I feel like you kind of strike me as someone – and correct me if I’m wrong – who seems to be very at peace with himself, very comfortable in his own skin. Thinking back to our shoot, you were just really on board with all the concepts, and even had a bunch of ideas your own. How do you ground yourself when something in your life isn’t going the way that you hoped?

Honestly, I love to collaborate and play. So it’s, you know, talk to my missus, I’ve certainly got my spazzy moments, and they’re not pretty. When I spaz, I spaz big. But I guess, you know what it is, it’s just all preparation. It’s everything you do leading up to any moment. For me, it takes work to be calm. It’s not my natural state. I have to follow my regiment, in a way, which is tough when I travel so much. But even if I’m back home, the routine of, you know, getting up and on the peloton for an hour. This morning I was up at 4am. I like having my morning reading time, where I have an hour with words, or if it’s not books, I pick up some Francis Bacon – something to start my day with creativity, and then Peloton, and then, yoga, meditation, the sauna. All of these things I do help, I think, in building the muscle which is that focus. It’s work to get to that place, to get to that calm of, you know, being just fully present. I think that’s just part of the work, to get to that place. Cause it’s not my natural resting place. It’s like a muscle, right? A mental muscle, whatever.

Coat Adolf Maldonado / Leather trousers Steven Liang / Boots Koi / Necklaces Lag World, B_DODI

Do you feel, then, that you’re kind of happiest or calmest when you’re busy?

I mean, I’d love to be busy. I love to be doing something collaborative or creating. Something like that. I’ve been busy lately with just the [Comic] Cons, the traveling with the Cons as opposed to acting. But it’s still performing. When I’m back home, it’s also different because I’m different when I’m working. There’s a different focus.

A different mindset.

Yeah. I don’t know if it makes me more calm. I’m more calm back home, but I still spaz here too. It’s just whatever the routine is, like here there’s more of a peace. It’s weird traveling so much.. when I don’t have my Peloton in my hotel rooms. And with yoga, lately I’ve not been able to do a full flow. I start, then 10, 15 minutes in, I just stop, I’m like, “oh, that’s good enough.”

Exercise is such a mental process as well though. For example, I don’t like working out at home. The gym is a separate place that I like to go, to just focus on what I’m doing there. And I’m not thinking about my phone.

I don’t like the gym per se. I like the peloton for sweating, and I need to sort of sweat out all my… I call them all the evils. All the dreaded lurgies that hide within my heart and soul. And that starts me in a different place, because it becomes, you know… I used to run, and I can’t run anymore. And it was always that sort of… my eyes rolling back, and the third eye, and everything becomes beautiful. Peloton’s not exactly that, but that sweating and that process and that abject focus. 60 to 90 minutes is a long fucking time to be sitting on a stationary bike. And a lot of the time, you don’t feel like it. So I think all of these things, like when I’m home, I get to do that. And when I’m gone, I don’t. So it’s a little more difficult to focus, but so the calm, you just have to kind of find anywhere. Like here, I’m just at a different peace, because I’m looking at the San Gabriel mountains, and I have my dog. You’ve got the love around you. It’s, yeah, it’s interesting. I’ll be thinking about that. It’s an interesting question.

Trousers Adolf Maldonado / Necklace B_DODI

Do you ever feel like acting is a form of therapy? Do you compartmentalise things, or do you find that acting kind of bleeds into how you feel as a person, when you’re not playing a character?

Well it certainly can put me in a different headspace, when I’m acting. As in that, this is my natural purpose – to be a performer. It’s like, this is who I am as a performer. So even with what we did [for the Principle shoot], that’s still a performance, and you’re still collaborating. So that I love, and one thing sort of behooves and benefits the others, which, you know… at the end of our time together, I just left feeling energised. I was getting ramped up as we went along, because we were creating and collaborating. We’re performing, we’re bouncing ideas off each other. So acting gives me that. And it’s a craft, right? So it’s like painting. I look at it, and I take it seriously like that. I don’t look at it as therapy, or that allows me to be someone else. I’m not from the method school. I just love [acting]. And you know, film and TV is also so different because they’re similar to the eyes rolling back and the third eye analogy. Acting can make you feel super high. If you’re in a moment, if you’re locked in, because you’re speaking someone else’s words, wearing someone else’s clothes… it’s all fake. You’re trying to connect, and there’s a high to performing. It’s like, even when I was in London last week and did the opening for Fat Dog.

