I watched the film.
so sweet and profound and lovely.
It was very charming, funny.
I mean, tonally, it's really it's really accomplished.
I mean, there's a kind of lightness to the movie, but it's about grief.
It's quite profound story, really, running through it.
Does that something that all kind of came through in the script
when you when you first sort of got that feel for the post?
Absolutely. Yeah.
I think the the levity.
Yeah, it was all kind of their
little Miss Sunshine was kind of a guiding light for us.
I think I think that's what that's what we went with.
Yeah.
No, I think, I think you can see that in I mean when you
when you make a film like that then where the kind of tonally
it has to be quite spot on and it's quite a tough line to kind of walk.
How much trust in the director do you have to play?
Is it one of those situations
where you just have to make the film and just go right?
Fingers crossed you have.
Yeah, I know.
It's like that's most of the time.
That's one of the scarier parts about being an actor is just trusting,
just trusting the director.
Just got to trust them.
Kyra Sedgwick is not difficult to trust, but
here's a wonderful director and an incredible actor.
So she was really easy to trust.
Yeah.
Have you ever.
Because, I mean, obviously it's fun to work with some brilliant filmmakers now.
I mean, so quite a quite incredible collection of those.
You've kind of collaborated, but
did you ever kind of thought about maybe one day
stepping behind the lens and getting involved
in the kind of behind the scenes stuff?
Oh, for sure.
I mean, it's kind of twofold.
On one hand, and watching these guys and being like, Man, I would love to do that.
It's what a what a brilliant position to be in and bringing the story to life
and all of the different creative things that you get to do.
And I love people, I love interacting with people, I love managing people
and directing.
I mean, that does all of the things that I love.
So that's on one hand.
On the other hand, it's made me realize how much more I need to learn
before I ever do that,
because, I mean, these guys are
Kyra has,
I think, 40 years of experience
behind or in front of the camera.
I mean, the things that you learn,
the things that are second nature to her are incredible.
I mean, just finding her light,
lighting an actor, speaking to an actor, respecting the actor's time,
their story, their integrity, the note, like everything is so seamless.
Kenneth Branagh, who I recently worked with, is also an actor and, you know,
runs his set completely different to anything you've ever seen.
And then
Stevens Spielberg is just knows
how to do every single job on the set.
Like I think I'm pretty sure he knows what brand of screws
they use to assemble let's say
most of the equipment like.
And so I was just like, I got to it's going to be a minute
before
I'm confident enough to say behind
it, Thanks for asking.
I don't know. Also, just quickly, I mean, we will get back on.
Obviously, it's a Space Oddity, but you mentioned Spielberg.
I mean, I just waited because I've always he's got to a point where he is
he's almost like kind of cinematic royalty to a different kind of degree.
I just wondered when you're on a set with someone like Spielberg,
is there a sense from everyone around, especially kind of young actors
and people, you know, so people
kind of still on the rise in the industry where you're all just thinking, Shit,
this is a Steven Spielberg set and just watching him constantly thinking,
That's Steven Spielberg,
or did you kind of have to drop that kind of thing
and then just treat him more like any filmmaker?
And he's both. He's both.
It's he's both
you know, I think it came in waves,
remember, a time, you know,
we're in the audition, we're in one of the final rounds of the audition.
We were dancing and he came later as we were already
auditioning. And,
you know, he's wearing jeans and his windbreaker and baseball cap,
and he just comes in waves just like, you know, I'm here
and instantly, like, there, just nothing.
There's just no anything.
This is like a kid in a candy store, and he pulls out his camera
and flips it open and like, gets on the ground, is on his side
and starts shooting his film.
Immediately in the audition, he starts shooting his film,
and I think that's it for him.
I think, you know, he just came out with The Fablemans which is, you know, kind
of a love letter to his own childhood and to filmmaking.
And I think that that is him, that it really is him.
He is kind of now what we know as filmmaking.
And I remember we were rehearsing
and he was talking about this thing and you're going to swing off this thing
like that one scene in Indiana Jones, and we're like, Oh,
I like that one scene in Indiana Jones.
And then we're like, Right like that.
Because you shot that scene because that scene was your idea.
That totally detailed my childhood.
Yeah, right.
And so that you realize,
you know, again, who you're talking to, but it's not all the time.
No, I'm talking of legends.
