By Baz Bamigboye
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When Rafe Spall won the leading man role opposite Bridesmaids star Rose Byrne he wanted to look the part.
‘I wanted to look convincing enough that audiences would believe Rose Byrne would fancy me,’ he joked as we sat in a sleek Southbank office building overlooking the Thames, which is being used for scenes in I Give It A Year, starring Byrne, Spall, Simon Baker and Anna Faris.
It’s a big shiny comedy which takes a sideswipe at traditional romcoms. Instead of ending with a wedding, it starts with one, but asks if the couple at the altar are the right people, meeting at the wrong time.
New look: Rafe Spall wanted to look 'well and healthy' as the leading man opposite Bridesmaids star Rose Byrne in new romantic comedy I Give It A Year
Byrne came over and told me Spall was right on the money with looks, as well as the comedy. ‘He’s killing it,’ she said, before heading off to demonstrate some delicious comic timing of her own, in a scene with Baker.
Spall, meanwhile, told me he achieved his trim new look with a bit of working out, and watching what he ate.
‘I wanted to look well and healthy,’ he said, but burst out laughing when I asked if he’d had any Hollywood shine work done on his gnashers. ‘Teeth are all right, thanks. I didn’t want to get the porcelain veneer.’
Even with his naturally nice teeth, though, the 29-year-old still had a lot of hoops to jump through to convince director Dan Mazer (Sacha Baron Cohen’s long-time writing and producing partner), film company Working Title, and producers Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Kris Thykier, that he could play Josh, a writer who meets Nat (Byrne), a cutting-edge image consultant.
Working Title, remember, are the folk behind those glossy Richard Curtis movies Four Weddings And A Funeral and Notting Hill and the Bridget Jones pictures. All of which starred Hugh Grant. A Working Title comedy is a big deal and the I Give It A Year stakeholders were, in effect, looking for this generation’s Grant.
‘When we were casting, Dan wou ld insist they shouldn’t be actors trying to be funny. They should be natural comedians,’ Thykier said.
Frenemies: Kristen Wiig as Annie and Rose Byrne as Helen in the hit comedy Bridesmaids
Mazer added: ‘I’ve worked with Hugh Grant and he’s an incredibly funny, charming man.
‘You have to tick a lot of boxes. You have to be handsome and charming.
'You have to have the technical ability to act. A lot of actors are slightly weird â€" but Rafe is incredibly normal and he has that twinkle quality,’
Mazer joked: ‘In five years’ time he won’t return my calls because he’ll be such a massive star.’
Maybe, but Spall’s success has come from hard graft. He started acting at 18, in theatre and television, and progressed, slowly but surely. ‘It’s not a quick fix â€" you don’t get handed a golden ticket,’ he said.
His idol is his father, award-winning actor Timothy Spall. ‘What an amazing gift to have such a great actor at the end of the line.’
Best bit of advice from his Dad? ‘Do your homework,’ he tells me. ‘You can’t get away with cutting corners or you†™ll get found out.’
I Give It A Year, which is due to be released on February 14 next year, also features Olivia Colman, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng, Kerry Howard, Daisy Haggard, Nigel Planer and Claire Higgins.
Me, sexy? I'm not here to be beautiful, says Noomi Rapace
Actress Noomi Rapace says she's 'not here to be sexy'
Noomi Rapace is shouting. ‘I’m not here to be sexy! More sweat, more dirt!’
We’re alone in a Soho hotel room and I found out later there was some concern as to what on Earth we were getting up to.
Noomi is an actress â€" a bloody good one, too â€" and she was telling me about her experience working with Ridley Scott on the eagerly awaited science-fiction drama Prometheus, which has its world premiere in London on May 31, the night before it goes on general release.
In the film Noomi plays Dr Elizabeth Shaw, an archaeologist on a quest to discover the origins of life. I’ve seen some footage and the picture does look awesome.
‘Elizabeth has this battle going on inside her between religion and science, and that’s so much like Ridley,’ she said, adding that she and her director had an enjoyably intense professional relationship during filming. ‘He doesn’t see it from a man’s perspective, and at times we were like k indred spirits, sharing the body of the character.’
Her passion for acting is exciting. It showed in the original Swedish versions of the Millennium Trilogy, where she played anti-heroine Lisbeth Salander â€" the girl with the dragon tattoo.
And it shows in Prometheus, too. ‘I’m running around half naked in a couple of scenes and I never thought about it. Ridley didn’t want me dressed that way for kicks. It’s not sexy â€" just very basic â€" and it serves the scene.
‘I saw Sigourney (Weaver) did a similar underwear shot in Alien. All Elizabeth Shaw wants is to discover how life started, and the film explores how she transforms and becomes more of a fighter, survivor and a trooper.’
Ridley would push her and other cast members. ‘He doesn’t want us to hold back. Sometimes, I was so bruised, and my body was in so much pain, but the character wouldn’t give up, and neither would I.’
And then we†™re back to ‘sexy’. ‘I’m not here to be beautiful,’ she told me. ‘I’m not here to be sexy.
‘Sometimes you can do a sexy part, or play a woman who’s supposed to be beautiful, and then we can do beauty. That’s for another movie.
‘But for this movie it was sweat. More sweat, then more dirt. More blood.
'The make-up artist said that it was quite unusual for actors to ask for more fake blood and sweat, but I loved it.’
She feels there’s a connection between Lisbeth and Elizabeth.
‘They’re both fighters and they don’t feel sorry for themselves. And they will fight to the bitter end and not give up. That can become sexy, but not in the typical boring way.’
Believe me, there’s nothing typical or boring about Noomi Rapace.
Much cheering and excitement at Hampstead Theatre over Mike Bartlett’s stage version of Oscar-winning picture Chariots Of Fire.
Director Edward Hall and his designer Miriam Buether have their athletic actors sprinting on track on stage and around the stalls.
The producers are hoping to set up a racetrack in the Gielgud Theatre’s auditorium when the play transfers there from Hampstead from June 22.
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