Interview with Jamie Chambers

Jamie Chambers

Dan: Muscular handsome, talented and funny. That's enough about the bad dads. Cause we've got Jamie B chambers here with us and you may have already heard of Jamie's. An actor is presenter, a producer. He's got a. fantastic list of highlights on his IMDV page, which lists him as a strong character actor, been in fury to BU which I really loved the provers Grimsby, even in star Wars, Jamie.

Hello, and welcome to bad. Dad's

Jamie: are we doing guys lovely to be here? How are you both doing?

Dan: very well. Very well. Yeah. So what's really been interesting for me since I. That you uh, going to come onto the pod I've, I've investigated, had done a little bit of digging Amy and you've been in, yeah, it's been me up in the one that going through the bins at home and everything finding out what's what's going on.

I was really impressed with how hard you work. So can you tell us a little bit about yourself to everybody who might not know already.

Jamie: well, I mean, after that introduction, I know I'm not quite sure how I top that. Yeah, I mean the hard work thing is kind of intrinsic it's, it's one of those things where I come from a sporting background and I've done a lot in terms of education and sport and things like that. And the hard work kind of is second nature, I think is the best way to put it.

I I'm very much of the mentality. No, one's going to do it for you. No, one's placing anything in your lap. No, one's looking to push you. In any shape or weight because they've got to do it themselves. So for me, it was a case of hard work and hustle was always like the cornerstone for everything.

Cause like th this isn't my first career, this isn't even my second career. So like, I've, I've had a few past lives before ending up here. But yeah. So I think it's, it's been an awesome journey so far and something that I'm very sort of grateful for, I think is the best way to put it.

Dan: excellent. And you mentioned a little bit about your sport in backgrounds. Could you elaborate on that? Cause it's, it's quite interested. I think.

Jamie: Yeah. I mean, my, I was very lucky. My parents were awesome. Awesome. I should say they, they will ask me what they did for me. I got a taste of everything football, rugby, cricket, judo high board diving. You name it. I was given that opportunity excelled being a goalkeeper you know, I'm, I'm a little bit tapped.

So I think having both power that year, he sort of came as like second nature, loved football, loved rugby. Blew out both of my knees. So that's a con kind of a crippling thing to happen with that. But in terms of that, I, I went straight into the coaching side of it. I, I wanted to sort of make sure that people were getting where I, I wanted to be and push those forward.

And then one day decided Nana, I'll be Jason's slate in. Instead I'm Brown with that.

Dan: and then, so you, you decided to, to not the football life on the head then and going to acting.

Jamie: Yeah. So it's just over 10 years now. It was 10 years in December.   I was head goalkeeper coach at a decent Academy set up and. It, it was, it was great for what it was. And I was appreciative of where I was and the people I was working with. And but it wasn't for me the, the environment wasn't working for me, if there was something missing for want of a better phrase.

And I'm sat there 22nd of December ish. And I'm watching your transporter. And it's the bit in the bus garage. State them sprinting through there's 25 guys, massive fight sequence. And then all the motor grease goes on the floor and he knocks off the bike pedals and it's this beautiful ballet style, really aggressive, really brutal fight sequence.

And it was a penny drop moment for me. It was just like, I can do that. I don't know how I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this, but I can do that. And I rang up the club and I was like, I'm not coming back. This is my notice 22nd December. And yeah two weeks later I was in my first costume which was insane.

There's me turning up to a cost and not knowing what costing actually meant. Like not, not a clue, what I was doing. It's actually quite cool. It must been Testament to how bad I was looking at the time. Not that I look right now, but I'm like the whole, I must've looked really ropey cause I got cast as a heroin addict in a drug awareness video, so

Dan: perfect. You don't need to do anything. You're just, as you are, what.

Jamie: yeah. And that, and that was it. It was total trial by fire as well, like

Sidey: that is gutsy though, to do that, just pull the trigger straight away. That is hats off to you.

