Interview by Sally A. Edwards

Photography by Sarah J. Edwards

Shot on location in Wicklow, Ireland

Travis Fimmel wears clothes by BLAG, BLAG.london/shop

Additional On-Set Photography by Jefferson Hall

I could write a typical introduction about Travis Fimmel, drudging up old information about previous work, laced with objectification; but, there are too many versions of those out there – whether diluted or over-egged. Truth is, there’s a lot more to him, and – as you know, we’d rather not rely on “the internet machine” for facts. Instead, we want to bring you something fresh with a down-to-earth and realistic perspective – from the photo-shoot to the story.

Travis Fimmel

The decision to feature Travis was purely instinctive and made before Vikings had officially landed in the UK. In this series – from Elizabeth and The Tudors’ Michael Hirst and boldly commissioned by the History Channel, he takes lead as Ragnar Lothbrok. With all this in mind, I wanted to meet him with notes for a feature with a clean slate. We then collectively created a mix of interview and experiment. You’ll find out about the latter in Part II. Now albeit, I tend not to have preconceived ideas about meeting people for BLAG; what happened would be almost entirely unexpected...

***

Travis calls himself ‘dumb’ at any given opportunity. I’ve been quietly and subtly testing this on him since we met and I can tell you, he isn’t. Along with some self-confessions below, he’s tactical and patient underneath the initial persona of practical joker – which for the record he has a pretty incredible portfolio of. A heads-up though: just watch your step. You see Travis is 6’ and as strong as an ox. I, on the other hand am not, and I spent much of our time together laughing and tutting at how often he managed to trip me up. Luckily I kept my balance and even luckier I managed to divert – within about an inch, what could have been a disaster when he pushed me full force towards three people leaving a gathering – they didn’t notice a thing.

In addition, albeit we took our non-fussy approach, he hates all “that shit” as in being photographed and interviewed – which was almost our first impression. Yet fast forward a few weeks after we meet and he arranges to have one of his cast-mate: Robert Jefferson Hall’s on-set photographs from Season Two, sent over for us to consider running exclusively. “... because there are so many images from the first series out there, I wondered if perhaps you’d like something new.” We thought you’d like them too.

Prior to all this, Sarah and I picked up Travis at his hotel for the photo-shoot. We took a drive to one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland and a location for Vikings. As we arrived, we were warned we could be under attack by midges. Travis picked up a fern leaf and squashed it down, “This is what the locals use as repellant,” he said, walking towards me and applying it. “They don’t actually, let’s see if your sister falls for it,” he giggles under his breath. Sarah goes to pick some up, “No! He’s winding you up,” I shout over. So whilst Travis then got attacked in his hair, on his face and arms, Sarah too. I came away pretty much unscathed... The irony of it.

Hungover

The first thing is to describe yourself in three words. “Dumb. Australian. Errrrr.... Ummmmm.....” Hungover? “Yep. Yeah, that’s the last one. Good work.”

Great. I’m going to ask you some Vikings based questions, then some other things to mess you up while you’re hungover. So what do you think it is about Vikings that’s charmed so many people and what do you think makes it different? “I want to compliment the History Channel, we’re very lucky being on [their] network, [because] they set out to make a show that’s hasn’t already been on TV. This shows the Vikings in a new light... In history vikings are portrayed so badly, they didn’t read or write. They were always written about by the people that they attacked and I think this show is so different because it shows the Vikings’ perspective and the humanity of them. They weren’t just savage people, they did everything for a reason you know, to provide for their family and their community. We tried hard to humanise the characters... They were family people... [pretends to snore] I hate questions. I don’t have answers. I’m sesquipedalophobic. Can’t you make that one up?”

No. I was going to say to you, what makes it different is it doesn’t follow that usual structure and it’s very different where by you touched on it a little bit because there’s no paperwork, lawyers, business is done completely differently. There’s different practises. “Yeah, exactly, that’s perfect.”

