WEBVTT - Oliver Stark 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.320 So I go to my theater studies teacher at the 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:05.760 time and I say, you know, I think I'm going 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:10.000 to apply for drama school, which is a rada, a lambda, 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.479 one of these kind of prestigious land in drama school. 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.440 She says to me. And I know this is quite 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:17.280 an odd thing for a teacher to maybe say, but 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:18.959 it was fast. She said. I don't think you're getting 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.360 She said, I think you're too young. And even though 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.000 it's a thing that some people do straight after high school, 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:26.800 most of the people that do go to those schools, 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:29.479 they have got a little bit more lived experience and 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.200 life behind them. They are maybe in their early twenties, 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.239 sometimes in their late twenties, and me, being eighteen at 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:37.400 a time, thought you don't know what you're talking about. 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:41.040 I'm going to get in. So when an auditions turns 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:42.800 out she did know what she was talking about, and 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:50.199 I did not get in. My name is all of 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.519 the Stark. I am a British actor now living in 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:55.720 the US. You might know me from nam On one 0:00:55.800 --> 0:01:08.959 and I'm happy to be here. Hi everybody, and welcome 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.760 to today's episode of Off the Beat. I am your host, 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:19.080 Brian Baumgartner. Now listen. As you just heard, Oliver Stark 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:24.000 is on the podcast today. I'm very excited. I'm so excited, 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:28.080 in fact, that I might just call nine one one. Okay, 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:29.959 that was that was a bad one. I am not 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.000 going to be calling the police, but Oliver and I 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.920 will be getting into his time on nine one one, 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:41.640 the show and how it dove into the stressful realities 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.280 of first responders. It's a great series, but it's only 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.640 one of Oliver's many accomplishments. He starred in the fantasy 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:54.680 series Into the bad Lands, Underworld, Blood Wars, Mind Gamers, 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.480 and much much more. Are you ready? I'm ready. I 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.560 always like making new friends. Today is no exception. We're 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.440 gonna go deep into Oliver's career, from his early acting 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:12.560 days in London Town to training with real firefighters for 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.800 nine one one. So here he is my new friend, 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:29.080 Oliver Stark. Bubblunch, Squeak, I love it, Bubble, Squeak, Bubble 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:33.720 and squeaker cook get every month left over from the Nabby. 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.760 What's up? Hello? How you doing, Oliver? How are you? 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.680 I'm doing great? Thank you so much for joining me. Yeah, 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.120 thank you for having me. Now that this ominous countdown 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:58.520 just disappeared from the screen after lets you have six seconds, Yeah, 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.040 and then your life is going to end. What a 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.360 way to go. Well, you know, we like to keep 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:09.400 it really dramatic here on the on the podcast, Um, 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.359 thanks for coming on. We're gonna talk about obviously just 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:15.920 some of the work that you've done. But I wanted 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:20.840 to go back to start with, well the beginning. You 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.360 grew up in London, Is that right? It did? Yeah? Yeah, absolutely, 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.840 London is home, Northwest London to be more specific. So 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.160 all my family still are okay, so so you know 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.359 that that will always in fact be home home. Are 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.840 you back there often? You know? When when I first 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.040 so I moved to California in twenty sixteen, and for 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:44.119 my first I guess four years until COVID, I will 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.440 go back like twice a year, um so, so I 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.160 still felt quite connected to the place. But then when 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:53.560 COVID here, I didn't go for two years. It's got 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:56.680 more maybe two and a half. And I went back 0:03:57.600 --> 0:03:59.600 just over Christmas and knew which was my first time 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.240 in a in a very very long time. So that 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.000 was nice, it felt you know, it's just to like 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:06.080 walk around the streets that you grew up on and 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.080 sleep in your old bedroom. And I stayed with my 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.440 parents and they still live in the same house that 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.880 I grew up in, so that that was really nice. 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.800 I had missed that more than I realized. Do you 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.720 feel like I haven't talked to anybody about this before. 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:25.080 Do you feel like there is in London at a 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.599 younger age a greater sort of focus and or appreciation 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.240 on the arts so weirdly, no, okay, And in actual 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:38.880 fact I think less so than I've experienced here. Okay, 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.200 in a sense that so when I moved here, one 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.120 of the things that you know, people say, what's the difference? 