By Krista Madden
We met up with the super perky young British actor Jamie Blackley who stars in the latest Woody Allen film, Irrational Man. Jamie is only 24 but has already been in some great movies with some impressive co-stars. He played against Chloe Grace Moretz in If I Stay and Benedict Cumberbatch in The Fifth Estate as well as many others. His career is on track for many more exciting roles, we caught up with him to find out what it was like to work with Woody Allen and his co-stars; Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix and Parker Posey.
Krista: You seem like quite a Londoner, but you were born in the Isle of Mann?
Jamie: Born there, but then grew up in Bromley, South London.
K: You’ve done so much, and you’re a young man; were you just fiercely ambitious, did you always know you wanted to act?
J: My mum’s friend’s kid’s went to this Saturday school thing, and I was like, ‘I quite fancy giving that a go’. And I did it and just kind of fell in love with it. It was always a toss-up between music and acting; and I started on the clarinet but the acting was what I threw myself into.
K: That’s quite ‘Woody’ though isn’t it?
J: Yeah it is very Woody. I wish I’d kept it up now maybe I could have done some jazz or something!
K: So acting won then..
J: Yeah it definitely won, and I also realise I don’t like playing music for people….at all.. Just by myself, playing the guitar or whatever, because I’m not very good at playing guitar really.
K: So the Woody call. The prospect of working with him and knowing you were up for a role must have been exciting; how did that all play out?
J: I was in LA doing some press, and I was about to go home and I was so excited to go home, I don’t like being away from home… but my agent was like, ‘well you need you to go to New York on your way home, Woody Allen wants to meet you. He’s seen something and wants to meet you for this role.’ I was like ‘oh my god yeah I’ll be there!’. I was told it would be really short, maybe 5 mins or less, I wasn’t given anything to prepare, I was given some scenes at the door, and it’s my worst nightmare having to prepare something off the cuff!
I was told to speak up, as he was quite hard of hearing; I did the scenes once, he asked me how old I was, and then I left. And that was it! I went to the airport slept on the floor for like 4 hours, and I got a call when I was about to get on the plane and said they wanted me to do it! Best plane journey home ever!
K: Had you been a Woody Allen fan?
J: I didn’t know too much about him, but I’d watched his movies, I think they’re timeless.
K: Did you watch some old ones as well?
J: One of the first I’d watched was Annie Hall.. and I loved that film so much. What was interesting for me was that I’d never worked with an actor as a director before, because he is an unbelievable actor.
K: How did that differ then, as a director who acts too?
J: We did a press conference not long ago and someone asked him that, and he said that he wasn’t very vocal as a director, and he says, ‘well I just want them to get on with it and I don’t want to pester them.. I don’t want to keep bothering them and I want them to enjoy themselves’ and I think the reason he’s like that is because of his actor background, he’s been on the other side.
K: So did you love making the film, was it a great experience?
J: It really was, it was quick and I was there for just over a month, and it felt really quick and everyone had worked with each other a lot before.
K: Who do you look up to as an actor, who do you admire?
J: Joaquin a million percent and I think he is just unbelievable. I was expecting him be this dark character but he’s just a really, really lovely guy, he’s really open, really welcoming to me. I think someone like him, obviously (myself) being a young guy, I idolise him, it was really special, it was really cool.
K: So he’s someone who’s career you’d be happy to emulate?
J: Oh gosh, a hundredth of it! You’ve got to work and be able to take risks in things. I’ve been lucky with that in my career, and I’ve had more passive roles, but also working with people who I really admire, so it’s like a lesson to me.
K: What’s next for you?
J: I’m not sure yet, potentially something in the next couple of months that I’m not sure about yet.
K: What kind of films do you like to watch?
J: I like stories worth telling, I like stuff that makes me ask questions and go on Google or something, and look it up.
K: Are you a big reader?
J: More recently, because you read so many scripts it’s great, it’s like going to the cinema without paying, it’s wicked. I’m reading Secret History at the moment, which has a lot of philosophy like the film! (Irrational Man)
K: Could you relate to any of the philosophy, is it something that you’re interested in?
J: You know what, it’s always been something I’ve been interested in dabbling in.
Irrational Man is in cinemas on Friday 11th September, see the trailer here.
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