[Laughs] And I wanted to find out how filming is going, or if it’s top secret? “No, it’s not top secret. Filming’s going good, I’ve been in the studio and we’re just so busy, there’s so much to shoot and there’s a lot of exteriors that are coming up and it takes a lot of time to shoot a show like this. We’re not on one set all the time, like a sit com or something. We don’t have a huge budget; we’re half the budget of shows like Game of Thrones and that stuff, so they’ve got to be really smart about the schedules and the timing. It just makes it very hectic and there’s so much to shoot in one day. We all only get one or two takes and then we’ve got to move on.”

“[The History Channel] set out to make a show that's hasn't already been on TV. This shows the Vikings in a new light...”

How does that work with the fact you’ve only got a certain amount of lines that you’re provided with in your script, then you sit and make your notes and have your calls with everybody else. Do you have to make sure everyone is happy before action? “Yeah, we try to sort out the script before we get on set because once you’re there, you don’t have much time to make many changes. But there’s always a big dialogue with me and the writer and director beforehand and at nighttime to make shooting go quicker. Michael Hirst, the creator is a fantastic collaborator.” You’ve got a real kind of unit with the other actors you’re in the show with, so I wanted you to describe their best traits. Starting with George. “George is so English.” [Laughs] What’s so English? “His mannerisms. Oh, he’s very sweet and charming and is a great guy to work with. He doesn’t have an ego and he’s a good punching bag for jokes. [laughs]” And what about the others? Is Katheryn a good punching bag for a joke? “[Laughs] Katheryn’s very sweet. And Jefferson Hall plays Torstein. I love him, he’s funny. He’s very entertaining, he’s also medorthophobic. Gustaf’s a great bloke too. It’s all great, the whole crew is fantastic. They’re very talented. Clive’s got a great heart and he’s a very nice guy. I’m lucky with all the actors on the show. Well, everybody involved.”

Yeah, it’s nice to see you mingling with the people from the other side of the camera, because you don’t really see that very much. “Oh, they’re always favourites on set. They’re all electricians and carpenters. They’re just good old fellas.” Talking about being on set. I know you play a lot of practical jokes. I want to know what your best and worst received ones are. Just one of each. “I put the chickens in Jefferson’s car and they were there for about 15 hours and they made quite a mess in his car.” Has anybody got you back? “No, they’ve all tried, but they’re not very good at it. No, well, I got done with drinking goat’s milk in my drink from one of the goats on set.” That’s not too bad, that’s good for you. “I know, but it’s pretty funny. It was in my cup of tea. I was wondering why they were being so nice to me. I knew I shouldn’t have taken it, but yeah... They walked over with a cup of tea and milked a goat and gave me the drink.” Not pasteurised or anything, just straight up. “No, they literally held the cup under the teat.” That serves you right. “Yeah.” What kind of sense of humour do you like? “Yours, Sally.” You haven’t really witnessed mine. “I like self-deprecating stuff mostly. Banter.” Yeah, yeah. How would you describe yours? “Limited.” [Laughs] Just limited? “Yeah. I suppose I’m a bit sarcastic. I don’t like to take much seriously. Other than love.” Ok, and how would other people describe your sense of humour? “Not funny.” You did a lot of travelling, so I wanted to find out the top three places you lived and worked in and why you chose to go there. “Thailand would be my favourite place. I just went there for a holiday with a mate when I was 18 or 19 or something. I really enjoyed London when I was there, I was living above a pub.” Did you do the door at St Martins Lane Hotel? “Yeah!” Did you? When did you do that? “When I was living and working at that pub.” But what year, do you remember? “When it first opened, I was 18 I think.” I don’t know what year that was. “Late 90s.” Because I used to work for a film producer who stayed there. Whenever he came in from the States I’d look after him and I worked out of his room for about two weeks at St Martins Lane, so I might have walked past you everyday. Isn’t that exciting?