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:48.120 And I always found that in London, at anytime you 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:53.440 expressed kind of any ambition for a creative career, it's 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:54.960 always all right, but what are you are you really 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:58.599 going to do? Right? Sure, but what are you actually 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:02.159 going to do? Yeah? R here I and I don't 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.200 know if that goes way back to the American dream 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.279 you can do whatever you want, though I've never really 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.520 encountered that to the same degree here. And somebody put 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.400 it like this to me, where if you see somebody 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.800 in the UK, or in London more specifically with a 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.040 nice car, so as well, how come they have that 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.600 and I don't, right, Whereas a bit more of an 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.800 American attitude is how did you get that so that 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.600 I can have it? So it's a bit more supportive, 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.240 and maybe that's wrong, maybe that's but but that's the 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.040 way it's been put to me. And you know, there 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:36.320 is certainly more culture in the UK than maybe some cities, 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.839 and you know, theater and stuff, right, I mean, I 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.080 think that's the genesis of my asking and your answer 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:47.159 is fascinating to me. But yeah, you think history maybe 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:52.520 one naively feels like history and culture and the arts 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.520 kind of go hand in hand. But that's a very 0:05:54.640 --> 0:06:00.160 interesting perspective. Yeah, I mean, I think theater wise, as 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.040 you just said, like there's the West End, just like 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:05.720 in sort of like New York or whatever, that there 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.640 is more of a focus in those couple of cities 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.480 than maybe other places. But that's interesting. Were you involved 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.839 in sports growing up city? Yeah, yeah, that was that 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.000 was probably my real ambition when I was like a kid, 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:23.880 was to be a football player. Okay, I guess quite 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:25.480 a slightly different room. I know, I've always said I 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.039 want to play an athlete, so I can kind of 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.040 straddle the two and pretend like I made my real 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:35.640 dream come true. Right when did you start becoming interested 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.640 in acting or in the arts? You know? I think 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:42.159 I had always like I was a real show off 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.880 as a kid, Like I liked attention, you know, and 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.599 I was a kid who, for whatever reasons, I've never 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.240 really been able to explain this, but I always got attention. 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.080 Like as a kid I was on the way to 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.640 would give an extra scoop of ice cream too. I 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:58.880 was always you know that they or they'd come and 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.239 do the magic tricks like that. I just was always 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:04.640 involved in some kind of performance. And maybe I had 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.400 an energy that was clear that maybe I needed a 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:10.800 little bit more so so people around me would give 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.480 it to me. But I don't think that was ever 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.600 at that stage this is a possible career. It was 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:18.720 like I just liked being the silly one of the group, 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.160 or I just liked they're putting myself out there a 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.240 little bit. I don't think it was until I was 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:29.400 maybe fourteen fifteen where I even started to think about acting, 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:33.320 But even then it wasn't a career. And when I 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:39.000 was about eighteen, I did There's a drama school in 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.880 the UK called Rada, which is a very prestigious student school, 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:43.640 and that they came and they did a workshop for 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:47.640 us at my high school. And I remember saying to 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.520 one of them, you know, I really enjoy this and 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:52.520 I think I might want to be an actor, but 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.800 I don't know if that's a real thing you can say. 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.880 And she said, absolutely is just say it, you could, 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.400 and you go and do it. And you know, I 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:04.280 think that was the first time that it clicked, the oh, 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.080 being an actor doesn't mean I have to go and 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.960 win an Oscar and be the most famous person that like, 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:10.680 I can just be an actor. I can I can 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.080 try and make a career out of that. And so yeah, 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.040 I think it was about eighteen moving into nineteen where 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.240 it first became a viable career choice rather than just 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.080 a one in a million dream. That's so interesting because 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:29.080 I think a similar thing happened for me. I mean, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:34.160 I was very involved and here in the States did 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:39.520 this big theater competition junior and senior year, but it 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.880 was not until I was a senior in high school here, 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:47.000 like right the summer right before where I did a 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.800 similar program here. It's a program at Northwestern University and 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.000 you only go. It's not like you can go to 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.280 camp there for years. You can only go between your 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.480 junior and senior year of high school. And that's where 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:05.520 for me, I was like, oh, this can be more 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:10.760 than just an activity that I do, like an extra 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:15.440 curricular or like whatever like this. Oh, I see the 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:20.319 depths now with which this could be something to study 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:23.920 to learn. So that's that's interesting. Were you doing plays 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.439 though before this or not? Really you were just oh, okay, yeah, 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.520 I would always do like the school play, you know, 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.360 so nothing like you know when I was in I 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:36.480 don't know what the equivalent would be here year seven, 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:38.880 I guess. So the first year of high school was 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.480 the Grinch in the school play, and you know, got 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.200 to do that. And in one of my later years 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.200 we did Guys and Goals and I got to play 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.640 Sky Masterson, which is funny because I'm completely incapable of 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:54.720 hitting a note. So for me to be the lead 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.040 in the school musical was a very brave decision on 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.280 their part. I basically talked my way through most of 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.680 the songs, and probably not quite in rhythm or anything. 