Latest / The Christian Reeve Podcast / Acting With James Anite | The Christian Reeve Podcast #253

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Acting With James Anite | The Christian Reeve Podcast #253 · The Christian Reeve Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to another episode of the Christian Reeve Podcast.
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  How about that? OK, I've had my fun.
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  But seriously, if you want to support the show, it really,
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  really helps us out. So thank you so much and thanks
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  again for listening. Hello, and welcome to another
• 0:52
  episode of the Christian Reid Podcast.
• 0:54
  Today's guest is an actor and a model and a good friend of mine.
• 0:57
  His name is James Anita. Welcome to the show.
• 0:59
  How you doing? Thank you, Christian.
• 1:01
  I'm doing very well. How are you?
• 1:03
  I'm good. I'm buzzing, man.
• 1:05
  It's been a bit of a crazy month, but it's, I don't know,
• 1:10
  I'm, I'm hopeful again. I don't know how you feel coming
• 1:14
  into the new year. How do you feel coming into this
• 1:15
  new year? Let's start there.
• 1:17
  Well, it's Christmas time and the New Year's always a weird
• 1:22
  time for, I would say, the actors.
• 1:26
  Well, for me definitely, because it's not a lot of jobs going
• 1:30
  around. Everyone's on holiday, You're
• 1:31
  trying to like book gigs and it's just like it's just not
• 1:34
  that time, is it? But obviously, I think I was
• 1:38
  speaking to a friend the other day and we were talking about
• 1:41
  how a lot of projects were put on hold due to COVID and also
• 1:49
  how the strikes have affected, you know, a lot of projects as
• 1:53
  well. So basically there's a huge
• 1:55
  backlog. So my hope is coming into 2024
• 1:59
  that that backlog of work means a lot of auditions and
• 2:02
  opportunities. And so, yeah, and so more work
• 2:06
  for us, hopefully. Yeah, I mean it's, I suppose in
• 2:11
  a way it's a good thing because like you say, there's a backlog
• 2:15
  of work, which means if anything there should be a lot of work
• 2:18
  available, like more work available.
• 2:21
  But at the same time, I don't know because you know how it
• 2:25
  works with castings and stuff. Like if it's already cast, it's
• 2:29
  already cast and then it's just more just it's been delayed.
• 2:33
  Like I I found this out when I when I started doing my extras
• 2:37
  work years ago. And I realised like firstly just
• 2:40
  the realities of that, but also the fact that like if you're
• 2:43
  coming on to set with the intention of like, oh, I want to
• 2:47
  be bumped up to something. Chances are really slim.
• 2:50
  And I know I covered this in in the last episode with my good
• 2:53
  friend Dan. So apologies guys, for repeating
• 2:55
  this. But to extend upon that point a
• 2:57
  little bit more, because what we spoke about was this idea that
• 3:00
  if you come on set and you're doing the extras roll, the
• 3:03
  chances of you getting bumped up is like it's just not happening.
• 3:06
  Like it's slim what, once in a blue moon it might happen, but
• 3:10
  the reason the reason it won't happen is because everything has
• 3:13
  been cast already and the casting process, if it's been
• 3:17
  done properly, has been done over the course of many months
• 3:21
  and they're very particular about what they're looking for.
• 3:24
  And they they've already got that in place.
• 3:25
  So if you get bumped up in that specific scenario, it will be
• 3:29
  because at the last minute they realised, oh, we need this and
• 3:34
  we don't really have anyone. OK, this person kind of fits
• 3:36
  this, Let's just give this a go just because we need it for this
• 3:39
  specific scene or this moment or reaction or whatever the fuck
• 3:43
  part of my language. But like that's kind of like
• 3:45
  where it's where the focus point is, right?
• 3:48
  Yeah, but I don't know. That being said, if you leave
• 3:54
  things long enough, because our industry is so much focused on
• 4:00
  project by project basis, it will mean that like if something
• 4:04
  is delayed long enough, maybe people will drop out on certain
• 4:07
  projects because they're no longer able to fulfil those
• 4:10
  obligations anymore. So I don't know depends.
• 4:14
  What? Because are you saying if you're
• 4:16
  committed to a project and that project's been pushed back, then
• 4:20
  there's a potential for people to, you know, do other things or
• 4:25
  sign up to other things and then you got like dates clashing and
• 4:28
  then they they have to drop out of those projects?
• 4:31
  Yeah, Like, I'll give you a really good example.
• 4:33
  So, you know The Walking Dead, the series?
• 4:35
  Yeah. There's an actress, I can't
• 4:37
  remember her name. She plays Daryl's best friend
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  Carol. Carol.
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  She plays the role of Carol. And originally she was supposed
• 4:50
  to be in that Daryl series, which is kind of basically The
• 4:52
  Walking Dead's finished. They've got a bunch of spin off
• 4:56
  series now and they're entering like a new phase.
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  I think to be honest, I'll probably do like new Walking
• 5:00
  Dead series. It's just because it's it's
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  they've set up the the story for the next Generation and it's
• 5:07
  actually looking pretty interesting.
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  But anyway to the point she was supposed to be in that and it
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  was supposed to be both of them. She couldn't because of various
• 5:18
  commitments. So they rewrote the story right
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  around her, which I find that brilliant, like that, like
• 5:25
  rewriting around someone and then spoilers.
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  Guys, have you not seen it? Sorry.
• 5:30
  She appears right at the very end of that, which then sets up
• 5:34
  for the next thing, so she's obviously going to be involved
• 5:35
  in the next thing. In the next thing, yeah.
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  But the point is, it's not that the actress doesn't want to be a
• 5:40
  part of it. It's the.
• 5:41
  And she'd said this in the press around the time of them saying,
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  like, oh, why are you not in it? She was like, I just can't
• 5:47
  because I'm. They're doing other stuff.
• 5:49
  Yeah, she's got other stuff. She's made other commitments.
• 5:51
  That's the thing. That's the thing.
• 5:52
  Yeah. Once you've signed the contract,
• 5:54
  that's it, your commit. You can't do it, you know?
• 5:57
  Yeah. Like, I've had that with things
• 5:58
  recently where it's like, oh, are you available?
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  And I'm like, no, sorry, I had that as well.
• 6:04
  I had that as well. I think I got asked to do a
• 6:08
  modelling gig, but I was filming, I was doing a short
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  film and I couldn't, I couldn't do it.
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  And it's like. It's quite frustrating, isn't
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  it? Because like you said, it's we,
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  you know, in our line of work, we go from a project to project
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  basis and and it's like there's a lot of, there's a lot of time
• 6:25
  in between and it's like, oh why, why can't you?
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  Just why you know what, just move the date to when I'm
• 6:31
  available because I'm available at some point.
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  But listen. Change your schedule to suit me.
• 6:37
  Take a job. No, you're do you know I think
• 6:41
  you're right. Like I think it depends because
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  a lot of productions will be quite, I would say flexible with
• 6:49
  that. But other times it's like they
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  just can't whatever, like if it's a they say it's a film, you
• 6:54
  know they've booked that time out, they've booked that place.
• 6:56
  I get it, I understand. But like with modelling gigs, a
• 6:58
  lot of the time you can push that.
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  I mean I don't know I feel, I feel like it's different and
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  also it's frustrating as well because we're modelling gigs.
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  It's like that's just easy money man.
• 7:08
  You just show up. It is done, please.
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  Modelling gigs, commercials. It's like two or three days of
• 7:15
  filming most. And yeah, it's a nice.
• 7:18
  Paycheck. OK.
• 7:22
  I I normally start with like you know, running through a person's
• 7:27
  kind of career and everything we'll we'll get there.
• 7:29
  But I want to kind of just continue focusing on 20/24 for a
• 7:32
  second. So like, well actually how many
• 7:36
  years you've been doing acting now what professionally or in
• 7:40
  general let's say both because I mean I think it starts at the
• 7:44
  point that you kind of, you know, originally started going
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  with it so. So I did my first play when I
• 7:53
  was 17 years old. I went to school called
• 7:55
  Charterhouse in Surrey. I did my first play, 1 Flew Over
• 8:00
  the Cuckoo's Nest, and that's where my journey began.
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  So I've been doing it for 11 years.
• 8:08
  I'd say the first sort of like five years was on and off, you
• 8:11
  know, going to uni. I didn't, I didn't study acting
• 8:14
  at uni. I studied transport business
• 8:15
  management and I was kind of doing, actually, I was doing
• 8:19
  like I'd been like a, you know, a friend's music video.
• 8:21
  And I, you know, I was doing like I go to an acting workshop
• 8:25
  and I was kind of like in and around.
• 8:27
  But at that point I didn't, I didn't think about doing it as a
• 8:31
  career, you know, taking it seriously.
• 8:33
  It's just a bit of fun. And then I we landed an an
• 8:38
  agent. Somehow we've got the same agent
• 8:40
  man. We'll talk about it.
• 8:42
  We'll talk about. It I got an agent and then and
• 8:46
  yeah, I was, I was like, oh shit, maybe, maybe I will take
• 8:49
  this seriously. Maybe I will.
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  I will do this as a career. So I say I'll say professionally
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  for the last like four to five years.
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  Really. I'd say from like 2019.
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  That's where it started. And but here's the thing, around
• 9:06
  the time I started was when COVID happens was the pandemic.
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  So I got an agent and at the same time I got a job at Amazon
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  as an area manager. So I was like, you know, I'm
• 9:17
  going to be a manager at Amazon and I'm going to, you know, I'm
• 9:20
  going to do auditions. And then you know, like at some
• 9:22
  point I'm going to, I'm going to get a role and I'll be able to
• 9:25
  leave Amazon. And that's not exactly what
• 9:29
  happened. But I worked at Amazon for a
• 9:31
  year and I just didn't have any time for acting, man.
• 9:34
  I just didn't. I didn't.
• 9:37
  I had to focus on on work and a lot of responsibility being a
• 9:40
  manager. And I was in a relationship at
• 9:43
  the time and it was just, it was a lot.
• 9:47
  And then I I got, I came out of that relationship.
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  I was going to say I got out of the relationship like I fucking
• 9:54
  escaped or something. Sometimes it's like that
• 9:58
  relationship ended and yeah, and I moved, I moved back to, I
• 10:04
  moved back into London and I was like, you know, I'm going to
• 10:06
  focus on acting. And so I picked up bartending
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  because that was a flexible enough enough job.
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  And it was. And it allowed me to do
• 10:14
  auditions and go film, you know, for a week or two weeks,
• 10:17
  whatever, and still and still have a job, you know.
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  Yeah. So it's kind of what happened
• 10:24
  and and and yeah, I think I think that answers the question.
• 10:28
  Yeah. So.
• 10:29
  Yeah, I mean there'll there'll be a lot of questions I'll ask
• 10:31
  you. It's just kind of like how I do
• 10:33
  it. I sort of move in between it.
• 10:35
  And, I don't know, I like, I like my show to be a lot like a
• 10:38
  chill conversation Look, where like I'm at, like, the person's
• 10:42
  actually interested in you, not just, like, asking stuff
• 10:46
  because, you know, you know what I'm talking about.
• 10:48
  Like, especially in our industry as well, they'll be like, you
• 10:51
  know, the standard conversation points, but the person's not
• 10:53
  really listening. Oh, yeah, you did that.
• 10:55
  OK, Right. Yeah.
• 10:56
  OK All right. Yeah.
• 10:57
  And then just start looking at the front.
• 11:00
  Uh huh. Uh huh.
• 11:02
  Oh really? I was actually triggering
• 11:06
  hearing that, yeah, you know what I'm talking about.
• 11:10
  I know what you mean. All right.
• 11:12
  So this that's interesting actually, because we got a kind
• 11:15
  of a similar trajectory there because I started acting in
• 11:18
  2019. I was, I was living in Europe at
• 11:22
  the time, long story. But I moved back to England
• 11:26
  early 2020. Everything hits.
• 11:28
  Obviously, acting wise can't do nothing.
• 11:31
  Yeah, well, that's the thing. That's the thing.
• 11:34
  There's no work. There's no work.
• 11:36
  Legit. So it didn't really pick up
• 11:38
  again until 2021 and I think really in the last kind of two
• 11:41
  years for me personally, it's that's where it's really started
• 11:44
  to and now we're starting to see it.
• 11:46
  But I think a lot of it, and correct me if I'm wrong here
• 11:49
  from your experiences, but a lot of it's like laying the
• 11:52
  framework and getting the things done like 1 by 1.
• 11:55
  Like you get your portfolio, you get.
• 11:57
  Your short reel show reel done, you get.
• 11:59
  So this is what I wanted to talk about.
• 12:00
  You're right. I mean when, So when?
• 12:02
  When I first, when I first signed with Red Door Vision.
• 12:08
  So so Ian, I don't know if I can say his name but you know can I
• 12:13
  swear as well can I? Because it'd be not.
• 12:15
  Depends. What are you going to say?
• 12:15
  Jesus. OK, well.
• 12:19
  I'll just, I'll just say now we're both OK, So this is fun,
• 12:22
  guys. We're both signed to the same
• 12:25
  agency, Red Door Vision. I signed with them in November
• 12:29
  last year. James, I believe you've been
• 12:30
  with them for three years now, haven't you?
• 12:32
  Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
• 12:34
  And I, you know, I thought that was fun.
• 12:35
  I was going to reach out to James anyway at some point, but
• 12:38
  I thought, oh, that's fun. That's like a little connection
• 12:40
  point. And so that here we are.
• 12:43
  But obviously, yeah. Yeah, Kristen, you do realise we
• 12:46
  were going to have to talk about about how we met as well?
• 12:50
  Oh yeah, that'd be fun. You're.
• 12:52
  Right. I have not heard back from that
• 12:55
  director, by the way. I've got no idea what's going.
• 12:59
  On let's let's let's talk about that real quick.
• 13:01
  We'll we'll come back to Red Door Vision.
• 13:02
  So yeah, we met on set of a short film in 2022, wasn't it?
• 13:08
  Yeah, yeah it was 2022. So it was a student film and and
• 13:13
  the director, she was really cool.
• 13:15
  This is my experience, right. So she was a film student.
• 13:19
  And at first I was a little concerned because she seemed
• 13:23
  quite, I'm going to put this it it was, it was a very kind of,
• 13:29
  like, slapdash attitude at the beginning.
• 13:32
  But then once I started seeing her, like, doing her thing, I
• 13:35
  was like, oh, OK, no, no, no, she's she's professional.
• 13:37
  She's just quite, like, chill, like quite, I don't know, you
• 13:42
  know, that somebody, some people seem a bit like a bit too chill.
• 13:46
  But then that's just their vibe, you know what I mean?
• 13:48
  You know what I mean? That's that's kind of what I got
• 13:50
  from her. Like once I started seeing her.
• 13:54
  Laissez faire. Yes, today's cool.
• 13:56
  Yeah, but she is. Very chilled approach.
• 14:00
  Yeah, but once I saw it kind of in action, I was like, OK and I
• 14:03
  kind of, I was like, I trusted the process then.
• 14:05
  And to be honest, for me the biggest point where I realised
• 14:09
  like, oh wow, this is like pretty, pretty cool was when we
• 14:13
  were sitting down introducing each other.
• 14:16
  And I realised in that moment, like, wow, I'm the least
• 14:18
  experienced person in the room. Yeah, I'm like, Oh my God, I'm
• 14:21
  in the wrong room. Like, no, but you know, but like
• 14:25
  in. But actually I was in the right
• 14:26
  room because you should always strive to be around people with
• 14:30
  more experience than you, more knowledge than you.
• 14:32
  Because that's how you grow, That's how you learn.
• 14:33
  That's how you grow. That's how you learn, yeah.
• 14:35
  And everyone in the room was a really, really good actor.
• 14:38
  And I was, I was really taken back by that and everyone was
• 14:41
  just really nice and friendly. But yeah, it's to your, to your
• 14:46
  point before, yeah, it's still not been released.
• 14:50
  Last thing I saw the director doing was like stuff related to
• 14:53
  music and hey, props to her. I don't, I don't know, I haven't
• 14:57
  reached out to her. There's been a lot of projects
• 14:59
  over the years where you do it and then nothing comes of it and
• 15:02
  you never hear anything. Comes of it.
• 15:04
  Yeah man, yeah but but it's just, I suck because realise
• 15:08
  with with my time in the industry and working is there's
• 15:12
  quite a lot of that because what we do because obviously we're
• 15:14
  all artists aren't we? And it's a lot of, you know
• 15:18
  we're creating material or content or art, whatever you
• 15:22
  want to call it. And sometimes some of it just
• 15:25
  gets you know gets pushed to the side.
• 15:27
  Sometimes you just, you know you don't want to use it.
• 15:30
  It's not the right time. So yeah, man it's there is there
• 15:35
  is a lot of that I know you know but also projects I've done that
• 15:39
  haven't I I did like what two or three years ago that's still in
• 15:42
  post production is going to be stuff.
• 15:45
  I mean and you hear and it's not just at, it's at every level of
• 15:48
  the industry, isn't it? Like you think about that, is it
• 15:51
  that Batgirl film or? Or yeah, yeah, it's.
• 15:54
  Just never going to be seen, right?
