Episode 655 - Daniel Radcliffe
Guest:Lock the gates!
Marc:Alright, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuck buddies?
Marc:What the fuckineers?
Marc:What the fucksters?
Marc:What the fuck of Barry Fins?
Marc:What the fuckadelics?
Marc:I am Mark Maron.
Marc:This is WTF.
Marc:Welcome to the show.
Marc:Thank you for joining us.
Marc:It's been a rough few days in the world.
Marc:Horrible carnage.
Marc:Evil fucking people.
Marc:Fucking... Just fucking horrible.
Marc:And I just want to say...
Marc:Up front here that my heart goes out to all the people all over the world and in Paris and anybody who lost.
Marc:Anybody in that horrible fucking... Just fucking monsters.
Marc:It's just terrifying.
Marc:Sometimes it's just...
Marc:terrifying and 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
Marc: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 is just fucking overwhelming so what i did uh
Marc:Aside from process it and feel horrible as I played some pretty angry guitar.
Marc:Try to send something out into the world.
Marc:But yeah, you know, it's just been a pretty horrible few days.
Marc:I, um, I did, you know, I do sometimes think about that.
Marc:I, you know, my, my, yeah, initially I feel angry and then I feel just sort of despair and then I feel a certain amount of pointlessness and then, you know, there's part of me just wants to run away.
Marc:But where?
Marc:Where?
Marc:Where?
Marc:We got to move on.
Marc:We got to remain fearless and not be, you know, just fucking...
Marc:psychically pummeled to a point where you 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
Marc: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.
Marc:They do these shows, these big shows where you tell a story and then, you know, you can play some music.
Marc:And I just jump at the opportunity to play music with other people whenever I can.
Marc:And every time I do it, I think, well, why why why don't I do this?
Marc:This was really the dream.
Marc:This was really the dream.
Marc:To be in a band.
Marc:Did I mention I have Daniel Radcliffe on the show today?
Marc:The actor.
Marc:The actor who portrayed a character that maybe some of you are familiar with, Harry Potter.
Marc:I don't want to pigeonhole him.
Marc:But what a great kid this kid is.
Marc:This kid's a good kid.
Marc:Look forward to that conversation.
Marc:This Radcliffe kid, he's all right.
Marc:These kids.
Marc:I'm old.
Marc:I'm getting old.
Marc:The fear is in me.
Marc:I can see it.
Marc:I can see the darkness.
Marc:That's why I want to play guitar.
Marc:I just want to play guitar through the darkness.
Marc:Find it.
Marc:Find that life source.
Marc:Tap into that well of existential poetry.
Marc:Just make a couple of, maybe one record.
Marc:That's my dream.
Marc: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 and
Marc:Let's all we'll throw a bass player into might might as well have a keyboard player, but it has to be one take and I have to has to be impulsive.
Marc:No planning.
Marc:Like I'd like the story to go something like this.
Marc:Yeah, you know, I was a fan of marriage.
Marc:This is a I'm doing a character now is a character of a guy who runs a recording studio outside of Portland, Oregon.
Marc:Yeah, man.
Marc:I mean, I was sort of a fan of Marin.
Marc:You know, I liked his TV show.
Marc:All right.
Marc:The podcasts were pretty good.
Marc:You know, I like to listen to the podcast.
Marc:I used to fast forward through the beginning, but I enjoyed the podcast for the most part.
Marc:I knew he played a little guitar, but I didn't know much about him.
Marc:Then one night.
Marc:You know, he showed up.
Marc:He just showed up with a guitar, no amp.
Marc:He was missing a string.
Marc:And he didn't look good.
Marc:He didn't look strung out, but he didn't look good.
Marc:It wasn't like he was on drugs or nothing, but he looked like he wasn't eating well.
Marc:He looked kind of gaunt and tired.
Marc:And it looked like he'd been wearing the same pants for a while.
Marc:And it didn't smell great.
Marc:And he just said, look, I want to cut a record.
Marc:I got the songs right here.
Marc:And he pulled out all these weird scribbled Post-its and pieces of paper and napkins.
Marc:He'd written some stuff on his arm.
Marc:And I said, well, I mean, you know, it's late.
Marc:I know, but I just got to...
Marc:He said, I just got to get these out.
Marc:And I go, all right, well, it's good to see I was a fan of your stuff, and I guess you're not doing that anymore.
Marc:But yeah, we can lay some tracks down.
Marc:And then he said, well, do you know a drummer and a bass player and a piano player?
Marc:And I said, look, dude, it's 5 p.m.
Marc:It's Tuesday.
Marc:I don't know where I'm going to find those people.
Marc:I know people, but I mean, we got to do this now?
Marc:And he said, yeah, we got to do it right fucking now.
Marc:And I don't know why, but, you know, he's convincing.
Marc:It seemed urgent.
Marc:And I made some calls.
Marc:I got some guys here and they did.
Marc:You know, he'd rehearse it, barely rehearse it.
Marc:Just tell people the groove.
Marc:They're not complicated songs.
Marc:And, you know, and they they just laid these tracks down one take all nine tracks.
Marc:And that's the story behind it.
Marc:I had no idea that it would pick up as much traction as it did.
Marc:And, you know, I guess it was a pretty important record for a lot of people.
Marc:And I've never seen Marin again.
Marc:I guess most people haven't.
Marc:But I'm sure glad we have this record and that I was part of it.
Marc:And scene.
Marc:That's how I picture it.
Marc:That's how I picture it.
Marc:That's how it's going to go.
Marc:Look, I want to help out my buddy.
Marc:I got my buddy Chris Garcia on the phone.
Marc:He's recording his first comedy album tomorrow.
Marc:That's Tuesday and Wednesday, November 17th and 18th at the Punchline in San Francisco.
Marc:This guy's really one of the funniest guys I've worked with.
Marc:I love him as a comic.
Marc:He's a great guy.
Marc:He did say he featured for me before my upcoming special.
Marc:That's going to be on Epix December 4th.
Marc:And yeah, I got him on the phone for a second.
Marc:So let's talk to Chris Garcia.
Guest:Hello.
Guest:Chris.
Guest:Hey, what's up, Mark?
Marc:Where are you?
Guest:Right now, I'm in San Francisco.
Marc:How many shows are you doing?
Guest:Two shows.
Guest:Tuesday, November 17th, and then Wednesday, November 18th.
Marc:And this is your first hour that you're going to make into a record?
Guest:My first hour.
Guest:You know, when I was opening for you for your last special in Chicago...
Marc: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 i love your comedy and i'm glad you're doing it so what's going on how's your dad doing
Guest:Oh, thanks for asking.
Guest:He's good.
Guest:He's pretty stable.
Guest:You know, it's hard with Alzheimer's.
Guest:People, you know, they come and they go, and sometimes it's harder or not.
Guest:But right now, he's...
Guest:He's hanging in there, so he's pretty mellow, and it's just nice when it's calm for a little while.
Marc:I think you're one of the few people that does very heartfelt and very sensitive and comforting comedy around having a relative or a parent with Alzheimer's.
Marc:So I guess not to be insensitive, but has that well run dry comedically, or where are we at with that?
Guest:Oh, no, man.
Guest:There's stuff happening all the time.
Guest:And it's just, I mean, it makes it easier, you know?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But my mom, this is something that happened that my dad, he started acting like this other woman was my mom.
Guest:So he started acting as if this other very tiny lady...
Guest: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
Guest:And I was like, oh, that's too bad.
Guest:And my mom was like, that's what that bitch gets.
Guest:I mean, it's sad and it's dark, but it's so real and it's funny.
