Your body, the way you look, everything.
You're the final product.
What film always makes you happy and why?
What film always makes me happy?
Master and Commander.
It was a film, I don't know, I think it was made about ten years ago.
Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany,
and it's all about the Napoleonic Wars out at sea.
I've watched it about 25 times, it's one of my favourite films.
It always makes me happy, I love the soundtrack and the life at sea,
and the relationship between Paul Bettany
and Russell Crowe's characters, between two men,
you don't see that often. They're like an old married couple.
So, yeah, that film.
At what moment did you decide to be an actor, would you say?
Was it an instant moment or-,
Well, my younger brother's a ballet dancer
and he wanted to do that from a young age,
and I sort of went along with him to do that,
and was quickly proved to not be very good at dancing at all.
I was sort of pushed towards the narrating of the ballet shows,
so that's probably where it first came from.
I think I just realised that-, it's actually quite a lazy thing.
I think I realised it's what I could do
so I thought, 'I'll do that,' and try and do it.
I think it's always quite a good thing-,
it's very easy to work out what you want to do, I think,
and what you'd love to be.
It's a little bit harder to work out what you can do,
so it was just great that what I could do,
or what I thought I could do,
ended up being what I love to do as well.
Have you done any dancing since, any improvement?
Not professional dancing, no. Just, sort of, on my own
for very small audiences. (laughter)
No, I haven't done a lot of dancing since.
I was always told that I'm not a very good dancer
but I'm a very good mover, so I don't know what that means.
I think that's more natural talent.
I guess people always think movement has to be
a big contemporary dance piece, but it doesn't.
It's just about how you carry yourself.
- It's about a feeling. - Yeah.
What would you feel is your highest achievement to date?
Keeping working I think really is the highest achievement,
and being able to choose what I work, in what film or thing I do.
That's probably-,
that really is my favourite thing that I've ever achieved,
and it's all I've wanted to really achieve in terms of acting,
is to be given the choice, because you spend a lot of your career,
and some people spend their entire career, not being able to choose.
So I think when you achieve that, I think you're really very lucky
and hard work's paid off, so that's probably what I'm most proud of.
Would you then say that you prefer to be in true stories,
as opposed to fictional?
That's a good question.
I do prefer to be in true stories
just because I'm obsessed with history,
which is sort of my hobby.
Whenever I'm not working, I'm just driving around
trying to visit castles or old places.
So to get to do a role that is rooted in fact and history is always great,
because it's just another excuse to read up on stuff
and learn about someone. So I do prefer doing that, yeah.
Do you think you'll continue to focus on that
as you go further into your career?
No, not particularly.
I mean, if something comes up
that has just got brilliant people attached to it
or people that I've always wanted to work with,
I don't really mind if it's complete fiction or rooted in history.
But I've certainly done more true stories than fictional,
but when I've done fictional, I've loved them for different reasons
because there's just a lot more licence.
There's not someone saying,
'No, he wouldn't sit like that because it's in the 1500s,' so yeah.
What actors would you say that you've enjoyed working with in the past?
Oh, um...
Lesley Manville, I loved working with her.
I did a play with her in London about three or four years ago
and she's one of my favourite actors.
Working with Tom Hardy, I've worked with him twice now,
and watching him work in the way he works
is just as fascinating as what he does on camera.
A lot of British actors, I've worked with some Americans,
but a lot of British actors I've loved working with
because there's a thing with British actors
that I think less of them take themselves as seriously,
and it's quite fun.
They tend to make it a lot more fun.
Americans are phenomenal actors, but a lot of them
seem to take it a lot more seriously.
So a lot of British actors, I've worked with Mark Rylance,
Irish actors like Cillian Murphy.
These guys, they're fantastic.
My favourite actor I've worked with recently is Fiona Shaw, Irish actor,
who is gifted, she's just phenomenal. I've been spoilt, I've been lucky.
Is there any other job that you'd consider
doing on set apart from acting?
Directing, 100%.
I've always wanted to do it and I'm working towards doing that.
Whilst I've enjoyed acting, I've always done acting
with one eye on what I can learn towards becoming a director,
because while acting's fun, it's very sporadic and it's momentary,
and sometimes you act for 45 seconds a day.
Whereas with a director, you're constantly busy
and you have to know a lot more about loads of different aspects.
I'm a very restless person so I like being busy,
and you're not always busy as an actor.
Is it more like-, do you feel it's a bigger project to be a director?
Yeah.
I like the fact that-, I think as an actor,
the focus is so much on yourself
and how you portray a character, what you know about a character.
It's so focused on you,
your body, the way you look, everything.
You're the final product.
Whereas what I quite like with the director, the other way around,
is that you can stand back and see your work.
Just like somebody that makes a table or does accounts,
they can remove themselves from their work,
whereas an actor, you are your work.
I think you do have to be a certain amount of, not self-obsessed,
but you have to-, - Be able to watch yourself?
Yes, you have to, and you have to be very proud of yourself
or able to just switch that on and off.
So directing would be my ultimate aim, yeah.
What is the most bizarre thing that's ever happened on set?
The most bizarre thing that's ever happened on set?
Um...
So one of them would be, I did a film called Dunkirk
and I played an RAF pilot.
One of the weirdest things that happened was
we shot the interiors in the cockpits of the Spitfire,
so we did the normal shots where I was actually lucky enough
to go up in the air in a Spitfire,
with two other Spitfires flying next to me with a camera on the wing,
and we were swooping and dipping over the Channel.