• 15:57
  I think it will but I think it will be years down the line and
• 16:01
  but here's the thing the longer you leave something, I feel like
• 16:05
  the more difficult it is to Denmark it after the fact
• 16:08
  because let's say like this short film comes out years from
• 16:11
  now, right? That would be fun but I mean
• 16:16
  we're we all look very different we're all going to be in a
• 16:19
  different spec. Maybe.
• 16:20
  Maybe that's the point. Maybe.
• 16:21
  Maybe she's waited on it because in the future it will be like
• 16:26
  worth more. I don't know.
• 16:27
  Or. Yeah, I mean, you never know.
• 16:29
  Or it could be just like. I mean, you mentioned the
• 16:31
  artistic side of things. Sometimes you make something and
• 16:35
  you're just not happy with how it turned out.
• 16:36
  And like, for instance, I remembered my acting at that
• 16:39
  point wasn't great. I thought I overacted that
• 16:42
  particular part. Yeah, I wasn't happy with it.
• 16:47
  I did my best in the moment. But looking back in reflection,
• 16:50
  I'm like, I'm kind of glad I didn't come out because I was.
• 16:53
  I sucked. Like I'd be happy if my scenes
• 16:55
  were cut, to be honest. But I thought everyone else was
• 16:59
  really. Yeah, I I'm not sure about, I'm
• 17:01
  not sure about that project. I mean, I I try not to.
• 17:04
  I try not to think about it because I think that the pay as
• 17:10
  well. I remember thinking it was
• 17:12
  because I lost some money on that you got paid.
• 17:14
  I was thinking it was, I didn't £25 an hour so I booked a train,
• 17:19
  I booked a return ticket to and from Manchester that cost
• 17:24
  around, I don't know, £80 or whatever.
• 17:27
  And in my head I thought, well, I'm going to be making at least
• 17:30
  £100 on this. So yeah, you know, I'll take the
• 17:32
  hit, it's fine, like I'll still get profits.
• 17:35
  And then she said no, it's it was but how much do you know
• 17:39
  what 25, whatever, as the base is like that was that was the
• 17:43
  base, right? Yeah, that was the fee And I was
• 17:45
  like wait you you're kidding, right?
• 17:48
  Like I I spent nearly £100 and I'm only getting paid, what,
• 17:53
  just under 30 for Yeah man, and it's, but you know, that's the
• 17:58
  thing. And yeah, but you know, I think
• 18:01
  that was one of my first jobs, probably similar with you,
• 18:04
  right? It's one of our first jobs, so.
• 18:06
  First of the year as well, it's. Not going to be perfect.
• 18:08
  But listen, man, I'm going to, I'm going to be honest right
• 18:11
  now. I met you on set.
• 18:14
  I met Natasha to see you, man. You know, it was, it was a cool
• 18:19
  experience, man. It was fresh Rd., you know, it
• 18:21
  was very and that's the thing it's like you can you can get
• 18:26
  benefits there. There are positives to take from
• 18:29
  from these experiences and that's what I love about what we
• 18:32
  do. And it's, you know, it's a
• 18:33
  meeting people in the networking and you get to meet cool people,
• 18:37
  man. And by the way, can I just say,
• 18:39
  I thought your acting was was pretty good.
• 18:41
  I didn't think you were, you know subpar or anything.
• 18:46
  I like the mentality you've got Christian because you you need
• 18:49
  to have that mentality. You need to push yourself to
• 18:51
  keep keep getting, to keep getting better, you know.
• 18:55
  So yeah, I never think you should rest on your laurels.
• 18:58
  I think you should always strive to be better.
• 19:01
  You never want to be in a place where you think, Oh yeah, well
• 19:04
  I'm done now. I'm great.
• 19:06
  I've. I've you know I've got this
• 19:07
  acting thing locked down. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm
• 19:10
  doing. You never want to be at that
• 19:12
  point. You you want to strive to to be
• 19:15
  better and and yeah man, improve and learn and that's that's what
• 19:20
  it's about. But yeah man, I lost money on
• 19:22
  that. I lost money on that project.
• 19:25
  I'm sorry to hear that, man. I mean, I can relate.
• 19:28
  I've been in. I had a situation last year
• 19:30
  where I walked off set because it was that bad like that
• 19:34
  unprofessional. So I've I've been there, man.
• 19:36
  And I wasted a lot of money on that.
• 19:37
  I wasted probably like 20-30 quid, which at that point was a
• 19:43
  lot. You know, like it's just, and I
• 19:46
  I mean, I never like to waste money on time and more
• 19:49
  importantly time on projects, time, time.
• 19:52
  Exactly. Because you can't get that back.
• 19:54
  You can't get it back, man. Like, I tried something
• 19:56
  different with learning my lines for that particular project, and
• 19:59
  I was incensed that not only was I not treated well, but the
• 20:03
  director just didn't seem to care.
• 20:05
  Like, I remember when I'd confronted him about it, his
• 20:08
  response, amongst other things, was to say, oh, it's OK, I'll
• 20:13
  just cut that scene out. That I just rewrite it so that
• 20:17
  it doesn't matter and I'm like, wow, OK.
• 20:20
  OK. Bad, yeah.
• 20:22
  Great chat, Mick. Great.
• 20:23
  Chat. That's the thing about our
• 20:24
  industry. Like a lot of things like make
• 20:26
  sense or don't make sense. It's personalities, it's people.
• 20:33
  Yeah, like weird stuff happens like Mick you mentioned.
• 20:37
  It's a circus question. It's a circus.
• 20:39
  Quite literally, it's a circus. It is.
• 20:42
  And I I don't know like I I treat people always with
• 20:46
  respect. And I think that I I never try
• 20:50
  to derail people. Like for instance I don't do
• 20:54
  names like if I'm if if we're talking about like negatives.
• 20:58
  I think it's, I think it's always better to just like you
• 21:01
  know let it let it, just let it sit.
• 21:04
  Because it's never it's never going to make you look good
• 21:06
  running down people's names and stuff.
• 21:10
  But it it, it's also just, I think because you've got all
• 21:13
  these different personalities, clashing and everything is it.
• 21:17
  It can make it difficult sometimes.
• 21:19
  And I think the most important thing to look at it is like, OK,
• 21:22
  how can how can we make this work?
• 21:24
  Like if we're signed on to this project together, if we're
• 21:26
  working on this project together and we don't click as
• 21:29
  individuals, that's OK as long as we can work together and make
• 21:32
  it work. As long as we can work together,
• 21:33
  yeah, yeah, 100% man. So let's talk about Red Door
• 21:38
  Vision. So it's it's still early days
• 21:41
  for me. There's not really much I can
• 21:42
  say other than to me it's like I looked at it like it's, it's
• 21:50
  reaffirmation of what I'm doing because really I've been
• 21:55
  pursuing acting since 2019. But like properly I would say
• 21:58
  since 2022. And when I spoke with Ian and we
• 22:04
  and we sat down, we discussed what I was going to do and my
• 22:06
  goals and everything. Like I I already knew that.
• 22:09
  Like yeah, I want to work with this guy and yeah it was.
• 22:13
  And you know it didn't take me long to make that decision and
• 22:16
  it was good And you know I'm looking forward to seeing what
• 22:18
  we can do together. But again it's early days but
• 22:22
  the the main things I looked at it for as far as like how it can
• 22:26
  be advantageous is now there is someone people helping me out to
• 22:32
  look for things. It's not all just on my
• 22:34
  shoulders. It's not just on all in your
• 22:36
  shoulders, yeah. And also I think maybe it says a
• 22:42
  certain thing about you. It says to people look at, you
• 22:46
  know, to casting directors, to people in the agency.
• 22:48
  It says, OK, this particular agency believes in this person.
• 22:53
  They think that this person is, is worth representing.
• 22:56
  Therefore, maybe I should check them out.
• 22:59
  Yeah, that's that's the way I look at it.
• 23:01
  But look, you've been with them for three years.
• 23:03
  Why don't we talk a little bit about the advantages of having
• 23:06
  an agent and just your experiences where that's
• 23:09
  concerned? Right.
• 23:11
  So in terms of advantages of having an agent, I'd say, I
• 23:14
  think it brings a certain level of professionalism to it as
• 23:19
  well. I mean Spotlight, you know, you
• 23:21
  know you need it goes through, you know, through the agent
• 23:24
  agencies. Really.
• 23:25
  Does it really. I think it's just, you know,
• 23:28
  like you said, it's like, oh, someone someone's obviously
• 23:34
  esteem something in you. Right.
• 23:36
  So it's not just a case of like, oh, you believe in yourself Oh,
• 23:38
  you got someone else backing you as well.
• 23:42
  I think that's. I think that's very important.
• 23:44
  I think having an agent and I'm not saying you absolutely what
• 23:48
  do I know, I don't know if you if everyone needs an agent but I
• 23:51
  think having an agent is good because in my mind anyway, it's
• 23:54
  just, you know, like you said it just, it just says that, right.
• 23:57
  Someone's got faith in your abilities.
• 23:59
  Someone sees your value and they're willing to to represent
• 24:04
  you and put you up for work. So I think that's really good.
• 24:09
  And the other thing as well is sometimes I get sent contracts
• 24:15
  for, for projects and I look through the contracts and I
• 24:18
  think, OK, I understand about 30% of this, you know, I'm going
• 24:25
  to hand this over to my agent who's more knowledgeable about
• 24:29
  these things. And you know, they've got
• 24:31
  experience going through these contracts and you know, looking
• 24:36
  over it and making sure I'm protected.
• 24:40
  So I think I think that as well, I think financially that's
• 24:44
  that's important. But listen man, when I first
• 24:46
  signed with Red Door Vision Ian said to me, right James, you
• 24:50
  need to get head shots. You need to do you need to get
• 24:53
  your show reel. You know I didn't realise all
• 24:54
  these things. I got an Asian and I was like
• 24:56
  like let's go. Here we go.
• 24:57
  He's going to he's going to get me work baby.
• 24:59
  It's good times. Come on man auditions and but
• 25:03
  The thing is he he said OK James, calm down.
• 25:06
  Here's what you need to do and so you know it's a step by step
• 25:10
  process and and he let me know. So I I got my headshots sorted
• 25:14
  out. I I got my show reel sorted out
• 25:16
  and yeah, and so I think I signed up to Mandy, a backstage
• 25:22
  star now getting jobs And then because you need because I think
• 25:25
  I was over the age. What was that the time?
• 25:29
  I think I was over 202425 and on Spotlight you can't because it's
• 25:36
  what so you need a certain amount of credits if you're over
• 25:38
  the age of 2425 to to get to be on Spotlight.
• 25:42
  So, so then for me it was just like getting as many credits as
• 25:46
  possible, getting you know, as much work.
• 25:48
  Because I remember Ian saying to me, like dude, like you need to
• 25:51
  be on Spotlight. I remember him saying that like
• 25:53
  you, that's you need to be on Spotlight.
• 25:55
  So for me it just became so once I got my show reel and head
• 25:58
  shots done, I thought, right, I need to get as many credits,
• 26:03
  paid credits as well. So at that time it wasn't really
• 26:06
  about the quality of work or the type of the type of role it was.
• 26:11
  It was very much about just building up my credit so I could
• 26:13
  get on Spotlight. And then when I was on Spotlight
• 26:16
  I could then be a bit more picky and choosy about about the work
• 26:20
  I I got. But but no, Ian and Irene who I
• 26:24
  work with as well, they've been so brilliant man.
• 26:26
  I mean it goes in phases. There was a time when I was
• 26:30
  getting like I was getting 2 auditions a week from, you know,
• 26:36
  from Red Door Vision in the space.
• 26:38
  It was like for I'd say three to six months, I was getting like 2
• 26:42
  auditions a week and it was like I was really hot for some
• 26:46
  reason. And then but you know, it's,
• 26:47
  it's ebbs and blows, isn't it? It's it's not consistent.
• 26:50
  And that's just, you know, like like we said before, it's a
• 26:52
  circus. It's the nature of the industry.
• 26:54
  But they've been super helpful in terms of building, building
• 26:58
  up my CV and and my my career up until this point.
• 27:03
  So they've definitely helped a lot.
• 27:04
  A lot man. Yeah, yeah, it's it's great
• 27:08
  having an agent and and I see other other people in the
• 27:12
  industry, whether that be film makers, writers, actors.
• 27:16
  And it's like people change agents as well.
• 27:19
  And I get it right because certainly agencies have have
• 27:23
  more of a poll, you know, they've got better connections.
• 27:26
  And so, like, I understand that. But part of me is like, I don't
• 27:30
  know, I feel dislike. I feel like I've got loyalty,
• 27:33
  you know, because. And I don't know, I don't know,
• 27:37
  man. But I get what you're saying
• 27:39
  very good to me and they've just they, you know, they tell me
• 27:42
  what I need to do. Right.
• 27:43
  James, you need to change, change your headshots.
• 27:46
  You need to get these headshots aren't good enough or you need
• 27:49
  to change this in your bio and blah, blah, blah.
• 27:52
  So yeah man, I having an agent, I, I think is very important
• 27:57
  because they know the game. It's it's a game as well.
• 27:59
  Christian, isn't it. And you need to play the game,
• 28:02
  you know, because we're artists, right?
• 28:03
  And we're creatives. And that's, yeah, that's fine.
• 28:06
  But you need to think about the business side of it.
• 28:08
  You need to think, how can I get my foot in the door?
• 28:10
  How can I get cast? How can I get seat?
• 28:13
  So you can do the type of work you want to do and get paid
• 28:16
  well, you know as well. If you.
• 28:19
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 28:21
  And I think it's interesting the little things they pick up on
• 28:24
  that I just would have never considered.
• 28:26
  Like for example, a bit of the advice they gave me recently,
• 28:30
  other than getting new head shots, which I got the other
• 28:32
  day, I've got them, they're done.
• 28:33
  I promise to Ian, if you're watching, if you're listening,
• 28:36
  they're coming. But you know, even with that was
• 28:42
  like, listen, the ones you've got now, it needs to be
• 28:44
  brighter, it needs to be closer. Because when they're swiping
• 28:49
  through all these pictures and there's hundreds, maybe
• 28:51
  thousands of them, they need to see you like straight away and
• 28:55
  be like, oh wow, and it needs to catch them off guard.
• 28:57
  Another thing was that kind of less is more thing of like don't
• 29:01
  have so many photos, just have a few few key ones and you know,
• 29:07
  and then that's kind of an ethos.
• 29:08
  I've I've carried in everything I do is this idea of less is
• 29:10
  more. For instance, I'm getting a lot
• 29:13
  more pickier with projects now because I'm starting to realise
• 29:17
  like, OK, we've gotten to the point where we've established I
• 29:20
  can act and that, you know, I've done stuff.
• 29:24
  Now it's more about choosing stuff that will really test me,
• 29:30
  make me a better actor, show what I can do from a, you know,
• 29:34
  versatility perspective. Like, you know what I mean?
• 29:36
  Like because so much of acting is about making yourself as
• 29:40
  employable as possible. How much can you do?
• 29:42
  It's very easy to do the same role again and again and again
• 29:45
  and again and look, if you want to do that and you're happy with
• 29:48
  that, great. But then there's fuss pots like
• 29:51
  B that just I get bored and I want to try a lot of different
• 29:54
  things. Yeah.
• 29:55
  You want to try something else? Yeah.
• 29:57
  I mean, that's the thing. It's a bit like, you know, it's
• 29:59
  like anything in life, isn't it? Like you don't, you know, if you
• 30:02
  keep, if you keep, like, eating the same meal or you keep doing
• 30:06
  the same work, however you get bored, you want to, you know?
• 30:09
  That's why we need to try different meals.
• 30:11
  We need to travel, experience new things.
• 30:13
  You know, you don't want to get bogged down, you know, having
• 30:16
  similar experiences all the time.
• 30:19
  I mean, you don't really grow from that.
• 30:20
  But on this point I want to ask you because I remember, you
• 30:24
  know, people always ask me like, like what type of actor are you?
• 30:28
  And I was always, you know, always confused me.
• 30:30
  I'm like, what? What do you mean, what type of
• 30:32
  actor? I mean, I want to act.
• 30:34
  I want to, I want to be in in in projects.
• 30:36
  But that's something I've started to think about a lot
• 30:38
  more, I think. I think when you think of
• 30:41
  certain actors, a lot of actors bring something to the table, if
• 30:46
  that makes sense. I feel like if if I named an
• 30:49
  actor, you kind of know the, you know, the role he's going to be
• 30:53
  in. It doesn't matter what the
• 30:54
  stories of the project is. You kind of know what character
• 30:56
  that that guy's going to play, right?
• 30:58
  And a lot of actors have made a career off that.
• 31:01
  I'll say a few names. Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe,
• 31:08
  Anya, Taylor, Joy. Potentially certain actors have
• 31:13
  something about them that just makes them right.
• 31:16
  You know, maybe they're very good as villains or, you know,
• 31:20
  antagonists or other actors. They've got a face of a
• 31:23
  protagonist. And you know, so a lot of it is
• 31:26
  like you can't really change how you look or the sort of energy
• 31:31
  you bring, which is very interesting.
• 31:33
  And then you've got a sort of translate that into your head
• 31:38
  shots, you know, and you're show real and then you've got to
• 31:40
  show, you know the the qualities you bring that are not, you
• 31:44
  know, potentially no other actor can do you see what I'm saying?
• 31:48
  So it's like that whole thing of like what type of actor are you?