“Very exciting.” And it’s my old manor. So, where’s the third place? “Thailand, London and Australia. My family farm would be my favourite.” What are the cultural differences between you and Thailand and you and London. How different do you feel when you’re there, compared to when you’re at home? “Oh, the difference between them all? I’m always working when I’m on the farm. London was when I was young, so I wasn’t trying to make a future for myself. You know, I was just having a good time there. I lived at a pub, made four quid an hour and Thailand was just fun, you know. A beautiful place.” So where do you think you fit in best? “Thailand.” Mind you, you were so young then, it’s kind of different now isn’t it? “Yeah, now I’ve got to be a grown-up. I’m not very good at [that].” Who is? “Yeah!” Actually, quite a lot. “Yeah, I definitely want to be on a farm. That’s where I want to be. I’ve just got to make some money to buy one – up north where it rains more. It’s pretty dry and tough on parts of my family farm.”

So what’s a typical day like for you on the farm? “Get the cows at 6am, then you milk for a couple of hours, then you feed the calves for a couple of hours. It all depends on what time of year it is. You irrigate for 24 hours a day, you have to get up to go check the water. Cows are calving, so you’ve got to check them all the time – even in the middle of the night. Then you milk at night as well for a couple of hours. You milk in summer at 4 or something when it cools down a bit, 4-6pm. And then, there’s always stuff to do, checking cattle, fencing. Good stuff.” [raises eyebrows and laughs]

You said to me you did Season One, then went back to the farm then back to Ireland for Season Two. What was it like making that leap, out of that, into that and back, because it’s just radically different isn’t it? “Oh, I was in Australia for six months or something. The first couple of days on set back in Ireland were a bit rough. It’s funny, it always seems the first couple of days shooting that we do the big scenes first. I don’t know why it always works out that way. So there are a few scenes that are going to really suck. I’m not very good at all at remembering lines. It’s one of my worst traits as an actor.”

Bar Fight

Alright, I wanted you to pick two characters that you’ve played before, just pick them... “Just pick ‘em and we’ll talk about them?” Just pick them and then I’m going to ask you about them. “Ok, I’ve picked them, do you want to know them?” Yeah! [laughs] “There’s one Australian movie called Restraint. I liked the character in that – his name was Ron. And there’s one in America that I liked. It was called The Baytown Outlaws and my character was McQueen.”

Ok, can you describe each of them to me and tell me what would happen if you put them in a room together? “Oh! Look at you! I see where this is going. Well, the first character was a bad guy with a good heart. He killed a few people but he’s doing it all for his girlfriend that he loved that ends up betraying him. Heartbreaking. [smiles] And then another one was a redneck one in America, The Baytown Outlaws. He was a bit of a psychopath but he’s doing it for a kid. They rescued a disabled kid and he [tried] to protect that kid, he did a lot of killing too. He was very jovial about everything. I think they’d get on, but they’d probably end up having a few beers, get into a bar fight with each other, go too far and one of them would kill the other. But they would have a great drink. The first few drinks would be great fun and then it would turn to shit.”

“The first couple of days on set back in Ireland were a bit rough. It's funny, it always seems the first couple of days shooting that we do the big scenes first..”

