds to me like you really had to learn how to put a craft in place then that the other person that was i have to say really key uh in in learning because i i used to refer to myself as like a sort of like a point and shoot actor like you just sort of like show me where my mark is and i'll write it and i'll i'll give you whatever my instincts have got. Like I don't really have any kind of process. And then working with John Krakidis on Kill Your Darlings, who's the director of that and co-writer,

he was somebody that like changed how I act. Well, I'll tell you that story, which I knew being a beatnik freak when I was in college, you know, the Lucian Carr story, is that I'd never seen it executed. And it was even in the literature, in the beat literature, it was fairly cryptic in terms of what really happened. You knew that Lucian Carr murdered somebody, but with, what's his name, the guy who played Burroughs, who I love.

Oh, Ben Foster. Ben Foster is a fucking great actor. And I'm a huge beat guy, so it was important to me that it was done right. And I didn't even know that it was about that. Oh, cool. I just went because I was in Sundance

for another reason and I got tickets for it and I'm like, holy shit, it's about Lucien Carr. And what was the kid's name before Lucien Carr? Dane DeHaan.

Holy shit. He's amazing. He's one of my best friends that I've made through acting. Yeah, absolutely. We're in a fantasy league together. Really? Yeah, he's great.

My fantasy league that I run. Okay. Football? Football, yeah, American football. American football? Yeah, yeah, great. My fantasy league that I run. Okay. Football? Football, yeah, American football. American football? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're a bizarre guy

with the British and American football thing. Yeah, I know. It's good, good. I like it. It's going to endear you to millions of grown men who didn't like you

as Harry Potter. I know, now I will go on ESPN yesterday and talk about fantasy. I've got a lot more probably fans in that demographic. Did you already get some feedback for that?

Well, I don't have social media so I don't know you just detach from it yeah I know I have a Google Plus but like for me like it just what are you going to do

it seems like it's just you know there's that wait let me understand something you don't need to self promote at this point you know what I probably do

like everyone tells me like I'm constantly being told whenever I do a job like everyone's always like oh can you get social media for us and I'm just like I don't you'll get sucked in it's i can't

i never hear somebody talking about it who's happy about it i never hear somebody saying oh i can't wait to check my twitter like it's always it's like crack yeah well no but or else you're sort of like i gotta check it yeah right yeah it's not like this would be fun yeah um yeah like it's and somebody said to me the other day and that's the thing it's not like this would be fun. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's, and somebody said to me the other day, and that's the thing. It's not like an act of social rebellion. Like I don't give a shit if you have Twitter. I don't like, I don't have strong feelings about it.

If you're using it for the right, as long as you're not being a dick, you can do anything you like. But then, but like the other day, somebody said to me like, uh, what was,

they were talking about Snapchat and they were like, how can you not have Snapchat? Right. I was like, I just don't have it. I didn't have it yesterday. There's no reason. Yesterday was fine.

That's the thing. The only moment I like, the only moments I come to resent that when other people look at you like, you're weird for not doing it. It's like, I'm not resisting anything. I'm just like, I'm just not like into it. Yeah, it saved your mind.

Keep it to yourself. And that's the thing. I feel like as well for me, I mean, like, I don't know there's it's there's a great line in the english tv show called the thick of it where somebody's like somebody says have you ever googled yourself it's like opening a door into a room full of people telling you how shit you are and i was like that's yeah like why would you invite that well there's a lot of that yeah yeah i believe me i'm exhausted by it and always makes me feel filthy you must have to have like a huge, like do all that stuff. I do.

Well, no, you do, but like you wonder though. Like you see, that's the addictive quality of it. It's like, what if I did pull out? Like would everything go away? I'm sure this podcast would still be here. Yeah, I would think so. I imagine I'd still live. Yeah.

But all right, so let's talk about Kill Your Darlings because, you know, that was a choice. So you do Equus and then you're like, you're going to play Ginsberg. Yeah. But all right, so let's talk about Kill Your Darlings because that was a choice. So you do Equus and then you're like, you're going to play Ginsburg. Yeah. And in it is a very vulnerable and intimate and somewhat brutal homoerotic scene. Yeah. And this is Harry Potter because I saw a couple of the Harry Potter movies because the woman I was seeing was really into them.

