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  • 8 hours ago
Damson Idris reflected on his life after ‘F1: The Movie’ while receiving the Spotlight Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival UK & IE Honours in London at Raffles at the OWO.

He revealed how he formed his firm friendship with his co-star Brad Pitt, how starring in the film has changed his life, and talked about upcoming projects.

Damson received the Spotlight Award alongside ‘Sinners’ star Wunmi Mosaku at an event where the likes of Jennifer Saunders, Sam Mendes and Jack O’Connell were also honoured. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transcript
00:00It's yourself and Rumi who are at the Spotlight Award, so what do you mean to you two?
00:04You know what, it's funny because I was thinking about it just now, and I feel like it means it's
00:09time to shine.
00:11Every time I think of the Spotlight, I just think of Michael Jackson's getting ready to do something really cool.
00:16So I'm thinking, how does that apply to me? And it's just chasing really amazing work, being a sponge, being
00:23a student,
00:24but more importantly having fun doing what I do, and I am.
00:28I know that you've obviously been working for years at this point, but I reckon summer 25, since F1 came
00:34out, have you felt a lot more in the bloody Spotlight?
00:36Oh yeah, big time, big time, yeah, which is why my security is standing behind you.
00:40Is that what that red dot on me is?
00:42Yeah, but no, I do think it's been a huge turning point in my career, and I'm thankful for it,
00:50you know, I prepared for this.
00:51The biggest thing is I just want to inspire people all around the world, so hopefully I'll continue to do
00:57that.
00:57I really loved, obviously, your performance in the film is fantastic, and you're obviously opposite Brad, which is fantastic,
01:03but I really love the press tour that you did. You two were getting stuck in, like you're always teamed
01:08up in stuff.
01:08Did you just enjoy that? That's more hanging with Brad than I'm sure you ever got to do before, right?
01:12Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just trying to get that out of him, and I think we did.
01:17But we had that on set as well, that back and forth, you know, and we worked story-wise on
01:22how to grow to the level where we are friends,
01:25and today I can call him that, and that's really special, man.
01:28You know, but yeah, who would have thought they had to go all the way to southeast London, you know,
01:32to find a guy to go toe-to-toe with Brad Pitt?
01:34A little bit.
01:35Yeah.
01:36Hey, I don't know if you've got this at this point, but a lot of actors, you know, my phone
01:41is full of film clips and TV clips
01:43pop out of my algorithm. Have you popped up on your own algorithm yet on your search?
01:46All the time, yeah, because I'm a sadder who Googles myself when I use the bathroom. No, I'm playing.
01:52I have, I have, and most of the time it's positive, man. It's about my work, stuff I did back
01:58in the day, stuff I'm doing now.
02:00So yeah, again, hopefully I'm able to connect to people all around the world and continue to inspire the next
02:05generation.
02:06And obviously, again, you weren't like, you know, hard up for work before Rec.1 came along, but has there
02:10been a shift?
02:11Has there been like, you know, a bit more calls and offers coming in and stuff? Has there been like
02:14a real paradigm shift for you?
02:16Yeah, man.
02:17And you can say it as humble a way as you'd like.
02:19Oh, I will.
02:21No, yeah, yeah. Like, but again, I think F1 has kind of reaffirmed my focus in this journey, you know.
02:30I'm out to make people feel something, you know, and like Snowfall or F1 or Farming or whatever I've done,
02:36Children of Blood and Bone, which is about to come, which is really fun.
02:38I just want to continue to do that.
02:40I saw a Jerry programmer talking the other day, and I don't know if it's like necessarily signing you up
02:45for more work, but he did say, hey, it's probably a sequel that works, you know.
02:49What is being said about this? What's your official line on that?
02:52You'll have to ask them.
02:55Sorry, you mentioned something as well. What's the next project?
02:59Children of Blood and Bone.
03:00Oh, yeah.
03:01So it's a mythological story set in Africa, directed by Gina Prince-Bikewood. It was a best-selling book.
03:09Played the character of Prince Enon, so very different to Formula One cars.
03:13But it's a beautiful story, and I think a lot of people are going to relate to it.
03:18And I think it's really going to enlighten people and set the tone and wave for the next stories coming
03:24out of that region.
03:25So I'm really excited about that.
03:26You've obviously worked with a lot of talent. This is my last one.
03:28Talented people at this point, of course.
03:30Who's on the bucket list of directors, actors, actresses that you want to work alongside or for?
03:35Man, we'll have to see. You know what? Jack O'Connell. How about that?
03:40Who wouldn't want to work with him?
03:42That's who I want to work with.
03:43What's this?
03:44His dream collaborator.
03:46Oh, fantastic. Yeah, can I hear you?
03:48I was going to say something so much funnier than that.
03:50Go on.
03:51No, no. Legend. Thank you, man.
03:53Appreciate it. Enjoy tonight. Thanks a lot.
03:55Bye.
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