Inside Michael Sheen & David Tennant's friendship

ODN

The actors have become inseparable since Good Omens and Staged launched. Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

00:00 I think of you as one of those actors who's both an actor's actor and a people's actor,

00:04 in a way. You've managed to cross that boundary between the David Tennants and the Daniel

00:09 Day-Lewis'. Do you ever get a sense of that in a way, like the warmness you get from people

00:16 in general, but also the acting community, that reverence almost? Not to embarrass you.

00:20 I don't know about that, but I live back at home where I grew up now, so I have a slightly

00:28 distorted view of things, because I'm basically around family and where I came from all the

00:34 time. So everyone's always very friendly, and it's rare that people throw things at

00:39 me in the street. But I don't know, if I ventured outside of my little corner of South Wales,

00:44 maybe they would. There's always a place somewhere where people

00:46 will throw things at you in the street. Someone will throw something at you, yeah.

00:49 I have had the great pleasure recently of binging out on Rob Brydon's podcast over the

00:54 last couple of weeks. Oh, right.

00:55 And last night I listened to his chat with you from a couple of years back, and you guys

00:59 were talking about that kind of point in your career where you feel almost a greater sense

01:03 of relaxation and satisfaction of knowing who you are and the things you enjoy doing,

01:08 not thinking, 'Oh, I should be just doing really serious things, but I'm going to do

01:11 what I get a kick out of.' And in your career, these last couple of years, barring COVID

01:17 and all that, they look to me from the outside as possibly the most satisfying couple of

01:22 years an actor could have. You look like you've had so much fun with Staged and with this

01:27 and all this kind of new duo that people love with you and David. Is that accurate? Are

01:31 you getting more satisfaction now than you have done in previous years?

01:34 I guess so. I mean, I think, yeah, there is a big difference, I think, as an actor from

01:38 when you feel like you're trying to make a name for yourself and establish yourself,

01:44 and then later on, if you're lucky enough, you feel like, 'Well, the pressures are different

01:49 now,' and you can sort of just, if you're fortunate enough to be able to have choice.

01:55 And yeah, the last few years I've really enjoyed. I think there was a period of time, I remember

02:01 Ian McKellen started doing things like, he was doing Panto and he was doing Coronation

02:05 Street and I remember thinking, 'See, he's just doing what he wants to do. It's great.'

02:10 And I found that quite a big inspiration. And so I love being able to do things that

02:16 I just enjoy doing. I've never done jobs because I felt anything other than I just

02:26 really liked the material and I would want to watch it myself, pretty much. And that's

02:30 why I think I've had quite a variety of almost different careers in a way. I've done a lot

02:37 of fantasy and sci-fi and people can sometimes look down on that more genre thing and think,

02:43 'Oh, it's not as serious as the Frost-Nixons or the Queen,' all that kind of stuff. But

02:48 there's no difference for me. I've thoroughly enjoyed everything and I feel very lucky that

02:51 I've got to do so many different kinds of things. But definitely over the, I would say,

02:55 maybe the last 10 years, yeah, I've wanted to do things that are much more personal to

03:01 me, I suppose, in some ways. And there's something wonderful about that, yeah.

03:05 I think the numbers don't lie and I think when you're making so many, giving enjoyment

03:10 to so many people through anything from the Damned United through to things like Good

03:14 Omens and the Stage and stuff like that, I think that's the only thing that matters at

03:18 the end of the day in any kind of art form in a way. It's for the people. Speaking about

03:23 Good Omens, of course, that's what we're here to speak about. And I'm a huge fan of Staged

03:27 as well and I remember a few years back now when it was first announced for Good Omens

03:32 that they were putting you guys together, yourself and David Tennant, two really beloved

03:37 actors of these aisles. There was so much excitement and so much goodwill about that

03:45 happening. Fast forward four years, you guys have just been in each other's pockets so

03:50 often. What's that ride been like and how much has your relationship shifted and changed

03:56 and evolved over those few years?

03:58 Well, yeah. I mean, we'd been in something together but we hadn't acted together in it

04:03 years and years ago. We'd sort of known each other socially a little bit but it was only

04:09 when we first started doing this first series, the first series of Good Omens, that we got

04:13 to properly know each other. And of course, you had no idea how it would work with these

04:18 two characters. I mean, on the whole, I think coming through, talking about starting your

04:23 careers off and trying to establish yourself, we'd probably been up for the same parts a

04:27 lot of the time. So we wouldn't be in something together because we'd be up for the same character.

04:33 So then being put together, it wasn't until that first day of the read-through on the

04:36 first series of this that we got any sense of how it might work together. It just sort

04:41 of clicked. Just the dynamic between us playing these particular characters just worked. And

04:47 then filming that first series, we were obviously together a lot of the time. And it was just

04:52 easy. There was no ego involved and there was nothing extraneous. It was just the work

04:57 and just having a nice time together. And then when we were in front of the camera together,

05:02 it just seemed to take off and worked really well.

05:05 And then we had our daughters at the same time, just after Good Omens. And so our families

05:11 started to become friendly. I mean, our daughters now send each other video messages to each

05:16 other.

05:17 Oh, wow. You're tied together then.

05:19 Yeah. Georgia has just been in the thing I've directed. So yeah, we're so entwined now.

05:27 And it seemed to move on to Staged as well, that it wasn't just these characters. The

05:32 dynamics still seemed to work quite well in another format. So yeah, I hope it continues.

05:37 It's a bit like being in a band now, almost.

05:39 I guess so, yeah.

05:40 When you're in a successful band and you go off and do your own things.

05:42 Your solo projects.

05:43 People are still like, "So are you guys going to get together and do another album?"

05:46 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, who knows how long this will go on for? And I think

05:51 Staged has probably come to an end now. But you should never say never. But I mean, I

05:56 think we'll always be looking for something to do together because we've just enjoyed

05:59 it so much.

06:00 And I have to ask quickly for myself. I'm such a huge fan of The Deal and Fantabulosa

06:06 and of course Damn United and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire stuff. You really have kind

06:11 of embodied so many great people in some great work over the years. I kind of wish Tony Blair

06:15 would return to frontline politics just so we can get something else with you in in the

06:19 future. Is there anyone on your mind who you'd like to have one more person you could have

06:24 a crack at, you think?

06:25 Oh, gosh. I mean, it's never really been about the person. It's always the script that comes

06:30 along, really. So it's not like I had a list of people I want to play those people. But

06:35 when the right person with the right script comes along, then it's really exciting. I'm

06:40 going to be playing a Nairin Bevan next year on stage, so I'm looking forward to that.

06:46 That's really exciting. But yeah, just interested to see if and when any of those sort of characters

06:51 come along again.

06:52 Well, fingers crossed that does another Fos Nixon and jumps onto screen down the line.

06:55 That'd be nice to see. So it's been a pleasure to meet you. Fantastic series. I absolutely

06:59 love it. I hope we get many, many, many more with you guys and yourself and I'll certainly

07:04 be there to watch. Thanks.

07:05 Brilliant. Thank you, Jonny.

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