Marc:And has your father readjusted to your mother yet?
Guest:Yeah, he's back.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Guest:He's always kind of got the hot floor anyway.
Marc:Well, that's good, man.
Marc:And when's the record planning, when do you plan on coming out with it?
Guest:I'm not sure.
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:Trying to do early 2016.
Guest:Yeah, probably going to go with a vinyl release just because just an excuse to have my own vinyl record.
Guest:Finally.
Marc:Yeah, man.
Marc:You're another record guy.
Marc:How's your vinyl addiction coming along?
Guest:Uh, pretty good.
Guest:I've been doing, I've been going into some African stuff recently, which is super cool.
Marc:Oh yeah.
Guest:Uh, I just picked up this, you know, this guy, uh, chief commander Ebenezer Obey.
Marc:No man.
Marc:He sounds important.
Guest:He sounds like this real raw and funky.
Guest:And he's got like thousands of outlets.
Guest:Those guys put out a lot of albums, but, uh, really good stuff.
Marc:So what are we trying to do?
Marc:Get people to your gig?
Uh,
Guest:Yeah, that would be awesome.
Guest:We're trying to get them there, either night, Tuesday or Wednesday.
Guest:That would be awesome.
Okay.
Guest:It starts at 8.
Guest:You can get tickets at punchlinecomedyclub.com, or they can actually call the Punchline box office and avoid paying the fees.
Guest:And part of the proceeds, I'm donating to the Alzheimer's Association, so it'll go to a good cause and stuff.
Marc:Yeah, buy your ticket, do a good thing, see a good comedy show, help Chris.
Marc:He's going to be a father soon.
Marc:And enjoy the show.
Guest:Awesome.
Guest:Thanks so much, dude.
Guest:I appreciate it so much.
Guest:And when's your special coming out?
Marc:My special's coming out December 4th on Epix, which a few people get.
Marc:I'm very happy with it.
Marc:I did, you know, you saw what I did.
Marc:You were there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I'm excited about it.
Guest:Did I make the cut?
Guest:Am I in it?
Marc:Yeah, you are, actually.
Guest:Whoa!
Marc:Yeah, there's like in some of that backstage stuff where you come off stage, I think it's where you tell me they're good, they're your people, and then I have a look of pain and then I readjust my penis.
Guest:That's awesome.
Guest:I think that explains our dynamic pretty well.
Marc:Well, break a leg, buddy, and have a good time.
Guest:I appreciate it, Mark.
Marc:Take care.
Marc:You too.
Marc:Bye.
Marc:So, yeah, again, Chris, November 17th and 18th.
Marc:That's tomorrow and Wednesday at the Punchline San Francisco.
Marc:And a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Alzheimer's Association.
Marc:Chris is actually one of the few dudes that...
Marc:You know, his father has Alzheimer's and he handles talking about it with such humanity and humor and love.
Marc:It's really a treat to go see him.
Marc:So if you're in the Bay Area and there's still tickets available, go see Chris Tape is special.
Marc:That's tomorrow, the 17th and Wednesday, the 18th at the Punchline in San Francisco.
Marc:So this is me.
Marc:And Daniel Radcliffe, his new movie is Victor Frankenstein.
Marc:That opens November 25th.
Marc:He plays Igor.
Marc:But the twist is, is that Igor is a genius.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's the twist.
Marc:All right.
Marc:This is me and Daniel Radcliffe.
Guest:Yesterday, I went to... Pull it into your face.
Guest: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.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:And so I... I think somebody found out about that, and so they asked me to go, and...
Guest: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 watch all the entertainment shows i have to go on but i do watch like his and hers oh yeah and like 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 i was able to genuinely go in and be like hey i really like you guys
Marc: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, all right, what are their names?
Guest:So 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.
Guest:So they all know you.
Guest:Look, you're growing up.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I go back to Kelly and Michael and Kelly Ripa's like, I've known him since he was 11.
Guest:And she's genuinely incredibly sweet.
Guest:So some places there's like, it's, it's no, like if you, I was thinking about this the other day actually, like if you told 16, like 15, 16 year old me that like 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.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That would have blown my mind.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Well, now you're an established guy and you're sort of kind of easing out.
Marc:I mean, it must be a relief at some point.
Marc:I think I would be more nervous to kind of wonder how long will it be before they stop going, Harry Potter is here.
Guest:You know, I think I...
Guest: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 that.
Guest:Like, it's going to be when I die, that'll be the first line of my obituary.
Guest:Like, that's a reality.
Guest:Harry Potter slash... You know, slash maybe did some other stuff.
Guest:They wouldn't even put your name on your obituary.
Guest:Harry Potter in parentheses.
Guest:Also, AKA Danny Radcliffe.
Guest:I mean, what did I have?
Guest:I had somebody, what did they say to me?
Guest: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 sign something, they'll say, can you write Harry Potter?
Guest:And I'm like, no, because that's not my name.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah, no, I don't sign Harry.
Guest:Are they upset about it?
Guest:Generally, they're okay.
Guest:And it's so rare that that happens.
Guest:Are they kids?
Guest:No, I'm not doing that to kids.
Guest:Like, if it's a kid, I'll write, I do my name then, like, in brackets.
Guest:Because, like, I don't expect them to, they've just started recognizing words.
Guest:Because then you'd just be a dick.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Then you'd just be being a horrible person to a child.
Marc:They'll grow up knowing, like, man, I didn't like that Harry Potter.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:I think when you have, like, that...
Guest:Yeah, when you have that awareness of how much they're going to remember those interactions.
Marc:Well, I imagine that some of those fans that were your age when you did that are now like your age now.
Marc:So it must be sort of bizarre.
Marc:I mean, how do they make the transition when they come up to you?
Marc:Are they supportive?
Guest:Like when you did Equus, did you have Harry?
Guest: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.
Guest:And I didn't encounter any of them.
Marc:Other people that could not look at you in any other way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, that's the thing.
Guest:And I used to, when I was, when I went on The View a while ago, and, you know, that's another show that I've been going on.
Guest:There's a lot of ladies yelling at you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And Barbara Walters was there.
Guest:And she said, and, you know, this was, I was like, I was 24.
Guest:three 24 how old are you now i'm 26 yeah i was doing an interview about kill your darlings where i played alan ginsburg and there was yeah i saw that gay sex scene and i saw that sundance oh cool yeah thank you and and uh and she said uh and and she was like hey we don't know 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 me that way but don't tell everyone else that they don't want
Marc:Yeah, the kid, Harry Potter's taking it.
Marc:Yeah, like, I mean, it's not like, it wasn't.
Marc:Well, you were the age of Ginsburg at that time, I imagine, maybe even a little older.
Guest:And I was lucky to be able to, like, I was very lucky that people gave me opportunities directly after Potter finished to play, like, more grown-up stuff.
Guest:Because I could have been, like, getting teen offers type stuff.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Well, yeah, you could have been doomed to what happens to child actors.
Guest:Well, the perception of what happens to child actors.
Guest:Well, let's go through it.
Marc:Let's go through it.
Marc:Let's lead up to that.
Marc:And I'll write that down to make sure I get you back to it.
Marc:But like when you got the role of Harry Potter, I mean, you were like it was.
Marc:I was 10, 11.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But I imagine it was completely under your parents sort of guidance and control.
Marc:And yeah, well, initially they didn't want me to audition for it.
Guest:Are they in show business?
Guest:They are.
Guest:They were.
Guest:Yeah, they were both actors when they were younger.
Guest:And then like how young?
Guest:Like, like, I guess they probably stopped when they were in their late 20s before they had me.
Guest:So they'd given it a go.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And come out the other side.