• 31:51
  I I find that I find that very interesting.
• 31:53
  I don't know what your thoughts are on that.
• 31:54
  And then you've got the other thing as well where people are
• 31:56
  like, you know what, you know, what kind of acting.
• 32:00
  What kind of acting do you do? Do you stage?
• 32:02
  Are you, do you know theatre? Are you are you a comedian or
• 32:06
  are you, you know, do you do musicals?
• 32:09
  Are you a screen on screen actor?
• 32:12
  Like yeah man, I know what? What are your thoughts on that?
• 32:16
  I see it twofold. There's the way you see yourself
• 32:19
  and how you envision yourself and what you believe and know
• 32:23
  that you can do. And then there's what people see
• 32:26
  for you. Like, I'll give you an example,
• 32:29
  OK before I answer like how I see myself, what I'm aiming for.
• 32:32
  When I look at you and I look at the visuals that you put out, I
• 32:36
  see a very kind of like cool, confident black man that's got
• 32:41
  kind of like that cool style like this.
• 32:43
  When I've seen you wearing like certain suits and stuff like
• 32:46
  that, I'm like that right there, that look right there, that's
• 32:49
  him. I can feels like the energy pops
• 32:53
  out because you mentioned the vibe and the the energy that you
• 32:56
  bring out when you you know what I'm saying.
• 32:59
  But then you're not inside that person's head.
• 33:02
  You don't know. Maybe that's one look that they
• 33:04
  like. Maybe they hated that you don't
• 33:06
  know. Yeah, you.
• 33:07
  Don't know, do you? Yeah.
• 33:08
  That's the thing, like people always say, oh Christian, you
• 33:09
  should, you know, do fantasy stuff.
• 33:13
  You should be whatever, like a Viking or a vampire and like
• 33:16
  look. I can visually see that and I
• 33:19
  have an idea of what I would do with those characters.
• 33:22
  But to be honest with you, what I like to do is reinvention.
• 33:27
  Constant reinvention. Like take characters that you
• 33:30
  wouldn't expect me to play and try to make that happen.
• 33:34
  Try to find my process for figuring out a way to do that
• 33:38
  character in the most believable way possible.
• 33:40
  Because very easy, you know. What I mean, kind of go against
• 33:43
  go against the stereotype, right?
• 33:45
  100 percent, 100%, yeah. Because it's like, even what I
• 33:48
  mentioned there, like my vision of of you in in a particular
• 33:51
  sense, that is a stereotype in of itself.
• 33:54
  We've seen that again and again and again.
• 33:56
  And like, I don't, I don't know how you view yourself.
• 33:59
  We'll get into that in a second. But like, I try not to pay too
• 34:02
  much attention to what people think of me and how they view
• 34:07
  me, because it's very easy to let that seep into how you view
• 34:11
  yourself and. Into your consciousness, yeah.
• 34:13
  Right. I think you have to just kind of
• 34:15
  keep going with what you think, even if it doesn't make sense to
• 34:19
  everyone else. Just keep doing your thing and
• 34:22
  that's how it's going to work out, you know?
• 34:24
  But but I will say this, if you're trying to show the world
• 34:31
  that you can do something and no one thinks you can do it and no
• 34:34
  one sees it, I think eventually you just have to like you just
• 34:38
  have to prove it. You just have.
• 34:40
  To prove it. To prove it, yeah.
• 34:41
  You just have to like throw like I know, I know that's going to
• 34:44
  have to be the case for me, that I'm going to have to break the
• 34:46
  mould and show people that OK, these are the types of
• 34:49
  characters I want to go for. This is the sort of stuff I want
• 34:51
  to do is is and it's always going to be that way.
• 34:55
  But then I think so much of life is that people set limitations
• 34:59
  on you. They they tell you what the
• 35:02
  height of what you can achieve is.
• 35:04
  And I'm yeah. They try and put you in a box,
• 35:06
  isn't it? I feel like people kind of see
• 35:08
  you. And we were talking.
• 35:09
  I mean, I was speaking to my, I think we were talking about my
• 35:12
  brother and I, my brother's. And you know, he he does
• 35:16
  editing, he does film editing and he's edited a few short
• 35:18
  videos, music videos. So he's, he's in the industry as
• 35:23
  well. But we were talking about
• 35:24
  certain actors and how like if you look at Adam Sandler, a lot
• 35:29
  of his films, he plays Adam Sandler's very, you know, you
• 35:32
  see him on screen and you want to start laughing.
• 35:35
  But he's done a couple of like, no, but with all respect, I love
• 35:38
  Adam Sandler, by the way. I mean, you know, a lot of
• 35:41
  respect for him and he's a great actor, but he, you know, people
• 35:46
  get, and not just actors. I feel like human beings.
• 35:49
  People get pigeonholed into certain things and you see
• 35:52
  someone as something and you can't really, you know, think of
• 35:56
  them as anything, anything else, you know, and it's like, well,
• 36:00
  we know you as a businessman or you're a doctor or you're a
• 36:06
  writer. Why?
• 36:07
  Why do you think you can go off and do this and and yeah, it's
• 36:11
  just like people associate associate you with something and
• 36:14
  then and they think you know and they kind of just put you in in
• 36:17
  this box and that shouldn't be the case.
• 36:20
  But going back to Adam Sandler, it's like, because he's done a
• 36:22
  couple of serious films, uncut gems with the Safdie brothers.
• 36:27
  And he did punch Drunk Love, which is one of my favorite
• 36:31
  films with PTA, Paul Thomas Anderson.
• 36:34
  And that is very different from the films he normally does like,
• 36:38
  you know, Happy Gilmore and all of these, you know, like these
• 36:41
  silly films. But I think he did a film
• 36:45
  recently where he was like an astronaut or something.
• 36:48
  And then he was in space. And I was speaking to my brother
• 36:50
  about this and he said, like, he was like that.
• 36:53
  You know, he was that apparently Adam was Adam was Hughes trying
• 36:55
  to be very serious in this role. And this didn't really work out.
• 36:59
  And I just, you know, I'm just not because obviously in his
• 37:04
  head he's, you know, he's not just this like comedian, this
• 37:08
  like, you know, funny, goofy actor like he can, you know, you
• 37:11
  can he wants to play serious as well.
• 37:13
  And that's probably how he sees himself.
• 37:15
  But he's done so many of the silly films that, you know, the
• 37:20
  audience is kind of like kind of used to seeing him in this
• 37:25
  light, you know? Yeah.
• 37:29
  Yeah, that's, I mean that's what that's what I'm trying to say.
• 37:31
  So it's I, I don't know, man. It's like for me it's just a
• 37:35
  very, it's very tricky, you know, because people will see
• 37:38
  you in a certain way, but you obviously see yourself, you
• 37:41
  know, like yourself. Christian, you said, you know,
• 37:42
  people say, oh, why don't you? I think you know, you'd be
• 37:45
  perfect as a vampire, you know, and you'd be perfect as, you
• 37:49
  know, you know, as a Viking. And you know, it might be your
• 37:52
  long hair or the colour of your eyes or whatever it is, right?
• 37:57
  Or the energy you bring, whatever that fucking means.
• 38:00
  But, you know, it's but people, we're so we're multifaceted.
• 38:06
  You know we're not one-dimensional beings.
• 38:09
  And. And yeah, I don't think we
• 38:11
  should put ourselves in in a box.
• 38:16
  Yeah. And we should always, I mean,
• 38:18
  especially as actors. The whole point is to be
• 38:21
  everything that's not, you know, that's not you or not, you know,
• 38:27
  like what you're about as as Christian or as James.
• 38:30
  You're playing another character.
• 38:32
  You know, you know what my dream is Christian, my dream, my dream
• 38:37
  is to be in a film and people go, who's that actor they have
• 38:40
  No, you know, they don't know it's it's me.
• 38:43
  And then they're like, oh, oh, that was that was James.
• 38:46
  Like, yeah, that's, you know that's my dream.
• 38:48
  If I can, you know, fully immerse myself and just be
• 38:51
  completely different to what people, how people see me or
• 38:56
  view me, you know? Yeah, no, I I, I'm right there
• 39:00
  with you, man. That's exactly how I want it to
• 39:02
  be with myself as well. Like I I think, and I, I
• 39:05
  mentioned this in my conversation with with Dan in
• 39:08
  the previous episode that you kind of have to destroy people's
• 39:12
  perception of you, you have to deconstruct and I gave a few
• 39:15
  examples in that episode of, you know, like Daniel Redcliffe as
• 39:20
  Harry Potter. I think that's a really good
• 39:22
  example. Or Bryan Cranston as just that
• 39:24
  dad from Malcolm in the Middle. Both of them had basically
• 39:28
  systematically destroy those characters and create new
• 39:32
  alternatives. Bryan Cranston did it
• 39:34
  successfully. I think Daniel's still working
• 39:38
  on it. Daniel's still working on it, I
• 39:40
  think, yeah. He's getting there though, I
• 39:42
  feel like, and I've seen some really great stuff that he's
• 39:45
  been in. He's such a great actor.
• 39:48
  But it's like the the the trouble is, it's not just what
• 39:53
  like people think of you, it's the industry as well.
• 39:56
  It's a combination of it. Like I I don't think there's
• 39:59
  anything wrong with leaning into the interests and how things
• 40:04
  look. But at the same time, you just
• 40:07
  have to be careful because like you mentioned, it's very easy to
• 40:10
  get pigeonholed and thrown into a corner and that's all you can
• 40:13
  play, you know? I mean it's.
• 40:18
  And it and it and it stops being interesting as well.
• 40:20
  Like, I I can't think of anything more dull than
• 40:22
  continuously playing the same character over and over and over
• 40:26
  again, even even if it's beloved.
• 40:28
  I mean, I look at that sometimes with certain actors and I wonder
• 40:31
  like does it not get boring for them?
• 40:34
  Like, I mean, I suppose it really depends on the script and
• 40:36
  and the work and what they're doing.
• 40:37
  I mean like this most recent thing with with the Loki series
• 40:42
  and Tom Hiddleston. I wonder if he'll truly, like
• 40:45
  just hang it up there and move on to the next things, because
• 40:48
  he's been doing that character like over 10 years, 10 years,
• 40:51
  something something like that. Very well over time, it's it's a
• 40:55
  long time you move on. I mean, what else, what else can
• 40:59
  you bring, you know, that hasn't been seen already?
• 41:05
  Absolutely. I I think it's, I don't know.
• 41:10
  I've had a lifetime of of people turning around and telling me
• 41:13
  what I can do as a person and what, you know, is the height of
• 41:17
  what I can achieve. And I just ignore that and just
• 41:20
  do what I want to do. Because yeah, you know, screw
• 41:23
  that. Like, it's just everyone has
• 41:26
  their perception of things and you just have to focus on your
• 41:29
  goals and what you're doing and what you're trying to achieve
• 41:32
  and make that focus. Stay true to yourself, yeah?
• 41:35
  That's hard. It's hard, man.
• 41:37
  It's tough. Though, yeah, especially in this
• 41:39
  where you're SO you know, because you put yourself out
• 41:43
  there, don't you? And it's like, well, when you do
• 41:47
  auditions and you know, they get back to you and they're like,
• 41:50
  oh, you're not quite right for this role or you are right for
• 41:52
  this role. And it's always great when you
• 41:55
  get cast and when you get a gig. But it's, you know, you, I can't
• 41:58
  help but think to myself, like what did, what does the director
• 42:01
  see or what does the casting director see?
• 42:04
  You know, it's like and might be different from what you're what
• 42:07
  you think you're putting out, if that make, does that make sense?
• 42:11
  So it's just going back to what you you're saying about the
• 42:14
  interpretation people have of you?
• 42:18
  I think a lot of it is is just looks to be honest.
• 42:21
  I know how I know. That's really disappointing
• 42:23
  here, no. But you're right, I think.
• 42:25
  You're right. Yeah.
• 42:25
  It's just how you look. But like, not necessarily like,
• 42:28
  oh, are you good looking enough or something like that.
• 42:30
  I think it's more like, if you think about it, a film, ATV
• 42:34
  series, whatever. It's a vision of this story that
• 42:37
  a director has in their mind, right?
• 42:40
  A picture. Like, it's it's like when you
• 42:42
  sit and read a book, right? Your mind creates images of what
• 42:47
  the characters look like right in your mind.
• 42:50
  And then so if you're casting that on screen, you're going to
• 42:54
  try to follow that as closely as possible.
• 42:57
  And so, and this is just for anyone listening who's an actor
• 43:00
  up and coming, Keep this in mind when you go in there, go in
• 43:05
  there with your perception of of the character, your
• 43:08
  interpretation, give it a go, and then leave that room and
• 43:12
  don't worry about if you didn't get it or not.
• 43:15
  Just make sure that your interpretation was the truest
• 43:17
  interpretation of what you were trying to interpret and put
• 43:21
  across. Because at the end of the day,
• 43:24
  the director is going to go with what they're thinking about.
• 43:27
  So that almost has nothing to do with your performance with you.
• 43:30
  Yeah, Yeah, like, I'd see it like a job interview when you
• 43:33
  walk in, that'll pretty much decide whether or not you've
• 43:36
  been cast. Everything else is kind of
• 43:38
  window dressing, really, unless the role has nothing to do with
• 43:44
  the look that I know. There's a lot of roles where
• 43:47
  it's more about an actor's ability to portray certain
• 43:50
  emotions or or certain things, and then maybe it will be down
• 43:55
  to the the performance. But then even with that, it's
• 43:59
  like things can be manipulated. You know, I'm I'm sure you've
• 44:03
  had this on sets many times where you had a particular idea
• 44:06
  of of how to play a character and the director wants something
• 44:09
  totally different and and you do it that way and you're like, I
• 44:13
  don't know, I thought my word was better, but you but you go
• 44:16
  with what the director wants and sometimes it works his.
• 44:19
  Film. It's his vision or her vision.
• 44:21
  And sometimes it doesn't work and it's like, ah, but you know,
• 44:25
  you you do what you can. And I don't know, it's.
• 44:29
  I mean, it's a learning experience every time, isn't it?
• 44:31
  It's I guess that's what keeps it fun and enjoyable.
• 44:33
  Yeah, keeps it fun and keeps it on its toes.
• 44:36
  I think no, that's the thing. You're right.
• 44:37
  Because I do so much prep and I try and figure out I'm like, OK,
• 44:43
  who's this character? And I like to draw inspiration
• 44:47
  from different people. Sometimes I take inspiration
• 44:52
  from people in real life. Sometimes I take inspiration
• 44:55
  from people, characters in movies.
• 44:57
  And I just like, you know, like kind of merge these ideas or you
• 45:03
  know, like aspects of their personalities or characters
• 45:06
  together try and formulate. But The thing is, I want to be
• 45:09
  loose and free on set because I know the director's going to be
• 45:12
  like, OK, let's how about we take it this way.
• 45:18
  You know, you never want to be sort of stuck in, you know, in
• 45:22
  your ways or have a certain mindset like this is the
• 45:24
  character. And you know what I hate?
• 45:27
  What I hate is you have a character.
• 45:29
  A character. There shouldn't be any rules,
• 45:31
  Christian. There shouldn't be any rules.
• 45:34
  And here's the thing. Because in real life what, what?
• 45:37
  What I said to you earlier, we we are multifaceted, right?
• 45:41
  We're not one, you know, we're not one-dimensional beings.
• 45:44
  Sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do next.
• 45:46
  Sometimes I act out of character, you know, So what
• 45:49
  does it mean to be in character? You know, so I try and be loose
• 45:54
  and not and not, you know, like things like, oh, like my
• 45:57
  character would never do this or my characters.
• 45:59
  I mean, I'm not, I'm not saying don't do that.
• 46:01
  Like, yeah, you should be thinking about, you know, who
• 46:04
  the character is and you know the sort of actions that
• 46:07
  character is going to take or what the motivations are going
• 46:10
  to be. But I think you should be free
• 46:12
  enough where, you know, you you can take ideas on board from the
• 46:16
  director or the script supervisor or the producer or
• 46:20
  another actor is like, oh, you know, why don't you, You know?
• 46:23
  And then because it's a collaboration, isn't it?
• 46:25
  And then you can. But I think the most important
• 46:27
  thing is just to be being true to to the character in terms of
• 46:33
  the characters intentions and and their motivations as well.
• 46:36
  But I definitely want to be loose.
• 46:38
  I don't want to be like set in my ways about who the character
• 46:40
  is because the director's going to turn around and say no, let's
• 46:44
  try this or let's do this and you don't.
• 46:46
  You know you want to be prepared for that in that scenario.
• 46:51
  Yeah. And I think there's like two
• 46:52
  sides to this as well. Like one side is, you're looking
• 46:57
  at what's logical. You're thinking, OK, if this
• 47:00
  character is feeling this way or they're this type of person,
• 47:04
  then this, this, this might not make sense.
• 47:07
  Or you try to find the logic within things.
• 47:10
  But as you said, I mean, that's a really, really good point.
• 47:14
  Human beings are unpredictable. Sometimes we do things in life
• 47:18
  that even we don't understand, like, why am I doing that?
• 47:20
  Why did I do that? Where did that come from?
• 47:22
  That's not me. But it comes from somewhere.