So I maybe saw three of them. But I've seen enough of them to have the reaction when you're having sex with a man. I'm like, what, Harry Potter's? What's Harry Potter doing? I'm not judging him, but who knew this about Harry Potter? At least I took the glasses off for it. You did it right.

Well, that was the weird thing. Make it more separate. Well, I'd never seen gay male sex on a screen, you know, done with that type of vulnerability. Oh, right. Or much at all, really. I guess, yeah, I suppose, yeah. I mean, Brokeback Mountain was like not so much of a vulnerable scene. No, and it wasn't, you know, it was sort of more suggested than it was.

It was more about the romance of it. But this, you know, the director, what's his, how do you say his name? Croquitas. Croquitas wanted it to have the sort of intensity and the rawness of something really happening. Yeah. Because it was graphic. I mean, yeah.

It wasn't full frontal, but I guess it was graphic. No, but it was graphic because you were registering it happening. But you've got to remember, to me, what ended up on screen was less intimate than what was really true. So I guess it's why it doesn't seem like... But it was the first time. It was Allen Ginsberg's first time doing that. Yeah, exactly. So it needed to be a good scene. A good scene.

And I feel like that would be a super vulnerable moment. So what needed to be like a good scene. A good scene and sort of like that would be a super vulnerable moment. So what did you learn from him? You were about to say that you're working with John like he really just sat me down and was like

so how do you work? And I was like I don't know really. Yeah. And he talked to me about this he got me this book called Directing Actors and he talked to me about

you know just ask me questions that it seems silly that I was never you know asking myself i guess or no one ever put to me but like uh this thing like what does your character want out of this scene you know like what it what with this line what are you trying to do to the other person so rather than thinking like you know what this should all be like in general terms like human beings like work in that way that when you say something you're trying to affect someone in some way like when if you narrow down what that is in it and play that it kind of

removes self-consciousness so you're not worrying about what your face is doing or what you write like a lot of conscious coming out because that's what that's what basically that's like what I've learned and as I go on the more than the more you play around the more relaxed you are the more you trust the people you're with and you can like play around and screw up the better you'll be because you'll you'll just try more stuff and you'll be more you'll be more i don't know expressive and creative but you really threw yourself into it with equus and kill your darling sort of like if i'm if i'm going to do this let's let's take the chances.

Absolutely. And like, and, but that's why I've always been excited by the chance to like prove myself and the chance to, just, and work on exciting scripts.

Like I've never, and also I was released from the pressure that a lot of my friends have of like, oh, I want to do a franchise. I want to be in like big commercials and successful movies. I was released from that very early on i've done that like that was and it was awesome yeah and now i'm in a position where i can just do the stuff that excites me that and that's when i talked to you earlier about like having simplified my life now

like i am in a position where i can afford to make most decisions based on the principle of like will this make me happy will i be happy doing this will i learn something yeah we'll learn something challenge myself exactly and though and when i say will it make me happy like all those things i'm not saying like sure no i'll be able to like chill out and do nothing like that's not what makes me happy right what makes me happy is being able to work on stuff that fulfills me and and uh what about like i saw you you're you're a little bit in train wrecked oh yeah and you don't do a lot of comedy yeah i mean I mean, I'd love to. I love doing comedy. It's just what you get cast in.

But I, yeah, I mean, that was fun. I was doing it because I was doing The Cripple of Anishinaabemowin, that show in New York. And Judd Apatow came and saw it. And he came backstage and was like, hey, we're filming. Do you want to maybe like come by and do a bit on set? And I was kind of, it was so casual.

I've never been like offered something in such an informal way before that I was kind of like, yeah, you're just bullshitting backstage being nice whatever you've seen the show and you're being nice and then like the next day we got a call from

I guess I got a call from my agent being like Jared Apatow's phoned up he wants to talk to you about like the idea for what you're going to be doing and I was like

oh okay cool and it was like a bit it was like you were in a foreign film it was like an independent artsy movie yeah the dog walker the dog walker

where I play honestly it was I was so nervous that day because I was like going in to do like Yeah, like an independent artsy movie. Yeah, The Dog Walker. The Dog Walker, where I play. Honestly, I was so nervous that day because I was going in to do, there was no script, I was going to do improvised comedy with Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer watching. I was like, this is terrifying. I don't do, this is not what I do. So I was really nervous, but they were both really kind and seemed happy with what they were getting