Guest:Was there bitterness there?
Guest: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.
Guest:My mom became a casting director.
Guest:I have to point out at this point, she never cast me in absolutely anything.
Marc:Do you have to say that's your personal collection?
Guest:Yeah, I have to say that because there was also a moment on the first Potter film where one of the producers, coincidentally, his surname is also Radcliffe.
Guest:And so all the people when I came in for the audition, because I auditioned quite late for Potter in terms of how long the process had been.
Guest:And so I think they were like, oh, wow, now we're really scraping the barrel.
Guest:We've got producers' kids coming in.
Guest:And so my dad became a literary agent.
Guest:So my dad was an agent for writers and directors.
Marc:Like any writers we'd know?
Guest:Who he used to represent Joe Wright.
Guest:He used to represent Hetty MacDonald, Jonathan Harvey, lots of British playwrights, Joe Penhall.
Marc:So you grew up in this world.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I grew up surrounded by like, I grew up with a knowledge of it, but I'd never, I went on set once with my mum to a set visit with her for one of her projects.
Guest:When you were like earlier than 10?
Guest:Yeah, when I was like maybe seven or eight.
Guest:And were you taken with it?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I've still, there's a photo of me at home with like the clapperboard.
Guest:So I clearly had a nice day.
Guest:Let the kid clap this scene out.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:And it was also a film with a lot of teenagers in it.
Guest:And they took me under their wing for the day.
Guest:I was playing football with them and stuff.
Guest:So yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Guest:And where did your parents come from?
Guest:They're both British?
Guest:My dad's Northern Irish and my mom's English from Essex.
Guest:And your mom's Jewish?
Guest:My mom is Jewish, yeah.
Guest:We're not practicing at all.
Guest:We're like Christmas tree Jews.
Guest:We're not like religious.
Guest:But did you have a Jewish grandmother?
Guest:I do have a Jewish grandmother.
Guest:I still have a Jewish grandmother.
Guest:Oh, good for you.
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:And she's wonderful.
Guest:Oh, cool.
Guest:I've just seen your presidential stuff.
Guest:yeah the president sat where you're sitting that's in that chair 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 yeah my dad's uh sister and her husband like where what part bambridge just in county down just outside belfast it's beautiful right it is yeah it's it's like it's ireland to me is like stunning no it is i mean actually like bambridge is lovely and and obviously i don't want to like
Guest:We need to talk about another place.
Guest:But like the west coast of Ireland as well.
Guest:I spent time there as well.
Guest:And it is like stunning.
Guest:And it's one of those coastlines that I think people don't... Because, you know, you think of Ireland, you think rain.
Guest:And there is a lot of rain.
Guest:But there's also like, it's kind of just epic.
Guest:It's really, yeah.
Guest:It's like...
Guest:green and beautiful like I didn't 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 I know I have to say there is something incredibly like just comforting and negative and like it's it feels like yeah life just sort of ticks over there in a rather lovely and calm way
Guest:yeah um the people are great but then i think i think i haven't grown up in say i don't know did you grow up in a city or were 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 well 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
Marc:Maybe it's not your agenda right now.
Guest:That's the thing.
Guest:Like sometimes I have those moments.
Guest:Like I definitely like sometimes like, oh, yeah, I could.
Guest:I'm really I'm very good at being alone and like I'm happy.
Guest:But yeah, I think I feel I feel cut off.
Marc:But I'd have to assume like, you know, fortunately, I don't know if you've shaved your head for a role.
Guest:I have.
Guest:Yes, I've not just become very, very right wing.
Guest:But the film is, it's about an FBI agent who goes undercover with a bunch of white supremacists.
Marc:Where's that being shot?
Guest:It was shot actually very close to where those white supremacists were literally arrested yesterday.
Guest:In the Midwest?
Guest:In Virginia, just outside Richmond.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And who's shooting that movie?
Guest:It was a guy called Daniel Ragussis.
Guest:It was his first film, first feature film.
Guest:And he wrote the script as well.
Guest:And he's the nicest man.
Guest:I've been really lucky this year to have just amazing experiences with directors.
Guest:Just great people.
Guest:Did you speak with an American accent?
Guest:I did in that, yes.
Guest:In fact, I spoke with an American accent in that the whole time from morning till night.
Guest:Nobody working on that film heard me in an English accent.
Marc:And it was a Southern American accent?
Guest:No, it wasn't.
Guest:I actually was learning a Southern American accent for something else, and I really enjoy it, man.
Guest:It's weirdly, it's closer to an English accent than a lot of other American accents are, because the R's are less pronounced.
Guest:But what did you do?
Guest:Did you have to get tapes of people going, how are you?
Guest:Yeah, what do I do?
Guest:I listened to the guy.
Guest:In theory, it was going to be for somebody I would be playing.
Guest:So I listened to a lot of the guy himself.
Guest:And then I got a coach.
Guest:And then, yeah, you just go through the script.
Guest:And then they go through it.
Guest:There's various ways of doing it.
Guest:I've got some friends who literally go through it with the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Guest:And they've learned that.
Guest:And then they get that written out for them.
Guest:That's how they learn it.
Marc:that i just have to 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 absolutely of course there are
Guest: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 city whereas like the rest of the world as you know thinks they sound fucking cool yeah 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 like i used to i think they do get stereotype but i stopped doing that yeah yeah because you like you can't like well you spend time
Guest:down there and you're like holy shit it's beautiful there's and there's so many like awesome people exactly and i i went everyone i tell i filmed 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 richmond's super like yeah it's not like but but speaking about like uh uh reprieve or or you know the idea of of being somewhere calm and peaceful i mean i can't imagine that you
Marc:that your life is easy.
Guest:You know, everyone sort of has that impression, but I think I've managed to simplify my life a lot.
Guest:I know what I like doing.
Guest:I like hanging out with my friends.
Marc:And also, you're fortunate that you're growing up and that you do look a little different and you can probably get by.
Marc:Have you ever said this when someone goes like, are you Harry Potter?
Marc:You go, no, I'm not.
Guest:I don't do that, but I do, but I will.
Guest:But if you just come up and say, are you Elijah Wood?
Guest:I will say no, and I won't tell you who I am.
Guest:My girlfriend confused you too.
Guest:Really?
Guest:It's happening so, and it's happening even more with a shaved head.
Guest:She said, does he DJ?
Guest:I'm like, I don't think he does.
Guest:Because Elijah's really into records.
Guest:Are you guys friends?
Guest:No, we've met once, and we've communicated through other people a couple of times.
Marc:It's because of The Hobbit, though.
Marc:It's not because you look alike.
Guest:It's because we look alike.
Guest:It's because the idea of us is the same.
Guest:Like, we're both kind of short guys with big blue eyes and brown hair.
Guest:And you did fantasy movies of a specific type.
Guest:And we did fantasy movies that came out at almost the same time.
Guest:Like, originally, those when Harry Potter was first coming out.
Guest:Like, the first, you sort of forget now that originally, those first movies were coming out kind of alongside each other, and they were, like, billed as, like,
Guest:The fantasy movies, like, versus Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, like, that... You guys have to do something together, like a road movie.
Guest: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.
Guest:Yeah, do a bit.
Guest:There's got to be some... You could do a short one for, like, Funny or Die or something.
Guest: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!
Guest:And I'm like, no, I'm not.
Guest:And he was like, we're working on this movie.
Guest:And I'm like, no, you should, if you're working with Elijah Wood, you should know I'm not him.
Guest:Know what he looks like.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So you hang out with your girlfriend, you find, but you don't.
Guest:I don't, I mean.