Alright, what else do I have? You know, I think the first person to really do it was De Niro for Raging Bull, with how much he changed himself going from svelte through to really large [which gave him health issues]... “Alright, yeah.” What would your limits be? Would you be up for shedding loads of weight or adding a lot or doing something that’s quite radical? “It all depends on the job. If it’s a good enough job to do, or if you’re working with really good people. I don’t know, it’s funny, actors love doing that, they think it’s really artsy and all that stuff. [smiles] I don’t know.” Yeah, because I remember before that people were just cast for, ‘We need someone who’s 5’4”.’ or ‘We need someone who’s 6ft.’ “It would be fun putting it on. Losing the weight would be the annoying part.” I don’t even know how to empathise with any of that! “[Laughs] It would be fine putting it on, eating cake. But, yeah, I’d probably stay that size...” And then be type-cast. “Yeah, exactly.” We were talking in Ireland and you’re just not into the “bullshit”. “This industry is full of bullshit.” Yeah, because from my perspective, from the amount of different actors that I’ve met – a lot of them kind of do the PR-thing and talk about the challenges and how great people are, and sometimes take on roles that they don’t necessarily want to do in order to get up the career ladder. What would be your boundaries or your limits? “I don’t know, it’s just a job. I just never really want to do stuff you’re uncomfortable doing. A lot of actors... I’ve done plenty of shit stuff, but at the time I thought it was good for my career and it was just dumb. You know, especially a lot of young actors, especially girls unfortunately sometimes do stuff that they think is good for their career and there’s really no need to get your boobs out or anything. It’s a bit of a sleazy industry. You know, that’s why so many actors once they find a good group or a director that they love, they try to work with them all the time. You know?” Yeah, yeah. What do you think about the whole on-set romance thing, where there’s three months on and they have a big public relationship and then move along to the next one.

“I don’t know. I suppose, I haven’t had an on-set romance ever. Not for lack of trying! I don’t know, it all gets pretty funny. Actors want to be seen. I was talking to somebody recently about it – of course actors get stalked, it’s horrible, but a lot of actors complain about paparazzi, yet they go to restaurants where paparazzi are always there and waiting outside. It’s so funny, in LA there’s like 10 restaurants where there’s always paparazzi and so many actors – obviously not all, go there because they go to be seen there you know? It’s just funny.” And drinking coffee, and walking the dog and going for a medical check-up. “Yeah, exactly.” And that’s all the press they need to do. So, that’s that side of things. Where do you feel there might be a kind of trade-off with the fact you’re not into that kind of stuff and the fact you do want to be successful with your acting? I don’t know, because you don’t do much press at all do you? “I don’t like press at all, but you have to do it. You can do as much press as you want, but you don’t have to do it. Well, a lot of people do it. I’d rather just do a few good ones. It’s all about that quality versus quantity thing. You really have to do it, you’re dumb not to. You won’t get hired if you don’t do a bit of publicity. But it’s pretty painful. I like it when other cast members are in on the interviews with you, it makes it a lot easier. [smiles] I don’t like questions in real life, let alone... I don’t have the answers! I don’t over think it too much. Even acting, you just try to make it personal.”

First Impressions

Ok. What are your thoughts on first impressions?

“I like meeting people. I like trying to sum them up quickly and I like to be surprised by people. Like your stupid wave in the car when you showed up.” My what?

“When you showed up.” Oh you saw it did you, even though you said you didn’t? [laughs] I couldn’t help that, sorry. “I love meeting people.” Do you? “Well, it’s good to meet good people anyway and funny people.” Yeah, because I’ve always been... Sarah doesn’t really agree with this, but my first impression always comes back, like if there’s something a bit tricky about someone, they always end up tricky. Or if there’s something really cool about someone, they’re always cool. “Oh yeah, always. That’s funny isn’t it? That is true. I agree with you.” So with regards to that, do you think you’re a good judge of character? “Ummm...” Or are you quite up for getting in there and mingling, sort of sussing things out and checking people out – all in the name of research? “[Laughs] I guess... I’m very judgmental actually, I’m not sure if I’m a good judge or not, I don’t know, most people are pretty... I don’t know, I always try to look for the good in people, but I do like messing with people’s heads. [laughs]” [Laughs] You’ve just got to get them at the right moment. That’s all. “Yeah, exactly. I always like to see how people react to things they weren’t expecting. You can tell a lot by the way people react to something you say that was a bit unconventional. Lots of people say they’re cool, but see if they’re really cool when you do something that’s awkward for them.” What are the most recent five songs you’ve listened to? “We had Van Morrison on yesterday.” I’ve read that before, you need to give me something fresh. “That’s one of my favourite artists, my point exactly. Put Jimmy Barnes in. He’s an Australian singer.” What else? You’ve got four left. [holds up four fingers] “Four minutes to go? What’s that? What, is that code?” You’ve got four songs left. “Oh, but Jimmy Barnes, it’s all his songs.” That’s cheating. “Right, Jimmy Barnes, I was listening to something from the Stones, ummm..... Ok, Guns n Roses. I’m doing bands not songs. Sammy Cooke and Bill Withers.”