Jamie: Yeah. Well, I, I figured there's, it's not like there's three outcomes. There's not like a middle ground. You either can do it and you, your work it and you'll develop it, or you just can't and you can't deliver, you can't perform. And I kind of, I've got this weird feedback that I wasn't expecting.

So I think this struggle wellness video, and then. Few weeks, month later, I was getting phone calls and it was like we need to have a chat. We need to, we need to have a word. And I was like about one. We need to talk about your drug habit. I was like, what drug habit? And now, Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I'm acting now.

Sidey: Okay. Was it an intervention? People shouldn't have

Jamie: it, I think it was, it was that close to being an intervention. At that point, it was like, I was that close to walking into a room of all my loved ones and going, no, we need to have a word. So

Sidey: that's Testament to your acting ability

Jamie: that was the best feedback I could have got. You look like a drug addict. But, but no, I loved it and that was it.

And that was the incentive I needed. Cause if I, if I'd got back, same with, I believe a single thing of that, or why you're doing that, you're terrible. Whatever it might have been, at least I would've known and I could have drawn a line under it and then, you know, gone on done whatever, but that feedback was enough for me to pick it up and run with it.

Sidey: Erin some parallels there, Dan, because Dan's too modest to say, but Dan used to play a bit of football himself.

Jamie: Oh, really?

Sidey: and also struggled with your knees. Don't you done?

Dan: Yeah, both the news have gone. That's the, that's the price we pay. Isn't it, Jamie? You know.

Sidey: if you'd only had the courage to pick up the phone down, you could have been auditioned yourself.

Dan: I know I went to India for two years instead. Found myself, lost myself, found myself,

Jamie: I was going to say, find, lose and find again. Yeah. Yeah.

Dan: but.

Sidey: what's the next step then? Jamie, do you, do you get yourself an agent? How does it work? You know, when you're, when you're trying to

Jamie: So I, I didn't one because of the, no, and two, because I was blogging it. So what happened was I, I, I had this free profile and I wasn't entirely sure. What I do next. I was just throwing myself for everything and just quite literally seeing what stuck and over time it was building up some inverted commerce experience.

And then. You start talking to other people, you start networking inside and you start learning what these, I had no idea what an agent was. I had no idea. I didn't really know in terms of films, TV, where I was going, what I was doing, I knew I had like a vague end goal. I mean, I've loved films my entire life.

I grew up on Schwarzenegger and Stallone, so, you know so yeah, it wasn't until like 2013. I got my first agent. So I did a lot like self hustle. Got my head in books. I did the whole filmmaking respect for acting those sort of things. Yeah. And just watched films and tried to work out from there, like sort of reverse engineer it back, like right.

If that's where I want to be like watching Gary Oldman. Yeah. True romance and Leon, for example. And then try and reverse engineer. Well, what have I got to do to get there? So, yeah. Yeah. For the first couple of years, totally. Sort of self powered and then. Finally sort of one built up the necessary sort of like three or six credits that you need, but then also enough bottles to actually back yourself to go and talk to an agent and go can I, can I come in please and, and get represented?

Yeah.

Sidey: I think that's, that's the sort of thing in my head that you gotta be willing to accept a lot of rejection in that business

Jamie: it's 99.9%. No, it really is. I did my eye for this. I was talking to the London actors workshop yesterday and I worked out my numbers based on all the costumes I've ever applied for every audition I've been to every self-tape I've done. My conversion rate is something like 0.0, two. It's yeah, so rejection and no, and better luck next time.

It it's it's second nature. I mean, I take it as it's kind of a nice challenge really, because I think if I could get my conversion rate up to 5%, that'd be nice. But like the fact that I've done the things I've done and I've got the experience that I've got and that's coming from the smallest possible conversion rate.

It's it's quite cool.

Sidey: One of the, one of the things I, that, that bugs me and I'm not, you know, I'm not in the game of don't say, but I

Jamie: I'm sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to.

