Down The Pub with Jim Sturgess at The Lord Stanley, Camden

Jul 9, 2008

Jim Sturgess loves to talk. He'll talk passionately about anything you care to bring up, usually steering it back to film and music, the two things that dominate his life. He flits from subject to subject, praising the South Bank Show, commending Shane Meadows on his recent BAFTA (Best British Movie for 'This Is England') and laments the death of music television, "Remember the Chart Show? They would always fast forward the track that you actually wanted to hear!" He discusses the Mighty Boosh at length, does impressions of Bret and Jermaine from Flight Of The Conchords and waxes lyrical about some old university friends who have just started a band. "I'm seeing it as synthy with a sort of kamikaze, shambolic edge to it with one of them shouting mad poetry over the top. Kind of Belfast punk sprinkled with a bit of baggy Madchester from Huddersfield..."

Now a hot property in Hollywood (his most recent movie, 21, in which he starred, spent 3 weeks at the top of the box office in America), Sturgess wasn't always sure that it was the acting path that he wanted to take. Growing up heavily into music, he spent a lot of time in bands, convinced that his future was going to involve his singing voice rather than his speaking one. He remembers how seeing a friend's band convinced him that this was what he was born to do. "I'd seen a band called Independent Yellow Hoover and I just remember thinking how fucking cool it was that they'd got this band together. Then someone came along and asked me if I wanted to get a few of us together as there was a battle of the bands coming up. I went to his house and had an audition singing 'Throwing Things' by Ned's Atomic Dustbin, probably a Nirvana song and 'Queen Jane' by Kingmaker..."

With customary dedication, he took the band seriously and things were going well; "We made a demo and it got passed around the town and people came to see us - it was like a rock star life in toy town! We got to play at the Shepherd's Bush Empire supporting a band called The SAS Band, which was fucking mad. I couldn't have been older that 16 or17 and Bob Geldof was there. We all jumped into a white van and drove off to London. In fact it was pure Spinal Tap because we couldn't find the stage...". As to whether the resulting demos will ever see the light, it seems that a trip to the family home is in order: "They're round at my Mum's house - I think she's selling them out the back..."

It seems that dreams of a future in music, however, were put on hold as members of the band decided it was time to go and get a real education. "I was convinced for years that I was going to be the singer in a band, and then everyone turned around and said they were off to university. There were big rows, especially between me and one of the other guys. There he was, this great mathematical, engineering brain and I'm there telling him he can't go to university because of the band."

Evidently, Sturgess was right to be upset. Whilst his band-mates went off to further their knowledge of the world, he ended up cleaning pots in a local Harvester. Eventually, enough was enough and he decided to swap the rubber gloves for an education of his own. The destination was Salford, notorious neighbour city of Manchester and far from the Home Counties town that he had become so used to. Initially, it wasn't a move that he relished. "My memories of that first year are of pretty much living in a fucking prison. I had bars on my window and there was a canteen upstairs where you would walk around with your food, on your own, eyeing people up looking for somewhere to sit down. We had a bus that would drive us to and from the campus because it was deemed too dangerous for us to walk around the area. Local kids would throw rocks at the bus as it drove past - I remember one coming right through the fucking window once...."

Hardly an idyllic existence, although, as he explains, it wasn't the scenery that he moved there for. "I moved to Manchester 100% because of the bands that were associated with the city. Why else would you walk round Salford saying this is where I want to be?" A love of the city's musical history drew him there and still he's excited by the likes of The Stone Roses, The Charlatans and Oasis. The nostalgia is evident in his voice as he ruminates on the music. "I remember someone leaving a tape at my house, and I stuck it on when I was doing my paper round and it turned out to be Some Friendly by The Charlatans. I remember just thinking - That's it - that's the music that really means something. It had beats, it had a groove, it had guitars and it was just bang, I was a Charlatans obsessive from that day on. That opened up that whole Manchester music scene for me that just hadn't been on my radar at that point. That was when indie music was very collaborational with dance music. The Chemical Brothers were coming from a hip-hop beats kind of background and working with bands like The Charlatans. Then it was Oasis which gave you that swagger and allowed you, as an indie kid, to hold your head up high - it gave you that god-given right to act like a cocky little fuck."

Any artistic aspirations that Sturgess had been nurturing were brought to the fore by this move outside of his comfort zone. "I know this sounds so wanky but I really feel that I became an artist when I was in Manchester. It was when I began to think about stuff, to write more stuff - plays and poetry and it made me get back into acting. It was something for me to put my mind to. This was when I worked harder than I'd ever worked." It's hard to argue with this sentiment when he pinpoints the very moment that led to everything that has happened since. For one of his final pieces of work at Salford University, he had to write and perform a work of his own. Due to a tip off from someone at the university, there was a talent agent in the audience. "I wrote a play when I was there that I put on, which is what got me an agent...I don't think it would have happened if I'd been anywhere else - it just had that spirit."

Two years later, having aced his course and with an even more glowing opinion of the city of Manchester, he returned to the South and took up residency in London, catching the music bug again and spending time in a couple of bands with friends. There was sporadic acting work in the likes of Judge John Deed, Frost and The Quest but nothing that really captured the imagination. It looked again like music was going to be the bigger part of his creative life, although there was a certain amount of strife in the band that he was in at the time. Just when he thought that the acting was drying up completely, the big break finally came in the shape of a maverick director and a wildly ambitious film project.