PART II

For this section, I asked Travis to send me a set of words to mix into more questions - not unlike the infamous BLAG card game. Mainly because I wanted to avoid the same old questions. Given what I was sent - which you’ll see as headlines below, I’m happy to say I rose to the occasion. The first one – which has nothing to do with your words, is: What’s the best and toughest thing about your role? “The toughest thing is the hours, I’ve got to be there everyday, all the time because I’m in most scenes. The best thing? I feel like he’s the most ambitious character on the show.” OK, are you ready? “Oh Jesus, give it to me...” This is kind of your fault with how it’s going to go, because it’s going to be brilliant or really weird.

“Or really dumb.” No, I don’t do dumb. “Yeah, Ok.”

Goats

Back to on-set joking around, we’ve already talked about goats. Has there been a round two of any get backs, or any success from anyone else or is there anything new to report? “From this year...” Is it too serious this year? “Yeah, no we’ve all been spread out a lot. I’ve got Final Draft, the software that you write scripts in, I’m still going to get the leading lady. I’m going to put a script under her door and say that her head gets shaved. That won’t go down very well. There’ll be lots of agents and managers and lawyers on the phone very quickly. That’s my plan at the moment.”

Twins

Alright, let’s discuss twins. “Sally and Sarah.” But first, if I ask you a question that you’ve already been asked, you can ask me one non-obvious twin question in return. So, the first one is: What is your fascination with twins? “I’m always intrigued if you feel something the other twin feels.” Not between us, no. Sarah went out once and had a horrible accident where she split her knee open and I didn’t feel a thing. “Damn, I wanted that to be true.” No, that doesn’t exist, that’s all a myth. Like lots of things are myths, unless you meet twins who have a particular fascination with it and just believe their own hype – which we don’t. We’re not into that. “What was the second question?” What’s your fascination with twins? I can’t wait to ask the next ones. “Oh! If I’m attracted to the lady and it doesn’t work out with her. Maybe I’m still in for a chance with the other twin. I’m joking. No...” Do you know someone tried that on us once? It was very bad. “Really?” It was a long time ago. He even wrote a note. “That’s pretty funny. I like twins... I would love to have twins. My Grandfather’s a twin. I think it skips a generation, right?” That’s funny you should say that, because my next question is: If you had baby boy twins, what golden advice would you give them? “‘Don’t get into the entertainment industry.’ I would love to have twins. You get two out of the way straight away and they’ve got someone to play with. Twins seem to be such good friends, any twins that I’ve ever met get on so well. That’s an amazing relationship to have. Were you ever dressed the same by your Mum?” We were sometimes put in the same clothes when we were really young. Sarah and I don’t know which is which in some of our baby pictures... Our Mum used to make our clothes, but she used to put different patches on things, so I’d know I had the one with the oranges on or Sarah had the one with the apples on, but other than that we were treated as individuals. “Yeah, it’s always a little confusing when people dress them exactly the same. I don’t understand that.” It’s true. When Sarah and I used to do a bit of modelling, we got invited to be in a music video where they decided to dress us up and make us look like something out of The Shining, but kind of fashionable. [Laughs] “Yeah?” Luckily we weren’t in it long enough for anybody to really see us and I don’t think it was that big, it got a little MTV, but wasn’t any kind of a big deal. “What about you? Are you ever uncomfortable about being a twin with the way people talk to you?” It can be with the way people look at you, but am I uncomfortable about being a twin?

