#HHRR premiere

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Sebastian Croft, Kate Nash and Rupert Graves at the Horrible Histories: the Movie - Rotten Romans premiere (from Sebastian’s Instagram)

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HeyUGuys interview transcript

Morning all,

I’ve transcribed [the interview Rupert did with HeyUGuys] at the Horrible Histories premiere yesterday for those who find such things useful - and because he’s just flat out hilarious!

(Please credit the source and/or link back if you use bits of this elsewhere, thanks.)

(HUG - Hey U Guys, RG - Rupert Graves. My notes in [ ])

HUG: Were you aware of Horrible Histories before this came along?

RG: Yeah I've got 5 kids so yes you can't... I can't be unaware, yeah.

HUG: So was it the script that persuaded you or them?

RG: Yeah, it's a fantastic script, really fun and the part's great and to be on a horse, rapping, is living the dream! [I cannot wait to see that!]

HUG: Did you get to go out to Bulgaria?

RG: No, I didn't no, I was in Hitchin.

HUG: Which is not quite...

RG: It's surprisingly nice.

HUG: Is it Roman, I don't recall?

RG: Umm… [*pulls most adorable clueless face ever*]

(2nd interviewer?: Going to have to check those textbooks for that one…)

HUG: So tell us a little bit about your character

RG: Well I play Paulinus. He's a commander of a, well a legionnaire, I suppose. No, no, a centurion? Yeah, centurion. [He's actually Governor General!] And he's one of those characters who's slightly more convinced of his own greatness than his actions prove him to be. It's fun, it's quite fun, I mean he's a funny... he's hubristic. And makes some terrible, terrible decisions based on his vanity.

HUG: Which seems to be a fairly large part of any history book, is people in power making terrible decisions

RG: The older I get I realise if you have a big and, a good idea, just don't, don't even... don't do it. Don't do it. Just don't do it. 'Cause it'll end in failure.

HUG: There have been a few examples of that this week.

RG: Quite recently, yes.

HUG: Speaking of which, we were just talking to Terry [Deary, writer of the Horrible Histories books] and he was talking about writing a Brexit edition of Horrible Histories at the minute.

RG: Oh that's… He is?

HUG: He's kind of warming it up.

RG: Very good.

HUG: Getting that one going. If that came about into a film who would you want to play?

RG: Uhhhhhh….

HUG: Not that anybody's coming out of it very well at all at the moment.

RG: I wouldn't want to be… come out of it well.

HUG: Juncker or...? [Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission]

RG: Sorry?

HUG: Could you be Juncker or…?

RG: Oh yeah, I could be. Yeah I could be Jun… yeah. Although if you wanted a small kind of a, a small part with a lasting impact you just be David Cameron, just say something and then **** off! Oh, sorry!

[Short cut while Rupert apologises!]

HUG: What is it about the whole Horrible Histories thing that you think appeals to kids so much? Because it's almost become...

RG: I think it... I think it kind of solves the problem of, of… I think it makes it interesting and relevant. In a way it's a little like that wonderful Peter Jackson movie [They Shall Not Grow Old - amazing film, go watch it] when it goes, the old World War One footage, that moment when it goes into colour, people become real. The past is so, it's so easy to distance yourself and not connect in any way, and I think this brings history alive to people through humour and wit and just makes it vivid.

HUG: Because I mean fundamentally it's the story of people.

RG: Yeah it's the story of how we got to where we are now.

HUG: Going back into your own personal history, what's been your favourite kind of film moment or TV series to work on?

[2nd interviewer mentions V for Vendetta?]

RG: Well I like V for Vendetta. I liked Maurice, a film I did called Maurice, but I really, I mean, act...you get your actor jollies on stage 'cause you give a performance on screen and it gets taken by the editor and it becomes somebody else's property but you do have an element of control on stage which I’ve always enjoyed.

HUG: What's coming up? What next for you? Is it more stage or more screen…

RG: Well maybe a bit of both actually. I'm doing a movie at the moment about Mary Seacole [Seacole with Gugu Mbatha-Raw] and then maybe, there's some very tentative plans to do some theatre at the end of the year [YES PLEASE!]

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Con & Bex from Kidzcoolit.com meeting Rupert Graves at the Horrible Histories: the Movie - Rotten Romans premiere. (Click the link to their site to see Rupert and the other cast and crew answering some great questions!)