• 47:26
  Maybe you're angry, maybe you're depressed, maybe something
• 47:29
  through you, maybe overwhelming sensation overcome you like
• 47:33
  things happen and sometimes you surprise yourself.
• 47:36
  And I think to your point, yes, you have to keep it open and say
• 47:40
  like yeah, maybe maybe there's more to this character than
• 47:43
  originally thought. Maybe this guy just having a
• 47:46
  breakdown or maybe this character is having a moment of
• 47:49
  self reflection or a crazed moment or whatever, you know,
• 47:53
  Yeah. And I think it.
• 47:55
  But I will say that it's important to kind of keep things
• 47:59
  consistent too. Like, I always like to look at
• 48:02
  that and I I know probably it, it drives certain directors
• 48:05
  nuts, but I don't care. I'm going to say what I think
• 48:09
  because my process is always say what you think, get out on the
• 48:11
  open and then if the director is is still like, Oh no, we're
• 48:15
  doing it this way. I'm like, OK, yeah.
• 48:17
  And then and then it becomes more about like, OK, how can we
• 48:20
  carry your vision and make it as believable as possible?
• 48:24
  Because that's the only time I'll ever struggle with that is
• 48:26
  when they're saying, like, OK, I need you to act this way for
• 48:29
  this. And you're like, all right, but
• 48:30
  wouldn't they? This is what you want to
• 48:33
  achieve. But wouldn't they kind of go
• 48:34
  about it a bit more like this? And you're like, and you're
• 48:36
  trying to kind of meet in the middle and find something where
• 48:38
  it it fits and you're like, OK, we're happy with this.
• 48:42
  Yeah, sometimes I'll just do exactly what the director asks
• 48:45
  even if it doesn't make any sense to me and I'll try and
• 48:50
  just do it as best as I can. And and I've had.
• 48:53
  I'm sure you've had this as well where you do it and and you
• 48:56
  think in your head like, man, that sucked and they're like.
• 48:58
  Yeah, like, really terrible great.
• 49:00
  Listen. Oh my God.
• 49:03
  He's like, great. I'm like, what do you see that
• 49:06
  I'm not seeing? Like I don't get.
• 49:07
  It was shit. I felt awful doing that.
• 49:13
  Why did I do that? You're just having a moment of
• 49:17
  like, what? What even is life anymore?
• 49:20
  Yeah, I. I mean, it's this is a fun thing
• 49:23
  that I'm learning about this, this job, this career, because I
• 49:27
  fully embraced it. Like, I'm chasing it.
• 49:29
  I'm chasing it. I'm chasing it.
• 49:30
  One thing I've realized is, especially at this point in our
• 49:33
  careers, where you're like desperately chasing work,
• 49:36
  anytime you get to be on set or be a part of a production, it's
• 49:38
  a privilege. And it's yeah, it becomes like,
• 49:41
  OK, I'm going to make the most of this and but it's it's an
• 49:45
  opportunity to have fun. I feel like it's People often
• 49:49
  forget that. Like when we were kids, we used
• 49:51
  to act all the time, you know? I remember.
• 49:52
  Do you know what I mean? I used to run around playing
• 49:54
  Batman and Robin with my friends as a kid.
• 49:56
  Oh yeah, I was Spider Man as a kid.
• 49:58
  Hell yeah. You know, yeah, There you go.
• 50:01
  And it's like you, you become that character.
• 50:03
  But but the interesting thing is that you don't overthink it.
• 50:06
  You just do it like you might do it, and that's it.
• 50:09
  Yeah. And that is.
• 50:11
  It and that's it you're yeah. Yeah, and I think that's it's an
• 50:14
  opportunity to almost like be a big kid for a minute and just
• 50:18
  have fun and play dress. I mean, Christian Bale said that
• 50:21
  in an interview once. He said that like it's just it's
• 50:24
  just you get to play dress up for a living.
• 50:26
  Yeah. That's it.
• 50:28
  I was like, wow. I know The thing is like part of
• 50:30
  me, the thespian, the thespian in me is very, you know,
• 50:35
  serious. This is a serious art form and
• 50:37
  we're, you know, paying other people portraying and you know,
• 50:40
  there's and there is a lot of work that goes into it.
• 50:44
  But you know, at the same time it's, you know, it's like, yeah,
• 50:48
  we've been, we're doing dress up for a living, aren't we?
• 50:51
  It depends on the IT depends on the on the work.
• 50:53
  I I get what you're saying that I I I'm very serious and
• 50:57
  professional when it comes to my work.
• 50:59
  Sometimes that's annoying. I know sometimes that probably
• 51:02
  makes people think I'm a a right twat.
• 51:05
  But look, at the end of the day, I take it seriously because I
• 51:07
  love what I do for a living and I feel like if you approach it
• 51:14
  with that level of professionalism, you get more
• 51:17
  out of it. And look, my goal has always
• 51:20
  been be as believable as possible.
• 51:22
  Yes, you know, like you said earlier, like make people
• 51:25
  believe you are this character and like people almost don't
• 51:30
  recognise you. Like, Oh my God, that was James.
• 51:31
  I can't believe that. What?
• 51:33
  And and it's more than the visual, it's the you won them
• 51:36
  over with the performance. Like I never forget this.
• 51:42
  This film by Ashton Kutcher. I'm sure you've heard of it.
• 51:44
  The The Butterfly Effect. Do you know what I've seen?
• 51:50
  I I don't think I finished watching that film.
• 51:53
  I think I started watching it and I didn't finish it.
• 51:55
  But go on, go on. Highly recommend.
• 51:57
  It's excellent. At the time he was finishing up
• 51:59
  on That 70s Show he did, Dude, Where's my car?
• 52:03
  He was playing that kind of dumb.
• 52:05
  Like, like, dude, what? That kind of character.
• 52:08
  Yeah, but here he is doing a serious piece.
• 52:11
  But that for me made me realize, oh, OK, he can, he can act.
• 52:15
  This boy can act. He's a good actor.
• 52:18
  But the bigger thing that I think I realized with that
• 52:21
  performance is that you can completely become a character to
• 52:27
  the point where the audience forgets who you are.
• 52:31
  And I feel like that's the most important aspect to this, is
• 52:34
  that every time I'm on camera, I want it to be that you don't
• 52:40
  think that it's me. You forget that it's me, you,
• 52:43
  you know, you see that character, you see that person,
• 52:48
  you know, like I'm a real stickler for stuff like that,
• 52:50
  realism on set. And you know, and I know it it
• 52:53
  probably to some people it's like, oh, it's cringe.
• 52:56
  Oh, that's annoying. Like, I don't care.
• 52:57
  I I really don't care. Like for me, the most important
• 53:00
  thing is believability and realism.
• 53:02
  You're right. I think because The thing is,
• 53:04
  listen, we we go to the movies, right?
• 53:06
  Or you're at home, you stick on Netflix, Amazon Prime, one of
• 53:10
  these streaming services, streaming platforms, whatever
• 53:12
  you want to call it. I it's, you know, it's not real,
• 53:17
  right? So it's kind of like well.
• 53:21
  What do you mean what? So it's, you know, to me it's
• 53:25
  like, right, I'm, I'm taking, right.
• 53:27
  How how long is it? An hour, 30 minutes to watch a
• 53:29
  film or a couple of hours, right.
• 53:31
  If it's not a series, right, Two hours of your time.
• 53:35
  It's suspension of disbelief. This is why we watch films and
• 53:39
  we watch it. You know, it's you want to, you
• 53:42
  want to take a break from reality.
• 53:45
  You know, you want to Kind of like it's a form of escapism as
• 53:50
  well, right? So suspension of disbelief and
• 53:53
  then, you know it's not real, right?
• 53:55
  But you go into it thinking like I'm going to, you know, I'm
• 53:57
  going to buy into this. So our jobs, our, our job is to
• 54:03
  be as believable as possible. If that makes sense, right?
• 54:07
  You know, because you want you want people watching to feel
• 54:11
  like, to feel like it's real. And I don't know about you, but
• 54:16
  when I'm working, when I'm on set or on stage, it's got to be
• 54:21
  real. I've got to be in the moment and
• 54:24
  I've got to be feeling what that character's feeling.
• 54:27
  Now don't get it. Listen, I know there's a script.
• 54:31
  You know, I know we've had rehearsals, but I want to be in
• 54:34
  the moment, you know, I think Denzel Washington said
• 54:37
  something. He said the camera never lies,
• 54:41
  right. Like it will.
• 54:42
  It will capture what? Whatever's going on, whatever
• 54:45
  you're doing. So you've got to, you've got to
• 54:48
  give it. Don't want to say give it your
• 54:50
  yeah, you'll all give it everything.
• 54:52
  But you got to feel it. You got to feel it, man.
• 54:55
  It's got to. It's got to be real because the
• 54:57
  audience will feel, will feel it if you feel it.
• 55:01
  I was explaining to a few friends the other day about my
• 55:05
  process for acting and and emotions and I said that I kind
• 55:08
  of subscribe to the Stanislavsky method of taking real emotions
• 55:13
  and and putting it into that character.
• 55:15
  And thank you. It's it's a lot like, you know,
• 55:20
  like those and this is how I explained it.
• 55:22
  You know those old like motors that you sort of wind up
• 55:25
  yourself and it takes a while and then eventually it's like
• 55:28
  going and the motor's working but you have you have to it's a
• 55:31
  bit rusty at first. You have to kind of keep
• 55:33
  twisting it until it starts running.
• 55:36
  That's what I feel acting is like.
• 55:38
  Because, for instance, I find it quite easy to tap into like
• 55:41
  anger and despair and and depressed states.
• 55:45
  But I need a couple of just minutes to get into it.
• 55:50
  And to be honest, absolutely. And I'll say this, Anyone who
• 55:53
  casts me in a film, by the way, pay attention to this.
• 55:55
  So if you want the most out of me, push me, push my buttons.
• 56:00
  Keep telling me that no, that's not enough.
• 56:02
  No, that's not enough. Keep pushing, pushing, pushing.
• 56:04
  Because then I'm really going to start to get annoyed.
• 56:06
  But the difference is I don't take it out on people.
• 56:08
  I use it in the character. And then eventually you pull
• 56:12
  that emotion out of yourself and then you're feeling it.
• 56:14
  Yeah. And then and then That's real.
• 56:16
  That's what that emotion is. It has to come from somewhere.
• 56:20
  It has to come. From somewhere, that's why, you
• 56:23
  know, I think one of my first acting teachers, Mr. Freeman,
• 56:29
  he, he said to me, a lot of it is about you're drawing from
• 56:35
  real life experiences. Because to me, what what I try
• 56:39
  and do is right, OK, the characters going through
• 56:41
  something, right. So the they're angry or they're
• 56:45
  depressed or they're excited or they're anxious.
• 56:49
  And I just try and think of a moment in my life where I felt
• 56:54
  that way, if that makes sense. And then I try and sort of I try
• 57:00
  and harness that emotion. And that's why I love music.
• 57:04
  Music is huge for me, right? Because I can get into that
• 57:09
  state of mind, that state of being and just, you know, and
• 57:14
  then I I feel it, You know, I I've got it, I feel it and then
• 57:17
  I can I can bring it. But like you said, it takes it
• 57:19
  takes a minute or it takes a couple minutes to to get to get
• 57:23
  into that state and then and then you can use it.
• 57:27
  But it's just trying to tap into that emotion you you want to you
• 57:32
  want to feel what the character's feeling in in that
• 57:35
  scene, right in that, you know in that shot you want to feel
• 57:39
  what the character's feeling because then it's authentic.
• 57:42
  What you're going you're going through what the character's
• 57:44
  going through. It's authentic and then that's
• 57:46
  you know that's going to be I never.
• 57:48
  Because The thing is listen, everyone's got different method.
• 57:51
  Certain actors will they'll pull a face to show the audience what
• 58:02
  you know, because they want the audience to feel something.
• 58:05
  It's like OK, the character's feeling this.
• 58:06
  So I'm going to and I'm going to show this to the audience.
• 58:10
  This is how I'm going to, you know, my face is going to look
• 58:12
  like this or this is this is how I'm going to act and it's, you
• 58:15
  know, it's about the physicality of what you're doing to portray
• 58:18
  those emotions. So some actors do that.
• 58:22
  Some actors, you know, have a combination of both where they
• 58:24
  feel, they feel what the character's feeling and they
• 58:27
  combine it with the physicality. But for me, I never tried
• 58:31
  because I don't want. I think the audience is very
• 58:33
  intelligent and I think like you said earlier, less is more.
• 58:37
  So I don't want to like, I don't want to give, I don't want to
• 58:42
  give it to the audience so easy. I want the audience to look and
• 58:46
  really, you know, almost be puzzled.
• 58:48
  Like I want them to think what's what's going on?
• 58:51
  What's he thinking? What's he feeling?
• 58:53
  For me, it's more about I want to feel what the characters
• 58:57
  feeling without trying to show it off.
• 59:01
  Does that make sense? I want to feel it rather than,
• 59:04
  you know, like physically because I think it's more
• 59:06
  because I like this. I think the best performances
• 59:09
  are the more subtle performances.
• 59:12
  You know, I'm thinking Robert De Niro.
• 59:15
  I'm thinking even potentially Michael Fassbender.
• 59:19
  I I want the audience to, I want them to think, you know, you you
• 59:24
  want to make them stop eating the popcorn and and think, what
• 59:28
  is, what is he thinking? What is he feeling?
• 59:31
  But yeah, so I don't want to like, you know, spoon feed, you
• 59:34
  know, the emotion to the audience.
• 59:35
  I want to. I want to just feel it, embody
• 59:38
  it. So I'm going through, I feel
• 59:40
  exactly the emotions of what the character's going through.
• 59:43
  And then I will just let that. I'll just let it happen
• 59:47
  organically, if that makes sense, you know?
• 59:49
  And then just, you know and then whatever happens, happens.
• 59:52
  But I know I'm feeling what the character's feeling and you
• 59:55
  know, because it's true to me and whatever, you know, whatever
• 59:58
  comes on screen. That that's what happens and
• 1:00:02
  hopefully the director's happy. It's crazy like every time I'm
• 1:00:06
  on set and I, I get to do that, like I really do find myself
• 1:00:10
  losing myself within the character.
• 1:00:12
  Yeah. And, like it's kind of amazing,
• 1:00:16
  but scary how that happens. But that's when you know you've
• 1:00:21
  got the best out of yourself, you know?
• 1:00:24
  And then I always have to take time to just reconnect and and
• 1:00:29
  like because it's just a tape wears you down.
• 1:00:32
  It takes everything out of you. Yeah, man, it's a lot.
• 1:00:35
  Yeah, yeah. Listen, listen, I, I know
• 1:00:39
  exactly what you're talking about.
• 1:00:40
  I think, I always think it's important to, I know certain
• 1:00:43
  actors have different, you know, methods and there's, you know,
• 1:00:47
  method acting and some some actors, some performers take it
• 1:00:50
  home with them and they kind of stay in character all the time.
• 1:00:54
  I mean, that's great and everything, but I I very much
• 1:00:56
  believe you should. You should leave, Leave work at
• 1:01:00
  work and when you come home, be Christian again, because it's a
• 1:01:04
  lot, man. It's a lot, You know.
• 1:01:07
  You want to be like brooding all the time or like depressed.
• 1:01:10
  That's the thing. You know, like fucking.
• 1:01:12
  You know you don't want to be like in it, in it all the time.
• 1:01:16
  You know you want to leave when you get home.
• 1:01:18
  Kind of leave it because it's a it's a lot of what's the word
• 1:01:22
  I'm looking for. It's a lot of emotional work.
• 1:01:27
  It's a lot of emotional work you know, and and and that's that's
• 1:01:31
  hard that that's quite difficult.
• 1:01:33
  So I I try and leave work, you know, work at work.
• 1:01:37
  Same like I I do method acting as well.
• 1:01:40
  But like I yeah, I agree. I think it's stupid when you.
• 1:01:43
  I'm sorry, but you know, and look, I I love the greats that
• 1:01:46
  do it, but like, I just, I just think it's awkward.
• 1:01:50
  Look, you know, a crew cast and crew.
• 1:01:54
  It's like a little family for a certain amount of time.
• 1:01:57
  And it's just weird when there's that one person who's like
• 1:02:00
  living in the character the whole time and everyone else is
• 1:02:02
  like having their lunch and it's like, all right, dude, you know,
• 1:02:07
  the only the only time I do, I do that is like if it's an
• 1:02:11
  intense scene and they really need me to be that, yeah, look,
• 1:02:15
  I'm in between takes. I'm still going to be in that
• 1:02:18
  character. Yeah.
• 1:02:19
  Yeah. In certain certain scenarios,
• 1:02:21
  yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
• 1:02:23
  But it's more like waiting period, Like I'd rather in that
• 1:02:25
  moment not speak to anyone. Like I did it on a short film
• 1:02:29
  last year and I spoke about it in in last week's show.
• 1:02:34
  So I don't know when that's going to come out.
• 1:02:36
  The the film's called Choc Chips and it was a very small role and
• 1:02:40
  I mentioned this in the last show, so I'll just briefly
• 1:02:42
  mention it here. Basically, my character had to
• 1:02:46
  be quite serious and scared and and like all his body language
• 1:02:51
  kind of told you the story anyway.