Yes, I saw this, at Brixton Academy! Great venue.

Great fun. Just to be up on stage, in front of 4,000 people. And it was all just improvised. There’s a high. Theatre is different, but with film and TV, it’s the craft, because a lot of times with these productions, you’re waiting around, and all of a sudden the lights go on and you’ve got one take to get the scene that you’ve been sitting around for six hours waiting to do. And you’re like, “fuck me, that’s not ideal.” But it’s a challenge. And I love that. It’s like guerrilla filmmaking, running around stealing shots. I love that. Or if you get the opportunity to do things 20 times, how cool? Again, in film and TV, it’s like how do I hit this mark, or how do I sit like this and talk to you? And I know the cameras are over here, but if I move, that changes. I still find it fun. I’m not jaded. Maybe I don’t work enough to become jaded [laughs].

Cactus Principle office’s own

One of the things that I have really enjoyed from looking at other interviews you’ve done, is that you’re quite open about just anything relating to mental health really. And I think there is such a spotlight on it at the minute, especially where men are concerned. I wanted to ask how important you think it is for men to talk about mental health, or even just to be open and say that, you know, “I’m not having a good day”, or “I’m not sure how to regulate these emotions”?

The UK mentality with men is obviously very different than the North American. And I’ve seen the difference over the years. I’m half British, so I spent some summers in England. My cousin in England killed himself.

One of my close friends did too.

With my cousin, he was an EMS worker, and he didn’t have an outlet. He didn’t talk to people about seeing a dead baby, or the stuff he had to go through. Generally the coping mechanism was, you know, “Have another pint!”. This is how we’re going to get through this, have another pint, as opposed to really dealing with this. And it was that shame, I guess, of what a man is. I’ve never given a shit what people think. I mean, what works is different for everyone, but certainly if you bottle shit up, it’s not good. So I think it’s very important. Stephen Graham I know has that book out, Letters to Sons. When I was filming Boiling Point in Manchester, we sort of had this group. It was Stephen, and his father, and his son Alfie, and [director] Philip Barantini. There was a group of men. For me, I’ve done all sorts of therapy for years. I went through my own trauma which, you know, depression and things like that, you have to recognise them and call them what they are. And I realised it was trauma – I had trauma – so I wanted to seek treatment for trauma. How do I deal with this? So we had a weekend together of, of blokes, of friends. It was so interesting because we had two days together. The first day was more like therapy, talking, expressing. And I think I was the only one really that didn’t cry. And I love crying. I cry a lot. And I used to cry more, not so much now, but I still love a good cry. But it was interesting to be in a room where you could see how difficult it was for some of those guys, how incredible it was. But for them, it was so different. Whereas for me, I was like… I just had a good cry this morning, so it’s not as shocking to me. Whereas for some of them, it was a very beautiful, cathartic moment, and they all opened themselves up, and it was a really beautiful thing. And we still have our group text chat, to check in if anyone’s not doing well. It’s very important to check in with people, especially when we’ve seen a lot of suicides, and it’s just, yeah… I think it’s important. This kind of goes back to the very start [of our interview], with being present and sort of when you said, well, “you seem very calm and comfortable with yourself.” I’m not always calm, but I am comfortable with myself. I’m not always a good communicator, but you know, when I’m upset, I cry. And when I’m angry, I have to get it out. As artists, we have the privilege of maybe living in it more, where… no epidermis. You can feel more when you’re raw, right? I think it’s very important to check in with people, and when you ask someone how they’re doing, and you can tell when they’re perhaps not doing well, and just trying to play it off like, “I’m fine.” And it’s like, “You sure? Are you really okay?” But I’ve noticed this more in society. The other day I was at the airport checking in for my flight. I came up to the desk and I was like, “how you doing? Good morning,” and the attendant just scans my documents. I’m there wishing her a great day, and there’s no reaction. I’m trying to be positive and make someone’s day a little better. And it’s interesting when people don’t respond. There’s no human element to it. But all that feeds into the importance of mental health and checking in. For me, there’s two types of people in the world. You’re either a cunt, or you’re not.

