Congratulations on winning a Toscar. How did that feel?

When I got up to receive the Toscar I was almost (only almost ha ha) lost for words. With over 600 people cheering and smiling back at me at the Egyptian theatre it was quite surreal. I had a brilliant Toscar experience from start to finish.

Did you think you would win?

I was totally shocked, I had absolutely no idea I was going to win but had so much fun on the movie with our brilliant cast and crew winning best supporting whactor was just the icing on the cake.

Tell us about British Hustle

What a great job writer director Sandro Monetti did with British Hustle. Tons of hilarious physical comedy and no mean feat adapting a much loved feature length screenplay into a short parody and somehow still have it make sense and be funny. Everyone involved was great and Marina (Marina Paganucci the producer) and the dream team as they like to me known took it from funny to hysterical.

You also wrote and performed the soundtrack and did the video for the leading single Get Down with Ron Jeremy. How did you manage to fit all that in?

That was insane, especially when you consider it was just weeks before my wedding! When Sandro first asked me if I would write some songs for the sound track. I told him I was flattered but there was just not enough time. The wiley fox then mentioned that if I could, then we could release the EP as the first official sound track in Toscar history, so then the challenge was set so I had to do it. I’m no technician so with the help of our brilliant editor and technical wizard Charlie Robinson we managed to write parts of the songs for the film.

Then when I returned to the UK I managed to flesh them out to whole tracks with my friend and brilliant producer Kevin Leo in his London studio then master them for release. Given more time we would have polished them more but I’m happy with what we achieved in the time we had and they are pretty much a live session with musician friends helping out. Regards the video that was down to the hard work of Sandro and especially Charlie who did 18-hour days trying to get it finished in time. I flew back to LA early after the wedding to shoot an extra half-day to finish the video; you couldn’t make it up: as I said insane.

Soundtrack available on iTunes.

What was it like working with Ron Jeremy?

Ron Jeremy what a character, the hardest err… working man in Hollywood ha ha. Really fun guy and a pleasure to be around. I think he surprised a lot of people with his acting ability and has so many funny stories and anecdotes I think anyone would be hard-pressed not to like him.

You recently got married. Congratulations. What was more stressful; planning a wedding or doing a film?

I would like to say it was more stressful organizing the wedding but to be honest the wedding was the easiest gig of my life. I just had to turn up and have fun. Now my wife, mother in law, her Godmother, father and all her friends might have a different story to tell. They spent a year working really hard plotting, planning and preparing every last detail. Regards the film I think it’s pretty obvious we had so much fun from beginning to end, I was so lucky to draw British Hustle and my team I would like nothing more than to make many more films with this incredible group of talented people.

 

 

 

 

Tell us about your wedding day and your gorgeous wife.

Wow what can I tell you, it was the greatest day of my life and my gorgeous wife Stephanie is the greatest gift I could ever wish to have. It really was magical if you can imagine 300 of your closest friends and family from every area and time period of your life under one roof, all having a great time. Even now I can’t really put it into words.

I understand Chico was your best man how was that?

Oh my God, his best man speech was around 25 minutes and had animations, embarrassing stories, muppets, his children rapping on screen and singing live, and even good luck messages from celebrity friends like Ant and Dec and Ray Quinn to name a couple. It was funny, moving and quite possibly the greatest best man speech in the history of the world ha ha. It’s not every day you get roasted by a muppet. In a word: incredible. And fair to say it was emotional.

You made the brave move to LA and it has paid off. How did you manage it?

Also no mean feat, it’s a huge deal leaving everyone and everything you know and moving thousands of miles away even to the magical land of Hollywood. Thank God for Skype and social networking because undoubtedly the biggest thing you miss are your loved ones. I have no regrets the quality of life here is great and I have been fortunate enough to make some good friends and work on some good projects. I had a large enough body of work to qualify for a work permit but the whole immigration thing is not without its stress’s and hassles. Thankfully I had brilliant immigration lawyers in Raynor and Associates to make the move smoothly and ended up shooting a couple of comedy commercials for them, to make you smile see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EL0tl81hYQ

Any tips for actors wanting to move to LA?

Come prepared with as much money behind you as you can. There are a lot of opportunities here but there are literally hundreds of thousands of other actors here trying to do the same thing. It can take a while to start booking enough work to make a living and Hollywood Boulevard has been described as the boulevard of broken dreams so you might be glad you brought some savings to live on while your waiting for your moment.

I’m gonna quote a friend of mine Craig Fairbrass as he put it best as we worked together on the film 31 North 62 East just before I left the UK. He’s a great actor who has had success in the UK and the US. He said to me “It’s not easy over there and there’s plenty of good actors who never even get representation let alone book a job. It takes a lot of balls to up sticks and give it a try so good luck, don’t take it personally if you don’t book a job. I’m sure you’ll do alright and remember to take time out to enjoy yourself”. Great advice I couldn’t put it better.

What’s next?

Well this year the Toscars next year the Oscars from my lips to Gods ears. I’m working on a few cool projects including the American pre-revolution period drama Courage, New Hampshire, it’s like the American Dowton Abbey. Season one is currently airing on PBS with season two currently in pre-production. I can’t give to much away but I play militia captain Daniel Cressy described by creator / director Jim Riley as “A man born for war and a little miserable without it”. Look out for a big bar room brawl with Cressy and the red coats in season two. For a taste of season one see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myY3DV4TL4Q

I have a film coming out in a few months called ‘Call me King’ in which I share some pretty steamy scene with the Chinese actress Bai Ling and recently signed on for an action bromance film called Artifact Red. Shooting mostly in Belize, it’s kind of Indiana Jones meets Lethal Weapon with a little Men in Black thrown in for good measure.

You seem to have it all now: wife, career, and a good life in LA. What else do you want to achieve?

So much more Catherine, where do I begin, there are so many great directors I would love to work with and so many great stories to be told. Outside of the industry I have various charitable causes that I’m involved in, including Rainbow Child (see http://www.rainbowchildfoundation.co.uk). We help underprivileged children around the world and I’m especially proud of Chico and what we have achieved in Africa with the play pumps. But your right; I try to stop and count my blessings every day for my life, my wife and the position I’m in oh: and Chunkee Munkee.

Chunkee Munkee?

I haven’t mentioned Chunkee Munkee? My wife will kill me, he is her pet bunny rabbit. He runs around the house like he is King and even has his own Hollywood agent. I’m not kidding he has he’s own representation and has been up for some big commercials but that’s another story, you can interview him another time ha ha but I’ll warn you he is a bit of a prima-donna he he. Hollywood you can’t make it up.

 

Official website  http://johncampbellmac.com/