Photo copyright Rebecca Thomas

Sturgess got a call from his agent saying that he had an audition for a film being made, featuring the music of The Beatles. He wasn't exactly keen in the first instance. "When I arrived at the audition I thought it was the worst idea ever and I didn't want to be a part of it. The band I was in had just split up, the last acting job I had, I had one line, covered myself in petrol and ran through a pub, so I was pretty much ready to give up acting. So I waltzed down there with my guitar and did the audition - mainly out of duty to my agent who had got it for me. Then later, when I heard that Julie [Taymor] was doing it, having seen Titus and Frida, I suddenly thought, hang on, this could be interesting... So I just thought what the fuck, people will either like it or they won't like it and as it turned out, as an experience, it was the best of my entire life." Not everything was perfect, however, and the auditions left something of a scar. "I heard 'Revolution' being sung like you would never want to hear it sung in your life..."

The film picked up some mixed reviews, but Jim remains fiercely proud of it, "I see more creativity in one frame of that film than I see in some complete films. People in New York love it, they've adopted John Lennon as their own." Speaking of Lennon, some of the most interested parties were surely the writers of the songs that this relatively unknown actor was taking on (the cast sang all the Beatles tracks that are featured in the film). "Paul McCartney watched it and he really liked it - If I wrote a load of songs and someone did that for me in the future, I'd be honoured. The same goes for Ringo - he loved it"

Sturgess says that working with Julie Taymor was an unbelievable experience, in fact, as has been reported in the press, there is a chance of a reunion with the visionary director and one of his co-stars from the film, in something of a bizarre project. "Aha - the Spiderman musical! We did a 2 week workshop where Julie told me to come out to New York and mess about with Bono and The Edge. No matter what you think of those people, they're at the top of their game, so just to see these people at work and get to work with them, no one could pass up that opportunity. And Spiderman is my favourite superhero...I had the pyjamas when I was a kid". Whether or not we'll get to see Jim in all his web-slinging glory remains to be seen, 'It's a hell of a commitment - looking at 6 months to a year on Broadway. But we'll see...I'd love to work with Julie again'

It is unlikely that Jim's going to find himself in a position in the future where free time is at a premium but would he still be up for getting his own music out to the masses? "Only in that I still play music - I've been doing it since I was 15 years old and it's not something that you just stop doing. I think that I'd go mad if I was someone who, when not on set was sat around drinking coffee discussing theatrical works - It's good to have something."

It's evident that he misses the band days but is philosophical about the choices that he's made, "There's definitely something back to basics about being in a band that doesn't happen with acting. You're with your best mates touring round in a broken down van playing shitty venues which is beautiful. You don't get that in acting" He does, however, maintain a respect for the few folks that have managed to pull off both creative ideals. "One medium is all about exposing yourself - you're writing about yourself and your own experiences, the other is to use yourself and your own experiences to pretend to be someone else. They're the opposite but come from the same place. The people I really respect who have crossed those boundaries are Vincent Gallo - his work always reflects him whether it's a film that he's directed, a movie he's acted in or a song he's written. Mos Def is another one who seems to be able to be an actor and a musician and keep respect." And then adds mischievously about one of his Manchester heroes, "I'd be surprised if Liam Gallagher could pull off some amazing film performance."

The future looks bright for Sturgess. He has finished filming the lead role of IRA thriller, 50 Dead Men Walking and is currently shooting a film "which I can't say too much about" called Heartless in East London, which he is enjoying as it's close to home for him. Currently residing in Camden, he has an obvious affinity with the place. When conversation turns to one of Camden Town's more famous residents, his eyes light up, " It was amazing when Amy Winehouse came up with the Grammys and you see all these larger than life Americans and then you see our scuzzy little Camden-ite, this London girl that just blew them all out the water - every one of them. That was fucking amazing." He won't, however, rule out making the move across the Atlantic that many successful Brit actors have made before him as he has a huge affection for New York, where he had that first, unbelievable acting experience, " I love that city, there's no one hanging around bored, there's always a game to play or something to do - the basketball courts are full, there's people always doing something. They don't just seem to sit around doing nothing and causing trouble. It's like a giant film set. You drive past the library and instantly think of Ghostbusters....There's a positivity there that matches nothing else'

With the pub coming to a close, the conversation inevitably returns to music. When asked what he's listening to these days, Sturgess is quick to sing the praises of someone his idols from Manchester might take issue with. "Gorillaz are one of my favourite bands in the world. He (Damon Albarn) just happens to be someone who has soundtracked my entire life. From being young and listening to all the Blur records up to Demon Days which actually is one of my favourite albums ever. It's a fucking amazing record. I saw it on TV played live and that made me realise even more how incredible that record is. Then on to The Good, The Bad and The Queen - he's never not been a part of my musical life, and I love that. I still can't wait to hear what he'll come up with next. Generally, I love music that's more about the producers and collaborations - I love Massive Attack, I loved it when Ian Brown got together with Unkle. That for me was incredible"

You get the feeling that he could go on all night and given the opportunity, he probably would. However, the lights are off, the glasses have been collected and the barman is standing around looking at his watch, so we take our leave and with that, a long night of discussion comes to an end...

James Pegrum

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