Himesh Patel plays a director in new brand show, The Franchise. He says he might actually fancy dipping his toe into directing in future and reveals he's currently writing something very special at the moment. Report by Jonesl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00I love the outfit. Are these your little lucky charms?
00:03Yeah, yeah. It's a lovely little piece, yeah.
00:07Big Ben, strawberry. Oh, you've got them all. So, can you sum this up to me in a sentence,
00:11if you can, in a franchise?
00:13It's about the crew of a fictional superhero movie trying to keep their film together while
00:19the studio tries to dismantle it.
00:21When you read the script, you were a bit like, how is this going to work? Well, were you
00:25just absolutely buzzing for it?
00:27Buzzing, yeah. I could see it working immediately. And I've had the privilege of working with
00:33Armando and John Brown before, and I know how great they are and how fun their process
00:39is. And then to have Sam Mendes directing our first episode, I was just like, I'm all
00:44in.
00:45Were you a bit jealous of the fact that you didn't get to dress up in the Richard Gere
00:48style?
00:49Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I think I know how difficult that was for Billy and
00:54Richard, so I'm happy that I didn't have to do that.
00:58Yeah, no talcum powder and lycra pourings of into...
01:02Yeah, thankfully.
01:03Is your character based on anyone you've met before?
01:06It was sort of initially an amalgamation of the various first ADs I've worked with over
01:11the years, because I've been on TV film sets since I was 16. But then when we made the
01:16pilot, we had a wonderful first AD called Barry McCulloch, and he was really generous
01:21and gave me some time, and we sat down and he talked to me about his life, really, and
01:27how he became a first AD and what it takes to be a first AD, and that was really enlightening.
01:33Has it given you a little bit of, I don't know, do you want to maybe direct yourself
01:37next time in whatever you're in or produce?
01:39I would love to direct, yeah, and I would love to produce. I'm writing at the moment,
01:43so it's definitely something I have aspirations of doing, but I also don't take it lightly.
01:49It's a very, you know, it's a big thing to do that, so...
01:52What kind of thing are you writing, then?
01:54I'm writing a script with one of my close friends based on his memoir called Brown Baby.
01:59It's a story we're very excited to tell.
02:02Oh, incredible. And what is your favourite franchise, apart from this show, obviously?
02:07So many. So many great franchises. I really like the Bourne films. Yeah, those first three
02:14especially, I just think are really great movies.
02:17And would you try and pitch yourself into any of them? Is that how it works these days?
02:21I don't know. I haven't known. I've never gone chasing it myself, but maybe one day
02:27I'll be lucky enough.
02:28And you said you've been on set since you were 16. Are you happy with how you've come
02:32and what you've done, and how much more is there that you want to achieve? You've spoken
02:36about Brown Boy, it sounds amazing.
02:37Yeah. I mean, look, I just want to continue to grow and learn, and I think all actors
02:43are doing that with every job that they do. So I think I just want to keep doing that,
02:48and yeah, I'm very proud of the journey I've been on, and I hope it continues.
02:52It's going to be tough to beat yesterday. Favourite film ever. Loved it.
02:55Really? Well, thank you.
02:56Incredible film. Watched it a hundred times.
02:57Wow. Thanks.