YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?
Film quotes pose as questions. Film stars try to cope.
In the Crosshairs this month Douglas Booth Are you talking to me?
I am, indeed. And I’m pretty damn excited. Because growing up, I would buy Total Film every month on my way to drama school. And the dream back then was always, one day, hopefully, to grace the pages of your fine magazine.
Do you have an off switch?
I definitely do. Taking time between projects to switch off, to recalibrate, and to remember what it is to be a normal person is incredibly important. So often on set, you lose touch when you’re sort of treated as a baby. You can’t go to the toilet without someone following you around, and whispering into a headpiece. You get driven to work every day. It’s a very strange existence. So it’s very important to switch off between jobs and return to reality.
Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?
I always love the story that Alec Guinness called Star Wars a bunch of fairytale rubbish. And he was dismayed at having to come to work and to talk a bunch of mumbo jumbo. And thank God he did. He was my favourite growing up.
How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?
Quite a lot, and I’d much rather sit down and watch Fight Club than be in a fight.
Why don’t you tell me the story of your life?
I want to say that it’s just beginning, but I realise that it’s not anymore. I’m 26. I’m halfway to 52… When Harry Met Sally is one of my mum’s favourite films. I must have watched that a dozen times over the years. I’m in New York right now, so maybe I’ll go to Katz’s Deli. You pay to have someone be rude to you in that place, but I still love the experience.
What do you want to talk about now?
The Dirt is the right answer – my new movie about Mötley Crüe. I had the most incredible time making it. It’s based on the memoir of the same name, which is an outrageously entertaining book and made for an outrageously entertaining film. I don’t think you’ll ever have a rock band like that ever again. Or one who behaves like that, anyway.
‘SPENDING LONG DARK DAYS IN NIKKI SIXX’S HEROIN CLOSET MADE ME CRAZY’
What will you be drinking, sir?
Vodka martini, shaken, dry with a twist. I’ve always loved vodka, and then I got old enough and figured out that you could have a whole drink that’s basically a glass of vodka.
What are you afraid of?
Homesickness. I have to travel a lot for work, and I miss my friends and family. And I’m afraid of global warming. The rate at which we’re heating up the planet is fucking terrifying.
If I say to you “don’t think about elephants”, what do you think about?
Immediately about elephants.
Do you think there’s anything wrong with your mind, really?
I’m dyslexic, so you could technically say that there’s something wrong with my mind. But I love it. It’s driven me down a creative path that’s led me to speaking to you today.
Why do you do it? Why get up, why keep fighting?
Why do it? Because I love it. Why get up? Because my girlfriend insists on starting her day at 6am. And we keep fighting, because we have to. With the world the shape that it’s in right now, more of us have to stand up and fight.
We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven’t you?
Spending long dark days in Nikki Sixx’s heroin closet made me a little crazy. It was very, very difficult for a number of weeks to drop weight for those scenes. There’s only so much fake crack and heroin simulation before you go psycho.
Is life always this hard, or is it just when you’re a kid?
I think about those days when I hated school. But sometimes I just wish I could go back to school, and sit in a room with all my mates every day, and just learn things. Doesn’t that sound great?
If you want your name etched in stone, you’re going to have to take up the chisel yourself…
Very true. I realised that, at a very early age, if I wanted to say cool lines like that, with such talented people as Bill Nighy and Daniel Mays and Olivia Cooke, I’d have to start chiselling away – because no one’s going to do it for you.
ETA | 22 MARCH / THE DIRT STREAMS ON NETFLIX LATER THIS MONTH.