This article appeared in Issue 28 of Wonderland: Nov/Dec 2011

“I was screaming a lot yesterday so I might not have the most amazing interview voice,” says a rather husky sounding Tyler Posey, lead star of MTV’s surprise hit show, Teen Wolf. Having taken the 80s film classic and reinvented it as a weekly platform for today’s Twi-hard viewing public, the show surpassed expectations when it debuted earlier this year. In fact it was so popular that a second season was commissioned before the first had even wrapped.

However, it is not howling at the moon that has over exerted the 20-year-old actors lungs but the thrill ride of rollercoasters at the Universal Studios amusement park. “I was bored and went with a couple of friends and had a lot of fun,” he explains, “the first thing we did when we got there was go into a pretty scary haunted house which takes 20 minutes to walk through. At the very end we got separated from one of our friends and got freaked out because we didn’t know where he was,” he continues, sounding panicked by the memory. But surely it must take a lot to startle a young man working on a supernatural show like Teen Wolf? “It’s all lies!” he laughs. “I am scared of everything. There were werewolves inside the maze and I thought I could have something in common with them but they still tried to eat me.”

Having survived the ordeal, Posey is finding ways of keeping busy during the show’s summer hiatus before the filming of season two begins in the latter half of November. Whilst a real life werewolf might struggle to cope with spontaneously emerging fur, Posey has recently opted to experiment with his own body hair by growing his first ever moustache. “I’ve been able to grow one ever since I was a young teenager but this time I tried to grow one for real,” he explains. However, the end result was not as dashing as he might have anticipated, with online commenters swiftly noting his resemblance to Mandy Patinkin’s Inigo Montoya in Rob Reiner’s 1987 classic, The Princess Bride. “It looked really bad,” he concedes with a laugh, “but I was very proud of it.”

Having begun acting at a young age, one of Posey’s earliest roles was Jennifer Lopez’s son in the 2001 romantic comedy, Maid in Manhattan. Like the famous Latina, Posey is also trying to find a balance between the world of acting and the world of music, with his as-yet-unsigned band, Lost In Kostko. “We played this show on Sunday night and it was like being Justin Bieber or something,” he recounts excitedly, “the curtain went up and there were screaming girls and flashes of cameras and posters saying my name – it was surreal. The part I loved the most was that they were singing our lyrics back to us and that was the first time that’s ever happened. I can’t even describe to you how that feels.” But all those Teen Wolf fans worried he might be about to cancel his acting plans, need fear not. Lost In Kostko is only a side project, for now. “It’s a punk rock band so I don’t really need to know how to sing. I can definitely act, but the singing: I’m still working on.”

Words: Seamus Duff
Photographer: Danielle Levitt
Fashion Editor: Brad Goreski

The post Flashback Friday: Tyler Posey appeared first on Wonderland.

This interview first appeared in Issue 20 of Wonderland, Nov/Dec 2009.

“I really thought people would know I was joking,” says Jamie Campbell Bower, a new addition to the Twilight film franchise who recently sparked a false nudity story about his character’s family of vampires’ appearance in New Moon. “I was at Comicon and the guy from MTV who was interviewing me was like, ‘So Rob [Pattinson] and Taylor [Lautner] get their shirt off in the movies – any chance of you getting your shirt off?’” he recounts of the moment the story started.  “And I though ‘alright, I am going to roll with this’ and was just like, ‘Yeah, actually.  Yes.  We are all naked’,” he laughs.  “I feel really bad because Chris Weitz, the director, had to write an apology note and I was like, ‘Oh God! What have I done? I’ve ruined everything… I’m never going to work again!’”

Fortunately his actions did not cost him his role and he seems confident he will be back to reprise his character, Caius, for the later installments in the series.  As a member of the Volturi – an order of Vampires that act as the law keepers to the Vampire community – Campbell Bower is joined on screen by Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning who play Volturi leader, Aro, and mind meddling bloodsucker, Jane respectively. He describes the Vampiric family as having a sense of malice about them though he jokes they are “not villains, but educated leaders who believe in tradition – so they’re more like the Royal Family… [laughs].  Michael Sheen would definitely be Liz and Christopher Heyerdahl [who plays Marcus] would be Philip.”