Guest:I work, and I'm really lucky.
Guest:That's the thing I got luckiest in, is that I loved being on set.
Guest:So that's what I love doing.
Marc:So that could be six months a year to a full year sometimes.
Guest:Yeah, this year 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...
Guest:five six months right and it's been 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 for like 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
Guest:I don't know what my life is without it, which is a problem in and of itself, possibly down the line.
Guest:But I'm lucky that I took to it like I did, not in 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.
Marc:Okay, so you get the role.
Marc:Now, at the beginning, you'd done what, two other roles before you took Potter?
Marc:Yeah, basically.
Guest:Just a little one.
Guest:A TV movie for the BBC and a small part in a film.
Marc:And your parents were into it.
Marc:They're like, oh, this seems to be working out for them.
Marc:So now they get this huge offer where they immediately like, yeah, great.
Guest:Go.
Guest: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.
Marc:They knew they were going to do six at least.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And and then and and it was to sign off all of them.
Guest:And 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.
Marc:You needed some consistency with the main character.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So they wanted to sign on for six films and they were all going to be done over here in L.A.
Guest:And my mom and dad, I didn't even hear about it at this stage.
Guest:I never heard that this was.
Guest:And you didn't even hear it was offered to you?
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:My mom and dad were just like, no, that's a crazy disruption to his life.
Guest:We don't want that for him or want him to.
Guest:And frankly, like, want me to know that that was a thing that was going on.
Guest:I do.
Guest:I think that was definitely right.
Guest: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.
Guest:Right.
Guest:At which point my mom and dad were like, and then we had this sort of moment.
Guest:I don't believe in fate, but my mom and dad do.
Guest:No religion, but fate.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean I think my mum and dad believe in God and definitely fate because then they started 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
Guest:Why isn't he watching the play?
Guest:Why is this dude in the row in front keep turning around and looking at me?
Guest:Because I still had no knowledge that an offer had been made or anything like that.
Guest:Or an offer to audition, sorry, I wasn't an offer.
Guest:And then I remember my mum and dad rushed me upstairs at the interval.
Guest:And I was just sort of standing there looking like, what's going on?
Guest:And my mum and dad being like, do we leave?
Guest:Do we go back down?
Guest:He's going to want to come over and talk.
Marc:And they were negotiating still so that you couldn't talk to him.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:My mom and dad were just thinking, like, if he talks to him, then it's going to be about Potter.
Guest:And then, you know, and we don't know what the situation is.
Guest:And they didn't, I guess, still know how they felt about it.
Guest:And then...
Guest:So their concern was he would come up to you and go like, are you going to do it?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Or maybe that he would talk about it and then I would feel that they'd been keeping it from me.
Guest:I don't honestly know.
Guest:But I do think they were aware of what...
Guest:potentially big deal this was and they were kind of freaking out about like is this the right thing to do right because i remember i turned around to my mom when i was like six years old after seeing like a pantomime production of aladdin yeah 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 it's not all fun and games like that your father and i did yeah kind of that kind of thing yeah yeah heartbreaking business yeah
Guest:And so, but then after we went back in and saw the rest of the play and we did indeed speak to David and it was absolutely fine.
Guest:There was nothing mentioned about it.
Guest:And then when we went home, my mom and dad, I think that they were like, maybe this is, maybe this is the universe.
Guest:It was supposed to be.
Guest:It was supposed to be.
Guest:So they let me audition.
Guest:And then, yeah, I think I only had like four or five auditions compared to Rupert and Emma who had like 10 or 11 each.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So they were pretty sure that this was going to be a monster.
Marc:I mean, on some level.
Marc:Had you read the books?
Guest:I'd read the first two.
Guest:Did you like them?
Guest:Yeah, but I was also not a reader.
Guest:I found reading really a trial at that point in my life.
Guest:I love it now, but at that point, it hadn't clicked yet at all.
Guest:It just felt like a chore.
Guest:And also, I was always, I suppose, slightly contrary in the way that if everyone's really into something, I have to be like, okay, well, I'll wait and see if I like it later after you guys are unfashionable.
Guest:No, I'm much better about that now.
Guest:I remember, I was thinking about this the other day, like what a dick I was to some ex-girlfriends about their taste in music, like what pretentious asshole I was about.
Marc:It's a deal breaker sometimes.
Guest:Yeah, when you're a teenager, it's so important.
Guest:Oh my God, how painful.
Marc:Or sometimes I'll just be like, no, I don't like it because everyone else likes it.
Marc:And then like 10 years later, I'm like, well, that's pretty good.
Guest:pick a song yeah exactly i remember i read a i read a i read um i was i was doing an interview recently with uh nme in 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 because 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 oh the white stripes man they're really repetitive and i was really like what are you talking about you
Guest:The White Stripes are great.
Marc:No, I think impulsive, maybe instinctively you might be right, but maybe you didn't quite get it.
Marc: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.
Guest:They are, but now, like, I have such an affection for that music.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Because it was the music of my teenage years.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And, like, you know, you sort of rarely love any music as much as you love the music, I think, when you're a teen.
Marc:I think that's true.
Marc:Unfortunately, when I grew up there, you know, the music available on the mainstream level was, you know, you really had to find your way through it.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Or I would be listening to foreigner records right now.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:That was a tough era.
Guest:And everything, like, before it and just after it was so good.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You have to work for it a bit more.
Marc: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.
Marc:And now I'm sort of like, how the fuck did I miss this?
Marc:Well, it wasn't, you're giving what you're giving through the outlets you're giving.
Marc:You got to know a guy who's going to tell you like, oh, you don't know who they are?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's, yeah.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:So what was your relationship or is relationship with the JK Rowling?
Guest:I mean, do you, I mean, are you guys like, we're not like tight?
Guest:Uh, we don't, you know, we don't like talk, but I just like, like we always got on really, really well.
Guest:And she was obviously incredibly kind to me and really supportive of the films.
Guest:Uh,
Guest:and she came and saw equus and was really supportive of that um and yeah she's just been she's been great she's been great with all of us i think yeah 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 warner's you know
Guest: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.
Guest:It's a family.
Guest:It was.
Guest:I mean, it was like you're doing this every year for a decade.
Marc:Some people passed away.
Guest:Some people got married.
Guest:Some people had babies.
Guest:In fact, there was a girl called Bonnie, Amanda Knight's daughter.
Guest:Amanda Knight was the head of hair and makeup on the films.
Guest:And she did all eight films for all ten years.
Guest:And Bonnie was born two weeks before I got the part.
Guest:And so then, like...
Guest: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 it's 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 i'm 26 now really makes some people feel old when they hear that sure um because the people who loved harry potter are now starting families
Guest:Well, that's what's amazing about Potter as well, is that if you were 14 when the first one came out, when the first film came out, and you've been probably 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.
Guest:The videos.
Marc:This is what we watch over and over again.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I'm thankfully still at an age where I can just about be recognized as the same person.
Guest:There is going to come a point where their parents are going to be saying to their kids, this is Harry Potter.
Guest:And they're like, no, it's not.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:And that's probably the point where they'll remake them.
Marc:With a new kid.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, yeah, or a TV show.
Marc:It seems like it's just an evergreen property.
Guest:At the moment.
Marc: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.
Marc:Grownups.
Marc:I used to do a bit about it.
Marc:It's for children.
Marc:I was livid about how many grown adults I saw reading Harry Potter.
Marc:I was mad about it.
Marc:It had nothing to do with you.
Marc:No, no, no.
Marc:But I was like, what is happening to this culture?
Marc:Never.
Guest:They're really good.
Guest:All right.
Guest:That's the thing.