• 1:02:53
  But in between takes, like, you know, everyone's cracking jokes
• 1:02:57
  and having a laugh. And I'm like, I need to keep
• 1:02:59
  this. And I was staring at this glass
• 1:03:02
  of whiskey. And just like I remember keeping
• 1:03:04
  myself in that feeling of of like fear and and kind of
• 1:03:09
  uncomfortability and stuff. And like everyone is ignoring me
• 1:03:12
  and stuff. And I was like perfect, great.
• 1:03:14
  I can stay in this. And then when they say action,
• 1:03:16
  I'm ready to go, yeah, that's that's the only time I play
• 1:03:21
  method. And I think that it's important
• 1:03:24
  for that, but for everything else, absolutely right.
• 1:03:27
  Why would you want to take it home with you like?
• 1:03:29
  Why do you want to take it? Yeah.
• 1:03:31
  So in when you hear about couples breaking up because like
• 1:03:34
  they're partner was just living in the character.
• 1:03:37
  In the Yeah, I know. I mean, the only other thing I'd
• 1:03:39
  say is I imagine like when Austin Butler did Elvis, I I'm
• 1:03:44
  pretty sure he he took that home with him definitely in terms of
• 1:03:47
  the accent he was speaking in. But I I can see that.
• 1:03:51
  I can see that. I think I'd say like, you know
• 1:03:55
  accents. I mean, some people are very
• 1:03:56
  good with, you know, doing accents and other people
• 1:04:00
  struggle with it. I feel like if it's hard picking
• 1:04:05
  up another accent, then you want to sort of keep the accent, you
• 1:04:09
  know? Yeah, like.
• 1:04:10
  Angie. Lincoln with your natural accent
• 1:04:14
  and you know, because then because you don't want to come
• 1:04:16
  to set and start thinking like, oh, how am I going to enunciate,
• 1:04:20
  you know, you know these these words.
• 1:04:23
  And yeah, so I can understand that.
• 1:04:26
  But like, if you're, you know, if you go home and you're still
• 1:04:28
  in character and you're still this other person, you know
• 1:04:32
  you're you're on the phone to, you know, to your parents or to
• 1:04:35
  to friends and you're like, Nah, call me John, call me John, call
• 1:04:39
  me John, man. Like, you know.
• 1:04:43
  Oh, I don't know, man. It's it's a weird one in a way
• 1:04:47
  because I think acting makes you question yourself a lot as well.
• 1:04:51
  Like it's. It makes you think about because
• 1:04:55
  if you think about it, you create a character like you are
• 1:04:58
  a character when you play. Like I think Jim Carrey said
• 1:05:01
  this as well, that you play a character throughout your life
• 1:05:03
  and there's different layers to your character, different roles
• 1:05:06
  that your character plays. So everyone's an.
• 1:05:09
  Actor and your different character to different.
• 1:05:11
  People, Yeah, like that. Always saying in someone's
• 1:05:15
  story, you're the villain. Someone's story?
• 1:05:17
  You're the hero. You're the hero, yeah.
• 1:05:19
  Crazy to think about, but. I mean, it's crazy to think
• 1:05:22
  about, isn't it? So much of that comes down to
• 1:05:24
  what we've been talking about, as well as the way you make
• 1:05:26
  people feel, Yeah, you know, it's less about what you say and
• 1:05:30
  more about what you make people feel.
• 1:05:31
  That really kind of elicits a response from them.
• 1:05:35
  And I think that really ties into what we've been talking
• 1:05:37
  about with acting on film or stage is like, yeah, you can.
• 1:05:43
  You can throw your arms and wail around and tell everyone I'm
• 1:05:46
  angry, I'm scared, I'm upset. But really it's the little
• 1:05:48
  things. It's what you don't say.
• 1:05:50
  It's the, you know, the thought process that your character is
• 1:05:53
  going through. That's where the real story is
• 1:05:55
  told, because that's what. Human beings are like said that,
• 1:05:58
  yeah. That's what that you think about
• 1:05:59
  it. Like I was telling someone in
• 1:06:00
  the pub about this the other day like Michael Caine said it when
• 1:06:07
  he was teaching in the 90s at the BBC.
• 1:06:10
  He he did a series of lectures and they were adapted into a
• 1:06:14
  book series called ACT. I think it's called Acting on
• 1:06:17
  Film, Acting in film. I've got it here on my
• 1:06:18
  bookshelf. And basically he he said a lot
• 1:06:24
  of, he had a lot of great advice in that book.
• 1:06:28
  And I really recommend anyone that's an actor or a filmmaker
• 1:06:31
  just just check it out and and read it up because it's it's
• 1:06:33
  really, really good stuff. He was basically trying to
• 1:06:36
  convey this idea that, like when he was doing Educating Rita, it
• 1:06:41
  goes back to the whole less is more thing, but it's also about
• 1:06:46
  trying to think about what happens in real life.
• 1:06:48
  Because in that role he had to play a drunk.
• 1:06:55
  And so his way of doing that was to play him as a guy trying to
• 1:06:59
  be sober. Because often when you're drunk,
• 1:07:03
  you try to act sober. You try to prove to people I'm
• 1:07:06
  not drunk. What do you mean?
• 1:07:08
  You know that that's the key because obviously when people,
• 1:07:12
  when you get told like, oh, act drunk, you're like, oh.
• 1:07:15
  Yeah, I know, I know. And like that's that is a part
• 1:07:19
  of being drunk. But that often is not what it
• 1:07:22
  is. It's often trying to act sober,
• 1:07:24
  trying to, you know, capture that realism that you see in
• 1:07:29
  everyday. Life.
• 1:07:29
  See, I wouldn't have known this. Christian.
• 1:07:31
  I wouldn't have known this when I first started.
• 1:07:33
  I I think I did when I first started acting, one of my one of
• 1:07:38
  the earliest things I did in last final year at Loughborough
• 1:07:43
  University, I did a musical called Hairspray and I had a
• 1:07:46
  tiny role in that and I had to sort of I was his character.
• 1:07:50
  I had to play drunk and of course I did.
• 1:07:53
  You know I did the whole walking and it's like you know that's
• 1:07:58
  but I think you know and and this is what's so beautiful
• 1:08:01
  about you know growing and learning in the industry.
• 1:08:06
  It's like it's the it's the nuances and and these little
• 1:08:09
  like look at that detail like well how would a drunk person
• 1:08:12
  actually act or behave He wouldn't actually be all over
• 1:08:16
  the place you know and and to I'll tell you this it's not
• 1:08:21
  really a story but the I was I remember being absolutely out of
• 1:08:25
  my mind drunk. I mean Christian.
• 1:08:29
  I was fucked. And the next day people said to
• 1:08:33
  me, oh, James, you were fine. You're like, oh, you were cool.
• 1:08:36
  Like, you know, apparently I was.
• 1:08:38
  I could, you know, I could walk straight.
• 1:08:40
  I could, you know, I, you know, I was, I was fine.
• 1:08:44
  I just, I couldn't really hold the conversation, though, so I
• 1:08:46
  wasn't speaking a lot. And I got it.
• 1:08:48
  You know, it's like because when you're fucked, you're just
• 1:08:51
  trying to do the basics right, you know, stand up straight,
• 1:08:55
  walk over here, open the door. You know, it's a little bit and
• 1:09:00
  like people, people don't see it.
• 1:09:02
  People don't see that. You're that you're up your mind.
• 1:09:05
  Earlier you you mentioned the idea in nuances.
• 1:09:08
  So if if it's been acting class for everybody here.
• 1:09:12
  So if you're trying to act drunk, pay more attention.
• 1:09:16
  Like when you next go out maybe don't have so many and pay
• 1:09:19
  attention to the person that's fucked in the group.
• 1:09:21
  You'll notice that little things happen, like their eyes are kind
• 1:09:26
  of hazed over. There's a little bit of a kind
• 1:09:30
  of, I'm going to put this, there's like a grogginess when
• 1:09:34
  they're paying attention. So they'll be looking at people
• 1:09:36
  like this and there'll be a lot of that because normally when
• 1:09:40
  you're when you're sober, you're just sitting there like that.
• 1:09:42
  You're just chilling. Yeah, you're in control when
• 1:09:45
  you're, when you're drunk, you're kind of, you're not
• 1:09:49
  really in control of your body and your body kind of sways a
• 1:09:52
  bit more. Like you said, you're trying to
• 1:09:54
  keep straight and you probably think like.
• 1:09:57
  You probably think you're yeah, you're fine.
• 1:09:59
  But you're not your your your eyes are hazing over, and and
• 1:10:02
  every now and again your body will throw you.
• 1:10:05
  Blink. It's quite slow as well, right?
• 1:10:08
  So you know what I mean? It's like, yeah.
• 1:10:12
  Yeah, yeah. Because you're tired.
• 1:10:14
  Your body's working overtime to try and compensate and pump
• 1:10:19
  through the crap out your body. And it's, yeah, it's it slows
• 1:10:22
  down everything. I think if anything, like you
• 1:10:24
  want to convey a drunk person, slow down your motions, but
• 1:10:28
  don't overdo it. Try to remember that, like, so
• 1:10:32
  much of that performance is going to be about a lack of
• 1:10:37
  control and not so much like swaying and stuff.
• 1:10:41
  Like, because it's swaying is like, what happens?
• 1:10:45
  Like, let's think about it. We've all been that drunk.
• 1:10:48
  Chances are that's right at the end of the night when you're
• 1:10:52
  when you're like you, that's time to go home.
• 1:10:56
  Like, do you know what I mean? Like it's and you're probably
• 1:10:58
  two things are going to happen. Either 1A friend carries you out
• 1:11:01
  or two, you fall on the floor. That's kind of, do you know what
• 1:11:04
  I mean? You maybe you kind of like
• 1:11:06
  scuffle out or whatever you know fall into the cab but like
• 1:11:10
  that's realistically the extreme of it.
• 1:11:14
  But you want to capture especially if you're doing a
• 1:11:16
  scene where you're talking there's dialogue you need to
• 1:11:18
  capture the bit before that where it's not quite full full
• 1:11:23
  blown. You're kind of like a few steps
• 1:11:25
  back. So I guess like best thing to do
• 1:11:29
  would be like rein it in a bit and and just and just yeah pay
• 1:11:33
  more attention. Like I, I, I've been doing this
• 1:11:35
  a lot more I've been this is sound weird but I've been doing
• 1:11:38
  a lot more people watching now and just looking at the way
• 1:11:41
  people interact with each other their mannerisms, the little
• 1:11:45
  things intricacies. Like the way people act.
• 1:11:49
  You mentioned earlier about how oh you know it's maturity.
• 1:11:53
  I'd you know, I I was playing a drunk person wrong.
• 1:11:55
  No you weren't. You were rising to the occasion
• 1:11:57
  for that production. Hairspray is a musical it's it's
• 1:12:01
  throwing yourself around. It's energy.
• 1:12:03
  That's what you're expected to do.
• 1:12:05
  Right. So you did it perfectly.
• 1:12:07
  Now, if you did a film about a man who has an addiction problem
• 1:12:13
  and you played the character the same way, you're right, it would
• 1:12:16
  be inappropriate. But that's a different medium.
• 1:12:18
  It's different energy you're bringing to the performance.
• 1:12:21
  It's a different approach. Absolutely.
• 1:12:24
  Yeah. Stages.
• 1:12:25
  Stages is bigger, isn't it? Stages.
• 1:12:27
  You've got to be your sort of very expressive, lamboyant big.
• 1:12:32
  So much of it is totally different.
• 1:12:33
  Like, if you look at the beginning of of cinema, it
• 1:12:37
  really teaches you a lot about how TV and film became what it
• 1:12:42
  is today. Because everyone that started in
• 1:12:45
  drama and theatre, that migrated over to TV and film, they had to
• 1:12:51
  rein back their performances. So if you go and watch like the
• 1:12:54
  early movies from like 20s, thirties, 40s, right, you'll
• 1:12:57
  notice that there's a lot of scenes of people in rooms.
• 1:13:01
  And I've said this on the show before, so we'll recap here, but
• 1:13:04
  like in like living rooms with like maybe a like a flower
• 1:13:09
  bouquet in the middle of the room or something.
• 1:13:11
  Right now. That's where the mic was, by the
• 1:13:13
  way. I used to hide it there.
• 1:13:16
  But they would be shouting across the living room.
• 1:13:18
  They would. And that's not how people talk
• 1:13:20
  in their room unless they're like having an argument.
• 1:13:22
  But it was very, like dramatic and over the top.
• 1:13:25
  Why? Because they were used to doing
• 1:13:27
  that on stage so an audience could hear them.
• 1:13:31
  So my point with this is that when you, when you, especially
• 1:13:34
  if you're a drama actor, coming over to TV and film, you have to
• 1:13:37
  rein back that. Performance.
• 1:13:39
  You've got to rein it back. And then it becomes what you
• 1:13:42
  were saying in the beginning with regards to like people like
• 1:13:44
  Denzel Washington, where it's like, remember there's always a
• 1:13:48
  camera watching you. It picks up every detail, even
• 1:13:52
  just something small like and like.
• 1:13:53
  If you think, oh it wouldn't have picked that up, it
• 1:13:55
  definitely. It did.
• 1:13:56
  I know it wouldn't have picked. No, it did.
• 1:13:59
  It picks up everything. So like every small micro
• 1:14:03
  movement is part of that. So when you keep that in mind
• 1:14:08
  and you just focus on being in your character's head and
• 1:14:12
  thinking about your performance, just focus on that.
• 1:14:14
  Make that your focus and that's how it will work and that's how
• 1:14:17
  you'll get the best out of yourself.
• 1:14:20
  I think so much of it is people over performing because they
• 1:14:23
  think, oh, I need to put in the performance of a lifetime
• 1:14:26
  because that's how I'm going to get this award and that's how
• 1:14:28
  I'm going to get big, big, big. It's like, no, look, if you want
• 1:14:32
  to put in a good performance, focus on being the best
• 1:14:36
  representation of that character and living in that character's
• 1:14:39
  mind and becoming that character.
• 1:14:40
  That's how you'll do it. And also look, listen to
• 1:14:43
  direction, listen to what advice you're getting, take it on
• 1:14:46
  board. If the director says try this,
• 1:14:48
  tweak this, take it on board. Try it.
• 1:14:51
  Give it a go. There you.
• 1:14:54
  Go Speaking of experiences, I want to just run for a few
• 1:14:57
  questions just based on your experiences.
• 1:14:59
  So, most memorable acting experience so far.
• 1:15:05
  Most memorable? OK, that.
• 1:15:07
  OK, so that's definitely not like you know the most, you know
• 1:15:11
  my favorite acting experience or best, most memorable.
• 1:15:15
  It could be like whatever. Comes to mind.
• 1:15:17
  That's positive for you. Yeah.
• 1:15:19
  OK. I have to say I think Starling
• 1:15:34
  Starling is and it's and that is the project I'm most proud of.
• 1:15:40
  I think in terms of in terms of my work I yeah so Starling is a
• 1:15:46
  short film and it's about OK I'm going to explain this right so
• 1:15:51
  you've got. So I I didn't realise this this
• 1:15:54
  was a thing but sometimes the army will hire will hire actors
• 1:16:02
  to lay out certain scenarios with with soldiers.
• 1:16:07
  So for example, you know, they'll they'll hire an actor to
• 1:16:12
  be to act as a family member of a deceased soldier or you know,
• 1:16:18
  and it's like. And then the the soldiers have
• 1:16:21
  got to pretend how they, you know, present that information
• 1:16:26
  and tell, you know, the family members or loved ones that's
• 1:16:29
  your son or your, you know, your wife or husband.
• 1:16:33
  Whoever it is, is, you know, has passed away.
• 1:16:36
  And so, so I realised that this was the thing, it's something I
• 1:16:39
  learnt, you know, whilst you know, going through the scripts
• 1:16:42
  really and speaking to the film makers.
• 1:16:45
  And so this short film was about this, you know, and I played a
• 1:16:50
  soldier having to go through. It's kind of like a, I guess,
• 1:16:55
  you know, it's like role play isn't it essentially for
• 1:16:58
  soldiers. And so we did this and, you
• 1:17:00
  know, it's like and the soldiers were kind of like, oh this, you
• 1:17:02
  know, this is a waste of time and like giving, you know,
• 1:17:05
  giving the actor a hard time. So I really enjoyed doing that
• 1:17:10
  because I learnt something that I didn't realise was even was
• 1:17:13
  even even a thing in the army. But also I worked with an
• 1:17:17
  incredible cast and that is. And the reason that's my most
• 1:17:22
  memorable acting experience is because I felt like, yes, it was
• 1:17:29
  a short film, but it just felt like the best, you know, the
• 1:17:33
  best worker. Everyone was so professional.
• 1:17:35
  Everyone was. So, you know, I spoke with the
• 1:17:38
  director about what he wanted and we spoke about, we spoke
• 1:17:41
  about the character, who the character was, where he came
• 1:17:44
  from, his background. You know, we even spoke about
• 1:17:48
  if, you know, if the character was an animal, what kind of
• 1:17:50
  animal would the character have been.
• 1:17:52
  So there was a lot of sort of prep work that went into that.
• 1:17:55
  And then on the day, on the day of filming as well.