Although many Twilight fans have been left disappointed that the naked scene was fabricated, Campbell Bower is only too keen to expand upon his own realisation of how the Volturi would make their entrance.

“It would be like that scene from The Dreamers,” he jokes.  “Me and Michael Sheen in a bath together and Dakota walking in saying ‘Oh! Sorry… sorry about that’, [adopting an assertive voice] ‘No, that’s fine. Hop in!’ – we’d all be there, smoking pot [laughs].”

Having discovered a thirst for performance at a young age, Campbell Bower began getting involved with school productions and the National Youth Music Theatre, and by the age of fourteen decided acting would be the career for him.  He later met with an agent Simon Beresford who sent him to audition for Tim Burton’s gothic musical Sweeney Todd.

“My first meeting, I met Susie Figgis, the Casting Director.  And my second meeting – when I was actually reading – was in front of [Burton],” he recalls.  “I was thinking, “Oh my God this is sooo bizarre – I should be in school right now.  This is freaking me out!”  Then on the same day I had to sing for Stephen Sondheim, the musical director and then about a week later I got a phone call saying I got the part.  So that was the beginning of the end!” he laughs.

“[On Sweeney Todd] I was eighteen years of age, fresh-faced, wide eyed and at work with all these amazing actors.  People were saying, ‘Hit your mark!’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ but inside I was going ‘What does that mean?  What am I meant to be doing?  What’s the mark?’ – I sort of blagged my way through a lot of it but it was a really good learning experience.”

Although the acting world is something Cambell Bower clearly enjoys, he does admit he is still adjusting to the Hollywood environment – in particular, the world of Twilight.  “It’s interesting to see how the whole Twilight world works.  It is very strange – I still find it very, very weird.  Just because I don’t think I would have been so obsessed about something like that in my entire life – that obsession with a particular work of literature.  [Filming New Moon] was really fun but also really scary,” he confesses.  “I don’t have an impact on the world and then you go in and you work with Rob and Kristin [Stewart] and Dakota and Michael – all these phenomenal actors who have made such an impact on the world and are so great at what they do.  It’s kind of like, ‘Fuck!  What am I doing here?’  But they’re really nice and very much eased me into it.”

And whilst Campbell Bower has enjoyed his time working on the vampire movie, he is pretty confident he will be able to remain relatively anonymous despite the films success, unlike Twilight lead, Robert Pattinson.

“I’m still able to walk the streets of London without people pushing me into taxis,” he laughs.  “The whole thing that’s going on with Rob is that he is a really great actor and he portrays his character fantastically.  People were obsessed with the books before the film even came out and obsessed with the character of Edward and I think that’s still what people are obsessing over.”

There is another fantasy-novel-turned-film-franchise that Campbell Bower has also recently managed to get involved with – Harry Potter.

“It’s a scary prospect going in to do Harry Potter.  Terrifying.  But it’s really cool to watch how much money they put into it and how amazing they can make it.  Leaveston Studios is now Potter Studios – I don’t think another film has been done there for years.  But all the people who are working on Potter also worked on Sweeney – which is really nice.”

Campbell Bower will be appearing in flashback scenes as one of the series key characters, Gellert Grindelwald – one of the few magicians to challenge the magical abilities of top wizard, Albus Dumbledor (played on screen by Michael Gambon) as well as being the only character to capture his heart.

“I’ve had scenes with a young Michael Gambon – not actually Michael Gambon, but a guy that’s playing young Michael Gambon,” Jamie explains of his experiences on set.  And despite playing on screen lovers, he cannot remember his co-stars name (it’s Toby Regbo).

“That’s awful,” he gasps.  “He is my lover – but we were only on set for one day.”

So was Campbell Bower a fan of the novel series?

“I was, yeah.  But I was much younger when the first book came out and then I kind of lost interest and became more interested in girls.  I was like, ‘Books are boring!  Girls are much more fun.  Fuck this Potter bollocks!  I’m off to go find myself a lady!”

And how did that go?

“Badly.  Really badly.”

So with Potter and Twilight both in the pipeline, can we expect to see Jamie Campbell Bower in more franchise films?

