1. He was once known as “the unluckiest man in Hollywood”
“[About losing out on Batman, James Bond and Twiligh t ’s Edward Cullen.] Much of this is internet rumours.
“Batman, I didn’t even screen test so there was no disappointment there. Twilight, there was talk but I was too old for the part by the time they started making the film. Bond, yeah, I wasn’t thrilled.
“[At that] stage I was tempted to say goodbye to the acting industry, because things really weren’t working, and I was stuck in there because of the Bond screen-test and I got that and I thought, ‘Oh, OK, there is a certain recognition here and yes I didn’t get the role, but if I can get to second on those kind of things at such a young age, perhaps I can get to first on other big things.’ I must have been around 23. The options were Daniel Craig, who was more the traditional age of Bond, and I think Daniel was obviously far more right for the role.
“[On being called the unluckiest man in Hollywood.] Now that’s quite a title! One to be proud of. I see it more as timing. Timing has been everything for me and I’m grateful for that. Getting the chance to grow and evolve, take my time.
“I’m a firm believer in everything happening for a reason. Certainly, when it comes to your career. And in this business, 99 per cent is rejection. I’m no different than anyone else.”
2. He’s terrible at making cocktails
“After certain rejections, you believe in yourself more. It spurs you on. But in saying that, there were down times. Times when I was out in LA for months, with no job out of it and forced to come home, come back to London and get a job as a bartender which I was just awful at. I couldn’t make cocktails! And I worked in a cocktail bar, just off Trafalgar Square. I was awful. I said I could make them to get the job but then when it came down to it, hadn’t a clue.
“And I’d save up the money to pay for the flights and pay for the accommodation to get back out to LA to audition and again, come back after a few months with nothing. But I never wanted to quit.”
3. He was bullied for being overweight
“It’s bullying. So many go through it, I went through it. I was overweight in school and kids are kids, and kids can be very mean. I was an easy target. Though, it wasn’t so much the name-calling, it was more that I felt very alone. I was so quiet. Didn’t talk much. That has more of an effect. But again, how many young kids, teenagers feel the same way? It’s a part of growing up.
“But I have never let that experience weigh me down. It made me all the more ambitious and anxious to prove myself and overcome all those negative perceptions and insults. I’m much tougher and strong-willed because of all that and I was also lucky to have wonderfully supportive parents who were constantly encouraging me and helping me achieve my goals in life. I also have great brothers who always stood beside me and I do the same for them.”
4. Real books or e-books?
“I like reading. I really enjoy it. It’s nice to escape into a good book every now and then or a good series of books. [I read both books and e-books.] It’s tough to beat a book, because a book is just great. There’s something about holding a book and it being there and physical and real and you’re looking at a page as opposed to a light.
“But the iPad is really handy. I mean travelling with any kind of reader like that, whatever it is, any kind of tablet, it’s just easier as opposed to carrying five scripts and a book or a chunky book like that which you then have to carry as well as your hand luggage and your laptop or whatever the case may be. Tablets do become very convenient.”
5. His parents weren’t thrilled about acting as a career
“I was thinking about going to a drama school instead of a university, my father initially said, ‘Absolutely not. Go to university, get a proper degree’, and quite right, too. And if you want to go to drama school after university, then, yeah, go ahead and do that. But get a real degree, so you have something to fall back on, because the acting industry, quite rightly, is incredibly hard, it’s a hard nut to crack. And as soon as I got that job and I was making money, everyone was saying, ‘Well, you are making money now, you are a professional actor.’ And so that’s a good thing as opposed to just chasing the acting dream for 12 years and actually not getting work.”
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