Guest:You've read all of them?
Guest:Yeah, I have, obviously.
Guest:Can you imagine if I hadn't?
Guest:I love it.
Guest:I didn't read the last one.
Guest:I got the script.
Guest:I get it.
Guest:I get it.
Guest:I have like, in my heart of hearts, I think maybe that's true of Rupert.
Guest:I think he maybe just read the last script.
Guest:He says he read it.
Guest:No, I'm sure he did.
Guest:That's a joke.
Marc:No, I know people say that, but I'm so deliberate about what I read.
Marc:I don't read for entertainment.
Marc:If I'm going to read something, it's got to be fucking great.
Marc:And people recommended it to me, but I was not going to be one of those guys on the subway.
Marc:It's going to have to be some guilty pleasure that I do alone.
Guest:Well, they make adult edition covers now.
Guest:Oh, no, I can read it on Kindle, too.
Guest:That's what I always like.
Guest:I always found that funny, that there was clearly some acknowledgement that...
Guest:from the publishing company who 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.
Marc:People are starting to get, you know... Maren's starting to talk about it on stage.
Guest:Yeah, he's doing a bit.
Marc:I wish I got that kind of attention.
Marc:But, well, so at what point did you...
Marc:become sort of aware of of what could be like sort of not just not a pigeonhole but but the the the when when we start talking about that the perception of uh of of child actors and what happens to child actors i mean from the word go like there was i remember that pretty much the day after i was cast there was a an article written by a former child actor in the uk or or by him or about him
Guest:Basically saying like, you're all doomed.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest: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.
Guest:And I think even he came out and said something like, well, that's his childhood gone.
Guest:So from that, you know, from that moment, I was like some awareness of, OK, that's what people think happened to child actors.
Guest:And then were you afraid of it?
Guest:No, never really.
Guest:Because I knew what my life was like.
Guest:I was on set.
Guest:I think as I got older, I know why that stuff happens.
Guest:But I do get it.
Guest:And I get why it hasn't happened to me.
Guest:Okay, explain.
Guest:Well, I think.
Guest:Anyway, there's no definite answer, obviously.
Guest:But I think...
Guest:One of the reasons it didn't happen to me because most actors, acting's a weird life.
Guest:Like you go from job to job and there's very little consistency with who you see, particularly if you're in America.
Guest:British film industry is small.
Guest:Like you can, if you've done one job in Britain, you'll probably know someone on your next job.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Like over here, I've yet to work with the same crew member twice.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:So it's...
Guest:If you're doing that in this country, it's a lot harder.
Guest:You know a lot fewer people.
Guest:If your parents aren't right, then that's going to screw you up.
Marc:Isn't there some protections now about that?
Marc:Because I know there are stories about some other child actors whose parents sort of pimped them out and took all the money.
Guest:Yeah, but I'm not talking about even financially ripping off the kid.
Guest:I'm talking about just having parents who are either really pushy or crazy or trying to live out their life through you.
Guest:You didn't have any of that?
Guest:No.
Guest:I'm incredibly lucky with my parents.
Guest:They were always amazingly supportive, but they said to me between every film, if you're not happy, we don't have to do the next one.
Guest:They approached it with caution, I think, the whole way through.
Marc:How did they respond when you started going outside and like you were swarmed by 10 year old girls?
Guest:My well, yeah, it was weird for them.
Guest:I imagine they all.
Guest:But they also that's the thing.
Guest:They I remember I went to Japan when I was 12.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I thought 13 for a promotional tour.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I arrived and there were 5000 people waiting in the arrivals lounge.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:um how many five thousand japanese kids yes it's all of all ages eight to eighty just like screaming and there was like a hundred security there and they were struggling to hold them back me and my mom and dad were like what 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
Guest: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
Marc:Was there ever a point where they were scared or your life was in danger?
Marc:There was creepy threats.
Guest:I mean, like creepy letters, never really threats, but more people that you end up worrying for them more than us, really.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Good.
Marc:Like people genuinely asking you to use your magic powers to help them and whatnot.
Guest: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 did once get sent a, I once got sent like a rock by a super religious family in America.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:And they said that I was to like hit myself with it when I had like dirty thoughts.
Guest:And I was like, this is, that's very, thanks for thinking of me and my moral side, you guys, but I think I'm all right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Send a picture to them of you hitting yourself with the rock.
Guest:No, I think me and my friend just threw the rock away.
Marc:That's bizarre.
Marc:Yeah, so I got... Do you think that they would have criticized you for your... My rolling equus, I'm sure that, like... No, no, your allegiance to witchcraft.
Guest:Maybe.
Guest:I always felt... 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.
Guest:Because we saw some of that around the time the first film was coming out.
Guest:And, like, everything.
Guest:Like, it goes away.
Guest:Like, it's... I feel like...
Guest:There was a moment of controversy with it.
Guest:And then it's sort of, you know, even loads of religious people like Harry Potter.
Guest:Like it's not, it's only very, very certain type.
Marc: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.
Marc: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.
Marc:I mean, you could probably own an island if you'd like.
Yeah.
Marc:Buy a small country.
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:There's no part of you that's sitting there going like, I hope I don't waste all that money on what?
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Like, I'd have to really fuck.
Guest:Like, I mean, it would just have to be like, it would be the most epic downfall.
Guest: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,
Guest:for the most part 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 want to do the films I want to do because I think they're good
Marc:But did you have some trouble handling the success?
Marc:Did you get fucked up?
Guest:I mean, I think there was definitely a time when I was coming out of Potter into the real world.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And suddenly I was in a world where I was like, oh, I'm not going to have that consistency anymore.
Guest:I'm not going to see all these people every year.
Guest:I'm not going to just have my friends around me all the time.
Guest:I'm going to have to like... And also like...
Guest:Who knows?
Guest:Figure out how to live a life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I'd had, you know, months of journalists saying to me, like, so, you know, how's it going to be now that you kind of peaked at 21?
Guest:Yeah, it's over.
Guest:What's your life going to be right now?
Guest:Going to be okay.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And, you know, I'd never felt worried about it.
Guest: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 going to be okay?
Guest:Maybe I should be.
Guest: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 i was also at that point 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 know
Guest:allowed to do that anymore just so you know that thing you love you can't do that anymore 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 drank a lot and has been recorded but that was more about like that was more to do actually with
Guest: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 have a few cocktails yeah and i can't 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
Guest:You don't have a tolerance for it?
Marc:You get too fucked up?
Marc:I've been sober for 16 years.
Marc:I know the feeling.
Guest:Yeah, and it's just like you get bored of waking up feeling like that.
Marc:How bad were you like, what'd I do?
Guest:Yeah, like a lot of that.
Guest: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 know
Guest:I made friends in a pub real fast.
Guest:You've got to keep up.
Guest:And I was super fun for that first hour.
Guest:An hour?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then you get bored of being the liability and you get bored of being the one everyone has to look after and you get bored of hearing...
Guest: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 this maybe slightly cagey in front of your mic just because i i did talk about this in an interview and i i p it's out there and people know about but
Guest:anytime i give any more information about it it's like the the british press is just like yeah well the interesting thing this is the story people want to write about me right is that i did get that that you have this struggle up and yeah yeah yeah i'm quite happy now
Marc:Well, yeah, but it's so funny that there was a generation of British actors that just wreaked havoc on pubs for years.
Marc:And it was like the greatest era.
Guest:I honestly feel like there's a lot of us that feel we have to live up to that in some way.
Guest:really you gotta be Burton and O'Toole 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 yeah what yes I suppose I do yeah I suppose that's what I can do now um yeah it's a very different
Marc:Well, 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.