• 1:17:58
  I mean we did have a couple days, but I remember we had
• 1:18:02
  before rehearsals. I mean we we, I mean rehearsals
• 1:18:05
  were great as well. But I learnt so much because
• 1:18:08
  some of the actors, you know, they, you know the scripts, they
• 1:18:12
  they've done so much analysis of the scripts looking at their
• 1:18:15
  notes. There's a massive learning curve
• 1:18:18
  for me. And on the day we went through
• 1:18:22
  this sort of warm ups, we went through these acting warm ups
• 1:18:24
  before we got on set. So it would be myself, it'd be
• 1:18:28
  Corin, the other actor, Leah, and we'd be together and we'd be
• 1:18:31
  doing these warm ups to sort of like get out, you know, feel
• 1:18:34
  comfortable or actually feel uncomfortable and sort of like
• 1:18:38
  get out of your and do silly things and go and like, you
• 1:18:45
  know, all you know, all these things.
• 1:18:46
  There's like kind of like get out of your body and you know
• 1:18:49
  and it was is an amazing, amazing experience man.
• 1:18:53
  And I think so that's some of the best acting I've ever done
• 1:18:56
  and some of the best actors I've I've ever worked with.
• 1:18:59
  So the the entire experience was just very memorable and I'm so
• 1:19:05
  happy because we filmed that in 2022 and it's it's started at
• 1:19:09
  the festival run. It's been at the Bolton Bolton
• 1:19:13
  Film Festival or Bolton Short Film Festival and now it's going
• 1:19:16
  to be screening at the London Short Film Festival on Friday
• 1:19:20
  next week. And I'm, I'm going to see that
• 1:19:23
  and that's, and this is an exciting moment for me because
• 1:19:25
  this is the first project I've done that I'm going to see, you
• 1:19:28
  know in the cinema for the first for the first time.
• 1:19:31
  So which is really exciting. But but no, but seriously,
• 1:19:34
  Christian though it was, I mean such an incredible experience.
• 1:19:38
  I mean, I I learnt so much. I really did.
• 1:19:41
  And I really thought I didn't feel like James.
• 1:19:43
  I mean the character's name was James funnily enough.
• 1:19:47
  But it was Oh no, it was, it was great.
• 1:19:51
  I mean so much work and and I, you know, what it taught me was
• 1:19:56
  you can do so much prep work before and then when you're, you
• 1:20:01
  know, when you're in the scene, when you're doing the shot,
• 1:20:03
  you've done your prep work and so you're you're you're ready,
• 1:20:06
  you know and you you know kind of like let go and you can be in
• 1:20:10
  the moment. But it's all the prep work that
• 1:20:13
  was just so important to me. You know, the rehearsals.
• 1:20:17
  The morning of shooting, doing, you know, the warm ups as well
• 1:20:21
  the, you know, script analysis, like understanding the beats,
• 1:20:25
  the motivations of the character, you know.
• 1:20:28
  And it was yeah, that's that's the most memorable and best best
• 1:20:33
  acting experience I've I've ever had ever had.
• 1:20:36
  I I loved it. Absolutely loved it.
• 1:20:38
  Congratulations man. That sounds mega like it's it's
• 1:20:41
  always great to hear when someone fully got to immerse
• 1:20:46
  themselves in a role and and then they just they're happy
• 1:20:50
  with it comfortable with it and it just worked out like I've had
• 1:20:52
  a few experiences over the years similar thing and it's I don't
• 1:20:58
  know it always just leaves leaves you one and more really
• 1:21:00
  don't know it. Leaves you one and more.
• 1:21:01
  It's like I want to do this every day.
• 1:21:03
  I want to do this every day, all the time.
• 1:21:06
  Like, how can I work with these people or people like this of
• 1:21:08
  this ilk, You know, it's just the level of because, you know,
• 1:21:11
  we spoke about it earlier, It's like, I know people joke about,
• 1:21:16
  you know, like, oh, you know, I do dress up for a living, but I
• 1:21:20
  just, I take it, you know, it's I take this so seriously, You
• 1:21:26
  know, I take acting and and storytelling really so
• 1:21:30
  seriously. And like as an actor, when
• 1:21:32
  you're playing a character, you're just that you're, you
• 1:21:34
  know, there's so many people that work on a film or work on a
• 1:21:40
  project. You've got this, you know, got
• 1:21:42
  the writer, you've got the script supervisor, you got the
• 1:21:46
  producers, the first AD, second AD, you know, you got the the
• 1:21:50
  DOP, you got, you know, the the in post production you're doing
• 1:21:56
  colour grading, you know, you're doing sound.
• 1:21:59
  So many. You got the actors.
• 1:22:00
  I mean, there's so many moving parts that come together to make
• 1:22:04
  this beautiful piece of art, but you just got to focus on what
• 1:22:08
  you have to do. Everyone's just got to focus on
• 1:22:10
  their part in order for it to be the best it can be.
• 1:22:14
  And that production was wonderful because everyone was
• 1:22:16
  on job. Everyone knew what they were
• 1:22:18
  doing, everyone was very good and they were so professional.
• 1:22:20
  But going back to what I was saying, I know it's, you know,
• 1:22:24
  it's, you know, we're making a film and we're telling a story
• 1:22:26
  and it's fun and it's like we're like kids and we're like we're
• 1:22:29
  we're playing other people. I get it.
• 1:22:31
  But you know, doing that project, it's like it reminded
• 1:22:34
  me of why I got into acting. I saw the I'm going to, I'm
• 1:22:40
  going to tell you something, I say this to everyone.
• 1:22:42
  The film I saw that got me into acting that made me take acting
• 1:22:46
  in storytelling and film, that medium, it made me take it so
• 1:22:50
  seriously was Shame by Steve McQueen starring Michael
• 1:22:53
  Fassbender. It's about sex addiction.
• 1:22:56
  And you know, there was a lot of lot of sex in the film, but it
• 1:22:59
  wasn't sexy. And you can see this guy
• 1:23:01
  struggling. There was a problem struggling
• 1:23:04
  with intimacy and not being able.
• 1:23:06
  And it's, you know, there was something so much deeper about
• 1:23:11
  it. And his performance was so
• 1:23:13
  nuanced and so real and so raw. And I saw that performance and I
• 1:23:17
  saw that film and I thought I love this more than anything in
• 1:23:22
  the world. And this is what I want to do
• 1:23:24
  with the rest of my life. And I don't care where it takes
• 1:23:26
  me and I don't care what happens with me on this journey, but
• 1:23:31
  this I'm going to strive to to be, to be as real as possible
• 1:23:36
  and portray characters so that the audience can feel it.
• 1:23:39
  And it can make you feel something.
• 1:23:41
  It can make you feel the way I've got watching that film and
• 1:23:46
  something you can relate to. Because yes, we're human, human
• 1:23:49
  beings and we have we, You know, it's kind of like we're all
• 1:23:52
  having different experiences but the same experiences at the same
• 1:23:55
  time. If that makes sense.
• 1:23:58
  And it's just, yeah, man, it's just I I love what we do,
• 1:24:03
  Christian. I I love what we do.
• 1:24:05
  And I love, I love how how it makes people, how it makes
• 1:24:08
  people feel. And I just feel I I just take I
• 1:24:11
  take this craft. I take it so seriously.
• 1:24:13
  You know. And I I think it's important to
• 1:24:16
  to do the work, to do the work prior to coming on set.
• 1:24:20
  And I think you just got to you know, it's about being real
• 1:24:24
  isn't it? I love it because you're you're
• 1:24:25
  in the moment. You know, you're very present.
• 1:24:28
  So I tend to go, I tend to go off on a tangent because I I get
• 1:24:31
  passionate and I just, I just start, I just start yapping
• 1:24:34
  about about different things. But but yeah, man, yeah.
• 1:24:39
  I know exactly what you mean. Often in everyday life, real
• 1:24:44
  life, I'm looking at my life and life through my eyes and I'm
• 1:24:50
  thinking like, this is like a movie.
• 1:24:51
  This feels like a movie. And then it kind of dawned on me
• 1:24:56
  the so much of filmmaking and TV is different people's
• 1:25:01
  interpretations of real life. Or maybe not.
• 1:25:04
  Maybe the arty way that they see the world.
• 1:25:07
  Or like, you know, sometimes like there'll be like a moment.
• 1:25:12
  Maybe it's like a beautiful sunset that you're seeing.
• 1:25:14
  You're spending time with friends, a loved one.
• 1:25:17
  Maybe you're even by yourself. I don't know.
• 1:25:19
  There'll just be a beautiful moment that doesn't seem real.
• 1:25:21
  It's surreal. It's it's the stuff that dreams
• 1:25:25
  are made of. And you see these moments and
• 1:25:30
  they come together and they form the basis of what becomes your
• 1:25:33
  life. And what we do is we tell
• 1:25:37
  stories about life. We talk about everything from
• 1:25:43
  the good, the bad and the ugly. We we really the best films, the
• 1:25:48
  best media portrays that. Yes.
• 1:25:52
  You know, like when I see quite and quite like bad performances
• 1:25:57
  or bad films or whatever, typically it just comes down to
• 1:26:00
  something very simple, like the story was not there.
• 1:26:03
  It wasn't telling the story that's interesting or relatable
• 1:26:06
  or gets you thinking. Or maybe, and I'm sure you've
• 1:26:09
  had this before, where you watch something and maybe all the
• 1:26:13
  performances were good except for that one performance, that
• 1:26:17
  one performance that was too much too dramatic to, you know,
• 1:26:22
  that's why I said at the very beginning of this, that my short
• 1:26:25
  film, you know why I was so annoyed with my performance?
• 1:26:29
  Why? Two reasons.
• 1:26:31
  One, I knew I could do better. Two, I knew that my performance
• 1:26:36
  would affect everyone else's performance.
• 1:26:38
  It would mean that everyone's hard work that they put in would
• 1:26:43
  be my like, my performance is a distraction.
• 1:26:46
  Not for them because they're all professionals, but for the
• 1:26:48
  viewer, the person watching. And that's why I take it like
• 1:26:52
  yourself so seriously. And I come in there and I bust
• 1:26:56
  my ass to give the best performance possible.
• 1:26:58
  So that everyone's performance together is connected and
• 1:27:03
  portrays this scene, this story we're trying to tell in the
• 1:27:07
  best, most realistic light, the truest representation of of life
• 1:27:12
  or what we're trying to achieve with that particular piece, you
• 1:27:15
  know? So I totally agree with what
• 1:27:17
  you're saying. What's been the most challenging
• 1:27:21
  experience for you so far? I think the most challenging
• 1:27:36
  experience I've had so far has been probably one of my most
• 1:27:45
  recent projects. I'm I played the lead character
• 1:27:51
  Paul Chester in a in a feature film called Dear Vengeance and
• 1:27:56
  and listen I I just want to you know I'd like to say that I had
• 1:28:01
  AI had a great time but the reason it was so challenging
• 1:28:03
  because I hadn't worked with a with a film maker like this
• 1:28:06
  before. You know he's very he's very
• 1:28:08
  hands on and he knows exactly what he's looking for And I
• 1:28:13
  appreciate I always appreciate artists and film makers that
• 1:28:16
  they've got a vision and they're very they're very decisive.
• 1:28:20
  You know they make decisions very quickly and they know the
• 1:28:23
  character you know better than the actor you know the character
• 1:28:28
  with like you know the back of their hands And but the reason
• 1:28:31
  I'm so challenging is because I I I just I felt like compared to
• 1:28:35
  other projects I'd done I didn't feel like I had room to sort of
• 1:28:41
  improvise or bring my own thing like even down to the
• 1:28:45
  physicality of the actor and the way I mean these are things I
• 1:28:48
  spoke with the director about but you know he was very like I
• 1:28:53
  said before very hands on and he you know everything the
• 1:28:56
  character was doing. Like I said physicality the way
• 1:28:58
  he was moving his his voice his emotion.
• 1:29:01
  It was you know it was it all came from the director.
• 1:29:04
  The film maker and it's fine, but it's it's sometimes I didn't
• 1:29:07
  feel like I was. I felt like I wasn't making any
• 1:29:12
  decisions. It felt like he was making all
• 1:29:14
  the decisions and then it didn't really feel like I was acting,
• 1:29:17
  if that makes sense. But it was just, I mean I don't
• 1:29:21
  think it was a bad experience. I wouldn't say it was bad.
• 1:29:24
  I would just say it was different from what I was used
• 1:29:27
  to. I've normally got a bit more
• 1:29:28
  free reign. I remember, I remember the first
• 1:29:31
  day of filming I did something, I said a lie that wasn't in the
• 1:29:34
  script and the director said, James, what are you doing?
• 1:29:38
  And I said, I don't know. I just, yeah, I just, I just
• 1:29:43
  added something Because you know what?
• 1:29:45
  It is. Often times in the best movies
• 1:29:50
  or the best, the best scenes in cinematic history, there are
• 1:29:54
  often things that weren't in the script or something that just,
• 1:29:57
  you know, happened spontaneously or wasn't meant to happen.
• 1:30:01
  And it's like, and so I've always got that in my head.
• 1:30:04
  I'm always like try something different, you know, just to see
• 1:30:06
  if it works. But yeah, I remember doing
• 1:30:08
  something different on the first day and the director just said
• 1:30:10
  to me, don't do that. He was like, what are you doing?
• 1:30:15
  No. So that he was very strict on
• 1:30:18
  that. Even the lines he didn't, he
• 1:30:20
  wanted the lines like 9090% of what was on on the script.
• 1:30:26
  So it just felt like, you know, it's just I felt like I couldn't
• 1:30:30
  as an artist, I couldn't bring anything.
• 1:30:32
  It was like it was all from from him.
• 1:30:36
  But if the movie ends up being good, or at least ends up being
• 1:30:40
  what he wants, then I don't have a problem with it, you know,
• 1:30:43
  then, then, then it's all good. I always say it's like it's the
• 1:30:47
  film makers, it's their film, it's their vision.
• 1:30:49
  But as an actor, it felt a bit, I felt a bit restricted, if
• 1:30:53
  that, if that makes that makes sense.
• 1:30:55
  You know, I just, I didn't feel like I could, you know, I could
• 1:30:58
  bring stuff to the table. It's definitely what you know
• 1:31:02
  what he wanted. But I guess also this was the
• 1:31:04
  role. You know, this is my, I've been
• 1:31:06
  a lead before, but I've been a lead in a film where you could
• 1:31:12
  argue two or three other characters were were leads.
• 1:31:16
  You know this was the first film where I was the lead, you know,
• 1:31:21
  like no questions asked. And so there was quite a lot I
• 1:31:24
  was in like every day. It was quite a lot of
• 1:31:27
  responsibility on my shoulders. You know, I remember I had a
• 1:31:31
  monologue on the last day that I struggled with just because, I
• 1:31:34
  mean, I knew the lines, but you know, I wasn't saying it
• 1:31:37
  verbatim. It was, you know, not, you know,
• 1:31:39
  word for word. And the director was like, no,
• 1:31:41
  it's got to be word for word. I remember we had a lot, we did
• 1:31:44
  a lot of takes and I think we managed to get it done in the
• 1:31:49
  end. But I know in the in the editing
• 1:31:51
  room he's going to have, he's going to have a lot of time
• 1:31:54
  putting that, putting that together in post.
• 1:31:57
  But I think I think that that's the project I kind of like you
• 1:32:02
  know and also it it's this is a project where I really was out
• 1:32:07
  of character. Like, it was so far removed from
• 1:32:10
  who I was as a person that, you know, the character's this
• 1:32:14
  brooding character. And he, his voice, his voice was
• 1:32:17
  kind of like, you know, he's gone like this.
• 1:32:19
  And like I think of, you know, a bit a bit like Batman actually
• 1:32:22
  in some of his voice and always, you know, having to speak like
• 1:32:25
  this, you know, it's just not who I was.
• 1:32:28
  So it was very, very uncomfortable.
• 1:32:31
  I was very, very much out of my comfort zone.
• 1:32:33
  But that's what you want though I.
• 1:32:35
  Was going to say, do you know what then that's what you want
• 1:32:37
  as an actor? Yeah, yeah, that's a good place
• 1:32:40
  to be. But it kind of reminds me of.
• 1:32:44
  So I'm a big wrestling fan, Professional wrestling fan.
• 1:32:48
  I'm a massive wrestling fan as well.
• 1:32:49
  That's Christian. That's actually what I wanted to
• 1:32:52
  do as a kid. I wanted to be.
• 1:32:54
  I wanted to be a WWE superstar or a superhero, and I was like
• 1:32:58
  my cousin said to me, Well, superheroes aren't real, James.
• 1:33:01
  Like you can't actually get superpowers.
• 1:33:03
  I was like, you watch you fucking watch me just.
• 1:33:06
  Say Batman doesn't know I was like.
• 1:33:08
  Can't be a superhero. I'll be.
• 1:33:09
  I'll be Aww, superstar. I wanted to be you know Stone
• 1:33:12
  Cold Steve Austin and you know the Biz and and you know the
• 1:33:16
  undertaking Shawn Michaels. Like, yeah, that was that was my
• 1:33:20
  thing. Oh yeah, man, I've.
• 1:33:22
  I've loved it since those days, too.
• 1:33:24
  Like, I I've kept up with it. I'll be it not as much but now.
• 1:33:27
  But I I still keep tabs. And I yeah.
• 1:33:31
  So you might be familiar with a guy called John Moxley.