“Are there questions asked you don’t want to hear sometimes? Like you’re not individuals or something?” There are questions that are really uncomfortable and questions that are just really corny... You know when you sit and you do a press junket and you get asked the same questions? Then the next person comes in and asks you the same questions? “Yeah.” It’s like that, but all your life. “Sounds annoying.” It’s alright. Ok. If you had a set of baby girl twins, what golden advice would you give them?

“Oh my god! I would very much struggle with one daughter, let alone two. I worry about women too much. Not in a normal relationship sense, but I don’t know, boys are so safe they can go anywhere and never worry about it. Like even mates, if they’re in a real bad situation it doesn’t worry me, but when it comes to women... [sucks air in between teeth] I feel bad, there are such a load of wankers out there. I’d probably make ‘em nuns or something.”

How close or similar are you to Ragnar? “I suppose I look like him. I guess I laugh when I shouldn’t laugh. I smile when I shouldn’t smile. I’m very ambitious. I want to make some money, be successful and do well in life. Ragnar does too.”

90 Years Old

Very nice. Our generation – 70s babies, are really interesting. We’ve got morals, we’ve got different values and a good approach – I reckon, to life. Though, I think quite a few relationships are getting more complicated. The generations below and above us are very different. I want to know what you think our generation will be like in old- age – around 90 Years Old, given everyone is living longer? “I wish I was born a hundred years ago. I like that – other than the sexism where women were not equal, but I’m very traditional and what I don’t like about the generation just after us is the MTV influence and what’s important in there – all the cool stuff now. For instance, I’ve got enough friends, I want a woman to be a woman. I don’t want her to be cool or try to act like she thinks you want her to act. You know what I mean? I like a woman to be feminine. Even though it’s annoying sometimes: I want a girl to cry when she cries. You know, or be emotional. I feel like a lot of people in the world are trying to be what they think they should be. I know a guy wants to protect a girl and a girl wants to be there for a guy... everybody takes care of each other and some people are better at it than others. Males are better at taking care of a woman in certain ways and women are a lot better at taking care of a man in other ways, you know? It’s more of a natural thing, we both help each other out. I suppose what I’m saying is I want a woman to act like a woman, I don’t want a woman to act like one of my mates, otherwise I’ll start kissing my mates.”

What would you say you’re weak at? “I suppose the sensitive stuff, acknowledging my faults and not being a caveman I guess. I feel like I’m a bit of a caveman sometimes.”

Describe yourself as a teenager – somewhere in the 13-17 year old bracket. “I always said too much, I always went for the joke. I’ve always tested people, I’ve never been serious about stuff. I’ve spoken to you about this, but I always try to get reactions from people especially when you’re young and they don’t expect you to say what you say. I’m always so entertained by people’s reactions. Especially if you’re young and it’s something you shouldn’t say until you’re older. It’ll always entertain me, I’ll always test somebody and go out of my way to say something that is very odd or rude just to see how they react.”

The Wonder Years

I want you to pick a significant moment and narrate it back Wonder Years style. “Wonder Years! Winnie Cooper! I was in love with Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years.... Ummmm.....” All you’ve really got to do is pick one thing and describe it back in an adult way. That’s all it is. It’s really simple. “Is it really? Ok. Why don’t you answer the question, then?” Well I don’t know a significant moment from your teenage life! “Ok, I suppose it was when my Mum got leukaemia. It was the most significant thing in my teenage years. Somebody else told me – she didn’t tell me, one of her friends told me. I don’t know, I guess it was one of the stepping stones of reality that everybody doesn’t live forever. My Mum’s alive now though. It was just that feeling that life isn’t easy I guess, because at school everybody gave me shit because I had no stress or anything... They thought everybody’s going to live ‘til they’re 90. So at school, you’re young, there were no worries, you weren’t working, you didn’t have to support anybody or support yourself. That was the first time I found out when my Mum had leukaemia that life was difficult and there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs and unhappiness is more common than happiness.” How old were you? “I was maybe 13. I don’t know exactly, but it was just one of those realities that I’d never faced. The thought of losing somebody then, the reality that I might not have a Mum.”