I mean, there's a thing
I'm sure you must have heard about as well, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon,
where everyone in the world can be connected to Kevin Bacon.
But you've chosen to create.
Yeah, well, I was going to say, you've jumped right to the head of the queue
He's played your dad.
So it's how how was it working with Kevin on this?
Because he's such a I mean, he's one again, you talk about people's childhoods.
I mean, when I was a kid, Kevin Bacon was in everything,
so I was incredible to work with an actor like that.
Yeah, I think like
he's the son,
like an artist.
I don't know.
You get the sense that there could be absolutely no one there
and he'd be doing the same thing
or like two people there, and he'd be doing the same thing.
I hope that speaks to it
and in a better way than just like telling everyone,
Oh, he's a great actor and he's a great guy and everything.
Like.
But yeah, I really think like with his music as well,
I get to see his band perform and I really, I think everything he does
really just comes from a very,
very strong and very, very gentle place.
And I think he really embodied that form.
Yeah, I felt like
he he connected to it
sounds really geeky when I talk about it, but it's the truth.
And I think it takes it takes someone like him to
do that and kind of commit to it in that way.
And that's quintessentially him.
And you mentioned him.
Yeah, you mentioned him being gentle.
That's a word
I would probably kind of describe to use the character of Alex as well.
I was wondering, when you play a role
like Alex, who has quite a blissful outlook on the world,
does it rub off at all on you as a as a as a person, as Kyle
when you play someone like.
Alex?
Yeah, I think I think, gosh,
it's like anything really, you are what you practice almost.
If you spend two months kind of behaving a certain way, you're going to
ideally you can take the good parts with, you
know, Yeah
I think, I think yeah I think his sort of
depth kind of his
meaning his the meaning he attributes to things
and family and I, I, my industry is very chaotic.
Alex's life is much smaller
and contained.
And so that was wonderful to think about a life that kind of happens in this
container.
And also when tragedy happens in that container, it's just such a much
it's a gigantic impact
rather than if you're constantly flitting around and running away and things.
I mean, to be that losing a loved one is huge no matter what.
But there's something to that.
There's something to like a
just having a container, a small town where everyone knows each other,
flower farming and everyone's kind of together and compressed.
And there's something really beautiful about that I hope I
took from the values of it
to share a fascination in space.
So I find it completely overwhelming, knowing how small an insignificant we are.
But is it something you've ever
had any kind of interest in as a kids and as an adult?
I love it. I love it.
I don't know much about it.
I don't I don't study it.
But I love contemplating it.
I think it's really, really wonderful.
And I think it's a wonderful thing to think about
Directionless specifically
like we associate success with Up
down, as bad and up as good
forward is is you know, that's progress, that's backsliding.
Like that's going to get rid of that and go towards that.
And it was like
you realize we're in outer space where there are literally no directions
like that.
It's like we're on a there is no up or down.
There is no forward or backwards.
Like it's just there. I'm like,
you know, it's great because then when people are like, You need to do this.
I mean, like you actually don't know what you're talking about.
Like, you got it.
You got to climb them.
Like where it's
like, break that down for me because, you know,
you kind of zoom out like it's is really important.
I don't know,
because I he's obviously kind of James being an astronaut.
I was actually cleaning out my old bedroom, my mom and dad's house recently.
And I thought a kind of book that I wrote when I was about eight years old
and is said like, want to be when I grow up.
And I said I wanted to be a footballer as in like soccer player
who scored a goal in the World Cup.
Now, needless to say, didn't happen for me, but it's okay.
But what was your what?
What was what was eight year old Kyle kind of writing about was was it an actor?
Was you fulfilling your childhood dreams or did
you want to be an astronaut or anything like that?
I remember I wanted to be a tiger.
You might struggle that
you you can't be a tiger.
And I was like,
And so I wanted to be a zookeeper.
Yeah, animals.
Animals are my thing still my thing.
So I want to be a zookeeper.
But yeah, I think that was that was it for me.
And I remember wanting to be
the guy in the does Serkis commercial.
Like that guy.
That guy looks like he has fun. I'd like to be that.
Does Serkis got it Like it's not a real person.
It's like, whatever.
Well, I mean, look, if you were to be in a, I don't know, like an adaptation of the
of The Jungle Book, you could play a tiger
you in one of the only jobs in the world.
But being a tiger is actually a possibility.
This blew my mind. It
Oh, my God, you're right.
You wow that's going on
the sun that is.