• 1:33:35
  Dean Ambrose. Yeah, John Moxley, Yeah.
• 1:33:38
  Yeah, he's in AEW right now. He.
• 1:33:40
  Is so do you remember back in 2019 when he left WWE he did
• 1:33:44
  that shoot podcast on talkies Jericho?
• 1:33:48
  Oh, did he? I know Jericho's got Y2 Ji, know
• 1:33:51
  he's got a podcast. But I I don't.
• 1:33:54
  I I don't think I. Listen to OK, you need to, you
• 1:33:56
  need to go out of your way to listen to this.
• 1:33:57
  OK, I'll I'll just say this now, really quickly on a detail.
• 1:34:00
  OK, so wrestlers are storytellers.
• 1:34:03
  It's one of the reasons why I've always been a big fan of it,
• 1:34:05
  because it's acting. It's theatre.
• 1:34:07
  Because it's acting. It's performance, yeah.
• 1:34:08
  It is. It's it.
• 1:34:10
  Actors. If you ever want to see good
• 1:34:12
  method acting, go watch professional wrestling.
• 1:34:16
  So two of my favourites are yeah, John Moxley and CM Punk.
• 1:34:19
  Now CM Punk years, years and years and years ago did the
• 1:34:22
  greatest shoot interview of all time in 2014 and it's just
• 1:34:28
  storytelling at its best to to quite frankly it's real.
• 1:34:32
  He's telling the truth. He's telling his perspective.
• 1:34:34
  But it's that's the thing about Punk and Dean Ambrose did the
• 1:34:40
  same thing in 2019 or John Marxley.
• 1:34:42
  Now the reason I brought this up is that when he spoke about his
• 1:34:49
  grievances of dealing with that company in the process,
• 1:34:52
  something really interesting was said in In the midst of that he
• 1:34:55
  said that his favorite thing was always promos, setting up
• 1:35:00
  promos. Now generally in wrestling
• 1:35:06
  you'll when you get given a promo spot you get given like a
• 1:35:09
  lot of like leeway of like how to approach it.
• 1:35:12
  So it's like the the best promos are often you know bullet
• 1:35:15
  points. And I've said this on the show
• 1:35:16
  before but we'll recap here. So if it's like me and you and
• 1:35:20
  we're talking like we know that our beats, if you're like we've
• 1:35:24
  got to mention the main event, we're going to be wrestling at
• 1:35:26
  WrestleMania and you know there's a grievance as to why we
• 1:35:31
  hate each other, right? Those are the three points that
• 1:35:33
  we're going to cover. But we improvise how we get
• 1:35:36
  there. So long as we hit those points,
• 1:35:38
  we get there. Now what Jon Moxley was
• 1:35:41
  frustrated with is that not only were they deciding his career
• 1:35:46
  trajectory as far as like events he was in, storylines, etcetera,
• 1:35:50
  stuff he didn't want to be a part of, they also took away his
• 1:35:54
  favorite thing promos away from him.
• 1:35:57
  They basically showed up and were like, OK, everything's done
• 1:36:01
  for you. Here's the script.
• 1:36:04
  You just read this verbatim and just do it right verbatim.
• 1:36:10
  And he said they took away the thing that I loved most about
• 1:36:16
  wrestling. They took away.
• 1:36:18
  And he said, like in my free time.
• 1:36:20
  He said they said like a lot of the time, one of the things he
• 1:36:22
  loved to do was walk around the house and and like look in the
• 1:36:25
  mirror and like think about promos.
• 1:36:26
  Like I could talk about this, or I could talk about this or I
• 1:36:29
  could do this. And they they taken that away
• 1:36:31
  from him. And now he just wasn't infused
• 1:36:34
  or interested because everything is done for you.
• 1:36:36
  So what's left? Yeah.
• 1:36:38
  And when you were talking about that film, it kind of reminded
• 1:36:41
  me of that because when I'm on set, I improvise like crazy.
• 1:36:45
  I do the same thing. I did it in a a Self tape the
• 1:36:47
  other day. Like I just you feel like
• 1:36:49
  there's more there. So you just keep going until it
• 1:36:52
  stops. And a lot of the time, if you're
• 1:36:54
  on set, a good director will just be like, you know, they'll
• 1:36:57
  they'll call cut, they'll see what you're doing and they'll
• 1:36:59
  call cut later because you can just edit all that shit.
• 1:37:02
  Yeah, it's, it's what's important is, is keep it going.
• 1:37:06
  Keep going until you're done, you know?
• 1:37:09
  Stay in the moment, you know. Stay in the moment.
• 1:37:12
  And I think, I think so much of it is is important to improvise
• 1:37:16
  or tweak or ad Lib because what matters more as we've sort of
• 1:37:21
  established in this show is, is the realism.
• 1:37:23
  And sometimes, like there'll be little things, like something in
• 1:37:26
  the dialogue just doesn't feel natural, like the character just
• 1:37:29
  wouldn't say it that way. Or, you know, and you keep
• 1:37:33
  hitting on that and maybe they at the scripts demands that you
• 1:37:36
  have to say it this way, but you're just trying to find a way
• 1:37:39
  that feels natural and you just can't do it.
• 1:37:41
  You just can't, yeah. And often I'll be like, right,
• 1:37:44
  let's try it your way. But let's also try it my way a
• 1:37:47
  few times and let's just see how it feels.
• 1:37:49
  And if my way sucks, fine. At least we tried it.
• 1:37:52
  Yeah, that's. But to to meet someone that,
• 1:37:54
  like, just won't let you do that at all.
• 1:37:56
  I can see how that's frustrating.
• 1:38:00
  And as you said, the main thing that really matters is the final
• 1:38:03
  product. Like, how did it come out?
• 1:38:04
  Did we tell the story we needed to tell?
• 1:38:06
  But yeah, I do think it's quite limiting.
• 1:38:08
  Like yes, we're carrying out this person's vision.
• 1:38:12
  But you know we've prepared for a long time this idea, this
• 1:38:17
  character we have and look, I've been in that situation.
• 1:38:20
  You show up and then they just completely take away your idea
• 1:38:24
  and they go, I want you to play it this way and you do it, but
• 1:38:26
  it's it's you still need that room to breathe and and paint
• 1:38:30
  your picture. So does.
• 1:38:31
  And paint a picture. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:38:33
  Yeah. Because otherwise I just.
• 1:38:34
  I just feel like I might as well be a mannequin, you know, or or
• 1:38:39
  a puppet. Yeah, it's it's not fun, you
• 1:38:43
  know? And it's not.
• 1:38:44
  Fun. It's not fun, but you know, it's
• 1:38:46
  yeah, it was an experience. You know, when he was talking
• 1:38:49
  about John Moxley, I was thinking, right, like, where are
• 1:38:53
  we? Where we at?
• 1:38:57
  Yeah, Where we're here. Where?
• 1:38:58
  Yeah, Where I was like, OK, where is this?
• 1:38:59
  I was wondering where it was going.
• 1:39:00
  And then? You know, we finally.
• 1:39:02
  Said. And I was like, oh, see, that's
• 1:39:04
  the thing. And I always wonder why certain,
• 1:39:07
  you know, like Edge, Adam Copeland's now in AEW and it's
• 1:39:11
  like he's Aww legend. I always wonder like what is it
• 1:39:14
  that why do certain wrestlers leave the WWE and go to you
• 1:39:18
  know, they're at TNA or leave TNA and join the WWE or go to
• 1:39:22
  these different companies and it's like I think it's just
• 1:39:25
  creative differences or or disputes.
• 1:39:27
  You know, I'm. I'm so happy you mentioned that
• 1:39:30
  because because yeah, listen, I, you know, I had a great time
• 1:39:35
  working on that project and you know I'm so I'm so I'm I'm
• 1:39:39
  grateful and I'm happy that I got to work with.
• 1:39:42
  I got to work with a great bunch of people and professionals and
• 1:39:48
  it was and it was an amazing experience.
• 1:39:50
  It's just, you know, I definitely felt limited as an
• 1:39:54
  artist, but I guess it wasn't an issue for me because I thought,
• 1:39:58
  right, as long as we achieve. The end goal and we make a good
• 1:40:02
  film and I stay true to the character that you know that
• 1:40:06
  this person's written, then you know, then I'm OK with it.
• 1:40:09
  But it's not, you know, it's definitely, it's not the most
• 1:40:11
  enjoyable because you know, because that's part of the fun.
• 1:40:14
  You know, like we said about John Moxley, it's like that's
• 1:40:16
  the fun of it, right, Is that you get to come up with certain
• 1:40:19
  things and as long as you, you know, you're getting to the
• 1:40:22
  goal, as long as you're, you know, you still you're hitting
• 1:40:26
  those, you know, hitting those marks, so to speak, then it's
• 1:40:30
  fine. But if it's, you know, if
• 1:40:32
  you're, you're not bringing anything to the table, you got
• 1:40:34
  to move this way. You got to say exactly like
• 1:40:37
  this. You got, you know, and it's
• 1:40:38
  like, it just feels a bit like, oh, you know, like.
• 1:40:42
  Anyone could have done this? Yeah, yeah, exactly like anyone
• 1:40:46
  could have done this. Like I'm not bringing anything
• 1:40:49
  to the table really Right? What's the craziest or most
• 1:40:54
  unprofessional thing you've seen happen on set?
• 1:40:58
  Oh my goodness. Oh, I'm about to spill the
• 1:41:02
  beans. Everyone's got a story.
• 1:41:06
  I'm going to spill the beans, man.
• 1:41:08
  Oh damn. Protect yourself.
• 1:41:09
  No names, no names. Just just wait.
• 1:41:11
  Most of the story professional thing I've seen on set.
• 1:41:14
  Yeah, let's just have some fun with this.
• 1:41:16
  So yeah, like I said, no names. We'll keep it all professional,
• 1:41:19
  but. Yeah.
• 1:41:20
  Spill the beans on craziest stuff and unprofessional stuff
• 1:41:23
  you've seen. I saw I saw 2-2 producers got in
• 1:41:34
  a fight on set. Oh, mad.
• 1:41:37
  I OK, Christian, I am OK hundred on my life.
• 1:41:42
  I was in heroin makeup. I was in heroin makeup and I
• 1:41:48
  just remember I was hearing, I heard this commotion and you
• 1:41:52
  know, people, it's like two people had got in a fight.
• 1:41:55
  So I thought they were filming and I was just thinking, I was
• 1:41:58
  like, I was thinking, wait, surely not.
• 1:42:01
  We're we're doing this scene today.
• 1:42:03
  They can't who's who's fighting or who's, who's acting, You
• 1:42:06
  know, I was like, what scene are they filming?
• 1:42:09
  And I turned around and two of the two of the producers are
• 1:42:11
  going at it. In the make up room.
• 1:42:15
  Say that again. In the hair and makeup room.
• 1:42:17
  No, not in hair and makeup like on the other side.
• 1:42:20
  It was not on the other side of, you know, where hair and makeup
• 1:42:23
  because we were filming the, the location meant that hair and
• 1:42:26
  makeup was set up outside, right?
• 1:42:29
  Yeah. And so it was just, it was on
• 1:42:31
  the other side of where, you know, where hair and makeup was.
• 1:42:34
  And I just, you know, I know was it hair and makeup was the
• 1:42:39
  costume department? I can't remember now but it was,
• 1:42:41
  you know we we were in hair and make up and all getting that
• 1:42:46
  sorted out. I just remember Tony and saying
• 1:42:49
  like two people being in a fight and I was like oh that's
• 1:42:51
  exciting. I thought Mike, that's brilliant
• 1:42:54
  acting. I thought I was like, I I was
• 1:42:56
  like this is so real. That's amazing acting whoever
• 1:42:58
  that whoever that is turned around and like I two of the
• 1:43:03
  producers are going at it and they've got to like separate
• 1:43:06
  them and one of the producers is like anyone else has got
• 1:43:09
  anything to say? You know like I'll get, I'll get
• 1:43:12
  you, I'll get you fired you know does anyone else want want to
• 1:43:15
  say anything to me? I'll get you sacked you'll be
• 1:43:17
  off the projects blah, yeah, blah blah blah.
• 1:43:19
  And one of the other producers had to go off into into the the
• 1:43:23
  bathroom or private room where wherever he, I don't know where
• 1:43:25
  the the fuck he went to he had to go off and cool down.
• 1:43:30
  But I just, I just thought to myself I have never seen
• 1:43:35
  anything so unprofessional in my life.
• 1:43:38
  What is going on? Yeah, yeah.
• 1:43:43
  That's an easy answer buddy. Easy answer that.
• 1:43:45
  I'll tell you right now that was, that was an experience
• 1:43:49
  because honestly all I could think about when I first heard,
• 1:43:53
  you know the all of the, well, you know, it's kind of like it
• 1:43:56
  happened at once. You just, I just heard that, you
• 1:44:00
  know, it's like I was like I was like obviously filming
• 1:44:03
  something, right. And I was like that is
• 1:44:05
  believable. That's very believable.
• 1:44:06
  That's. And then I turned around and was
• 1:44:08
  like, Oh no, they're not acting that's that's real.
• 1:44:11
  They're actually in a fight. Any crazy, like just acting
• 1:44:18
  stories, extra stories, anything else like that that you've seen
• 1:44:21
  on set? Like just maybe just weird
• 1:44:23
  people, strange scenarios. Yeah, I've.
• 1:44:27
  I've got. I've got a I've got a view.
• 1:44:32
  Spill the beans, buddy. I've got you.
• 1:44:35
  So I I showed up to set and the first AD or the second AD came
• 1:44:39
  round and said to us, so he said right guys, so the director's
• 1:44:44
  been sacked. Good start the the DOP.
• 1:44:50
  The DOP is going to take charge. You know the the we had two DOPS
• 1:44:54
  on this project and they're they're going to be, they're
• 1:44:56
  going to be directing the film now, right?
• 1:44:58
  Cool. OK, cool.
• 1:45:00
  Happy filming. Let's go, Let's do this.
• 1:45:02
  And I thought, what, you're not going to explain why the
• 1:45:06
  director's been sacked. What the.
• 1:45:08
  It's his film. Like what is going on?
• 1:45:10
  We've had rehearsals with the director.
• 1:45:12
  I've spoken to the character about the, you know, I've spoken
• 1:45:15
  with the with the director about the character and it's like, Oh
• 1:45:18
  yeah, the director's been sacked.
• 1:45:19
  The DOP's are are taking charge. Right.
• 1:45:22
  Let's have a good day filming. Oh, I also do you know what?
• 1:45:26
  Yeah, before you. Before you went ahead, by the
• 1:45:28
  way. Like who who sacks the director.
• 1:45:30
  Who's higher than the director? Oh, Matt.
• 1:45:33
  OK. But isn't the doesn't the
• 1:45:36
  director defeat the isn't it directors the head of the
• 1:45:40
  production? So like how?
• 1:45:41
  Executive producers got he's got the most power, I believe.
• 1:45:46
  Oh, OK, yeah. And by the way, this is all on
• 1:45:52
  the same project. Jesus, the most unprofessional
• 1:45:57
  project I ever. I mean, listen, anyone who
• 1:46:00
  worked on it will tell you. The director will tell you as
• 1:46:02
  well. It was a big budget.
• 1:46:03
  It was a shambles. It was a big budget.
• 1:46:07
  Another thing happened where we were on set and it was a it was
• 1:46:12
  a night shoot, right? It was a night shoot.
• 1:46:15
  And I I was vaping at the time. And obviously because it's a
• 1:46:20
  night shoot you know we're filming early in the morning so
• 1:46:23
  I'm talking 12:00 AM, one AM, 2:00 AM in the morning.
• 1:46:26
  I I was drinking coffee right to stay up to stay awake Christian
• 1:46:32
  I had so much coffee. I was vaping so much and all the
• 1:46:38
  caffeine and nicotine just getting into my system.
• 1:46:41
  My body crashed Christian and obviously it was freezing
• 1:46:44
  outside. So I remember just being I was
• 1:46:46
  in a state of shock like I was I wasn't feel I couldn't stand up
• 1:46:50
  they had to get a blanket for that over me get me some water
• 1:46:53
  get me. I can't remember what else they
• 1:46:55
  what else they got for me and I was I was thinking I was like I
• 1:46:58
  need to go to the hospital. I am not OK.
• 1:47:01
  I was thinking guys I might I think I'm going to die.
• 1:47:04
  I think I'm going to die being dramatic probably but I was not
• 1:47:09
  in a good place because it was a lot of coffee and I was I was
• 1:47:12
  vaping hard. I mean I was vaping every, you
• 1:47:14
  know, 2 seconds. So just all of it was just AI
• 1:47:17
  think when the caffeine and and and the nicotine, you know,
• 1:47:21
  coming together in my system just it wasn't good.
• 1:47:24
  You know, if I had One Cup of coffee and I was vaping every
• 1:47:26
  now and again, it would have been fine.
• 1:47:28
  But it was freezing outside. I had loads.
• 1:47:30
  I had like 4-5 cups of coffee, you know, I was just constantly
• 1:47:34
  vaping. And so I I was in a good place
• 1:47:37
  and we had to do this shot. We had to do this shot and I
• 1:47:40
  remember they were like, is James OK?
• 1:47:42
  Is James OK? Like James is Give it five, give
• 1:47:45
  it 10 minutes. James is not OK.