Whips

Yeah... I’m not going to go onto the next one, because it feels really inappropriate. “Do it! You pussy.” What’s that? “Do it. Say it. What’s the next one?” It’s: Whips. Discuss. Would they be of the horse drawn carriage steering variety, expensive cars or some sort of season two spoiler? [Laughs] No, it’s actually whips – without being kinky, there’s a lot I would say about whips. But, no, one of my favourite movies of all time is A Man from Snowy River and it made me want to be a cowboy and it made me appreciate Australian heritage.” What year is that from? “It’s probably from ‘82 or something. It’s about the cattle industry in Australia.” The cattle industry? It sounded like the cuddle industry. “That’s what I concentrate on now! No... [it’s] about how tough it was in Australia when they first colonised and what people did to survive and to make money in Australia, especially through livestock and being a farm boy I really appreciated that.”

Band-Aids

I was looking up Band-Aids and I discovered some synonyms – one of them is a make shift solution to a problem. Do you know all this? “No, but it is true.” It lead me to improvise and I know you said you feel like you’re bad with lines, but I understand you have to think on the spot quite a lot on set. So I wanted to know what went particularly well and what the reaction was from the crew and your co-stars? “On the set – especially on our show because there’s not a big budget, there’s always got to be a solution to stuff and people have got to think quick on their feet. There’s always got to be a through line with everything, so it’s the same as life, you can’t put a band-aid on a big problem, you’ve got to really put your mind to it and think of a solution that’ll work entirely, you know? But in life, I don’t like band-aids at all... like say exactly what you feel, don’t try to soften it.” I get told off for being like that. [laughs] “But that’s good. People beat around the bush all the time. Beating around the bush is just like a band-aid always. You know, you keep putting problems off and... there’s a fix and there’s a band-aid. A fix will make it go away and a band- aid will keep encouraging the same behaviour or whatever. There are no quick fixes in anything. A quick fix is not a solution, it’s putting off a solution or something. Although, I’m guilty of band-aiding sometimes myself too.” Sometimes I think it’s good to put it off until you can really knuckle down and work out what the right thing is to sort something out. “Yeah, but a lot of people do it, just forever. You’ve got to change yourself. A band-aid is like an excuse not to change or face reality.”

Homework

The next one is: I do my homework on people before I interview them. Sometimes I like to get information that I like to keep in the wings or in my pocket. Sometimes I’ll roll it out or maybe I’ll just keep it to myself. I got some very good information on a singer we featured once. He was pretty cocky for the interview and I just rolled [the info] out on him right at the end and it worked an absolute treat, it completely threw him off and caught his unawares. So I wanted to find out from you if there’s anything you’ve gathered as ammo and used mid-take or through any improvisational moments? Or maybe something on a press junket? “It goes back to that trying to get a reaction out of somebody. In press junkets there’s people that have relationships on-set, but they’re trying to keep it quiet and I just ask them about it in front of the interviewers. I never say who it is or whatever. I just say, ‘Have you ever had any relationships with anybody on-set?’ Most of the time people cannot cover themselves, they always get embarrassed and then it gives the interviewer something to really dig into.” What’s that got to do with homework? “With homework? Yeah, not much” That’s alright, I rolled it in there. That’s done. [Laughs] “That was pretty good.” What question do you never want to be asked again? “What do you like about acting? Why do you do acting? I don’t have the answer.” Alright, now how would you describe yourself? I know it’s so typical but laid-back, casual, errr.... I’d love to say selfless, easy-going, no worries is my best, easily entertained, oneirogmophobic.