I'm going to figure that out.
I can you tiger.
Thank you. Thank you for that gift. Thank you.
I can't up and thought about that. Yeah.
I've literally walked I've watched the adaptations of the... Andy Serkis man.
Yeah. Oh,
guy's a genius.
Yeah, but talking of of space.
And how's this for a Segue? But I know you're going to.
You're so attached to the Masters of the universe.
Is that how excited are you to get started on on that?
Super excited.
I actually can't talk.
Oh, that's okay.
Go. That's all right.
Like it was more words. It
like you actually can't say anything about this at all.
And here we are now.
Say nothing about it, but at least it keeps up the secrecy, I suppose. But.
But you did I again.
And there goes intention or something.
I don't know. Yeah,
I know one thing you can talk about because you already mentioned
it is obviously you did work with Kenneth Branagh.
How was the experience being on on a shoot?
I, I mean, obviously, I mean, as a Brit, there's a bond here.
Yeah.
I yeah.
What's amazing is that the hype is real.
He just how he is, how he speaks the the
you know, I direct your act are all that amazing.
But it's so impressed with just how he addresses people,
how he talks to people, how he gives instruct in it the care,
the deliberate nature of it,
you know, repetitions of the intention of it.
It's just so specific.
There is there is no one on that set more prepared than he is
just knowing he knows your part inside and out, backwards and forwards.
And and yet when you step on set and you make your choices and he comes
to kind of like he doesn't tell you to do really
anything different, he just kind of talks about it with you
and then he'll come up with an idea that's
so much better than anything.
Like I'd done months of homework and it was like,
This is since this is infinitely better than anything I said that
of course, yeah, now I want to do that and but he'll, he'll give it to you.
Like how do you know there's this thing but
don't want to mess with your choice and you're like, no, mess with my choice.
Like, you're kind.
It's messed with my choice. Please. Like.
Like I'll be your. I'll say what?
Tell me how to say it.
Like I'll do it. It's going to be better.
And I.
But yeah, so I kind of I kind of felt like I was just
trying to absorb everything I could from him.
And I mean, an incredible cast as well.
The set's incredible.
She's incredible.
And I was just like, Please, whatever you have, just like to get into my brain.
Can I just absorb more of whatever it is you've got going on?
He's a knight.
He's an he's an that's what you know, we don't have that in America.
I'm there. I'm like, I don't. Why am I here?
They tried to hire me here, and.
And you could have done my part.
You didn't need to anyways. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay, so
my final
question is, I mean, just some of the names
you'd be sort of mentioned in this interview.
I mean, we've spoken about Steven Spielberg, Kenneth Branagh.
I mean, we're talking about properties like most of the universe.
I mean, from the outside, this feels like a really exciting time in your career.
Does it feel like that to you or is it just one of those things
you can't really appreciate from the inside?
Yeah, I mean, I definitely appreciate it, but those are also like
I worked with Kenneth for three months.
I worked with Steven for,
but also like a lot of people and Steven
for six months in 2019, you know,
this was three months last year, Space Oddity was two months in 2021.
And so they're
the really impactful portions of my life, and I like talking about them
because I then get to remember them.
But it's not the majority of my life.
They're they're kind of small things.
So I love them
and I appreciate them as best memories and they hold their significance.
But, you know, I still do
laundry and I still pick up the next script
and I have to read it and do the same thing over and over, you know?
So it's it's very exciting
when you lump them all together.
But I think there's ample, ample separation.
And I wanted to say that
instead of just saying, Nah, man, that's just my life, that's my regular debut.
Like, but it's actually it's actually very regular existence.
Yeah, Well, that's the thing is that when I IMDB, they are all lumped together.
But in your life that
I went
to this thing of is is my family and you know, hung out.
I got really, really bored for three months and decided to go to New York and,
you know, I was depressed that my career was going nowhere.
You know, I'm a failure.
And then go to work with Kenneth Branagh and you're like, I guess I'm not.
And you're like, I probably shouldn't play success to this.
Yeah, I'm I'm just this is is strange and boring and as confused as anyone.
Well, I love you know, thanks so much for speaking to me today.
Best of luck with what you've got coming up.
And I hope you find your tiger eventually.
Oh, gosh.
Thank you. I'm so excited. That made my day.
I was looking forward to being a tiger again. Oh,
thanks so much.
Thanks so much.