“I think what’s great about franchises is that you know you’re in a job for the next few years and I think that security would be absolutely phenomenal but in another way I do like having no idea of what’s going to happen next.  I could be off for a job for months and then I get another one that’ll take me to a completely different place and it’s a completely different story and it’s all very new and exciting and it gives me a lot more chance to sort of work in developing a character.  I’d like to do a franchise where I could be involved from beginning to end.”

Away from the world of franchising is the upcoming film, London Boulevard, where Campbell Bower is again joined by an array of high profile actors including Colin Farrell, Kiera Knightly and Anna Friel.

“I am a big fan of Anna Friel!” Jamie states somewhat protectively.  “She’s lovely.  I think she’s awesome,” he declares, having become a strong admirer of the actress since watching her in a recent production of Breakfast At Tiffany’s.  Of his role in the film, he says excitedly, “I get to play a character called Whiteboy who has fallen in with this drug world that he doesn’t quite understand and is kind of like a posh boy being a rudeboy.  He’s got dreadlocks and gold teeth, rings and gold chains and the like…”  This character description sounds so different to the actor’s current appearance that suspicion of another Jamie Campbell Bower joke could only be natural.

“No I am actually being deadly serious – this is true,” he insists, laughing.  “This is really true.”

Words: Seamus Duff
Images: Toyin
Fashion: Way Perry

The post Flashback Friday: Jamie Campbell Bower appeared first on Wonderland.

The year 2009 was a busy one for Zoe Saldana, having been the leading lady in two of the year’s biggest films – playing Uhura in J. J. Abram’s re-imagined Star Trek, and Na’Vi princess Neytiri in James Cameron’s ground breaking Avatar. Despite beginning her acting career at the turn of the century, it took a while for Saldana to find her way into the acting world having spent many years training as a ballerina – something she demonstrated in her debut film role as Eva Rodríguez in 2000’s cult dance film, Center Stage.

“In my mind I will always be a dancer, but my body seems to differ,” she laughs. “I started dancing a little late in life and even though I enjoy it and gave it my all six days a week, I realised that I couldn’t be as good a dancer as I wanted and my body was telling me ‘you’ve been putting me through the mill for nine years and this is as far as I am gonna go.’ I would want to be much better so I took a step back and I parted with it.”

Hanging up her ballet shoes, Saldana found inspiration from strong female figures in Hollywood and decided to try a different form of expression. “I love actresses that always fought against the pressure of being a woman in Hollywood – that focus on the exterior and never looking on the interior,” she explains. “I love people like Merryl Streep that did things because they wanted to and reflect the kind of woman that they are. I certainly wanted to explore that and before I went to university to study and do something else. The moment I started acting I started feeling very happy and I have been running after that feeling ever since.”

2010 is off to a successful start for Saldana with Avatar breaking box office records in January. Later this year she can be seen in a small role for gangster film Takers (“I only worked on the movie for four days and it was mostly as a favour to the producer who is a friend of mine”) and in April takes the female lead in action flick The Losers (“I did more than four days on that film!”) based on the DC Vertigo comic series of the same name.

“It is really, really good and very physical,” says Saldana, sounding exhausted by the memory of the filming process. “It’s like all I did for the movie was jump out of this tank and shoot this gun and set this room on fire but I love pushing the envelope and testing my limits. I did mostly all of my own stunts as the stunt co-ordinator on that movie was Garret Warren – the same stunt co-ordinator on Avatar – and he knows how far I can take myself. If it had not been for him, I would not have done all the stunts on The Losers, but I am very proud of that movie.”

The film tells the story of a group of CIA agents who are double crossed by their handler and left for dead then team up to exact revenge. Saldana plays the character Aisha who she describes as “a feisty, snaky person,” and who, in the comic series at least, joins the CIA agents on their mission with a vengeance of her own. Although the character she plays has a dark intention for her target, such motives do not enter the mind of Zoe.

Having spent the past few months flying at light-speed, defending an alien home world and being a mercenary, the opportunity to take part in the US reworking of British comedy Death At A Funeral (out later this year) proved one Saldana couldn’t turn down.

“I don’t think I’m funny, but my team think I’m hilarious,” she says. “I’ve wanted to work with [Director] Neil La Bute for a very long time and when I met him and read the script I thought it would be wonderful to step away from the intense roles for a bit and just do something – not necessarily easy – but something of a much lighter theme and I ended up having so much fun!”