Marc:And there was part of my brain that wondered was, you know, did I want to be that?
Marc:You know, did I want to be taken care of or looked after or feel like I had friends?
Guest:Some part of you wants that chaos as well in that sense of like not knowing, especially I think probably for me, like having had always a very structured life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:90% of the time enjoying that.
Guest:There's just that crazy part of you every so often that wants to just rebel against that and have some chaos.
Marc:And there's definitely that line, though, when you no longer know the chaos.
Marc:It seems like the guys of that generation that could drink, that they were having a good time all the way through.
Guest:Yeah, and screw them for that.
Guest:Screw all of those people and their consequence free drinking.
Guest:I remember people here and I still do get very envious.
Guest:I get envious sometimes when I hear people talk now and I'm just like, man, how do you do that?
Guest:How are you okay?
Marc:I always had a line.
Guest:I always tell myself as well, they're not really.
Guest:They're struggling with something.
Marc:Oh, sure.
Marc:They don't feel good in the morning.
Marc:I don't care how swashbuckling you are.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:You still feel shitty in the morning.
Marc:But let's talk about Kraft 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.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:So there wasn't a lot of deep work that had to be done.
Marc:No, no.
Guest:But did you study acting?
Guest:I did sort of latterly, really, yeah.
Guest:I mean, I got to an age where I was about 16, and before I did Equus, actually, when I was kind of like sort of- You had to kind of prepare for that, right?
Guest:Exactly.
Guest: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-
Marc:Oh, right, they couldn't actually be on stage.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:So I wanted to sort of limit the ammunition people had in that sense.
Marc:They weren't stage actors, had no experience at it.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:And I knew that people were going to want to say that about me, like, who's this kid coming from a movie franchise?
Guest:Well, they must have been out to get you.
Guest:I think some were, but also there was a certain amount of, okay, you're doing Equus.
Guest:That's among certain people that makes them go, he's not a play you do if you don't want to be an actor.
Marc:And also you're the right age for it.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:It was perfectly appropriate casting.
Marc:So you were aware that, I imagine, I imagine that you had to sit down with agents and your parents or whoever your advisors were to decide what you were going to do post Harry Potter.
Marc:And what better way to introduce yourself?
Marc:Well, that was during Harry Potter, though.
Guest:That was still, well, that was before the fifth film had come out.
Marc:But there must have been part of you that was looking ahead.
Guest:Oh, God, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest: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.
Guest:So everyone was like, oh, he's doing something different.
Guest:And now we get to see him in the thing we know him in.
Guest:And it just transitions everyone easier, I think.
Marc:And people liked you in Equus.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it went down really well, thankfully.
Guest:So how did you prepare?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Um, 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.
Guest:What do they learn?
Guest:Like I need to learn that stuff.
Guest:That's what you said to the guy?
Guest:Um, no, I said it to pretty much actually.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I said to, um, Barbara Hausman is, is her name and she's, uh, she was recommended to me through, um, Kenneth Branagh.
Guest:Um, so I was like, that's a good, strong recommendation for theater based text work.
Guest:So, yeah, I work with her on literally every role I've ever done since.
Guest:For that, it was specifically working on projection and vocal stuff, but since we've just been doing... She's somebody that I go through scenes with and I trust that I can just...
Marc: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.
Marc:My first thing was like, is that the monster?
Marc:Like, because I thought like, are they going to humanize the monster?
Guest:Yeah, cool.
Guest:Well, that is a sort of the version.
Guest:One of the things we're doing in the film is like showing Victor as kind of the creator of Igor as well.
Guest:When he meets me, I don't have a name.
Guest:I'm just living this sort of,
Guest:Yeah, but I could see that you had done some work around.
Guest:Yes, physicality as well.
Guest:I really liked all that stuff.
Guest:It was something I did when I did the musical.
Guest: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.
Guest:And so I've had a lot of opportunities to do stuff like that.
Marc:You know what's next now?
Marc:Elephant Man.
Guest:fratty cooper's has done it it's been too too recently revived i've got to wait at least 10 15 years to twist up yeah you gotta wait a bit nah yeah i've got i've got to wait a bit for that i did but i did have like i did i did the cripple of inchman and then frankenstein and the cripple of inchman 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
Marc:kind of made the leap that it could be cerebral palsy after the things that are described so I played a character with cerebral palsy in that and then Igor was much less specific kind of made-up condition that I sort of just came up with yeah I like that the the evolution of the Frankenstein movie in this particular manifestation is some sort of bizarre buddy film yeah of two very attractive men Igor Igor just turns out to you know you you stand him up straight and you clean his face up and he's a Daniel Radcliffe
Guest:Well, yeah, I can't get it.
Guest:You know, but yes, it's the girl.
Guest:So that's what it should be called.
Guest:Somebody said that the James's alternative title for the film is Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Marc:But so so what were some of the things that she told you?
Marc:Like, you know, because it sounds to me like you really had to learn how to put a craft in place.
Guest:Then the other person that was, I have to say, really key in learning, because I used to refer to myself as a point-and-shoot actor.
Guest:You just show me where my mark is, and I'll hit it, and I'll give you whatever my instincts have got.
Guest:I don't really have any kind of process.
Guest:And then working with John Krakidis on Killia Darlings, who's the director of that and co-writer, he was somebody that changed how I act.
Marc:Well, I'll tell you, that story, which I knew being a beatnik freak when I was in college, the Lucian Carr story, I'd never seen it executed.
Marc:And even in the literature, in the beat literature, it was fairly cryptic in terms of what really happened.
Yeah.
Marc:You know, like you knew that Lucian Carr murdered somebody.
Marc:But, you know, with what's his name?
Marc:The guy who played Burroughs, who I love.
Guest:Ben Foster.
Marc:Ben Foster is a fucking great actor.
Marc:And I'm a huge beat guy.
Marc:So, you know, it was important to me that it was done right.
Marc:And I didn't even know what that was that it was about that.
Marc:Oh, cool.
Marc:I just went because I was in Sundance for another reason.
Marc:And I got tickets for it.
Marc:And I'm like, holy shit, it's about Lucian Carr.
Marc:And what was the kid's name before Lucian Carr?
Guest:Dane DeHaan.
Guest:Holy shit.
Guest:He's amazing.
Guest:He's one of my best friends that I've made through acting.
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:We're in a fantasy league together.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, he's great.
Guest:My fantasy league that I run.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Football?
Guest:Football.
Guest:Yeah, American football.
Marc:American football.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:So you're a bizarre guy with the British and American football thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's good.
Guest:I like it.
Marc:It's going to endear you to many millions of grown men.
Marc:It's great.
Guest:Who didn't like you as Harry Potter.
Guest:I know.
Guest:Now I would go on ESPN yesterday and talk about fantasy.
Guest:I've got a lot more probably fans in that demographic.
Guest:Did you already get some feedback for that?
Guest:Well, I don't have social media, so I don't know.
Guest:You just detach from it?
Guest:um yeah i know i have a google plus but like for me like it just it seems like it's just you know there's that there's that wait let me understand something you don't need to self-promote at this point big 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 i'm just like i don't don't i just 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 it's like yeah
Guest:well no but or else they'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 an act of social rebellion like i don't give a 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
Guest:I was like, I just don't have it.
Guest:I didn't have it yesterday.
Guest:There's no reason.
Guest:Yesterday was fine.
Guest:The only moment I come to resent that is when other people look at you like, you're weird for not doing it.
Guest:It's like I'm not resisting anything.
Guest:I'm just not into it.
Marc:Yeah, it saved your mind.