I was convinced it was like the least funny I have been in my entire life and that's how I left feeling that day

absolutely and then everyone's been like saying the amount of like press I seem to get off my 45 seconds in that that like

I've been answering so many questions about that I was like yeah can I talk to you about the film I'm promoting actually that one's come out and done can i can i talk to you about the film i'm promoting actually that i like that one's come out and done very well can i talk to you about my weird indies um but yeah it's uh no that was that was

a lot of fun and yeah that's the thing you get the chance to do mad stuff like that like that's what i love about my job is that occasionally something you get to do are you a comedy fan yeah a huge comedy fan like that's what i watch most of when i'm well who'd you grow up with who were your your comedy guys okay well i mean being english obviously the the original office yeah i love the american office too but like the english office was a huge deal to me also steve coogan and alan partridge right day to day funny huh yeah have you ever watched the day-to-day no that's that's where actually the alan partridge character started he was a sports journalist on this fake news show um hosted by a guy called chris morris who also did brass eye and he's amazing um and you guys see stand-ups you like stand-ups yeah i like i'd watched a lot of um

dylan moran oh yeah he's been in here has he yeah cool he's funny guy yeah he is very very funny um a lot of english stand-ups like uh who else was all english or irish obviously like there's a lot of daro brian oh yeah yeah yeah stuff um haven't talked to him i've met him he's yeah he's very nice i interviewed stuart lee he's oh stuart lee's awesome right he's like a whole different world right of like his comedy is it's cutting and like yeah yeah yeah and like he will he he's just got like he's one of those comedians that you watch and go wow you are fearless like you do shit that is so weird yeah yeah repeat jokes that are getting no laughs just so like at the end it will come to something

like i was just like that that is you are he'll invest an hour in it yeah yeah absolutely um so yeah but then what else? Yeah, I mean, God, if you came around my house, if you were dating me when I was 17, 18, you would come around, we were watching some stand-up that night. God, I was a bit... Jack D was also somebody that I... Did you ever want to do it?

No, not really. I've always had one of those things where I like the idea of it but then like you have to be funny like every like 9 out of 10 times on purpose you have to be funny on purpose and it's one of those things

that everyone says you know when I hear people say that to other people they're like oh you're so funny you should stand up I'm always like you you probably shouldn't. Yeah, you're right. He probably couldn't write a set. Right, or just choke. I don't think people know what goes into it, really. I've amazing respect for my girlfriend.

She used to just do open mic stuff sometimes. I was like, that is brave. Is she American? She's American, yeah. She's from Michigan. Is she an actress? She is, yeah. We met on Kill Your Darlings, actually.

Oh, really? Yeah. She's the girl that I meet in the library. Oh, okay. I remember that scene. So you've been with her a while? Yeah, yeah. Like, well, yeah, about three years.

Huh. Yeah. So what's happening with that? It's going really well. Okay. Yeah, no, it's really good. She's awesome. She co-runs my fantasy league with me.

It's all about football. Yeah. But no, she's like, it's uh she's wonderful i i do you want to start a family or anything not yet but you think do you have it in your head to do that definitely i'd love to be a dad yeah yeah absolutely um just you know oh yeah i don't know why you know why no i do know why because i've a lot of my friends growing up were older than me and i see them go through the process of having kids. And I saw one of my best friends, the day that his son was...

He knew his girlfriend at the time was pregnant, literally said the words, my life is over. In a sad way? Yeah, in an awful way. And then I've seen him go from that to the happiest man on earth with three children. I know. Yeah. And it's just like wow

like having that kind of maybe it's sort of totally selfish and the wrong reason to want kids but i'm like just something that makes you that focused on something that's not you there's always like a sure i don't i don't have any and i'm a rare thing to be my age and not have any but all the dudes that i knew that you never thought would have kids or were resistant to it, as soon as they have them, they're like, oh, my God. Yeah. I mean, I've got, you know, some guys and they have, they just turn into softies. And there's something very sweet about it. Sure.

But, yeah, and then, you know, after about three years of the kid being alive, they're exhausted. Totally. Not functioning. I mean, I also know people like that who you're like, oh, man, you sound. You're going to be all right. Like, you're going can be OK, dude. Like and that's the worst ones when people like making jokes and they're just like, yeah, no, it's fine. It's great. But I want to talk myself sometimes. But no, it's fine.