That was insane, but the bizarre aspect of that was then
when you put the camera inside the cockpit,
you had to have it on the ground on a gimbal,
and my plane ends up in the water,
so we had a little cockpit in this swimming pool in LA.
The weirdest moment was having the director of the film, Chris Nolan,
sat astride this cockpit in a pool, and me sat in the cockpit,
and him holding the latch because I've got to try and bang out,
and him sat holding the latch
and me acting with Chris Nolan sat right there across my cockpit
was absolutely mental.
Because you're on your own in the plane for a lot of that film,
did it feel quite different because you didn't really
have another actor to bounce off of,
or because Christopher Nolan was right above you?
No, that's actually a brilliant question.
Particularly in film-, when I went to drama school
and when you do stage work and stuff like that,
the focus is so on, as an actor, how you interact with the other actor,
and it's what you get back from the other actor and that kind of stuff.
But so often in film, because of technical things,
you're asked to act with a tennis ball or act with a wall.
You really have to use your imagination as a film actor.
There were times on that where I think, even because quite often,
the film is dictated to by where the camera can go,
which is really annoying, but that's the reality of film.
We had these big IMAX cameras and I was on a boat
and I had to hold the side of the boat,
but the camera had to be there so I couldn't do that.
So I had to literally mime,
I had to put my hands like this and mime
going across the side of the boat, because the camera didn't fit.
So yeah, your imagination's really, really relied on as a film actor.
What is the first thing that you do
when you come back home from making a film?
Start thinking, 'Did I do a good job?'
That's probably the first thing.
And, um...
I don't know, I just sort of-, probably go and watch football
and just try and shake the film off if it's been tough or-,
I've done films where I've done three or four weeks of night shooting,
and that takes its toll on your body.
I just try and relax, I guess, and then start looking for the next one.
Do you feel like there's quite short breaks between the films you do,
or do you think it's long enough to, kind of,
recharge before you're ready?
I mean, it totally depends on your luck and circumstance,
but this year, for example, I finished a job in August
and I haven't done another one since then.
Everything I'm going to do happens after New Year
so it's going to be about five or six months,
which I think, when I was younger, would have driven me mental
and sort of terrified me, you know, I've got to be working.
But like I say, I've been fortunate enough
to get to a position where I can choose,
and I've also found ways of applying myself
in other aspects of film or in the industry.
I've started a production company, I produced a film this year,
I've written a short, all this kind of stuff,
so I've really been enjoying the space
and the longer run-ups that you get to a job.
But, saying that, I think if you've got too long to think about a job,
too long to think about a character, it can sometimes be detrimental,
and it's a lot better to just jump straight in.
I'm going to ask you some quick-fire questions.
Sweet.
So, run off a few of the films that you've been in
and your best memory from it.
- Okay, right. - Cool.
Mary, Queen of Scots?
- My best memory from it? - Yeah.
Three of my best friends were in that film.
That was probably the coolest thing, that was mad.
Dunkirk?
Yeah, flying around with Spitfires was pretty cool.
Calibre?
Oh, god.
Completing that film was probably my-,
because that was a tough film to shoot.
And Corvidae, the one that you've produced recently?
- I hope I'm pronouncing that right. - That's right.
- My god, that was good. - Good.
Nobody can do that.
- Maybe it's Scottish. - (laughter)
Producing the film was my favourite thing and, again, completing that.
I think if you're fortunate enough to complete a film,
it's probably the best thing.
Is there a cause that's close to your heart?
Local is a big thing for me.
I grew up in the Borders, and I think focus on local-,
in the day and age that we live in now,
especially with things like social media,
it's very easy to get caught up
in the big international or national causes.
And while they're incredibly important,
I find it's very easy to get sucked in there.
Everybody's thinking can get drawn straight into that
and, sort of, forget what's around them.
And I think an argument to be way more effective is to try and work on
in a local aspect as much as possible,
whether that's in film like Into Film,
in film clubs, in schools and things like that,
or minibuses for schools or minibuses for nursing homes
that live in your local area, or supporting local businesses-,
the older I've gotten, the more I've pulled myself
away from big world issues and more towards things that I think,
if individuals actually took the time to just think locally,
you would see results and changes a lot quicker,
which I've been trying to do.
I get that from my dad. My dad was always big on that.
Like I said, I've grown up watching and supporting
junior semi-pro football, for example,
as well as youth theatres and amateur operatics where I grew up.
It's just, it's a lot more instant if you can think locally, so yeah.
Thank you.
The last question is the best advice you've been given and by who?
My dad actually gave me a brilliant piece of advice.
He said that, you know, to never just assume that the person above you
knows better than you, which I've always loved.
To me, that just sort of says that respect is earned,
and just because somebody is in a certain position or has something,
you might know better than them, you might have a better idea.
And I think I love it for its-, it makes you challenge things
and question things a lot more than just accepting
just because someone's in a certain position.
And to just never-,
I don't think you can go far wrong thinking that you're never wrong.
It sounds an arrogant thing to say,
but I wish I started thinking that when I was younger.
But if you start from a position of thinking, 'I know nothing
and I'm wrong all the time and people know better than me,'
I think it stops you-, it makes you more polite,
but it stops you from actually poking and prodding further.
So I think if you can, from a young age, think, 'No, I'm just right,'
I think you can do a lot more damage. (laughter)
- Awesome, thanks very much. - No, thank you.
And you're becoming an Into Film ambassador?
- Yes, I am. - Are you excited?
Very excited, I never thought I'd be an ambassador of anything
so, no, very excited.
- Awesome, thank you. - Thank you.