Marc:Keep it to yourself.
Guest:And that's the thing.
Guest:I feel like as well for me, I mean...
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:There's a great line in the English TV show called The Thick of It where somebody says, have you ever Googled yourself?
Guest:It's like opening a door into a room full of people telling you how shit you are.
Guest:And I was like, yeah.
Guest:Why would you invite that?
Marc:Well, there's a lot of that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Believe me, I'm exhausted by it.
Guest:It always makes me feel filthy.
Guest:You must have to do all that stuff.
Marc:I do.
Marc:You do, but you wonder, though.
Marc:See, that's the addictive quality of it.
Marc:It's like, what if I did pull out?
Marc:Would everything go away?
Marc:I'm sure this podcast would still be here.
Guest:Yeah, I would think so.
Guest:I imagine I'd still live.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But all right, so let's talk about Kill Your Darlings because that was a choice.
Marc:So you do Equus, and then you're like, you're going to play Ginsburg.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And in it is a very vulnerable and intimate and somewhat brutal homoerotic scene.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And this is Harry Potter.
Marc:I mean, 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.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:But I'd seen enough of them to have the reaction when you're having sex with a man.
Marc:I'm like, Harry Potter's... What's Harry Potter doing?
Marc:I'm not judging him, but who knew this about Harry Potter?
Guest:At least I took the glasses off for it.
Guest:You did it right.
Guest:Well, that was the weird thing.
Marc:I'd never seen...
Marc:gay male sex on a screen, you know, done with that type of vulnerability.
Guest:Oh, right.
Guest:Or much at all, really.
Marc:I guess, yeah, I suppose, yeah.
Guest:I mean, Brokeback Mountain was like a slight, not so much of a vulnerable scene, I guess.
Marc:Well, no, and it wasn't, you know, it was sort of more suggested than it was.
Marc:It was more about the romance of it.
Marc:But this, you know, the director, what's his, how you say his name?
Marc:Croquitus.
Marc:Croquitus, you know, wanted it to be, to have the sort of intensity and the rawness of something, you know, really happening.
Marc:Because it was graphic.
Guest:I mean, yeah.
Guest:It wasn't full frontal, but I guess it was graphic.
Marc:It was graphic because you were registering it happening.
Guest:You've got to remember, to me, what ended up on screen was like,
Guest:Yeah, after a whole day's work.
Guest:Less intimate than what we were doing.
Guest:So I guess it's why we're like, it doesn't seem like... But it was the first time.
Marc:Like, it was Allen Ginsberg's first time doing that.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:So it needed to be like a good scene.
Guest:A good scene and sort of like... That would be a super vulnerable moment.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So what did you learn from him?
Guest:You were about to say that, you know, working with... John, like, he really just sat me down and was like, so how do you work?
Guest:And I was like, I don't know, really.
Guest: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...
Guest:Silly that I was never, you know, asking myself, I guess, or no one ever put to me, but, like, they're saying, like, what does your character want out of this scene?
Guest:You know, like, with this line, what are you trying to do to the other person?
Guest: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.
Guest:Like, and if you narrow down what that is and play that...
Guest:it kind of removes self-consciousness.
Guest:So you're not worrying about what your face is doing or what you look like or have lines coming out.
Guest:Because that's basically what I've learned as I go on.
Guest:The more you play around, the more relaxed you are, the more you trust the people you're with and you can play around and screw up, the better you'll be because you'll just try more stuff and you'll be more...
Guest:I don't know, expressive and creative.
Marc:But you really threw yourself into it with Equus and Kill Your Darling, sort of like, if I'm going to do this, let's take the chances.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:But that's why I've always been excited by the chance to prove myself and the chance to just...
Guest:And I'm woke on exciting scripts.
Guest:And also, I was released from the pressure that a lot of my friends have of like, oh, I want to do a franchise.
Guest:I want to be in big, commercial, successful movies.
Guest:I was released from that very early on.
Guest:I've done that.
Guest:And it was awesome.
Guest:And now I'm in a position where I can just do the stuff that excites me.
Guest:And that's when I talked to you earlier about having simplified my life.
Guest:Now I am in a position where I can afford to make most decisions based on the principle of like, will this make me happy?
Marc:Will I be happy doing this?
Guest:Will I learn something?
Marc:Will I challenge myself?
Guest:Exactly, and when I say, will it make me happy, all those things, I'm not saying, will I be able to chill out and do nothing?
Guest:That's not what makes me happy.
Guest:What makes me happy is being able to work on stuff that fulfills me.
Marc:And what about, I saw you, you're a little bit in Trainwrecked.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:And you don't do a lot of comedy.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I'd love to.
Guest:I love doing comedy.
Guest:This is what you get cast in.
Guest:But I, yeah, I mean, that was fun.
Guest:I was doing it because I was doing The Crippled Inish Man, that show in New York, and Judd Apatow came and saw it, and he came backstage and was like, hey, we're filming.
Guest:Do you want to maybe, like, come by and do a bit on set?
Guest:And I was kind of...
Guest:It was so casual.
Guest:I've never been offered something in such an informal way before that I was kind of like, yeah, you're just bullshitting backstage being nice.
Guest:You've seen the show and you're being nice.
Guest:And then the next day, I guess I got a call from my agents being like, Jared Apatow's phoned up.
Guest:He wants to talk to you about the idea for what you're going to be doing.
Guest:And I was like, okay, cool.
Marc:And it was like a bit.
Marc:It was like you're in a foreign film.
Guest:Yeah, like an independent artsy movie.
Guest:Yeah, the dog walker.
Guest:The dog walker.
Guest:Honestly, I was so nervous that day because I was going in to do... There was no script.
Guest:I was going in to do improvised comedy with Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer watching.
Guest:I was like, this is terrifying.
Guest:I don't do... This is not what I do.
Guest:So...
Guest:uh i was really nervous but they were both really kind and and 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 can i talk to you about the film i'm promoting actually then
Guest:That one's come out and done very well.
Guest:Can I talk to you about my weird indies?
Guest:But yeah, that was a lot of fun.
Guest:And yeah, that's the thing.
Guest:You get the chance to do mad stuff like that.
Guest:That's what I love about my job is occasionally something you get to do.
Marc:Are you a comedy fan?
Guest:Yeah, a huge comedy fan.
Guest:That's what I watch most of when I'm...
Marc:Well, who'd you grow up with?
Marc:Who were your comedy guys?
Guest:Okay, well, I mean, being English, obviously, the original Office.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I love the American Office, too, but the English Office was a huge deal to me.
Guest:Also, Steve Coogan and Alan Partridge.
Guest:Right.
Guest:The Day-to-Day.
Marc:Funny, huh?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Have you ever watched The Day-to-Day?
Guest:No.
Guest:That's where, actually, the Alan Partridge character started.
Guest:He was a sports journalist on this fake news show hosted by a guy called Chris Morris, who also did Brass Eye, and he's amazing.
Guest:Do you guys see stand-ups?
Guest:Do you like stand-ups?
Guest:Yeah, I'd watched a lot of Dylan Moran.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:He's been in here.
Guest:Has he?
Guest:Oh, cool.
Guest:He's a funny guy.
Guest:Yeah, he is very, very funny.
Guest:A lot of English stand-ups.
Guest:Like, who else was it?
Guest:Oh, English or Irish.
Guest:Obviously, there's a lot of Dara O'Brien.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:I haven't talked to him.
Marc:I've met him.
Guest:Yeah, he's very nice.
Marc:I interviewed Stuart Lee.