Coat Gia Jenkins / Leather trousers Steven Liang / Necklaces Lag World

Well, it’s interesting that you mentioned that, because they made a BBC documentary about my friend after he passed, and the takeaway from it was that they were trying to instil it into people that when you ask if someone is OK, you should ask it twice. When they say, “yeah, I’m good,” you should say, “no, but are you… are you actually OK?” Because with him, he was always so busy. There wouldn’t be an hour in the day that he hadn’t filled with something. And I always perceived that as him being so full of enthusiasm for life. But on reflection, knowing what we know now, it kind of feels like he was just trying to fill a void, and didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts.

You just don’t know what people are going through, and it’s just really about being aware, and also never having regret. My dad died this year after eight years with dementia. He was very different from the dad I knew a few years ago, but I had no regrets. I visited him when I could, loved him. Even when he lost words and wasn’t super present, I’d still sing and clap.

It’s very difficult, if someone’s going to kill themselves, to maybe stop them, but I feel it’s important in all of our lives to not have regrets. Because then if something happens, you should never feel like it’s your fault. Just show love, be kind. If you wanna tell someone you love them, do it. And I don’t judge anyone else for how they live. I just like to be kind. I like to say please and thank you. I believe in common courtesy. But that’s me.

Do you ever feel that you almost kind of dissociate from some of the things you’ve achieved in acting? Because I watched an interview that you did where somebody reeled off quite a significant number of big projects that you’d worked on, and I think your response was something to the effect of saying it hadn’t really changed your life, or at least, hadn’t changed how you live your life. I feel like as creatives, we move so quickly onto the next thing that we never really stop and sort of say like, “that’s quite cool, that thing that I did”.

Well, it’s so tough [with interviews] because you get these soundbites and it just sounds horribly pretentious, or not like the intention of what I was saying. But I certainly do, and I always say with one hand on my heart, I’m very grateful. Grateful for the things I’ve done. It’s been a good life. I’m still the same guy I’ve always been. With the projects I’ve done – that I’m most recognised for, let’s say – these are jobs that I auditioned for and I booked.  So as an actor, I booked something. “Yay, I got a job!”. And some of those yays have been from Grand Theft Auto V and the motion capture we did, to The Walking Dead, or Westworld. These worlds I’ve been in, these are all a job I booked. So I wasn’t sitting at a table, you know, choosing projects, going, “I think it’d be fun to do like a video game motion capture. Is there any video games out there I can do? Great, I’ll do that one. I’d love to do like a zombie apocalypse – oh The Walking Dead? Yeah, I’d love to do that.” I’m grateful for them, as they all touched on the zeitgeist, but they weren’t projects that were a dream that I was reaching for. I’m not disassociating from them. Doing all these [Comic] Cons, which I’m so grateful to do, is fully and completely acknowledging these projects. I’m in the very privileged position of seeing the impact the things that I’ve done have. Even if it’s my poetry book. People bring my poetry book or things I’ve said. I mentioned Dostoevsky.’s Crime and Punishment once. People bring me that book to sign now.

They’re paying attention.

Blazer Brian Clarke / Stripe shirt Alexandar Nikolich / Long shorts Mikolaj Szwaja / Boots Koi / Bunny ears Chloe Messer / Necklaces Totintor, Lag World / Brooch Accessories Of Old

It’s like, that’s one book out of a zillion books I’ve read. I just happened to mention that one. But the point being, I have a direct reflection of what a special privileged position I’ve been in, and how the projects have impacted people. So, the Cons are like a super extra recognition of how lucky I am to have done them. It’s interesting when people talk about, “what’s your dream project?” or “what do you want to do?”. I never did this because I wanted to be rich. I never did it because I wanted to be famous. I just always wanted to perform. My dream’s never been to be in the MCU Universe. My projects are generally more obscure or like, I’d be like, the life and death of Marina Abramovich, which I’ve said for years, which was a show I saw 25 years ago in New York city. She staged her own funeral with Willem Dafoe as the narrator. And so now coming full circle, I’ve been wanting to do kind of a one man show for years, just because I’ve wanted to be in the theatre again and have control. Not have someone else cut and paste my work or cut out my work.  I’ve been working with a director and producer, we’ve known each other for a year now. He’s based in France, and we just connected. Creatively, collaboratively. It’s given me this like, enormous sense of pride that I have not felt on certain projects I’ve booked.