• 1:47:47
  And I just remember being being like, James, man the fuck up.
• 1:47:53
  And I just thought, right, I'm going to use this.
• 1:47:55
  I'm going to use this in the scene.
• 1:47:57
  And I used it in the scene. So I was fucked up doing that
• 1:48:00
  shot. But I used it and thankfully it
• 1:48:03
  thankfully it worked because I had to sort of like the
• 1:48:06
  character, you know, was the character I was playing was was
• 1:48:08
  in a state of panic. So it kind of, it kind of went
• 1:48:11
  kind of worked, you know, I was like, oh, this is perfect.
• 1:48:15
  Somehow this is going to work. But yeah, that was that was
• 1:48:20
  another that was another crazy experience.
• 1:48:24
  So you weren't acting then? So.
• 1:48:26
  I wasn't acting then. I wasn't.
• 1:48:28
  I wasn't actually acting. Jesus, man.
• 1:48:33
  Couple of final questions for you.
• 1:48:34
  Sort of unrelated to today's show, but I I love to ask my
• 1:48:40
  guests these questions. I think we'll have a lot of fun
• 1:48:42
  with this. What's the biggest mistake
• 1:48:45
  you've made that you learned a valuable life lesson from?
• 1:48:57
  Oh, I mean, listen, we've all made a lot of mistakes in our
• 1:49:02
  lives. You know, I think, OK, I'll say
• 1:49:07
  this, I I deeply cared about someone and I acted in my own
• 1:49:18
  interests and completely disregarded how they would feel.
• 1:49:25
  And I ended up hurting someone who I cared about more than
• 1:49:32
  anything really. And I learnt.
• 1:49:36
  I learnt a lot from that. I learnt that, you know, I
• 1:49:40
  learned it's not all about you and when and whatever you know,
• 1:49:44
  whether you know, it could be a, it could be the relationship
• 1:49:47
  with your parents or siblings or colleagues, could be a romantic,
• 1:49:51
  romantic relationship with a partner.
• 1:49:54
  But you got to remember, you got to take into account other
• 1:49:58
  people, other people's feelings as well and how it's going to
• 1:50:01
  affect them. So I think, you know, hurting
• 1:50:04
  someone I really cared about made me realise that, you know,
• 1:50:10
  to be less selfish and also, and yeah, to, you know, to to care
• 1:50:19
  about other people's feelings, but also make sure you consider
• 1:50:23
  you know someone else's feelings when you're doing, when you're
• 1:50:26
  doing something you know it's not, it's not all about you.
• 1:50:28
  And I get it. We come into this world by
• 1:50:31
  ourselves. We're going to leave by
• 1:50:32
  ourselves and like, you know, definitely put yourself first
• 1:50:37
  and love yourself, but you know, just take into, take into
• 1:50:41
  account how other people are going to feel, be more selfless
• 1:50:45
  and be less selfish, yeah. Thanks for sharing what's the
• 1:50:52
  best advice you've ever received.
• 1:51:04
  Oh OK. The best advice I've ever
• 1:51:07
  received is don't don't think about it, don't think about it
• 1:51:19
  too much. You know, I tend to, I I tend to
• 1:51:26
  ruminate on things. You know, I tend to overthink,
• 1:51:31
  overanalyse and I don't know if it's my personality or you know,
• 1:51:37
  something I got for my parents, my star sign, you believe in
• 1:51:40
  that or any of the viewers believe in that.
• 1:51:43
  But I yeah, I think it's that, you know life is life is short.
• 1:51:52
  You know it's it's fleeting. You can't.
• 1:51:54
  You know, we can't go back in time.
• 1:51:56
  And I think, you know some, we're we're constantly like
• 1:52:01
  worried about the future, what the future holds.
• 1:52:04
  And we we regret things we've done in the past and we think
• 1:52:08
  like, oh damn it, I fucked up. Like I wish I didn't do that or
• 1:52:12
  why did I do that, But it's like, you know, you can't change
• 1:52:16
  it. You can just learn from it.
• 1:52:17
  I think it's important to, it's important to learn from your
• 1:52:20
  mistakes And you know and listen, we're human beings.
• 1:52:23
  Of course we're going to think about the past and also think
• 1:52:26
  about the future, but all we've got is the here and now.
• 1:52:30
  It's important to be present and just not not think about things
• 1:52:35
  too much. Like don't deep it, man, Do you
• 1:52:38
  know what I mean? Don't deep it, don't think about
• 1:52:41
  it too much. Just just let it be.
• 1:52:43
  Because at the end of the day, a lot of things are out of our
• 1:52:47
  just focus on what you can control.
• 1:52:50
  And now I'm now I feel like I'm, you know, I'm being very, like
• 1:52:52
  philosophical and giving, saying a lot of things.
• 1:52:55
  But the main thing is just to, you know, don't think about it
• 1:52:59
  too much. Be in the moment, be present,
• 1:53:01
  you know, don't, you know, like a lot of things are out of our
• 1:53:05
  control, especially in the line of work that we do.
• 1:53:08
  It's like, you know, overthinking about this audition
• 1:53:11
  or I'm overthinking about, you know, the what does this person
• 1:53:15
  think about me? Do they like me?
• 1:53:17
  Do they hate me? Like you said earlier, you're
• 1:53:19
  going to be a villain in someone's life.
• 1:53:21
  You're going to be a hero in someone's life.
• 1:53:23
  Despite what you do or your intentions.
• 1:53:26
  You can't think about how other people are going to feel.
• 1:53:29
  You know about you. A lot of things are out of your
• 1:53:32
  control, so just don't deep it. Don't think about it so much.
• 1:53:35
  Just just be man. Just live in the here and now.
• 1:53:40
  It's all right, baby. Just let it.
• 1:53:43
  Just let it flow. Let it flow.
• 1:53:45
  Just you know, whatever's you know, case or us or whatever
• 1:53:48
  will be will be, you know, just don't don't think about, don't
• 1:53:50
  think about it too much. That's what I'm trying to say.
• 1:53:55
  Couldn't agree more. What's the biggest life lesson
• 1:53:59
  you've learnt so far? Biggest lifeless lesson I've
• 1:54:04
  learnt so far. I think the biggest life lesson
• 1:54:15
  is that this too shall pass, right?
• 1:54:24
  So if you feel excited, if you're you're happy, you're
• 1:54:30
  ecstatic. You know you're depressed,
• 1:54:32
  you're angry, you're you're sad, you're you know, whatever it is
• 1:54:37
  it, it will pass. You know it will pass.
• 1:54:42
  Moments. Feelings are fleeting.
• 1:54:46
  It's nothing lasts forever. So don't don't be.
• 1:54:51
  And and The thing is to not be so, to not be so much bogged
• 1:54:56
  down by how you feel in this moment because that's just how
• 1:55:00
  you feel right now. You're not always going to feel
• 1:55:02
  that way. So don't let that affect you so
• 1:55:06
  much. Do you see what I'm saying?
• 1:55:07
  Whatever it is you're feeling like, you know, like everything.
• 1:55:11
  Like, you know, you get Christian, you're you're going
• 1:55:13
  to be right. Tell me a filmmaker you want to
• 1:55:16
  work with the most in the world? There's so many Scorsese,
• 1:55:24
  Tarantino, Wes Anderson, let's. Go.
• 1:55:27
  All right, OK You get cars. You get Carson and Wes Anderson
• 1:55:30
  film. Sure.
• 1:55:31
  Right. You're the lead actor and it's
• 1:55:34
  like, you know, it's like that feeling is, you know, it's
• 1:55:40
  incredible and you do and you, you have that moment and
• 1:55:43
  everything. But like, that doesn't last
• 1:55:46
  forever. That feeling's not going to last
• 1:55:48
  forever. Do you see what I'm saying?
• 1:55:50
  Those feelings. And it's like, and the reason
• 1:55:52
  I'm saying our feelings don't last forever.
• 1:55:55
  So try not to make decisions or choices or life choices based on
• 1:56:00
  how you feel, you know, because this too shall pass, right.
• 1:56:06
  So it's about, it's about realizing that you know these,
• 1:56:14
  like how we feel is not, you know, it's not going to last
• 1:56:18
  forever. So why would you make a decision
• 1:56:20
  based on how you're feeling in that moment, right.
• 1:56:23
  It's like just realising, like, you know, like sometimes you're
• 1:56:28
  you're not an everything and you know how it is.
• 1:56:30
  Like with, you know, with acting as well and this, you know the
• 1:56:33
  ebbs and flows sometimes. Sometimes you know you're going
• 1:56:36
  to be the shit and you're getting roles and you're getting
• 1:56:38
  cast and other times you're not going to get roles and it's
• 1:56:41
  going to be a dry, you know, dry period.
• 1:56:44
  Try not to let it affect you. I've got, I've got a tattoo of
• 1:56:50
  an of an anchor on my shoulder and the whole point of that, the
• 1:56:54
  whole idea is to stay grounded. If things are going well in
• 1:56:58
  life, don't get too excited, don't get too and if things are
• 1:57:02
  not going so well in life, don't be too hard on yourself and
• 1:57:05
  don't be too down. Just try and try and be, you
• 1:57:08
  know, I really am such a massive believer in, in being stoic, you
• 1:57:13
  know, and just being kind of like just being even even keel
• 1:57:17
  and just being at the centre and just not letting things effects
• 1:57:22
  you so much, you know, that's I hope that does.
• 1:57:25
  I hope that makes sense to you what what I'm saying, Yeah.
• 1:57:28
  Thanks for sharing man. Really appreciate that.
• 1:57:31
  That's all right, buddy. Final question for you.
• 1:57:33
  Do you have any upcoming projects or final thoughts that
• 1:57:35
  you'd like to share with our listeners?
• 1:57:37
  So I'm in the middle of a short film called The du Pont
• 1:57:41
  Engagement which is that's going to be film's going to be around
• 1:57:45
  20 to 25 minutes. It's a murder mystery so think
• 1:57:49
  knives out think glass onion or see how they run.
• 1:57:53
  Big fan of that genre and I and so we've got one more day of
• 1:57:59
  filming next week and after that I don't have anything concrete.
• 1:58:04
  I'm currently in the middle of speaking with the couple of
• 1:58:09
  couple of film makers about projects and so I've been sent,
• 1:58:12
  I've been sent a few scripts that I'm going to look over and
• 1:58:15
  see if see if I want I want to do them.
• 1:58:18
  So, so yeah, so exciting times, Exciting times ahead.
• 1:58:23
  Hopefully. I'm excited for you too.
• 1:58:24
  I've seen some of the stills from that recent project and
• 1:58:27
  it's looks good people. It looks really, really good.
• 1:58:30
  Yeah. Thank you very much, Christian.
• 1:58:32
  Excited to see what the future holds for you, James.
• 1:58:34
  Really, really excited to have had you on the show.
• 1:58:37
  Thank you so much, man. You've been an absolute star.
• 1:58:39
  Oh, dude, absolute pleasure. Thanks for having me, Christian.
• 1:58:41
  Yeah, I've had, you know, I wasn't.
• 1:58:44
  I think this is the first time I've ever done something like
• 1:58:47
  this, done a podcast. And yeah, I wasn't sure how.
• 1:58:50
  I wasn't sure, like how I was going to feel.
• 1:58:52
  But you, you know, it's very easy.
• 1:58:54
  You know, I felt like, you know, this is me, This is me, man.
• 1:58:57
  I felt, you know, I felt like I could be comfortable.
• 1:59:00
  I could be true to myself and true to you.
• 1:59:03
  So I've had a great time, Buddy. Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:59:07
  Thank you for appearing on the show.
• 1:59:10
  Yeah, it's interesting you say that as well because and I'll
• 1:59:12
  I'll sort of finish with this recently, I I reached out to
• 1:59:17
  people and read it and I sort of said like, what am I doing
• 1:59:21
  wrong? I've been doing this show four
• 1:59:22
  years, 250 plus episodes. What am I doing wrong?
• 1:59:26
  I've tried everything and there was varying degrees of feedback
• 1:59:31
  and like, criticisms and stuff. And it was all great.
• 1:59:33
  And thank you to everybody that sent me that, that advice and
• 1:59:36
  criticism. One person said, you know, I
• 1:59:41
  don't understand what it is you're trying to do with your
• 1:59:43
  show. You know, one minute, it's this,
• 1:59:45
  one minute, it's that, what is it?
• 1:59:47
  What are you trying to do with this show?
• 1:59:50
  And I had to sit there and think about that.
• 1:59:52
  And I was like, yeah, I don't know what I'm trying to do with
• 1:59:53
  this show. And then it kind of clicked for
• 1:59:56
  me that what I'm trying to do is be a master interviewer, really
• 2:00:03
  get and pull out the stories from people you know.
• 2:00:08
  It'd be very easy to sit here and act, you know, ask you the
• 2:00:11
  standard questions, you know, like who are you inspired for?
• 2:00:14
  Who would you most like to work with?
• 2:00:16
  But who gives a shit? What we really want to know is
• 2:00:20
  who are you? Why should people care about
• 2:00:22
  James Anita? That's where the real stories
• 2:00:26
  is, the motivations. When you think about your
• 2:00:28
  favorite performers, actors, artists, whoever you're inspired
• 2:00:31
  by in life, really the most interesting part is the person
• 2:00:35
  behind all of them. Yeah.
• 2:00:39
  That's true to to get that person you have to speak to to a
• 2:00:45
  person as a as a human being and and just focus in on that.
• 2:00:49
  You know, I know as this show grows and grows, it's going to
• 2:00:54
  get more and more challenging. But I think as long as I keep it
• 2:00:57
  down to interviewing people and really trying to make people
• 2:01:00
  feel comfortable and, you know, focusing on being a good
• 2:01:05
  interviewer, I think that's where the show will be at its
• 2:01:08
  best. And also just on a side note,
• 2:01:11
  like, I see a lot of people doing interviews, doing a lot of
• 2:01:14
  things that frustrate me. I see it a lot with like late
• 2:01:17
  night talk show hosts and stuff, particularly with our industry
• 2:01:20
  as well. And I look at that and I'm like,
• 2:01:22
  wow, you had this opportunity with this, this incredible
• 2:01:25
  person and you just blew it. And so much of it is ego.
• 2:01:29
  Like, look, I look, I believe in myself as an actor.
• 2:01:32
  I know that there's a lot that I can achieve and do with my life
• 2:01:35
  and etcetera. But when I'm interviewing
• 2:01:37
  someone, it's about my guest. It's about that person.
• 2:01:42
  So I shut my mouth and I try to guide the conversation.
• 2:01:45
  And then I only try to talk when I feel like it's absolutely
• 2:01:49
  necessary, or when it is in some way useful to the conversation.
• 2:01:54
  To the conversation. Yeah, and and that's the thing,
• 2:01:56
  you know, this show has made me a better conversationist because
• 2:02:00
  I've focused in on that, the art of conversation, the art of
• 2:02:03
  interview, and the art of truly being invested in what the
• 2:02:06
  person has to say. And my God, guys, do you learn
• 2:02:10
  so much through doing this? Like I've, I've interviewed
• 2:02:15
  hundreds of people on this show and I've learnt so much over the
• 2:02:18
  years and I enjoy the show more now than I ever did when I first
• 2:02:22
  started. So that's so.
• 2:02:24
  Happy hearing that man, Yeah. Thanks, man.
• 2:02:27
  Well, thank you. Thank you for appearing on the
• 2:02:28
  show. I mean, like the show wouldn't
• 2:02:31
  be anything without guests. So thank you very much for being
• 2:02:34
  on the show. And you know, it's exciting.
• 2:02:38
  Yeah, I feel like we're similar. I know you've been doing acting
• 2:02:42
  longer than me, but like we're at similar points in our career
• 2:02:45
  and I feel like it's exciting times.
• 2:02:48
  I don't know. I have a good feeling.
• 2:02:49
  I've got a very good feeling, man.
• 2:02:50
  I've got. I've got a very good feeling.
• 2:02:53
  Excited to see what happens next?
• 2:02:55
  Thank you so much, James, and thank you everybody for
• 2:02:58
  listening to the Christian Reef Podcast.
• 2:03:00
  If you want to support the show, please make sure to subscribe to
• 2:03:03
  us on patreon.com and you can get exclusive access to monthly
• 2:03:08
  content, bonus content, access to my Discord communities.
• 2:03:12
  You can find about all the updates and everything that I'm
• 2:03:14
  doing and also you can support your boy.
• 2:03:17
  In addition, wherever you listen to the show, if you listen to it
• 2:03:20
  on YouTube, make sure to like, share and subscribe.
• 2:03:24
  As always, share this podcast around.
• 2:03:26
  Let the people know what's going on.
• 2:03:28
  Leave us a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast
• 2:03:32
  Pod Chaser, The IMDb of Podcasting.
• 2:03:36
  Wherever it is you listen to the show, please leave us a review.
• 2:03:39
  You know, if you loved it, please let us know.
• 2:03:41
  If you hated it, please let us know why.
• 2:03:43
  All of that stuff really helps. Let me know what you'd like to
• 2:03:46
  hear on the show next, who you'd like to see on the show next.
• 2:03:50
  And above all, thank you so much for listening or watching.
• 2:03:52
  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and I will see you in the
• 2:03:56
  next one.