Guest:is oh stuart lee's awesome right you at least like a whole different world right of like this his comedy is it's cutting and like yeah yeah yeah and like he he's just got like he's one of those comedians that you watch and go wow you are fearless like you do that is so weird yeah yeah repeats 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
Guest:he'll invest an hour in it yeah yeah absolutely um so yeah but then what else and i always i've yeah i mean god if you came right if you came around my house when you were when if like if you were dating me when i was like 17 18 when you would come around we were like watching oh yeah that night god i was i was a bit jack d was also somebody that i like he did you ever want to do it i no not really i've always had like one of those things where i
Guest:I like the idea of it, but then you have to be funny every nine out of ten times.
Guest:On purpose.
Guest:You have to be funny on purpose.
Guest:And it's one of those things that everyone says, when I hear people say that to other people, they're like, oh, you're so funny, you should stand up.
Guest:I'm always like, you probably shouldn't.
Guest:actually.
Guest:He probably couldn't write a set.
Guest:I don't think people know what goes into it, really.
Guest:I've amazing respect.
Guest:My girlfriend used to just do open mic stuff sometimes.
Guest:I was like, that is brave.
Guest:Is she American?
Guest:She's American, yeah.
Guest:She's from Michigan.
Guest:Is she an actress?
Guest:She is, yeah.
Guest:We met on Killie Darlings, actually.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:She's the girl that I met in the library.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Marc:So you've been with her a while?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Well, yeah, about three years.
Marc:So what's happening with that?
Guest:It's going really well.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:It's really good.
Guest:She's awesome.
Guest:She co-runs my fantasy league with me.
Guest:It's all about football.
Guest:But no, she's wonderful.
Guest:Do you want to start a family or anything?
Guest:Not yet.
Guest:But do you have it in your head to do that?
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:I'd love to be a dad.
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:Just, you know.
Guest:Yeah, I don't know why.
Guest:You know why?
Guest:No, I do know why.
Guest:Because a lot of my friends growing up were older than me, and I see them go through the process of having kids.
Guest:And, like, I saw one of my best friends, like, the day that his son was, like, he knew his girlfriend at the time was pregnant, literally said the words, my life is over.
Guest:In a sad way?
Guest:Yeah, in like an awful way.
Guest:And then I've seen him go from that to the happiest man on earth with three children.
Guest:I know, yeah.
Guest:And it's just like, wow, 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.
Guest:There's always like a problem to me.
Marc:Sure, 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 resistant to it, as soon as I have them, they're like, oh my God.
Guest:I mean, I've got, you know, some guys and they just turn into softies and there's something very sweet about it.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:But yeah.
Marc:And then, you know, after about three years of the kid being alive, they're exhausted.
Guest:Totally.
Guest:I mean, I also know people like that who you're like, oh, man, you sound like you can be OK, dude.
Guest:And that's the worst one is when people are like making jokes and they're just like, yeah, no, it's fine.
Guest:It's great.
Guest:But I want to talk myself sometimes.
Guest:But no, it's fine.
Guest:I was like, oh, God, are you joking about that?
Guest:I hope you are.
Marc:Yeah, 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.
Guest:Yeah, and it's like, do I wade in here?
Guest:Do you want me to say stuff?
Marc:Or do you just need a board to keep talking?
Marc:That's fine.
Marc:So how do you feel when you live in Manhattan?
Mm-hmm.
Guest:I live between London and New York.
Guest:And how do you feel when you come out here?
Guest:It's weird.
Guest:I've spent so little time in L.A.
Guest:I filmed something just outside L.A.
Guest:recently for the first time in my life.
Guest:And it's definitely a...
Guest:So you've managed to avoid the culture of show business in a way?
Guest:Until I was 21, I think I'd spent probably four weeks here in my entire life.
Guest:That's amazing.
Guest:And I do find it... And people are wowed by that, which is great.
Guest:I can't really say it anymore.
Guest:But for a while there, it was absolutely true.
Guest:And yeah, I think...
Guest:this is i find it strange when i'm here i'm not one of the people like oh la is terrible like but it is it's a different thing you feel different well it's it's fascinating 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 get the competition here well yeah and also like there's a there's a whole culture of show business where you know a lot of celebrities know each other and there's different rings and you're well i can feel that
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, there's a burden to it.
Marc:There's a cynicism that comes with it and a weird sort of insulated kind of like life and comfort that comes with it.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You really live a different life when you're inside the business.
Guest:And everyone like assumes, you know, I remember I sat down with a director here and he was like, you know, he directed videos for like some really big name pop stars and stuff.
Guest:And he was like, you must know Jay-Z and Beyonce.
Guest:And I was like, of course.
Guest:I don't at all.
Guest:I have no connection to them.
Guest:We film movies in Watford.
Marc:Well, the assumption is you're one of the biggest box office stars that's lived.
Marc:So how can you not spend time with Jay-Z and Beyonce?
Guest:You've never been up to the house?
Guest:I know.
Guest:Yeah, crazy.
Guest:So yeah, I feel kind of, I guess, lucky to be...
Marc:Yes, don't let it creep in.
Guest:Because I sort of have the thing of being able to drop in and come in and see friends here and stuff.
Marc:You seem like you're a real person, and you seem to have personal integrity, and it's a pleasure to talk to you.
Guest:Thank you.
Guest:You too.
Guest:I really, really enjoy this.
Guest:And also, like, when do you get to smoke an interview?
Marc:This is the best.
Marc:I like the secondhand experience.
Guest:I quit a long time ago.
Marc:Yeah, just stay away from L.A.
Marc:as much as you possibly can.
Guest:Said the man who lives here.
Marc:So you got to run.
Marc:Where are you going?
Guest:I'm going to get a star on the Hollywood Walk.
Guest:Get out of here.
Guest:I know.
Guest:Yeah, it is mad.
Guest:It's completely like when they said to me, I was like, what, really?
Marc:And here I was being a dick.
Marc:You were coming over.
Marc:I'm 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.
Marc:They didn't tell me you're going to get a star.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:No, don't.
Guest:But, like, I was, you know, it's all cool.
Guest:I was, like, I was really excited about this as well, honestly.
Guest:I was like, well, you're awfully dressed up.
Guest:Thank you.
Guest:Because I was thinking, like, that'll be a crazy thing.
Guest:And this will just be, like, an hour of cool normality.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Marc:Well, have a great time.
Guest:That's a big day.
Guest:Congratulations.
Guest:My mom and dad are going to be there as well.
Guest:Oh, sweet.
Marc:Everyone's going to be in L.A.
Marc:And thousands of fans.
Marc:Maybe.
Marc:We'll see.
Marc:Oh, have a good time.
Marc:Thanks, man.
Marc:That guy is a solid kid.
Marc:Solid kid.
Marc:I think he's going to be all right.
Marc:I think he's got it all figured out, but I think he loves doing what he's doing.
Marc:He can choose what he wants to do, and he's good at it.
Marc:I wish him nothing but the best with his star on Hollywood Boulevard and his mountains of Harry Potter money.
Marc:No, there's no resentment here.
Marc:I really enjoyed talking to him.
Marc: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.
Marc:And I was very impressed with that young man.
Marc:Very impressive young man.
Marc:Also, go to WTFPod.com.
Marc:I'm drinking a little JustCoffee.coop.
Marc:Hold on.
Marc:Pow!
Marc:I just shit my pants.
Marc:Classic ad copy invented by me.
Marc:Get on the mailing list.
Marc:Check the merch.
Marc:Look at the guide.
Marc:Get on Howl for all the archives.
Marc:Whoo!
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:I didn't prepare any guitar, but I could probably play some.
Marc:Hold on.
Thank you.
Marc:Boomer lives!