00:00Can you tell me a little bit about how it felt to take on a new project after Baby Reindeer?
00:03Was there any pressure at all for you?
00:05I guess I didn't think about the pressure. If it was there, I mean, I know that the
00:10expectation and pressure is great, but my fundamental priorities are just trying to
00:14make a piece of work as good as possible. I knew I wanted this to be my next project
00:18after Baby Reindeer. It was still burning in me as a desire. I wrote the script in 2019,
00:26and then Baby Reindeer was commissioned and I shelved it. And all the way through Baby Reindeer,
00:30I think about it a lot. And when I was coming out the back of the Baby Reindeer process,
00:33I just was like, I need to get back to that project. So, you know, by the time Baby Reindeer
00:37was out, I was still kind of full steam ahead half-man. So I almost didn't have time to take
00:41in the pressure or the expectation. And even if I did, I would say the pressure I put on myself
00:45every day to try and make it as good as possible would outweigh that anyway. But I know it's there,
00:49it's part of the process, isn't it? But I didn't let it in. I didn't prioritize that pressure over
00:57all the pressures that I felt within the process. I also saw that you mentioned that you weren't
01:00exactly expecting to play Reuben until Jamie mentioned it. Yeah. What made you change your
01:05mind and did you have any hesitations approaching the role? Well, initially I didn't want to do it
01:10because I had just done Donny Dunn and I was in every scene of Baby Reindeer. And to sort of
01:16be in front of camera and both behind camera at the same time, it's a phenomenal pressure. You
01:20almost have to have a sort of dual bird, it's almost like a bird's eye view and an internal
01:24bird's eye view, like almost like a dual perspective at every single given time. And it adds a lot of
01:29pressure and, you know, you're leaping back and forth in between. It just adds a lot of pressure. And I
01:34remember after Baby Reindeer just sort of thinking, lesson learned, I'll take one of the jobs off my plate. But
01:42I think there was a desire for me to be in it from the channels. Initially, I wanted to be
01:47like a
01:47policeman or something, make a little cameo appearance or a waiter or a receptionist or something.
01:51And there was the desire from the channels. And then Jamie mentioned it. And the only other
01:58meaningful role outside of now that would have given a lift to the show from a marketing sense was
02:04Reuben. And I think it terrified me. Initially, I sort of I was like, oh, that's so far away from
02:11what I've done before. Are people going to buy the guy in the comedy suit as the malevolent presence in
02:16the biker jacket? It was a great challenge. But the underlying all of my fear was what will people
02:22think? Or what if it doesn't go well? Or what if I make a fool of myself and all this
02:27kind of thing?
02:27And all of it was this kind of projected fear underneath all that or above all that,
02:31should I say, was just a real desire and passion to take on a role that a lot of people
02:36I think
02:36would kill for. And so I ultimately asked myself, do I want to do it? Yes. And therefore,
02:43that is more important than any projected sense of fear. But yeah, it was a it was a real journey
02:49of a decision. I'll put it that way. Can you talk a little bit about how it felt to explore
02:52masculinity in the series? Was any part of it like cathartic at all? Or what was there anything you
02:57were surprised by? I think I what I was surprised by was the fact that like, I never really set
03:02out
03:03with a goal to kind of reach a catharsis within myself or to answer any sort of broader questions
03:08about the politics around masculinity or anything like that. I just felt an impulse to dig deep inside
03:14the whole naughty subject. I never really set out to answer questions about my own masculinity.
03:21I think all I really landed on was that there's more questions than answers really. I never,
03:29I never landed on any conclusions other than the whole experience around masculinity is very complicated
03:35and I almost landed in a good way even more finding it's even more knotty and confusing than
03:45than when I started. But I think that was like a positive development in a way. Yeah, I think the
03:50show might not come to any answers or offer any solutions, but it exposes a lot, which I think
03:55is really interesting. Thank you very much. Yeah, and I think that's that that was my sort of artistic
04:00journey as well within it as a writer. The show definitely doesn't like shy away from violence.
04:05Was there any part or moment from the show that you felt was like particularly heartbreaking or moving?
04:11It's interesting because I you you get so close to a show you almost like it's hard to kind of
04:17like
04:18you get so used to it. I could almost I bet you if you asked me now I could do
04:21at one through to six
04:22every little bit of dialogue and I could quote you this show back like word for word and as a
04:27result
04:27you kind of go through the emotions and of it and you you it becomes like this labor of love
04:32this
04:32like sort of like all sculpture you're crafting and it's always funny because along the way people see
04:36it people pop in and they're kind of moved by it when I've achieved a certain degree of artistic
04:41like removedness or emotional removing us from it, but I think I find the whole thing kind of tragic.
04:46I think sometimes when you see where they landed up as adults and you think back to how they were
04:50as
04:50kids and they're smoking weed in in the bedroom floor and they're laughing free and giddy.
04:58I think I get emotional thinking about it. I think I get emotional thinking about what could have been
05:03with the two of them. I think fundamentally for all of what they go through and for all the damage
05:08they exhibit on each other and themselves they do love each other and I think their love for each
05:13other is is transcendental and extremely powerful and they just don't know how to express it and that
05:18to me is the great tragedy of the peace.
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