Sidey: I see some people on the tele or in films, just hoovering at work, you know, whether it be TV, presenters, or actors. And again, when you, when you're a movie star, that's the name of the game people, but yeah.

Does it, does it buggy when you see people just, that is so in demand and there's not that much, you know, there's just crumbs webinars. Is that something that plays on your mind or is it, is that just the game and you accept it?

Jamie: I think some of it's urgent, I think definitely when you are, so the best example at the moment is Dwayne Johnson. He elite sports star. Now the highest paid. Movie star in the world, but it's earned the, the, the guy went through so much rejections so much in terms of having to just get that one opportunity.

I mean, his story is something that from his, the first time he was put over in a WWE WWF match way back when, to where he was at the top of world, wrestling's where he is. Now that story in itself is Testament to how hard you've got to work, just to get that. I realized in me saying that that's three of the biggest film franchises and Jumanji and everything else, but it does get boring, seeing the same faces.

I don't knock anyone that can get the work and everyone in film, TV takes the work when they can get the work. I I'm all about if something doesn't fit me, I'll tell someone who does 100%. But at the same time, I think. There is an element of nepotism that kind of needs to be addressed. And I'm like, for instance, I, I hold nothing against John David Washington, for example Like, he looks like his dad.

He sounds like his dad and he's. Yeah. And he, and he, he can really deliver the same with Scott Eastwood, another one that were incredible talent. And it's, for me, it's hard to knock anyone who's doing it and delivering I would love to see way more opportunities where people. Mostly producers and executives back, people that are new, that are fresh or that are first timers and then surround them with people that aren't would be a way to look at it.

There's a thing called temp polling, where you you have X amount of talent that is already recognized, and then you start filling the gaps with your developing emerging talent. So I think there's really a lot of space there for that. Where give someone a role, give someone that That big opportunity and then support them with a seasoned actor, an experienced one.

And that way, when you're surrounding them, you're nurturing that talent. You're not saying right here, carry this franchise. And it's your first one and deal with it. You're you're you're at least giving them the opportunity to learn from what's around them. One of my best experiences actually was up in Yorkshire, doing dark angel and being on set was awesome.

Loved every second of it. I spent. Zero time in my trailer at all. I, I turned up and immediate. I was like, we're set, I've got to be there. And I spent loads of time just chatting with Alan Armstrong because he's an absolute gentleman when it comes to the craft. And when it comes to just talking about life, I don't smoke, but I took every possible smoke break, just so I could spend more time with Alan Armstrong.

And that, that was awesome for me because. It was those little nuggets in that little bit of time where just sit and chat and it could have been just little moments where he's just talking to you about how long he's been doing. I mean, the guy has been around forever and smokes like a trooper. So I was, I was out there inhaling a lot of passive smoke for a long time, but it was worth it because for me it was another seasoned actor where I could go.

Yeah, I'll just listen, you don't need to know who I am. It doesn't matter. But yeah. I'd love to know what goes through your head, where you've been, what you're doing, you know,

Dan: Gleam some of that experience and yeah. Hope, hope it rubs off. And yeah, for sure. I was thinking about the resilience that you need to show, I guess, coming from the football world and a sport and background, you need that anyway. It's a tough world in there as well. Isn't it? So setting it up, I imagine you're, you're out of the frying pan into the fire going into, into the acting world and everything, but what's it like on the big sets with a big stars?

What's it like for you and, and sort of, you know, you, haven't got your own trailer what's it like for everybody else in and around that set. And where would you, like, where do you need to position yourself?

Jamie: I've I've lucked out because I've been on some awesome sets and I've. Again, I'm massively appreciative of every single one I've been on, whether it was fury, star Wars, Kingsman there, all these sort of projects and it, the first one I was on, it seemed incredibly daunting. I was on hollow crown and.