I’m proud of my performances, and the characters that I get the opportunities to do. I think I’ve done a really good job. I’m proud of them. People know you for certain things. But I think the sense of accomplishment is going to be very different with this theatre piece, and that will hopefully go to theatre festivals, which scares the fuck out of me. But in the most beautiful way. I’m so excited about it. But again it’s not something that I was like, I wish next week I could do this, you know? Once I’m there I’ll love it and I’ll be excited, but you know, anxiety and nerves kick in too. I never feel like, am I good enough? But I just always get very, yeah, nervous.

They say that’s a good thing. So, I did want to ask about Unabomber as well, which you’ve just been in with Shailene Woodley and Russell Crowe. It’s just been number one on Netflix. How did your involvement in that come about? Was it just the standard audition process?

Yeah. I think it was, I think actually I auditioned originally for Alexander [Ludwig]’s role.  But then they were like, “what about this guy? This guy that talks less, and does less” [laughs]. We had such a fun time doing that though, shooting in Montreal. And you know, it’s funny because the reaction to it, or certainly to my performance and my presence, was positive. I think it was partly because people are used to seeing me in a certain way. And so just to have me… I don’t want to say being normal, but you know, just being a character that is not doing anything crazy. I think it was like, wow, [people see] I can do different roles. You just don’t always get the opportunities to do, or perhaps I just don’t book those. But [Unabomber] was a great job. We had so much fun, so many laughs.

Full look Adolf Maldonado / Jewellery Stylist’s own

Did you know much about that case before you went into it?

All I knew was probably what the general public knew of it when it happened. Someone on it had read books on Kaczynski. They had been immersed in that world. I hadn’t. I didn’t know about the whole Harvard thing, you know, that he was a genius, by definition. He was a very smart man. And the manifesto was certainly something, that when you read it, a lot of it, you’re like… I don’t disagree. The stuff he says about technology, and it’s just that fine line between genius and madness. He just went a bit haywire. But yeah, Unabomber was just a super fun experience and great people. Alexander and Marc [Menchaca] and Shailene and I, we just had a fun time on that set, and it’s done quite well. I think Janus [Metz, director] did a really fantastic job of jumping timelines.

GTA 6 is out next week. They’re saying it’s the most expensive entertainment product ever made.

I’m sure it will be. GTA 5 was, you know, 13 years ago, That did like, I forget the exact numbers, like a billion dollars in three days. It was the largest grossing entertainment product of all time, at the time, which included all the Star Wars films, or something like that. It’s mad. It’s crazy.

Full set Adolf Maldonado / Wrist cuff B_DODI / Mask Stylist’s own

It’s funny, beause I think you’re either someone who who’s aware of it or not. There’s certain people that don’t understand the magnitude of the numbers. Everyone knows Star Wars, for example, but if you’re not a gamer, if you’re not in that world, you can almost be oblivious to its impact.

I don’t know anything about gaming, you know. I’ve never played them. I love the character that I did. I know, the other two [lead cast members], Ned [Luke] and Shawn [Fonteno] that were in GTA 5, they like to game. They enjoyed that. They’re looking forward to it, as any fan of the franchise or of video games would. But when people are like, you know, “are you excited about it?” I’m like… I try to tell people it’s like, “are you excited to read Zadie Smith’s new book?” And they’re like, “who’s Zadie Smith?”

You’re like, “That’s my GTA 6, her new book”

Some people can’t relate to that, and I’m like, well, that’s what I can relate to. So it’s not gonna change my life any more than Zadie Smith’s new book is gonna change your life, if you’re not into that. I wish them the best. If it makes $6 billion, it doesn’t matter to me anymore. It is what it is.

But you have, quite famously, been doing a live stream of GTA5 recently. So my question is, why now? Does it feel like it’s the final hurrah for this chapter of the GTA series?

Ned just really loves to do it. And he’s a friend. He’s a brother now. I was supposed to do another [episode of the streaming series], but now I might have to bail on that just because my schedule has changed drastically. But I’d never played it and I still didn’t play it. I had, you know, the fake controller.

