Large Actor on Large Actoring
A fan writes:
Right, bloody listen up sunshine because we’ve got the first comment submitted question article today and it’s a chuffing doozy!
Paul Byrne writes:
As a larger man myself (I prefer the term rotund) I'm interested to know if you feel your size impacts your opportunities, do you feel like you are always destined to play the large comedy sidekick type role? Would you even try out for the leading role in a romantic film for example? Thanks.
No Paul, thank you!
This is sort of a two part question, the second part of which is really easy to answer and the first part requires some thinking about. So let’s deal with the easy bit first.
Would I Try Out For The Leading Role in a Romantic Film?
No. Next bit!
Paul has been kind enough to ask so answer it properly, dickhead.
Alright fine!
So I alluded to this in my last article about auditions (you should read it, read all my articles, send me gifts) but generally the first thing I see about the part I’m going up for is a character breakdown that has already been filtered by my agency down to me. This is the tightening process most casting directors use to make sure they aren’t inundated with unsuitable tapes and are also executing on the vision of the creators. This leads to two reasons why I do not try out for leading roles in romantic films that are different but linked.
1) I have very little control over what parts get sent my way.
You have to be very VERY firmly established as an actor to be at a level where you are picking and choosing which parts you want to play. For me and many other actors at my level you compete viciously for the small amount of roles offered to you. If I get asked for a tape, you bet your briny bollocks I am going to scratch and claw to get that part no matter what it is. I am not in a comfortable enough position in my career or in my finances to be picky. Many actors never get to that position. I will probably never get to that position because I occupy a niche which we will get onto later. But more importantly to this discussion:
2) Romantic leads are not built like me.
Really really think about it. Name a romantic film where the lead, key, top of the poster couple contain one or more fat person. There may be a couple of examples but by and large (lol) the top line relationship is reserved for the pretty and the supple. This is understandable though, right? Films, romantic films in particular, are attempting to sell you a vision of beautiful people getting what they deserve. Conversely, rotund folks play two roles in most media which is either as objects of ridicule (be it in the form of Comic Relief Best Friend or as a walking punchline because Fat is Funny) or the catalyst for some delicious tragedy as the diabetes eats them away (this role was most recently portrayed by Brendan Fraser in an ugly fat suit to mixed reviews). There is also a secret third way which is when fatness is displayed as monstrous or evil. This is usually peddled by apparently benign but really quite evil children’s authors alongside a lot of other unsavoury views that we don’t need to go into right now. Have fun guessing who I’m talking about! Whoever you think it, you’re right!
The knock on effect of decades of media portraying overweight people as either comic or tragic props means that outside of an extremely small amount of largely invisible projects, Large Actors like myself are virtually never considered for lead/romantic roles. So it’s less a case of whether or not I make the decision to try out for those roles really because the truth is that I can’t audition for roles that simply aren’t there. However, it’s worth now going back to the first part of the question which takes a broader view of the industry in general rather than the realm of romantic films. It’s probably worth pointing out that I haven’t really been in a romantic film either. Not in the traditional sense at least. How To Talk To Girls at Parties had some romance but it was between a punk and an alien in the 1970s. Does Magic Mike count? Like, again, it’s got a romance in it but I feel the focus is more on the hunky boys doing their hunky dancing. HEY! Stop distracting me with my extraordinary body of work! I’ve got a question to answer!
Does Size Impact Opportunities?
In short, yes, in much the same way that my being white, male and short is (although admittedly my weight is less immutable than some of those other characteristics if we’re being picky). For all the lip service that is paid to “blind casting” I’m not naïve enough to think that someone like me is destined for lead roles. But the follow up question is… well… would I want that anyway?
I’m not blaming Paul for this, it’s a good question, but when I’ve been asked this in the past there’s a certain unspoken part that implies that if I slimmed down I would open myself up for a more diverse range of parts. This may be true even but the problem with widening the field is that you can fit more people on it.
I mentioned earlier that I have a niche. That niche is all purpose comedy fat guy. In February, it will be a niche I have occupied for twelve years. Twelve bloody years! Perhaps a better question would be whether size impacts opportunities negatively to which the answer is basically no. Rather than be all things to all men, I’m comfortable working within my wheelhouse and, frankly, there aren’t a lot of people in the industry that can do what I do. That’s not a brag, just an admission that I’m a specialist concern. If an actor lacks the vanity to do some of the shit I’ve done in pursuit of laughs (regularly stripping off for comic effect, getting covered in paint/flour/slime/sheep shit, consistently be verbally assaulted by all the great and good in comedy) which, lets be honest, is pretty rare already, its even more unlikely that they also share my build. I’ve effectively generated a cottage industry featuring only me. If I was to lose that I probably would increase the amount of parts I could be considered for but I would also be fighting off way more people to get them and I’m not that good of an actor.
Paul also asked if I felt “destined” to always play these roles which is interesting word to which I would have to say no. I’ve spoken on numerous podcasts about how when I was growing up I was an ambitious little bastard. I even covered it in my biographical article (you should read it, read all my articles, send me gifts). But my ambition was solely to be an actor and I am. Like I literally am. So these days I don’t really have many ambitions left. If it is my destiny to play comedy fat roles then it’s a destiny I’ve made for myself.
Most important to point out though is that comedy is a broad church and so is my CV at this point. Hidden amongst your classic chubby fun time roles are some characters that, yes, I might have PLAYED as fat (I’m not a very good actor, sue me), but their weight isn’t their whole deal in the narrative and actually doesn’t ever come up. I put this down to a growing maturity in writing. Fat jokes, at this point, unless they are executed with panache and élan, can come off as a bit stale. A bit old school. A bit Monica in Friends (“Haha isn’t it funny that Courtney Cox, who we’ve been feeding twigs and small pebbles to maintain her figure, used to be fat!? In the past!? Look, we’ve put her in a fat suit and she’s eating a cake! Isn’t she just DISGUSTING!?”). Stuff like my small role in Doc Martin, Woody in Magic Mike and the role I play in BBC1’s upcoming drama Boat Story (yeah, I know, a BBC1 drama! They should never have let me near it!) are fine examples of me being given an opportunity to play a part where weight isn’t a factor, just my own skills. Heck, Horrible Histories has been brilliant in that regard. I’ve been given roles based on my merits rather than my shape. I’m certainly the most obese Napoleon history has ever seen! You won’t get THAT from Joaquin Phoenix!
There’s also been one occasion where I got to play a romantic lead. In Murder They Hope, I was the Romeo in the Shakespearean metaphor and even performed my first onscreen kiss. Admittedly, I did also get my bum out and get covered in flour before jumping off a roof but baby steps people!
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Cheers!
Thank you for your article and thoughts, it was fascinating.