Oh, God. Are you joking about that? I hope you are. Yeah, I just I wrote a whole bit about that. Talking to those guys who you don't know if they're talking to you or trying to convince themselves that they're okay. Yeah. And it's like, do I wait in here? Do you want me to say stuff? Or do you just need a board to keep talking? That's fine.

So how do you feel when you live in Manhattan? I live between London and New York. And how do you feel when you come out here? It's weird. I've spent so little time in LA. I filmed something just outside LA recently for the first time in my life. And it's definitely a...

So you've managed to avoid the culture of show business in a way? Until I was 21, I think I'd spent probably four weeks here in my entire life. That's amazing. So like, and I do find it, and people are wowed by that, which is great. I can't really say it like, and I do find it, and people like

are wowed by that which is great. I can't really say it anymore but for a while it was absolutely true. And yeah, I think this is, I find it strange

when I'm here. I'm not one of the people that's like, oh LA's terrible. Like, but it is, it's a different thing. You feel different here.

Well, it's fascinating to me. You can't help but feel, like even me, I've done well, like I'm doing well, I'm working. You just feel like the competition here.

Well, yeah. And also like there's a whole culture of show business where, you know, a lot of celebrities know each other and there's different rings. And I'm not in that. Well, I can feel that. Yeah. You know, there's a burden to it. There's a cynicism that comes with it. Yeah.

And a weird sort of insulated kind of like life and comfort that comes with it. Yeah. You really live a different life when you're inside the business here. And everyone like assumes, you know, like I remember I sat down with the director here and he was like, you know, he directed videos for like some really big name pop stars and stuff. And he was like, you must know Jay-Z and Beyonce. And I was like, I don't at all.

Like I have no connection to them. Like we film movies in Watford. Like there was never that we... Well, the assumption is you're one of the biggest box office stars that's lived. So, like, how can you not have spent time with

Jay-Z and Beyonce? Right. Never been up to the house? I know. Yeah, crazy. So, yeah, it's... But I feel kind of, I guess, lucky to be

outside of it. Don't let it creep in. Because I can come... Because I sort of have the thing of being able to drop in and come in and see friends here and stuff. You seem like you're a real person. And you seem to have personal integrity. And it's a pleasure to talk to you.

Thank you. You too. I really, really enjoy this. And also, when do you get to smoke an interview? This is the best. I like the secondhand experience. I quit a long time ago. Yeah, just stay away from L.A. as much as you possibly can said the man who lives there so

you gotta run where are you going i'm going to the get a star on the hollywood get out of here i know yeah it is mad it's completely like when they said to me i was like what really and here i was being a dick you were coming over like if he's any more later then i don't know if we're going to be able to have time to do this they didn't tell me you're going to get a star oh yeah no but like I was you know it's all cool

I was like I was really excited about this as well honestly I was like well you're awfully dressed up thank you because I was

I was thinking like that'll be a crazy thing and this will just be like an hour of cool normality oh my god well have a great time that's a big day

congratulations my mom and dad are going to be there as well so it's going to be cool everyone's going to be in LA and thousands of fans maybe we'll see oh have a great time that's a big day congratulations my mom and dad are going to be there as well so it's going to be cool everyone's going to be in LA and thousands of fans maybe we'll see oh have a good time

thanks man that guy is a solid kid solid kid I think he's going to be alright I think he's going to he's got it all figured out but I think he loves

doing what he's doing he can choose what he wants to do and he's good at all figured out, but I think he loves doing what he's doing. He can choose what he wants to do, and he's good at it. And I wish him nothing but the best with his star on Hollywood Boulevard and his mountains of Harry Potter money. No, there's no resentment here. I really enjoyed talking to him, and it's nice to meet somebody in show business that is at once a huge star but also removed from it enough to

have a life and uh i was very impressed with that young man very impressive young man also go to wtfpod.com i'm drinking a little just coffee.co up hold on pow i just shit my pants classic ad copy invented by me uh get on the mailing list check the merch look at the guide get on howl for all the archives whoo oh man I didn't prepare any guitar but I could probably play some hold on Thank you. Boomer lives. Boomer lives! It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th

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