So the comedy film set is a much more relaxed set than the action, explosions and guns of her other recent projects? “Oh my god! I have these fricking four-inch heels on for the entire movie, so I kind of wished I had a gun!” she laughs. “I’m running around chasing after James Marsden, who plays my boyfriend, and they weren’t so uncomfortable, but I was just so scared. I didn’t want to break my ankle!”

Although the heels proved as big a challenge as any action scene, fashion is something Saldana has a high respect for. “I grew up with a grandmother who was a seamstress since the 60s in New York. We always had magazines like Vanity Fair and Vogue lying around so I knew about all these designers like Diane Von Furstenberg and I love dressing up now that I’m older.”

Confessing to being a tomboy when growing up, the sneakers and sandals from her days as a dancer seem far behind. Saldana is co-founder of My Fashion Database – MyFDB.com – an online source that compiles fashion credits on published work to provide a comprehensive resource for fashion industry professionals and she tries to be as involvedas possible when she is not working on films. With all her acting roles and fashion commitments, how does Zoe Saldana ever find time to relax?

“Usually I’m just a work-a-holic,” she states. “Sometimes my body is exhausted and even my skin reacts. It’s like every part of my body separates and they have conversations on their own and they’re like ‘Fuck you! We’re not going to look nice and bright today. My hair is going to be very dull, my ass is going to be crampy’ and I have to listen to that voice that says ‘enough’ and force myself not to get out of bed. The next day you wake up and feel like one hundred bucks because you gave yourself the rest.”

Although her action parts will no doubt add to her workout routine, there is no disputing the actress has an incredible figure. “I don’t put my body through rigorous exercise. As human beings we have to relax a lot more than we think,” she says stating healthy eating is the main factor in keeping her shape. But having starred opposite an array of attractive actors including Chris Pine, Sam Worthington and Johnny Depp, would any of her co-stars every try to get their hands on her off screen?

“I’ve had a very private life and I’ve been involved with someone for many, many years,” she reveals. “I’ve considered myself to be very lucky because it has kept me from the downside of this business which is to become that little crazy bunny that just jumps into something every time, but I’ve always left work at the office. I acknowledge there are very handsome, sexy and amazing actors, but I see it on a respectful level and I’ve been lucky to have worked with very professional men.”

Beyond 2010 Saldana looks forward to reprising her role as Nyota Uhura and rejoining the cast and crew of Star Trek who all bonded on the first outing together. “We are just dying to get back on the Enterprise. We’ve become such great friends through the movie so we’re always egging each other on, rooting for each other, sending mass e-mails and questioning J. J. and Bryan Burk on what Star Trek 2 is going to have in store for us.”

Abram’s, for anyone that didn’t know, is notoriously secretive about his projects be it the inconceivable twists of his TV shows like Alias and Lost or the storylines of films like Cloverfield and, indeed, Star Trek. But this characteristic is not something that frustrates Saldana too much. “I love the fact that he is so mysterious. He takes the audience on a big adventure,” she says. ‘Big adventure’ could also be the two words to describe the life of Zoe Saldana so far.

The post Flashback Friday: Zoe Saldana appeared first on Wonderland.

Is Two Broke Girls a fun show to be part of?
It is! Kat Dennings has become a great friend of mine and she’s so hilarious and talented and we shoot in front of a live audience. It’s fun when they clap and cheer or they’re cracking up. It’s such a cool thing seeing them react.

Do they ever not laugh?
We have an amazing writing staff – Michael Patrick King and all of our writers – who give us alternative jokes and that’s a cool thing as an actor because it won’t be rehearsed and you have to work with it right then. But we’ll always keep them laughing!

What attracted you to your character, Caroline?
I love that she’s not a stereotypical Upper East Side blonde. She is a fish out of water in the restaurant and there are things she doesn’t know, but she’s not dumb. She went to Wharton Business School and has this incredible savvy for money and business. I also love that the girls were never outwardly mean to each other even though they are from different walks of life. I think that’s really refreshing to see – especially to young women out there.