We had hundreds of people doing fight sequences and everyone's filling in metal swords at each other. There's horses flying through there's explosions going off. You're making sure you don't fall in a fire pit and it is a massively daunting experience because you feel the pressure. You feel it intrinsically as soon as you step on it.

Everything costs from the moment. Everyone turns up to the moment. Everyone wraps. Everything is a priority. Everything has to be done. There's a lot to be accomplished. Over time I've calmed down a little bit and realized that everyone's there to pull in the same direction. Everyone's there to w without sounding nostalgic and whimsical about it.

They're, they're there to create something there they're there because they want to be there. And. The biggest one for me was both in terms of size. And in terms of spectacle was star Wars. Being out in Abu Dhabi and being in like Skywalker Valley and the salt flats and things like that. And just seeing how something can be built practically that has that scale.

That in itself, I stood in the middle of the set and you could actually look out into the desert and the set just kept going and they'd actually placed all the different Like planet style props all the way out. And you, you could see that as far as you could see, you could see the set. Absolutely incredible.

And that was when it was like, this is for real, this is huge. And everything was practical apart from the thing, apart from the tie fighters and that sort of stuff. But every everything that you can see was there and. Yeah, you take a moment because it's hard to take it all in just when you step on it.

After about a day and a half of 56 degrees in the shade suddenly it's like yeah, or I'll, I'm, I'm just, just where's the ice packs, you

Sidey: we get the

Jamie: But yeah, it, it, it becomes less daunting. The more you do it and. It's less daunting and more appreciation of the fact that this has all been pulled together.

The fact that someone has had that vision to actually get all these people in together. I know it takes a lot of money and that, that sort of speaks volumes, but just getting the right people in the right place at the right time. And then everything coming together as one cohesive project is incredible.

So, yeah, for me, it it's less daunting now and it's more like you, you get this overall, the appreciation of this is going to be fun. I'm going to enjoy this.

Sidey: Did he get to stay at any of your Stormtrooper

Dan: I was just going to say, did you see society's sex face as soon as you mentioned star Wars, who just like instantly was like, Ooh

Jamie: it's a great story, actually. So I finished on for you and I'm massively appreciative of the entire 80 department and production department of theory. They're all awesome people. I've got. Massively involved with that in terms of I was all miked up with Kovar and helping out with bits of the production side of things in terms of like working with the crowds and running back and forth from the armory and things like that and loved every second of it.

And then on the last day I've just put my COVID in, I'm sitting, getting all the blood splatter and everything put on and it was like JC, can you go to three? So change channel, and then. I was like, you're all right. And the second is like how do you deal with heat? I was like, well, was better than what we're doing today.

Cause it was tipping it down. There was mud everywhere. We were about to walk behind a diesel power tank and I was like, yeah, yeah. Cool. With that. You sort of alright. Okay. You're right with travel as well. Yeah. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And didn't think anything of it. And About a month later, I get this phone call from a UAE number and I was like, this is PPI or something.

She's a scam. But I'm always up for having a little fun with the PPI people. So I, I answered and it, it was the second. And he was like we want you to come out and fly out and be on star Wars.

Sidey: Casual.

Jamie: bring one other. And I was actually with my agent at the time and I just sort of sat there and I went can I go please?

You know, and it's that one once in a lifetime thing. And then it was just like so on the plane out there and turned up at the costume department like phone's locked away everything. Everything's hush, hush, and Love the guys. They were absolutely awesome. And walked in and all the other guys that do in the stormtroopers stuff, they are all the six foot, two felt model David Gandy looking guys.

And I just went, I don't fit here. And I was like, I was, I was like this dumpy fat guy, like so walking in and the costume guys looked at me and gone. Ah, great. And just sort of dropped his head and walked away. And so they, they, they stuck me in the flame trooper. Costume. And they were like, don't breathe.