Leather jacket and skirt Steven Liang / Two piece vest Brian Clarke

I think people might have clocked that [laughs]

Yeah. It was my bit. My typical sort of jackassery. But yeah, Ned is so into it, he loves it. And I’m happy for him. And as someone I love, as a brother, someone I’ve been doing this with for 13 years, I was like, yeah, I’ll do it, it’d be funny. I’d seen the scenes and clips and stuff. It was sort of like our photoshoot, right? It’d be like, I was asked, and I wanted to do it, and it was fun, but I became part of it. You know what I’m saying? It’s like, Ned asked me do something, that’s like you asking me to collaborate on the Principle shoot. I was like, yeah, sure. Sounds fun.

I know a lot of people as well have been saying things and speculating about Trevor being in GTA 6 in some capacity, and perhaps this is an unpopular opinion from me, but I often think that when something’s good, it should just be left as it is. The new game is completely different, it’s a different city, whatever. It’s like TV reboots, they’re often never as good as the original when revisited many years later. Can we not just appreciate it for what it was, and leave it there?

Yeah, I’m not a fan of all of the reboots and the sequels. I don’t get the… the hunger for that, but there is, because it makes money and that’s why people do it. I always thought, you know, the best thing that could happen with Trevor, just as in the opening of GTA 5 where I stomp on a character’s head who was in GTA 4, I think his name was Johnny. But, you know, I’m just an actor. I got no skin in this game, no skin in Rockstar’s game. But if I thought it would have been a nice pass the torch moment, if Trevor did appear in the beginning, sitting on the toilet and just…

Yeah, just a nod.

Just like at the very beginning, like some weird thing. Or walking and something falls on his head and he hits the ground. It’s just sort of like acknowledgement that…

That chapter’s closed.

Yeah. On to the next one.

Trousers Adolf Maldonado / Necklace B_DODI

You know, sometimes cameos can be welcome because it doesn’t taint what came before it. You’re not trying to outdo or match the standard of something that was done before. It’s just a little nod and a little acknowledgement.

Yeah. I’m curious though how it would work with the world being so different. And it certainly seems like the animation this time round looks so much better than it did 15 years ago. So I’d be curious how GTA 5 characters would be looking in GTA 6. There’s an improvement. You just look at the world, and the way they move. Their eyes are becoming better. The hair.

There’s some screenshots they actually released today. In one, you can see every pore on the characters’ face. The skin texture is very lifelike.

Yeah, and that’s technology, right? So, I’d be curious. But you know, not my duck, not my bottle. Not my monkey, not my cage.

I have seen comments from people online saying that you do seem a bit more endeared to GTA, just in acknowledging it or whatever. What would you say to that? Has your perspective changed over time?

I’ve always been proud of the character. I’ve always been proud of what we created. That being the actors, and the performances. I don’t play the game, so I can’t address that. You know, the only thing for it is again, people take little soundbites. And all of a sudden, people just grab onto stuff. I think early on, everyone was like, “Oh, he hates Trevor” and “He hates being called Trevor”. And even to this day, these Comic Cons, people will still be like, “Trevor, I mean, sorry, I know you hate to be called Trevor.”  And like, that’s been all blown out of proportion. Or that I hate GTA and now I’m starting to embrace it more. No, it’s just early on, there was a lot of people calling me Trevor. And I’d be like, well, my name is Steven. So I could never understand that. So it’s always like “What’s your name, David? Okay, Nolan.” It doesn’t make sense if you know someone’s name and you’re calling them someone else’s name. I don’t get it. And I understand people associate with characters and connections. At these Comic Cons, they’re not Documentary Cons. So I couldn’t be these people. I mean, I couldn’t even be Trevor, because he’s a cartoon. Simon [from The Walking Dead] was a human on a TV show, at least. Yeah, it’s just one of those things. It’s like… [scratches head]. It’s like me calling you, you know, Barbara.

Coat Adolf Maldonado / Leather trousers Steven Liang / Boots Koi / Necklaces Lag World, B_DODI

Do you think that a lot of it is people perceiving the fact that you’re just not a gamer, as being that you don’t like the role?

Our best bet would be to track someone down and ask them, cause I’m curious. I get there’s an association there that people love, and I know it’s not meant to hurt me or insult me. I’m more just curious as to how… that’s not my name. So it’s just that. I haven’t really changed. It’s always been about the fans. I think certain things just get taken and then off they go. People were wishing me happy birthday the other day, but it’s not my birthday. I was probably asked in some interview when my birthday was, and didn’t feel like that needed to be known. So if I said, November, whatever. My birthday is in May, but people just grab onto stuff, and off they go.

