The movie gangster icon plays Kaya Scodelario's wise-guy dad, in Guy Ritchie's new spin-off series, but he was meant to team up with the director much earlier! Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 - Ray, Kaya, congratulations on the series.
00:02 I've smashed my way through three episodes so far,
00:05 three and a bit, and it is very binge-worthy.
00:08 I know it's a bit of a dirty word now
00:09 'cause we should really just take our time with things,
00:11 but I loved it, I thought it was great.
00:13 You guys are a really good pairing in this as well
00:16 'cause I was thinking about it,
00:17 and out of everyone in the cast,
00:18 you may have more of a kind of a kindred spirit.
00:21 You both kind of broke through very young.
00:24 Kaya, obviously, in Skins.
00:26 Ray, I discovered you watching both Robin of Sherwood.
00:29 - Ah, yes. - Which was quality telling.
00:32 And Scum, which I watched really young,
00:35 which I do not recommend to watch
00:37 if you're as young as I was,
00:38 but both excellent in their own way.
00:40 Having kind of been in the business a long time,
00:44 the both of you have been involved
00:45 in all sorts of different projects,
00:46 do you think you have an eye on
00:48 when something really works,
00:49 when some magic is being made, when something's...
00:52 - I'd like to think so, but to be honest,
00:54 I think taste changes so often now that it's hard.
00:56 There'll be something that you think,
00:57 "Well, this is actually really good quality
00:59 and really great," and no one will ever see it.
01:01 And you're like, "Oh, it's a shame."
01:02 But I try not to think about it, to be honest.
01:05 For me, the cool bit is being on set,
01:07 is giving the performance,
01:09 and then it becomes something else.
01:11 - Somebody else's problem. - Yeah,
01:12 somebody else's problem.
01:12 And I try not to worry or overthink
01:15 what it may become afterwards,
01:18 'cause I've learned that you never know.
01:19 And that's kind of great.
01:20 Like, let it be the world. - It's weird, isn't it?
01:22 It's weird because, you know,
01:24 nine times out of 10, you feel, "This feels really good."
01:27 But, you know, then it goes to the editing room.
01:30 - Yeah, it's different.
01:30 - Yeah, and when stuff's good,
01:32 you've got to look at the editor and go,
01:34 "Yeah, he's done his job."
01:36 And, you know, you can only do your job,
01:39 and it's left to someone else to get on with, in a way.
01:41 - Do you think those early starts you both had
01:43 give you more of a kind of relaxed view
01:46 of the business, in a way,
01:48 compared to someone who kind of breaks through
01:49 on a show like this,
01:50 and they put all their hopes and dreams
01:51 and expectations on it?
01:52 - I wouldn't say relaxed.
01:53 I'd say deep-rooted trauma.
01:55 (laughing)
01:57 No, there is a freedom,
01:58 and I think what was really fortunate,
02:01 and I'll speak for myself,
02:02 is starting before social media.
02:03 I'm really glad that I learned how to be in a project
02:08 and not worry how many followers you have,
02:10 or the marketing after.
02:11 Like, it was just about the project
02:13 and about whether that could be good.
02:14 And starting off in England, as well,
02:16 working on film sets here,
02:17 and you're treated quite normally,
02:19 and I think that's a great thing.
02:21 I think it's like, you're not made to think
02:23 that you're going to be a star or anything gross like that,
02:25 because it's not about that.
02:27 Our culture with it is a lot more about the work,
02:29 and that's something I'm really quite grateful for.
02:31 It must be a huge pressure now
02:33 to be on your first show,
02:35 and it absolutely blow up,
02:36 and then overnight you're really, really famous,
02:38 and yeah, I don't know.
02:39 No, I wouldn't like that.
02:41 - Well, the one good part is--
02:42 - It's just different the way they go about it today.
02:44 I mean, just doing this, this junkie,
02:48 is totally different
02:49 what it would have been six, seven, eight years ago.
02:52 It's all to do with the media.
02:56 And I know you have to sell a project and all that,
02:59 but it's just the way it's Instagram, Facebook,
03:03 and all that is.
03:05 It's in your face all the time, you know?
03:07 - Well, I don't think anyone involved in this
03:09 has any worries about where it's gonna go,
03:10 because I think it's brilliant.
03:12 I thought the film The Gentleman
03:13 was the best thing Guy Ritchie had done for a few years,
03:15 and I was interested to see
03:16 how this was gonna transfer onto TV,
03:19 and I think it's done it really, really well.
03:21 With the pacing of it, it's really entertaining.
03:23 It hits all those points you want.
03:25 - Rae, you've been involved in two
03:26 of the greatest gangster movies ever made already,
03:31 in like Sexy Beast, The Departed, to name just two,
03:33 but there's a bunch more.
03:35 But Kai's doing a lot of the heavy lifting,
03:37 the heavy gangstering in the first few episodes in this.