Don't move. If you break this, that set, this your only one we got it had steel brackets on it to keep it as one piece. And they were like, if you breathe, you're going to snap this ticket off. Then they, they, they had various different types of armor that they were working with me and then they went, look, just go, go, go away.

So I went away, came back and what they've done is they've taken two sets of the armor and made. One. So as much as I was appreciative, I was a little bit like, Oh, wow. It says a lot.

Sidey: Had a custom belt

Jamie: basically. Yeah. And what happened was, yeah, every time I did actually breathe, I popped the the clamp on the site.

So what happened is they found this world war two machine gunner, like SS weapons. Slapped it on one guy held it on my front. Two guys went around the back, pulled it tight. Tied me in, locked it off, put the like Saifai cartridges in the front. And they were like right now, go and run in the desert. And, but that's what kept the gear on me.

And that, that was like part of the aesthetic. And it's kind of cool because we did a little bit digital scanning and stuff like that. And you can tell it to me cause it's, I'm the only fat one with no neck. So like but yeah, and It was, it was fantastic. Cause it was, the armor was great as well.

He went, ah, I've sorted you out Jamie. And I was like, I didn't know how to take that. And then he P he went over to this huge wooden crate and went, yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got you. The BFG, it's fine. It's fine. And then he opened it up, went, here's your big f-ing gun and he's this huge heavy gun assault rifle thing.

And he was like, you can run with that. Can't you? I was like, I guess I'll have to,

Sidey: Wow.

Jamie: but it was awesome. And I loved every second of it. I don't think I'd want to get back in that costume. I'm, I'm all for doing the Jedi sift thing now, but I don't think I'd get back

Sidey: just a nice light breezy robes would be a lot of, a lot more comfortable. I think.

Jamie: definitely.

Dan: I was, I was looking at a few other interviews. You did. I hear that you've you've got quite a few different fans that, that get in contact with you. If you have, you got any that over the, over the years as your career has progressed and things, any, any nice stories to tell us on that front?

Jamie: A couple. Yeah. I actually just after star Wars, I went out and I did a signing in France and it was, it was, it was awesome. Did the whole thing in Paris and then got driven out to Shapley. We did some I actually was given an 87 bots of the Shapley and I was like, I don't even drink. And how

Dan: send it over. Jamie, send it over.

Jamie: I was like, this might be a little bit wasted on me, but no, what, what happened? I'm sat there doing signings and what. The, the guy that had come up just before was a guy who does the French cosplay in for two backer. And he got stuck on the stage after doing a signing and he couldn't get off. So I picked him up for Chewbacca costume and I'd walked him off the stage.

And when I came back on, there was this little, 10 year old girl waiting and she was hidden behind her mum, her mum and dad. And it took forever for her just to sort of look up a little bit and So, like I waited and waited. I had my Google translate out because my all boys comprehensive school, French was not up to standards.

So I was doing my I've had my translator with me. And then by the end of it I I've done a little I've done it. I've done the sign in for her done that, but then did a little, a lightsaber fight with her and all these things. And then her parents have kept in contact with me over the last few years, giving me updates on how schooling's go in what she's looking to do.

She's going into entertainment as well. And every now and again, I it's just nice to check in. And one of the overriding things is it's nice to be nice. And for me it was just, it was cool to be able to watch someone's someone else's progression and to have that opportunity just to be nice and offer advice and things like that.

And yeah, it was just an awesome experience and something that I wasn't really expecting. I, I haven't mentored for I hadn't mentored at that point. For a few years, I now do a lot of it in film and TV, but yeah, and that, that for me, really stuck out, it was an awesome thing. Because an autographs and autograph, and I'll, I'll happily do that whenever, but it was, it was the story around it, which really sort of like, I don't use this word too often, but it was really heartfelt.

It was really nice.

Dan: excellent. And do you have any kind of heroes yourself? You mentioned Gary Oldman before. Who would you, who would you love to work with?