I did want to touch on Comic Con as well. I think I said at the shoot as well, the perception of Comic Con is really changing now. I think previously it was something that was viewed as quite nerdy, or quite niche. And now I know a lot of people that go to Comic Cons, and also just the rosters seem to get bigger, and more people are signing up to do it.  I wanted to know about your experience of what Comic Con is like.

Everything is under this umbrella of incredibly grateful. I’m incredibly privileged to be in this position. To be in the position to make people happy, that’s amazing. I don’t understand them, but I don’t understand sports. People spend a lot of money for that. I’m always first and foremost about the fans, those being the paying customer. They pay to get in, pay for autographs, pay for pictures. And I think I’m recognised now as giving good Con. Even this one last weekend, someone said, “I’ve been going to these Cons for like 15 or 20 years, and you’re the only person I’ve ever seen interact and come into the [waiting] lines.” And I do that when people are waiting for two hours, let’s say, and I’m about to go for a photo op in front of my table. I’m there all day, because I’m there for them, because these people have paid. And I just make sure everyone’s okay. That’s not me doing anything crazy or special. That’s just me checking in. You’re standing on the cement here for two hours, I apologise, but I’m also trying to give you all an experience, as opposed to just rubber stamping it and calling in the next. So, you know, I’m so appreciative. Without them, I probably wouldn’t be Zooming from my house. We would have had to sell it and be, you know, be Zooming from a different place. I think obviously there’s a huge difference between the big celebrities that blast in, and make crazy money. But also the big thing is that it’s good energy. Everyone is there because they’re celebrating something, and it makes them happy. So the energy, that’s pretty cool. That’s pretty unique because even in sports, it’s a bit of a different energy, with the competitiveness or aggression or all of that. Comic Cons aren’t about aggression. They’re just about people. Everyone is under one roof for one reason, because what’s happening is makes them happy. I think it was in London, this whole quarter of the convention arena we were in was packed, right? Like one of those lines usually associated with Hayden Christiansen or Ewan McGregor or someone. But it was the line for, like, YouTube streamers.

That’s a whole other world.

Yeah, I had no idea, and their lineup was from 9am until 7pm. Crazy. But if it makes them happy, that’s great.

Blazer Brian Clarke / Stripe shirt Alexandar Nikolich / Long shorts Mikolaj Szwaja / Boots Koi / Sunglasses Lag World / Necklaces Totintor / Brooch Accessories Of Old

I also want to ask about indie films, because you’ve obviously been a part of quite a number of them now. What is the most significant difference between an indie film, and a production with Netflix, for example? Or a 22 season cable show?

When I did Emancipation with Apple TV, I think that was a $125 million budget. It was a crazy budget. And then I did a short film that… I don’t even know what the budget was, but I worked a day on it and it was obviously not very much money. On all these things, honestly, I mean, the food can sometimes differ, you know, and productions, but from from the $125 million to the $2500, it all just depends on the people. Wheels can fall off at any time. Wheels fell off on the $125 million dollar one. Obviously the setups can be bigger. Sometimes you get more time. But then, you know, like The Walking Dead, there’s a show that is, you know, doing very well and making a lot of money. But if you’re shooting at night and there’s lightning, you gotta wait till the lightning stops. You have an hour’s grace, and then we’d wait, and then the lightning would strike again. So you have to wait. So we’re doing an all night shoot and we’re going all night with lightning. And then it’s now 4 am, and you’ve been sitting in the holding van all night. Lightning’s finally stopped. And guess what? The light’s starting to change. So it doesn’t matter if it’s a hundred million dollar production, or a thousand dollar. You got to get out there and get your shot before the light changes. So you have one take to get it, and that can happen on any production.

I think the thing that I like about indie films as well is you know that when you kind of remove that aspect, the financial aspect, you know that everyone is there because they’re passionate about the scripts, or whatever it is. I think a lot of actors now wouldn’t do theatre, for example, because they’re more focused on building their social following, and they know that theatre is a very limited audience. With an indie film, you know that everyone on set is passionate about what they’re doing and it’s not being driven by financial gain.

