With the release of Not Another Happy Ending on DVD coming February 10, we had a little chat with star of the film, Iain De Caestecker who portrays Roddy: a morally-sound sidekick to an up-and-coming publisher, Tom Duval (Stanley Weber). With a performance in the Ryan-Gosling-directed How To Catch a Monster and a role in the popular ‘Marvel: Agents of SHIELD,’ Iain is the living definition of an ‘up-and-coming actor’.
We had a little chat to him about Not Another Happy ending, his Marvel adventures and more….
(NOTE: The interview was conducted a couple of months ago so some of the Agents of SHIELD responses relate to episodes now aired)
What were your first impressions of Not Another Happy Ending?
I’m not sure whether I read it with my character in mind but I knew it was going to be set in Glasgow, so that was something which I found interesting. And then reading it in terms of Roddy, there were lots of moments were I laughed and I thought it would be a really fun thing to do. The feedback in Scotland was something that excited me too.
It is heavily rooted in Scotland, from the soundtrack to the settings. Was that a big pull for you?
That was the main reason I wanted to do it: Glasgow and Scotland was a character within itself. They have tried to make it into something more like a metropolitan city, in terms of New York and the like and we wanted to give it a cool vibe. Obviously, I grew up in Glasgow and I love the city, so I am always excited to have it portrayed in different ways
Were there any particular aspects of the film you enjoyed?
I always really enjoyed the relationship between Tom and Jane: it was an unconventional relationship. Also, the relationship between her and Willy, that was something I found quite funny. And Jane’s relationship with her father as well was really nice.
I had a great time on set; a lot of my scenes were with Tom and that was something that I really enjoyed and became quite close to him.
Are there any similarities between you and Roddy?
There must be with every character you do but no, we are quite different. He has a blasé attitude to most things, but he has a good moral compass, and I suppose I’m not quite like that, but I would like to be.
We know you have a key part in Marvel: Agents of SHIELD. What’s it like being involved with such a big franchise?
We have the best time on set, and everyone gets on well, it’s very much a family atmosphere. And I’m aware that Marvel is a very big franchise and the scale of it but you try not to take that stuff in on set or carry it with you too much.
What’s coming up for Agents of SHIELD then?
Episode ten will be on Friday 13th. We sign so many confidentiality agreements, so I’m not sure what I can say but these episodes coming up are going to be very, very big. You find out a lot of new things.
Did you enjoy Comic-Con this year?
That was really good fun and it was kind of a crazy experience. We showed the pilot episode, so you never really get many experiences like that, especially with a TV show. To put it on a big screen and hear the reactions of four thousand people watching. Some of the people there are the reason we make this show, the real fans of the Marvel universe, so they are the people you get a good indication from. It was great to be there and I really enjoyed it.
How to Catch a Monster is coming out some time next year, what was it like working with such big names as Gosling, Hendricks and Mendelsohn?
We filmed it in Detroit this summer and we had the most amazing time, something that I will never forget. I haven’t actually seen a cut of the movie yet and I’m not sure exactly when it will be coming out but it’s definitely something I am really excited about.
In Fear has drummed up a lot of attention. What can we look forward to?
I’m really, really proud of this movie and to be a part of it and to work with people like Jim Lovering and Allen Leech. Loads of my friends and family went to see it in the UK and they are always really genuine and they all made a point of saying they enjoyed it and stuff. I hope people get to see it and enjoy it as much as we did making it.
And you sent a curious tweet recently: care to explain?
I don’t use Twitter and everyone else on the show does so we had a big episode for number ten [of Marvel: Agents of SHEILD] and Clark spent all day trying to get me to send a tweet, it became his mission and he made something of a reference to a leotard. He said something like: “Getting Iain on Twitter is like getting the Hulk to wear a leotard.” He also said he would give me a monkey if I did it but I think I’m going to delete my account now!
We thank Iain for his time and would like to remind you that Not Another Happy Ending is out on DVD 10th February swiftly followed up by In Fear on DVD and BluRay 10th March. To get you in the mood for a De Caestecker double bill we’ll leave you with both trailers.