You’re playing a waitress in the show – being an actress, have you had lots of experience of being a waitress in real life?
I have! I worked at an Americanized Mexican restaurant for a while called Chili’s. I’d work in the cocktail area and they served big beer glasses. On my first night I put all the beer glasses on one tray thinking I’d be fine to carry it and I spilt them all on a table of ten people. I went to the bathroom and cried. It was awful. I wasn’t the best waitress

The show has already won a People’s Choice Award and was commissioned for a second season before the first had finished airing – has the success surprised you?
When we were filming the pilot it was a special experience it felt like we’d been doing it for years which I’ve heard from other actors is very rare so I think we knew we had something special and we all loved each other and working together. At least we were having a good time and you hope that energy and specialness translates to the audience and I’m glad it did.

There has also been a bit of controversy attached to the show. Michael was accused of being too crude and touching on stereotypes – do you think some people have failed to notice it’s a comedy and not a documentary?
Yeah and I think Michael said before, everything the characters do comes out of a real place. There’s backlash with everything but we love what we’re doing and we believe in the show and the characters and it seems like the audience agrees.

Controversy is also good in that it means people are watching.
Exactly! We’ve said the word “vagina” on TV like it’s never been said before. Doing comedy is supposed to push boundaries but that’s what makes it new and innovative and exciting. I’m glad, at least, to be a part of that and this whole “women in comedy” loop that’s going on.

Vagina is hardly offensive at all. If you spent a day in our office you’d be shocked by the language you’d overhear.
[laughs] That’s honestly the truth! In most people’s day-to-day life the word “vagina” is not that big a deal but for whatever reason, saying it on network television was a big deal.

According to your Wikipedia, you’ve been acting since you were 4 – is this true?
It is true. I’ve been doing theatre since before I could read. My mom had to read my lines for my auditions. I used to watch The Sound of Music a million times a day and I fell in love with it and kept asking my parents to let me do something like that so they got me into theatre which was great.

You’ve been an ambitious actress your whole life!
Yes, definitely. And I still hope to come to the West End or Broadway eventually. My dream is to do a Broadway or West End musical. I love Les Miserables and The Sound of Music and Wicked. Although I’d also love to be in a new one – is Andrew Lloyd Webber writing a new one any time soon?

We’ll find out and get you a part.
I’ll cut you 10%

It’s a deal.

Two Broke Girls is on E4 Thursdays at 9pm. Beth Behrs will be in a new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical as soon as we have a word with him.

The post One Broke Girl – Beth Behrs appeared first on Wonderland.

Martha Marcy May Marlene is the story of a young woman’s escape from a cult – how did you research about cults for this feature?

What drew me to it was that I was always terrified of mass conformity. I started reading about the more famous groups like Jonestown [an American cult headed by Jim Jones that colonised an area of Guyana and led it’s members in a mass suicide killing 918 people] and that gave me an understanding from an academic stand point of how these things work and noticing how similar the tactics are that leaders used and how they abused people without them realising it was abuse. Then I started to meet people who had been through it and I took their stories and what their recovery period was and decided to focus on [that aspect of cult life].

When people think of cults most would automatically think of something religious – this is something different.

I wanted to stay away from the religious stuff because it’s too much of a media indicator, so I wanted to focus on something smaller and more local. There are these kinds of things all over the place – a lot more than people would think.

In the film, the characters rationalise what they are doing whilst in the cult, be it robbery, rape, polygamy or even murder.

That was we the key thing. It was like building trust of people and they bring someone new in and they build this trust and a sisterhood and then something bad happens but that trust has been built to say “it’s ok”. That’s how they get them. It’s terrifying. I was most interested in the direct relationship with the women and Patrick [the cult leader in the film played by John Hawkes].

The film focuses on the relationships of the women, but do you have an idea of what the experiences of the other men in the cult would be?

Every [cult] I read about – there was always a right hand man, or a fall back man. The whole Max thing [another character, played by Christopher Abbott who serves as a character for Patrick to humiliate] it was always about putting down a man in front of the women to raise the leaders power. Or there is always a right hand man who is doing a lot of the dirty work – so those are the two characters that I included.

What was the most unsettling thing you discovered in your research?

