5 hours ago
7
You’re stranded on a lifeboat with Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Peter Mullan, James Cosmo, Keith Allen and Irvine Welsh. Who do you eat first? DarkAnaemicI77
I suppose you have to think about who’s the healthiest and has looked after their body best. I reckon Ewan would be a wee bit too chewy, and Irvine a wee bit pickled. I’ll go for Kevin McKidd because he’s been out in LA for 20 years, eating good food.
Did you really not like Zippy the West Highland terrier who played Wee Jock in Hamish Macbeth? Campbell97
I’m sure this will disappoint people, but there must have been 10 Wee Jocks. I just don’t like working with animals because they don’t know they’re acting, so it can take them 10 takes to cross a road. The best animals I’ve ever worked with were the pigeons on The Full Monty TV show, which we had to chase. I thought: “This is never going to work.” But they just did what they were told and would fly out of their box and land on your shoulder. I love pigeons now. Dogs, not so much.
I was in the Youth Opportunities Programme touring theatre company at Glasgow Arts Centre shortly after you in the early 80s and it shaped my future. How important was the experience for you – and do you think it’s even harder now for people from working-class backgrounds to get into the arts? Chorazon and EastJam
My experience was fantastic. If I hadn’t found that place, I definitely wouldn’t be speaking to you today. It was certainly hard when I was starting off, especially because of the accent. You rarely heard a Scottish accent on TV or film, other than Sean Connery. But things changed and Trainspotting had quite a lot to do with that, when the Scottish accent became more familiar to people. I think you see far more working-class actors in TV and film nowadays than you did back in the 80s, which is good.
What was it like to look in the mirror and see John Lennon staring back at you in Yesterday? MegMay
I don’t particularly look like John Lennon, but apparently there’s something about the bridge of my nose that looks a bit like his, which is what the wonderful prosthetics people focused on. When they were putting it all on, I’d sunk quite low in the chair, so I could only see the top of my head in the mirror. When they finished and I sat up, it was quite freaky.
I really enjoyed Three at the Edinburgh international film festival. When you direct, do you draw more from directors you’ve worked with or on your own instincts as an actor? PettyDabbler
I’ve been phenomenally lucky to work with some fantastic directors such as Ken Loach, Danny Boyle and Alan Parker, who you would be foolish not to learn from. Directing myself in The Legend of Barney Thomson was certainly different to just acting, because directors have 500 fires to put out each day, so I was thinking more about the directing than the performance.
Your performance as Albie Kinsella in Cracker, a man traumatised by Hillsborough, was terrifying and incredibly moving. How did you go about creating him? LiffeyBear
I remember watching the Liverpool game at Hillsborough on TV back in 1989, but not fully appreciating what had happened. Certainly, the way the Sun reported it was disgusting, accusing Liverpool fans of pissing on police officers and stuff like that. I took those terrible stories and the behaviour of the police as my starting point, along with the anger people across Liverpool felt at what had happened.
Did you all really show everything to the audience at the end of The Full Monty? WomanofWolfville
Yes, we did. What a shocker that was! We only did the entire strip once and it was shot from the back, thank God. It took two and a half days to shoot. We’d come on, take off our ties, the audience would get excited and then we would cut for half an hour to set up the next shot. We took off our shirts, then our hats. By the end, the audience must have thought: “This isn’t going to happen.” So when it did, the reaction from the crowd of mainly women was terrifying.
Theatre is clearly important to you and you’re an immensely versatile actor. Is there any particular reason why we don’t see you treading the boards? Nepthsolem
I worked in Scottish theatre for years and later had my own theatre company. But then TV and film came into my life and I’ve gone down that road ever since. I’m constantly offered theatre and West End shows, and always take it to the brink before running away again. You’ve got to really love theatre to do it. It’s easy for a lot of actors to put on rose-tinted specs about theatre, but it’s incredibly hard work. I wouldn’t want to short-change the audience by going into a piece that I had to do twice a day for months, and that I didn’t really love.
What happened to you recommending new bands every week on your Saturday Tunes on Twitter/X? FFreund
That began during the pandemic. I know a lot of young musicians through my kids, and I became acutely aware that there were no gigs, no money, no music. I tried my best to say: “You should listen to stuff you’ve never heard.” I was easily listening to 200 tunes a week. I loved a band called Moonlight Parade, this guy called Nick Shane from Dundee, and Skylights from Leeds. I kind of fell out of love with Twitter, and it’s more difficult to do it on Instagram. But I’m trying to think of a way to bring it back.
Did Blur get cross when you were in an Oasis video? TopTramp
Yes. I know Damon very well. Afterwards, he said: “Why did you do that? Why have you never done one of ours?” I said: “Because you never asked me!” I was gutted that I didn’t get to see Oasis last year, but my wife and kids were there on the first night at Heaton Park, and my wife said she saw people crying all over the place. They recorded a bit of Little By Little – the video I’m in – and when they showed me, it almost made me cry, too.
It’s shite being Scottish! Discuss. TheReturnOfDrWhatson
It’s shite being from any country really, isn’t it? I think it depends on your lot in life. You could equally say it’s beautiful and fantastic being Scottish. You see that when the Scottish national team play, the pride people have – they just love being Scottish. But it depends on your social circumstances. If life is socially difficult for you, then of course it’s shite being Scottish. But equally, it can be a brilliant thing, too.
English (US) ·