Right. It is just an individual thing. It’s like the Baywatch reboot, I heard there was so many influencers that were hired for that TV show. Influencers being, I guess, just people with an enormous following that aren’t actors, really, they’re just popular for doing whatever. That’s a shame, because it’s a big insult to the craft and to those actors trying to just get a gig. But a great example was that I did one day on this short film that was so beautiful and such an artistic, unique vision, that I just had to do it. It was like, I want to do this. There was no money, and it didn’t matter. Beautiful setting. But there was one person that the director warned me there had been problems with. And it just comes back to being kind, and everyone just trying to do their best job. It’s a team sport, we’ve got to have fun and realise how lucky we are to all be together making something.

Would you ever have any interest in working behind the camera?

No. I love to be of service to someone’s words and to the vision. And that’s good for me. I don’t have any desires to direct, or to write my own screenplay. I mean, maybe I’d be better off if I would have gone down the, you know, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck route of creating Good Will Hunting.  The theatre piece is my thing, but again, that’s not exactly gonna get global attention, but it certainly checks all of my boxes, and gets me excited.

Coat Gia Jenkins / Leather trousers Steven Liang / Necklaces Lag World

Has your approach to the projects that you get involved in changed over time? Or would you say you’ve always had a similar perspective?

I don’t work all the time. I haven’t done six, seven months of filming, and only have a week off and get left needing a break, you know? I have more breaks than work. So I’ll take the gig that keeps me going. I’ve just been traveling with the Comic Cons, which is great. I’d love to be filming for six months. When I film these things, I do three or four days and then maybe have four days off. The last thing I shot, that involved heavy consecutive days, was a film I did in the UK, maybe 15 years ago, and it was just me. We worked five days a week for two, three weeks straight. That’s the last time I’ve worked like five consecutive days.

It’s more time spent with the dog. That’s all I’m hearing.

[Laughs] I love to work, I love to play. I love my dog, I love my home, I love my businesses, I love my life. It’s beautiful. But also, I’m still reaching, right? I still want to collaborate. That’s what brought us together. I love to play. I love to create. That’s what, you know, gets me excited. Talking about the process, talking about the craft, it wakes me up, invigorates me. That’s obviously what I was meant to be doing. When you do something that you’re meant to be doing, it fulfils you in such a different way than any other thing can. That’s a better answer to that question you asked way back when. I’ll look way better if you put that answer on to that [laughs].

The last thing I really wanted to ask about was just whether there are any projects that you’re working on at the moment?

I shot an indie film that’s so beautiful with Gayle Rankin, Ed Harris, and Amy Madigan. When I read that script, I bawled my eyes out. I was just so happy to be involved. It was just three days on that. But I’m not sure when that comes out. There’s been a few things, like Deville. The trailer is out. I think Luca the director is beautiful, and he’ll be one that I’ll just follow with whatever he does. I’ll be like, yep, [if he’s involved] I want to do it. Deville had a million views already on YouTube, in three weeks. [Luca’s] very good at mixing the the business with the attention. That’s an anthology film where I’m the maker of this Deville, and then we follow it for a decade, every decade, and different characters come in to obviously buy the car, from another generation. And then I sort of appear throughout, with the different characters, like Tilda Swinton when she does her film, characters, and then my character comes around at the end. It’s an incredible idea, but we have to get more financing. We’ve shot the first 27 minutes, which looks incredible. Like when we all sat and watched it, to see how it came out, we were all like, “holy fuck!” Because I’m able to separate that it’s me too, when I’m watching it. We were all kind of like, that’s definitely the best work that’s been captured. But as far as those 27 minutes, I’m like, it’s the film is amazing.  The performance that I did is good. But who knows when that comes out? We have to finish it next year. And now this theatre piece, that would hopefully be in a theatre festival. There’s quite a world-renowned theatre festival in Italy next summer. We’ve discussed that being the goal, to try to do that. Then ideally I’d love to perform in London somewhere. Or go to St. Anne’s Warehouse in New York. I hope we get to do more with that. I’d love to be on a TV show as a regular. It’d be nice to work for a few months in a row. Always. But that theatre piece is like… that’s been my dream for 20 years. That’s what I’m most excited about and hopefully I’ll get some work in between that as well. But the excitement I feel for this theatre piece is like the best.

Can’t wait to see. Thank you, it was a pleasure.

Full look Adolf Maldonado / Jewellery Stylist’s own

Unabomber is streaming on Netflix now.

Watch the trailer for DEVILLE here.

Follow Steven