There’s just endless stuff. There is stuff I didn’t even consider putting it into the movie because you just couldn’t believe it. You can’t believe that someone could go through that and stay. That’s the saddest thing – how manipulative they [the cult leaders] are.

Was this film difficult to make?

Any movie is difficult, but hard work and doing intense material is really rewarding and although it’s hard, it’s not in the ways that you might think. Doing the hard scenes were stressful but we also had fun. We were always laughing and keeping it light whenever we could and it was a great group of people living on the farm and hanging out and going to a motel at night and drinking together so it was nice and we had a good time.

Has winning a Best Director award for your first ever movie added pressure for when you make your next one?

Probably! I try not to think about that. But there is always pressure and there is always fear and I suppose pressure and fear are related. I have always been a believer that you just can’t stop to be afraid because if you do it will eat you up and you won’t be able to do anything.

Martha Marcy May Marlene is in cinemas now.
Interview: Seamus Duff

The post Interviewing Martha Marcy May Marlene’s director Sean Durkin appeared first on Wonderland.

It’s the fourth BREED club night at Dalston Superstore – what will be going on this time?

Well, we’re taking over the venue with our Robo Rex models hanging upstairs, and the laser-eyed Robo Rex guarding the DJ booth downstairs. The music downstairs comes from the BREED Posse: RUFUS&Bambi, Pleasure Cruiser and me… We’ve got lots of new electronic music to play, and also we’re giving away 50 T shirts, which is kind of a BREED thing now.

What has been the highlight of the previous 3 Breed nights so far?

It’s probably seeing everyone in the T shirts, like a little squad, its really great when the music is peaking to see everyone dancing in our own shirts! And then we occasionally see someone in the street wearing one and that’s a nice feeling.

Um, what is the meaning of the club name….?

Er, I’ve heard that it actually means something kind of sexual and creepy, but I’m trying to ignore that. It’s really just a doggish way of saying that we’re a gang, doing our own particular thing.

As Rex The Dog you have remixed a number of high profile music acts – which has been your favourite collaboration so far?

Um, the highlights are probably Fever Ray and The Knife. I’m a big fan of Karin’s songwriting and her voice. Depeche Mode was amazing to do too. I’m a massive fan of their earlier stuff.

Who else would you like to remix?

I’ve been so spoiled with Depeche Mode and The Knife that there aren’t really any artists I’m craving to work with. The best thing is to be offered great songs that can be flipped into electronic versions… doesn’t matter who the artist is really.

As a club DJ, what is your favourite tune to play?

That varies from night to night! Sometimes a track really works at one party, but not at another. But I like big electronic basslines at the moment. And acid, wibbley acid.

And what track never fails to get the clubbers going?

Hmmm, is there ever a failsafe track ? I’m not so sure. For a while ‘Adyra’ by Duoteque would blow the roof off nearly wherever you were. But apart from that, maybe ‘I Feel Love’ can be just about relied upon…

Is Rex The Dog house trained?

No, god no.

BREED is at Dalston Superstore, 117 Kingsland High St, London, E8 2PB from 9pm to 4am. Entry is free and 50 free Rex The Dog T-shirts are up for grabs on the night. Visit rexthedog.net for full details and follow rex on twitter @rexthedog1980 for t-shirt vouchers.

The post Just Dog It – Rex The Dog Q&A appeared first on Wonderland.

War Horse was given a Royal premier in London earlier this week – what was it like having Prince William and Princess Kate in the audience?

First of all – what an honour. I had a lovely chat with William and Kate and we all got to go back to the palace for drinks afterwards and at one point I found myself having a glass of wine with Prince William and going ‘this is so, so strange!’ They’re lovely people and what an honour that they came to a cinema to see my fat face on the screen. But we also had almost 400 service men and women turn up which really got me. I was speechless. Really speechless.

Was Joey at the premier as well?

One of the Joey’s. There were about 14 [to make the film], although I think for the good of the carpets in the cinema it was probably best that he didn’t come in to see the movie. I was amazed there wasn’t a horrific bodily accident from the horse at any point.

It is a well known fact of cinema that you should never work with animals – was Joey a difficult co-star?