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:09.000 I could talk sing really well. Yeah, the best of them. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:12.960 I can talk sing. But yeah, we did that that musical. 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.880 It was only on for three nights, and this girl 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:17.199 came up to me. I think she was in the 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.280 year below me. She came up, she went, so, I've 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.719 got two more performances after this, but she went, why 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.480 are You're such a good actor? You know, I'm feeling 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.199 good about but you can't sing and I still got 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.480 I've still got two more performances. It's like, wow, I 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:35.560 can't wait to get onto stage tomorrow. So you have 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.679 this conversation with the person from RADA, So what do 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.400 you what's your path from there? What do you decide 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:45.280 to do? So I go to my theater studies teacher 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:47.800 at the time and I say, you know, I think 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.680 I'm going to apply for drama school, which is a RADA, 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.240 a LAMBDA, one of these kind of prestigious lane in 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.959 drama school. She says to me, and I not, this 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.439 is quite an odd thing for a teacher to maybe say, 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:01.319 but it was. She said. I don't think you're getting 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.719 She said, I think you're too young. And even though 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:07.360 it's a thing that some people do straight after high school, 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.120 most of the people that do go to those schools, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.840 they have got a little bit more lived experience and 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.560 life behind them. They are maybe in the early twenties, 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.600 sometimes in their late twenties, and me, being eighteen at 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:19.760 a time, thought you don't know what you're talking about, 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.400 I'm going to get in. So when an auditions turns 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.160 out she did know what she was talking about, and 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:29.679 I did not get in. So at that time, I 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.439 then applied to university to go and study economics because 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.200 I thought, maybe it's not the right time for me 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.439 to do that. So I had a place I was 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:42.040 going to go and do economics, and then I did 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.080 not go and do that course. It was a thing 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.240 I was maybe good at, but not my life. So 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.160 that kind of left me in a place of not 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.280 knowing where I was. So I just started working various 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:57.280 different jobs. I was like a door to door insurance 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:59.480 salesman for a bit, I worked in a cool center. 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:04.439 I worked in various retail things, and then I reapplied 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.400 to drama school the next year and I got into 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:11.280 two of them, okay, and then I got really lucky. 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.079 I got offered what was called a Dance and Drama Award, 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:20.120 so a scholarship, and I decided to not go because 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:22.520 so this guy calls me up and he says, you 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.920 know you've got your places. Great news, and we're going 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.839 to offer you the Dada Scholarship and how great. Thank you, 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.600 he said, Wow, that's so crazy to the last person 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:36.960 that told screamed down the phone in excitement, and you 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:40.200 were just seeing so nonplussed about it. And I remember thinking, yeah, 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.720 why is that? And I just I think it. I 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.600 had realized it wasn't the right path for me at 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.360 that time, and I think my fear was that one 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:51.839 of the things I really enjoyed about acting was I 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.480 felt like I had a certain kind of rawness to me, 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.400 and for better or for worse, I felt like they 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.160 were going to try and take that out of me 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:06.040 and rebuild me in their image almost and I didn't 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.040 want to do that at that time, so I said no, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:13.040 and instead I just started making short films, not making them, 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.960 but being in them. So I found this website and 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.280 it was where a lot of film students would put 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:23.400 up castings for their graduation films, and so I was 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:25.280 in the space of a year I did something like 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.440 twenty two short films for just random film students, and 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.720 some of them are so awful, but it was a 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.360 very safe place for me to be really bad, right, 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:39.760 And then I cut together a reel out of those 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:41.800 and I started sending them off to agents, and I 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.840 