British actor Tom Blyth can’t wait for audiences to see his new gritty prison drama ‘Wasteman’, a role which he was nominated for at the 28th British Independent Film Awards. Speaking from the red carpet, he revealed how his lead role as Coriolanus Snow in ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ has allowed him to pursue the roles he really wanted.
He was alongside his co-star and fellow nominee David Jonsson, and ‘Wasteman’ his due to drop in British and Irish cinemas on 20th February 2026. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
00:00Doing The Hunger Games allowed me to then go and go back to the films that I always wanted to make.
00:04I feel like I'm just following in the footsteps of the greats who I kind of admire.
00:08Oh no, we're missing dinner.
00:09I know, I'm sorry. It's all right. I'd rather talk to you anyway.
00:17You've been on holiday, you've got a very nice ton about you.
00:19I've been on holiday. I've got a bit of sunshine.
00:21Hey, I feel myself as very lucky as being one of the few people in this room, perhaps, who's seen Wasteman.
00:27Man, it's so flummin' good. Congratulations to both you and your colleague next to you as well.
00:32Thank you, man.
00:33When you are in the prison filming these scenes, you don't know what's going to happen.
00:37How have you found the reaction since, you know, drip-feeding the nation this fall?
00:42Yeah, it's funny because we haven't really fully released yet.
00:45You know, we went to the London Film Festival and the response there was really lovely.
00:49But the response from people who have seen it like yourself has been amazing.
00:53Yeah, I feel lucky to have made friends for life while making it, but also I feel lucky to have told a story that is lifting the lid on a system that probably needs a bit more attention.
01:03And, yeah, supporting British film, which I was raised on British independent film, so it's magical to be back.
01:10I love hearing that you and David are such tight friends as well, because obviously in the film you are massive adversaries at times as well.
01:17Is there any kind of like strange dichotomy within your own head of like, all right, I love you, but I also hate you at the same time?
01:23How do you kind of manage that between yourselves as actors?
01:26Yeah, I mean, David and I were lucky enough to kind of be friends before we started this.
01:30And then once we started, we became even closer and now, you know, now hopefully friends for life.
01:35But it is weird. It's this thing of like, you go to work every day and you're supposed to kind of be adversaries with this person that you love dearly.
01:42But in a way, I think it also, you trust each other. So you really get to go out on a limb.
01:47And I think the film allowed us to both really push our limits and push our boundaries and stretch ourselves in ways that we hadn't done before,
01:54because we had a partner in crime who let us go there.
01:57Where did this fall for you in terms of your like, scheduling? Like, there was a massive Hunger Games film and then there was Wasteman at some point.
02:05Obviously very different roles, very different things required of you. Where did that fall in terms of a calendar year for you?
02:11How did you switch from one to the other?
02:13Yeah, I think I did Hunger Games and then went off and did a TV show, Billy the Kid, that I've done for a while.
02:17And then then I did Plain Clothes and then this back to back in quick succession and both very small films that I did about six or eight months after I finished Hunger Games.
02:29And so after it came out, so it's very different experience. But to be honest, it's like it's where I kind of come from, where I've always wanted to work.
02:36And doing the Hunger Games allowed me to then go and go back to the films that I always wanted to make. So yeah, I feel very lucky.
02:43Congratulations to you because you are showing range in the moment.
02:46I'm speaking to you right now. You're perfectly lovely. Your character in Wasteman is not lovely in any way, really.
02:51I'm quite different to being, yeah.
02:52Is this like sort of a checkbox for you of like, alright, I've played a bad man. I'll stop myself for swearing then. You've played a bad man. What else is like on the Rolodex of things that you want to play? What's on the bingo card?
03:02Oh man, I mean, I feel like I'm just following in the footsteps of the greats who I kind of admire. I'm like, Gary Oldman is always like the kind of North Star for me.
03:11And so I think, oh no, we're missing dinner. So I'd rather talk to you anyway. Yeah, no, you know, you have those people who you're kind of North Star and you look to and you look at their performances and the performances you were raised on as like an aspiring actor and you just try and kind of somewhat fill their shoes a little bit.
03:33And if you do, you're very fortunate. And so, yeah, that's kind of I look at those performances and if in doubt, I go back to those films that I love.
03:40And finally, this is the British Independent Film Awards, a room full of talent. Who's impressed you in 2025? What film or project or artist has impressed you?
03:49Oh, in 2025 specifically, I just saw Die My Love the other night and they're both amazing. But to be honest, Lynne Ramsey, I'm such a fan of Lynne Ramsey and everything she's done that I've seen.
04:01And as a director, she's just someone who I think always keeps you surprised, always test the limits of what she can do. And yeah, I think she's amazing.
04:09She's here tonight, you can fanboy to a place and everything. I know, I'm a bit nervous actually.
04:13Thank you so much for your time, enjoy tonight as well. Thank you so much.
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