03:40 Did you draw any inspiration,
03:42 or take any advice from this man,
03:44 on how to be intimidated on screen,
03:47 how to pull off this world?
03:49 - Well, I mean, when I found out
03:51 that Rae was playing my dad,
03:52 it took it to another level, in a really great way.
03:55 It meant that I had to step up to the plate,
03:56 and Susie had to step up.
03:58 Like, it meant that, right,
03:59 I knew that she had to be as powerful as possible,
04:04 because I know that everything Rae touches turns to gold,
04:08 and that he was gonna do an incredible job.
04:10 I'm really kissing your bum today, aren't I?
04:12 - I know, I can't believe it.
04:14 - It's true.
04:15 And yeah, I definitely took inspiration
04:17 from knowing that he was gonna feel that part,
04:19 and that I could then step up to the plate,
04:21 and do as much as I could with her as possible.
04:24 Yeah.
04:25 - Right.
04:26 I mean, it's weird to think, as a film fan,
04:28 you look at the movies that redefined the genre,
04:32 and redefined British cinema for a while,
04:34 that guy did with Matthew Vaughn,
04:36 like "Lock, Stock and Snatch",
04:38 and it seems mad that you weren't involved
04:40 in those movies.
04:43 - I nearly was in "Lock, Stock", I nearly was.
04:45 - I did wonder how late that was.
04:46 - Yeah, no, I was gonna do it,
04:47 and then the dates moved.
04:49 - Right.
04:50 - When they were doing it,
04:51 and I went off, got another job.
04:53 And then by the time they were coming to make it,
04:56 I was doing the other job, so it's gone.
04:59 And over the years, it just hasn't happened,
05:02 and it's lovely now,
05:05 when you get a little bit older,
05:06 and you look at something,
05:08 and it's a different kind of genre, really,
05:11 even though it's a gangster movie,
05:13 but right away you read it,
05:15 and there's a guy sitting in a nick somewhere,
05:18 having a barbecue with his mates,
05:20 and you go, "Oh, for fuck's sake,
05:22 "it's got nothing to do with anything
05:24 "that I've ever done before."
05:26 But you've gotta open your mind to that,
05:28 and you've gotta say, "Okay, that's what we're doing,
05:31 "that's what we're making,
05:32 "we're making something a little bit over there."
05:36 That's actually good,
05:36 because you get rid of all the other shit,
05:39 you just get on with doing what you're making,
05:41 but you have to believe it.
05:43 - That is actually separate to what I was gonna say.
05:46 Because he's such a distinctive director,
05:48 and he has very distinctive films,
05:49 and he has very distinctive characters,
05:51 I wondered, as actors,
05:53 whether you have to really jettison
05:56 and avoid any of that previous work,
05:58 not to hit any of those notes.
06:01 - No, I try to avoid it.
06:02 I think it's important,
06:03 you know, it's like when you do a movie
06:05 that's adapted from a novel or something,
06:07 of course the source material is extremely important,
06:09 but the thing you're creating is separate to that,
06:11 and our world is separate to the movie.
06:13 It's within the same universe
06:15 with the kind of, the style and the heightenedness of it,
06:17 but it's its own thing.
06:19 And I thought it was quite important
06:21 to have that separation.
06:23 But I think with Guy's style,
06:24 the second you read the dialogue, it's there.
06:26 You can't help but fall into the rhythm of speaking
06:29 in the way that we're kind of all used to
06:30 as actors speaking in his films.
06:32 Because it's how it's written.
06:33 It's a lack of punctuation,
06:34 which at first you're like, hang on a minute,
06:36 this is everything my English teacher told me was wrong.
06:39 But then you kind of lean into it,
06:41 and it allows you to go big
06:44 and to have a freedom within the world
06:47 because it is a heightened environment
06:49 that you wouldn't have on another project.
06:51 And I think for me personally as an actor,
06:53 that was really quite exciting.
06:54 - Yeah, I've kind of been doing it for years,
06:56 just taking the commas and the full stops out of it
07:00 when you get a scene,
07:01 'cause that actually makes you in a rhythm.
07:04 You actually start talking. - Yeah, you find that yourself.
07:05 - Like you should talk.
07:06 But if you take all that out and just rev it,
07:10 and you just take a breather when you want,
07:12 and you know, just go, what are you doing next?
07:14 - Finally, I just wondered,
07:15 I was listening to Michael Caine's autobiography recently,
07:18 and he talked about how much interest he got
07:19 from the actual gangster underworld after doing "Get Carter,"
07:23 and he'd be accosted by real-life gangsters going,
07:25 "Ah, what you got wrong in that?"
07:26 (laughing)
07:27 I wondered, is that something you've had in your career
07:31 or something you've thought about
07:32 where in the future now you might be sat at a bar or pub
07:34 and someone's gonna be like, "Well, let me tell you what's--"
07:37 - I grew up with them, babe.
07:38 I've got everything right.
07:40 I already know that world. (laughing)
07:43 - Same. (laughing)