got my first agent in the UK and just slowly 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.400 started to grow from then. You know, did There's a 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.360 show in the UK called Casualty where every British actor 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:52.320 ever has been on it, you know, as one of 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.240 their first jobs. And so I did that and I 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.120 played a drug dealer who one of his pregnant girlfriend 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:58.720 to go to a drug deal because he thought there 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:00.200 would be less chance that she would be the one 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.960 to get shook. She goes shut and so yes, I 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:08.040 just you know, slowly started building a resume. Yeah, now 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:12.240 at this point, what is your that by the way, 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.360 the foresight that you had to make the decision for 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:22.360 your own path one is very admirable because I know 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:27.520 that most people follow a very certain sort of prescribed path. 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.200 So that's very cool. Let me ask you this, at 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:35.640 this point, you do these student films, where do you 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:41.240 Where do you think your life is going? And I'll 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.120 tell you about me, not because you ask, but because 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.960 to tell you what I mean. Like I was doing 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.520 theater in the United States, so I was doing regional theater, 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.720 touring theaters, theaters all around him. That's really what I 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.000 thought my life was. That was what my dream was. 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.560 I want to be a theater actor, doing this forever. 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.360 Like that's where it's sort of finished for me. And 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.080 I ask in part because yes, you're in the UK, 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.600 you're in London, and they do a lot of wonderful 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.320 filmmaking over in London. But like for you, where did 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.880 you but your path hasn't gone that way? Where did 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:20.160 you see yourself? What did you want to do at 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:25.760 this point? So I think that there were two very 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:30.840 distinct sides to myself this time, one where even though 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.840 I had now taken steps into this, one that thought, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.840 I'm never gonna nobody's ever going to pay me to 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:42.600 do this. I just feel like some kid from Hendon, 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:46.520 which is the place in London. Yes, I'm never gonna 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:51.200 make anything of this. And then the other side where 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.360 I never had any doubt but I was going to 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.840 find success. And I think you know that that's probably 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:02.360 and I have, you know, looked into this. Why did 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.120 I have such a part of myself that was so sure? 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.080 And it's probably because you know, look at or think 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.280 about representation of things. I've probably always seen a version 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.400 of myself in most movies, right, Like growing up, there 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:16.000 was always a guy that probably kind of looked like 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.720 me that was the hero in a lot of these stories. 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.520 So I think for those reasons, it always felt doable 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.120 on one hand, But then there's also a lot of 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.640 guys that look like me, so completely unachievable on the 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.840 other hand. And I just had these two separate sides 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.400 where one, I'm going to end up selling video games forever, 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.120 which is what I was doing at the time, and 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.560 two I'm going to be on TV screens, no doubt 0:16:39.560 --> 0:17:00.720 about it. Fascinating. One of your earliest jobs you work 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:06.320 with our mutual friend DRIs elba yea Uther, very big 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.920 show in the UK at the time, and obviously he 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.879 is exploding at this time. How how was that experience 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.040 for you as one of your earliest jobs. I was 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:19.520 so excited because it was it was the third season 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:21.359 of Luther, so so it's been around for a little 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.800 bit and it was the best thing in British television, 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:27.159 you know, and and and so much of that is 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.280 is him and kind of all aspects. He had this 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:34.800 runess to him where he was rough and ready, but 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.840 he was still, you know, obviously intelligent and oh it 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.960 was such a brilliant character. They're doing a movie that's 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.920 coming out sooner. I know that. You know, I'm gonna 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.199 tell you that. I don't think I've told this story before. 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:51.159 I it sounds this is going to sound like a 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.600 humble bragg. This is like, oh, very weird, I've not 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:59.560 this is so long ago. Obviously the wire has been out. 