as a method actor on the set of downton abbey i like to remain in character all day
and even help serve lunch to the cast and the crew as carson david what do you think
right my immediate question is i think on a big set like downton abbey with a lot of high-profile
stars like maggie smith there'd be an insurance issue with unqualified caterers serving lunch
nobody's ever told me there was an insurance issue i don't do maggie i have to say uh maggie
do you bring her her food
i i don't serve maggie her food what i do is i bring the food to the people on the the dining bus
rather than go around to individual caravans or changing rooms
why do you think that helps your performance it just helps me stay in character somehow
i don't like to switch off i lose concentration if i switch off and just try to stay with it
uh it's it's tricky when you're serving things out of polystyrene on polystyrene plates but it
just helps well i'm just going to say if you want to inhabit the mind of the edwardian or
first world war butler and you said i'm really i am that person i am that person and suddenly
there's a camera an hd camera and a boom in front of you aren't you going to sort
of scream witchcraft witchcraft what is this madness the aliens are here
no i i would never dream of doing that because i'm in the bubble you know so i don't notice
those things do you do it with every role that you play so if you were doing a film
about say like a man that like wearing women's underwear you would be committed to
wearing women's underwear for the whole shoot you're the only person who's seen that film
but you're a dresser obviously so you would you would dress all the male members of the cast
that dresser i mean there are scenes in which you help lord grantham with this pattern yeah that's
when the other valleys have disappeared or are in jail or have been accused of murder and things
like that it's only an extremist that i i do the cufflinks i will sometimes do that i can vouch for
that i think the problem with you jim is you've got such a lovely voice everybody's happy just
sat there you sat there like this yeah you flounder in such an authoritative way
viewers will be pleased to know that jim's answer is now available as an audiobook
that acting thing though is true i met someone recently
that was in hollyoaks and they were really stupid in real life as well
i knew someone in hollyoaks and his granny used to watch every episode
and he said granny you really you please don't so what he did was if it was his
last scene of the episode he'd go like that and that was granny could switch off then
so so what do you think david i don't think it's true i think it's the sort of thing
people make up about actors and i think in this instance it would be very impractical
i think in a long busy filming this little things the whole time things on yourself the
last thing jim would want to do is serve other people well i think it's very feasible that an
actor would do that sort of method thing but i think jim having heard him and met
him he's such a cool cat i imagine he's the kind of guy rocks up on set gets handed the
script quick skim read and then in the words of snoop dogg just drops it like it's hot
i think he means it's a lie fantasy we're reaching a whole different demographic
so they think it's a lie uh jim truth or lie i do drop it like it's hot because it is a lie
you