I don’t think at any point were we ever not able to get something because of a horse misbehaving. These are the most highly trained animals in the world – they are acting horses. All the horses have bigger CV’s than me! One of them was Seabiscuit. I remember when I first started learning to ride with one, I’d get off and it would start doing stretches. I learnt very quickly that there has to be that mutual respect thing otherwise on camera when you’re in that close up and there is nowhere to hide, if that relationship isn’t real with that horse then it’s going to be very obvious to people who are watching so it was important to spend two months before we started filming to spend all day with them, building relationships and learning how to work with them.

Were there ever any mishaps on set where a horse did have a “bodily accident” in front of everyone and they had to shout “cut”?

Yes, of course. And they always pick the moment when you are in your most intense close up to do the biggest fart you have ever heard.

Would other co-stars, such as Emily Mortimer [Irvine’s on-screen mother], ever have that same reaction during an emotional scene?

[Laughs] No! Emily was great. I mean, she still likes to eat hay, but she was lovely.

The cast includes some terrific actors, Mortimer, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, and to be directed by Speilberg in your first role – how does that all feel?

I never really know what to say to this. You know? It’s, like, being in a first movie and being in a Spielberg movie. I had nearly two years of not getting any work. I was auditioning and wasn’t even getting call backs for commercials, let alone for a movie.

Did you ever get close to giving up?

When you are at those really low points – and it’s quite a lonely business because you’re self employed and on your own a lot – unless you really, really want it then you are going to get to one of those points where you think of doing something else.

You quit LAMDA, right?

I did a year and then I didn’t get back into LAMDA after that, actually. But I made a decision early on that I wanted to get away from the crowd. I had a friend who was a camera man and so we went away and filmed a showreel and I went around agents myself and told them it was for professional work. I did that for eight months and nobody was interested and then eventually a lovely agent did take me on and the second audition that they put me up for was War Horse.

Are you still in touch with anyone from drama school?
Yeah, yeah, they’re all my very close friends.

Are they not seething that you landed a Spielberg film as a first job?
Of course not! They are all wonderfully talented and I’m sure they will do very well as well. But it’s one of those industries where a lot of it is about being in the right place at the right time. I owe all of this to that one lucky break. A lot of wonderful actors that I know haven’t had that lucky break and maybe never will. But it’s about being ready when that moment comes.

War Horse is in cinemas this Friday, the 13th January 2012.

Interview: Seamus Duff

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Michael – All of the budget! I think we had point five left to make the film.
Steve – We thought we’d do 3D but that would have been way too expensive.
Michael – [laughs]
Steve – There was a funny story, there was this woman who said “I have seen your film literally about fifteen times” and I said “Why?” and she goes “I’m someone who goes to the movies with the blind and so I have to describe it to them” and I said “Really?!” and she said “yes!”. I don’t know if she had to describe Michael’s penis but let’s not go there!

The film addresses the very serious topic of sex addiction. What was it that attracted you to this subject?

Steve – The idea that someone could get so addicted to something that was so intimate but actually did not want the intimacy – the paradox of that was fascinating to me. Just talking to [script writer] Abi Morgan [Sex Traffic, The Iron Lady] about it, it was interesting to investigate what a sex addict is and once we delved into it, we saw the evidence of how serious and devastating it is. It’s similar to drug addiction or alcohol addiction and it really does take a toll on someone’s life.
Michael – Of course this is something that should be looked at and should be pretty relevant and contemporary to today but nobody had talked about it in a film. It just seemed really obvious that this is something that is worth investigation. [Having worked together on Hunger] I knew I was going to be in the best of hands and it was going to be dealt with accordingly, uncompromisingly and also respectfully.

How did you go about researching for the film?

Steve – We couldn’t get an “in”, as such, in London as people wouldn’t speak to us. It’s almost like when people were diagnosed with HIV in the early 80s, it’s a situation where there is a stigma to sex and people don’t want to speak – especially to the media. So we had to go to New York and speak to an expert in the field who in turn introduced us to addicts and former addicts and it was one of those situations that through those conversations and research that we got an idea of what it was to be a sex addict and make very close relationships with people who were, or are, sex addicts.

What were the more shocking things that you discovered?