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.160 But I you know, this didn't I mean, it should 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:07.920 have propelled him immediately into humongous stardom. He doesn't. I'm 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:12.080 at an event out of the country of the US 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:19.080 that was in the Bahamas, and I get this. Someone 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.240 comes over to me and says, and I'm bringing this 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.199 up because you talked about his rawness. They say, the 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:30.040 DJ wants to talk to you. He said, this is 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:32.760 something that no one is in any club ever said 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:36.600 to me. And I said, oh, okay, yeah, he's gonna 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:40.399 be on your show. The DJs in the Bahamas is 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:44.320 going to be on my show. Yeah, And I go 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:50.239 I go up and there's Idriss as the DJ, and 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:52.760 I you know, it was like, well, one of those 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:57.360 things where you see someone and you know them, but 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.400 in this content. I mean, like, here's role on the Wire, 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.680 which is where I knew him from. And this a 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:09.920 fantastic DJ by the way, was so different and he's like, hey, 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:11.960 may you know whatever, I'm going to be on your show, 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.040 and I was like what who? Oh my god? And 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.480 then but his like energy and his wrong, I know 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.440 what you're talking about about that it makes that makes 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:26.080 total sense today. That's the story that I always think 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.560 about him is. So I do this little bit on 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:30.320 Luther and it's such a small part, you know, it's 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.200 at the beginning of one episodes. It was really fun though, 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:37.080 especially because it was maybe my second TV job. I 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:39.840 didn't know what I was doing, and almost in quite 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.200 a good way where I just felt really loose and relaxed, 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.400 like who knows. So, you know, I do this bit 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.560 and by the time our characters that I say this 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:51.160 newsly interact because I'm dead, but you know, he comes 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.280 and I've already been killed, right, But you know, we 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:55.320 spoke a little bit on set that day and then 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:57.439 I think that you know, it was one of these 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:00.240 British shows where there's four episodes in the se season, 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:03.560 and so it was the penultimate episode. So the rat 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:07.200 Party was not too long after, and so I went 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.280 to the Rat Party and as I arrived there, he 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.040 was outside with this guy Warren Brown, who was his 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.199 partner on the show. And I'd known Warren previously, so 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.520 I started talking to them and after a while he 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:20.359 just goes, I just I feel like I recognize you 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:24.520 from somewhere. And I was like, yeah, Luther like this. 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:27.120 I mean I was dead at the time, but this 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.800 is the Luther Rat Party and he's like, oh yeah yeah. 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:32.680 So that was that. That was the first bit. But 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:36.119 then like two or three years after this, saw him 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:38.280 at an airport and I thought, oh what, I'm just 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.560 gonna say hi, and he before I said hi, I 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:44.120 worked and he went Luthor right, and he completely remembered 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:47.640 me from like three years prior to my name and everything. 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:52.080 So the difference in those two interactions it made me 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.280 feel so good. When I went up to the airport 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:59.720 and he totally remembered me. That's awesome. Um, you start 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:02.160 working on films now, are you still in the UK 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.359 and you know at what point? Sorry, well hard tiede, 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:13.640 Yes very much in the UK. Yes, underworld mind gamers, 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:18.399 you're working and you're building your resume and your career. 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:21.119 They are still in the UK. Now you've worked on 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:24.760 some film now and some television. What for you was 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:29.240 the difference or was it just a different job. Yeah? 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.840 I think at that point it was very much just 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:35.439 a case of how much time can I spend on 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:38.800 sets and how much can I not mess this up? 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:41.920 And so maybe there'll be another opportunity where anything I 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.280 take from this one I can use on the next one. 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:48.840 So I mean, you know that the one you meant 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:51.879 in The Hard Tide was quite a big part in 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.040 that movie. You know. In fact, I remember how I 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:57.639 got that was somebody else was meant to do it, 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:00.320 and then he dropped out, and they said to me, 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:04.200 literally on a Friday, can you do this movie? And 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.159 you're starting on Monday. You have to travel up there tomorrow. 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:09.359 And obviously I was like, yes, that I can't wait. 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:11.320 But but you know, it was that kind of movie 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:14.119 where it was just so thrown together at the last minute. 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:16.439 But it was a great experience, and it was a 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:20.040 chance for me to just do some acting on camera, 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:22.960 because even the things I had done up until that point, 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:26.640 you know that they were fun and cool, but they 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.120 were small and there wasn't really any meat to anything 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:31.040 that I was doing, where I think that was probably 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:33.520 one of the first times where it was like I 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.280 can delve into this guy and I can feel like 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:39.719 I'm transforming a little bit. So even though you know 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:42.600 it's it's not necessarily a performance that I look backward 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:44.480 and I'm like, well, I hope some people see that. 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:50.040 But it was an important step for me. And the 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:52.359 biggest one that you mentioned there for me was probably 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:55.600 that Mind Gamers movie, because that actually came at a 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.600