First things first, are you a cat person in real life?
We had cats growing up, yeah
I don't have a cat now, but I had a cat until I was 15 at home
Me and Bob got on really well, he came round to my house a few weeks before we started
filming
And then he'd be- we got on really well
And then in the dressing room in the day, I'd bring my guitar in, and he'd be sitting
in my guitar case, having a rest
We got on really well
James was brilliant at kind of-
It's quite hard to get a cat that knows you so well, to then be comfortable just nipping
onto somebody else's shoulders while they walk around a busy London street
But it was incredible
And you know, we'd have these little things, like I'd put Bob on my shoulders and we'd
go for a little walk up and down
And after we did that, Bob would then realise I was a safe person to stand on, and be comfortable
and sit on my shoulders
It was just funny little things like that
That's incredible – you can't even get a dog to do that and they're easily trained
Well yeah, Bob is just very receptive
I mean, he had his eye on the prize didn't he, he wanted to be on the poster
He was going to get involved in that film
He knew this was his shot
It was his shot, yeah
His make-or-break deal
Sometimes actors have to do a chemistry test with another actress or actor,
Did you have to do a chemistry test with Bob?
It wasn't meant to be Bob in the film even, it was meant to be four cats
Which also are in the film as well, there are other cats which were trained for things
like jumping on a bus, and the stunts, basically
And they were brilliant as well, with brilliant handlers that trained them
But then we found that Bob, having had the experience of being around so many people
in his life, was just very zen, very cool
And he could sit down whilst people were walking past on the pavement and not bat an eyelid
And that was amazing, so we ended up using him a lot
Wow, I just died when I saw him in the scarf
I almost cried in the screening just then
Did you on set?
He's a cutie isn't he, he's lovely, and he was just very cool
It was weird, because I didn't know the bit beforehand
Like some people are just massive, massive fans
And I remember thinking it's a bit like – I don't have kids – but I imagine it's a bit
like when people see a baby and they just don't even say hi to the mum or dad
They go straight for the baby like that
And walking around with Bob on your shoulders, it was this amazing beacon coming off you
And people were just blown away to see James and Bob walking around Covent Garden
You know, they're icons of Covent Garden now
So yeah, it was cool
Getting to know James, did that make the story hit home a bit more?
Well I was already very touched and moved, and felt like it must have been a very hard
journey that James had gone on, from reading the script and the book
And then, having- before I met him, before he came round to my house, I'd watched loads
of interviews with him and got this idea of who he was and what he might be like
But then for him to actually come round and for us to have- I think the first night, we
spent about five hours just talking and playing guitars, and just hanging out, basically
And he was just so open and up for sharing things and details about his life, maybe things
that weren't even in the book
Whatever it was that I felt might be helpful to know he was very kind to share, really
And he just wanted it to be right, for the story to be right
So I took all the information I could from James
I also went to drug clinics and addiction centres to speak to both patients and doctors
Because you have to build up all angles to really understand it, I think
Some people might be able to explain what it's like for them, from their point of view
But a doctor might be able to give you a scientific version of what it is, what's happening in
your blood stream at that point when you're coming off something
Things like that, which was really useful to get a handle on
You don't want to try and portray addiction or homelessness or anything like that, without
having a clear understanding of it
Otherwise, there's a danger of just generalising it.