Steve – Certain things were worse than in the film, of course. I mean you can imagine someone being locked in a room for 72 hours, looking at porn and masturbating all day.
Michael – I think the most affecting or disturbing thing is the sense that – whatever the addiction – it’s a loss of control. The fact that a guy can’t get through the day without masturbating in the bathroom at work and he’s surfing the internet and dragging up these porn sites on his work computer – he’s not an idiot, he knows he’s going to get caught doing it, but he can’t help himself. The choice has been taken away because the condition has taken over. That for me is what’s most disturbing.

We left the cinema feeling a little depressed about the state of the characters in the film – are they all hopeless? Brandon is an addict, Sissy clearly has her own troubles and then Brandon’s boss –

Steve – I think Marianne is a symbol of hope and she is quite healthy. Sissy and Brandon come from the same place. And David is a bit of a jerk.
Michael – The fact that Brandon is someone who is aware of his condition, that’s already hopeful and he’s trying.
Steve – It’s a difficult world and I’m not making Walt Disney pictures here. If you want to see a happy ending go and see any of those American movies that are probably being put up for an Academy Award right now. I’m trying to make a movie about real life – which is not easy sometimes for people who have certain kinds of conditions – but what is admirable about [Brandon] is that he is a likeable person and he’s trying. Not everyone is Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, you know what I mean?

Has making this film had any impact on your own sex lives?

Michael – Very much so. It’s kind of made me appreciate the relationships that I have been in and that I like intimacy. It had never kind of occurred to me that this could be a condition and to see how devastating it can be having met people –I feel grateful. I feel lucky.
Steve –You do come away feeling very lucky. But they say you are always just one drink away.

Shame is released in cinemas on January 13th.

Interview: Seamus Duff

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You have gone literally from rags to riches having been rescued from a dog pound to starring in Hollywood productions – how does it feel to have the world at your paws?

I wasn’t actually at the pound yet but that’s where I was going before Omar [Von Muller, Uggie’s trainer] rescued me, but now everything is great and all the sexy bitches look at me like I am the Dog.

Has acting always come naturally to you?

For you humans it’s called acting – for me is just being myself.

Was it difficult to remain silent for The Artist?

Well, when I got the part they said no speaking they did not say barking. So I barked all I wanted.

It is a well known rule of cinema that directors should never work with animals or children – we can see you are a professional, but how did you find working with director Michel Hazanavicius?

Working with Michel was great. I really don’t understand why they won’t want to work with kids and dogs if all we do is make their movies shine.

A lot of the cast are French – was there a language barrier when it came to making this film?

I could not understand half of what they were saying, but all I had to do was wag my tail and they would smile. So it wasn’t so hard.

Has the promotional trail for this film been exhausting?

The promotional trail has been great. I’ve got to meet a lot of cool people, travel and even meet other dog actors like Cosmo [another Jack Russell who featured in Mike Mills’ “Beginners”].

Do you think animals should be entitled to Best Supporting Actor Award nominations?

Yes! I think we should get recognized because it takes a lot of work – sometimes many years of set experience, following my masters cues without looking at the cameras, having patience when you get everything right and the director has to do 30 takes because the human is messing up. And to set the record straight it’s not just the sausages or hot dogs. Of course I have to get a reward! It took many years of training and experience to become a great studio dog.

Can we expect to see you in more movies soon?

You will have to talk to my agent about that.

The Artist is in cinemas from today.

Words: Seamus Duff

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LA based actor and performer, Drew Droege, has built up a cult online following with his uncanny YouTube incarnation of actress/designer/hipster Chloe Sevigny, dictating her latest plans and obsessions.

Having previously created a video to reveal Ms Sevigny’s “Resolutions” back in 2010, we simply had to ask the actor for an update on his own plans for 2012.

Drew Droege: I have three resolutions for the new year. First, I am going to bring back Lambada – the forbidden dance. Then I’m going to encourage more children. The old me would say, “Just stop. You
probably can’t. You’re no big whoop.” But the new me says, “Go ahead! You’re a big whoop!” And I’m going to FINALLY get on “Hoarders” – I just know that this is my year.

And for Chloe?

To acquire more aquamarine, to make peace with Christiane Amanpour, DJ Danny Tenaglia, and the peacock and to master the art of steeping winter glog.

Look out for more updates from “Chloe” on combine13’s YouTube channel.

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