Jamie: So I should say some of the reason and Gary Oldman is the goal is the way I'd put it. The, the whole action thing has been huge for me. So Statham, Stallone Schwartzenegger Those guys have been icons for years. All the action movie stars for a long time if I was to be working on opposite Gary Oldman, I'm not entirely sure I'd get my lines out.

It would just be, not that I get, not that I get all struck, but I think I'd struggle. It'd be like, yes. Mr. Oakland. No, Mr. Robin. Oh, you're acting sorry. Yeah. And

Dan: you're not a million miles off, off in though. You could play a son or something. You've got a slight tinge of, of Gary Oldman about you.

Jamie: Oh, I'd definitely take that. Yeah. That the aspiration for me I always go back to the Jackie Chan quote when he was asked, do you want to be the next Bruce Lee? And he said, no, I want to be the first Jackie Chan. So for me, I'm, I'm sort of. As much as I'm treading footsteps numb, I'm using other people as examples.

I've always, I've always wanted to be the first one of me in the least arrogant way that can sound. But yeah. Aspirations for, to work with Jason Statham, Gary Oldman would be the two big ones. I met Jude law on the set of King Arthur, and he's an absolute gentleman, absolute scholar. So. He, he was just awesome to, just to be around and chat with.

So those sort of guys definitely I'm lucky enough at the moment to have been in the same room as Arnold Schwarzenegger, which for me was incredible. The guy is he's, he's in the, the subconscious, just of everyone, I think up to a certain age. I mean, you could go up to anyone on the street and say, do you know who Arnold Schwartzenegger is?

And. Nine times out of 10. Exactly. So to, to, to witness someone, you know who, I mean, he's got to be the busiest man in the history of everything. We, we had him for five minutes at the NEC just September, 2019. And that, that five minutes was it because he was that busy and the guy's amazing.

He will. Sign everything for the people that turn up for a talk with Schwartzenegger all those sort of things, but it's hard to put into context when you're watching someone on screen, how big they are, how wide they are, their demeanor, what they are as a person. And then you see someone in real life and like, Oh, Okay.

Yeah, that's true. Like

Dan: motherfucker. Yeah.

Jamie: And it was a little bit of an AUSTRAC moment of hello, Mr. Schwartzenegger sort of thing. But

Dan: Surreal. I imagine a surreal moment

Sidey: to get to the, the first sort of generation of, of people who won't have grown up with these sort of films. So my daughter is seven. Now. I think I can share a terminate. I, I shouldn't be, she'll be

Jamie: Oh, I think I was

Dan: Yeah.

Jamie: Terminator. Yeah.

Sidey: That's my

Jamie: I mean those sorts of films. It's one of those cliches, but we don't get those films anymore. We don't get terminated, terminated to aliens. That, that sort of strong blend between scifi horror. We don't really, we haven't had something like that for a long time.

I mean, I switched off the Terminator franchise after salvation. I think I, I, I,

Sidey: it's a shame.

Jamie: doesn't hold it for me anymore.

Sidey: but I'm one of those mugs here. I just keep going back, you know,

Jamie: Straight Beth's terminate too. Every

Sidey: I would watch the new ones and then just be really disappointed. They, I should have just used that two hours to watch tab two again.

Dan: But it's, it's such a great franchise, isn't it? That I think they're they'll continue to make films until they have a big hit again. And they'll unearth a new, Schwartzenegger a new Terminator.

Jamie: Well, I think it's going anime

Dan: I really. Yeah,

Jamie: yeah, I think they they've. They're from what I read Cameron is Mr. Cameron, I should say is starting again from off the Terminator two, and it's going to be an anime series straight after what happens at the end of who onwards. So it basically what the Terminator franchise does is they just remake three over and

Dan: Yeah.

Jamie: again.

It's just a different vibe.

Dan: Keep going back in time now. I dunno. I've got a couple of questions that that Sidey and I were chatting about before. One is you must support a football team. I'm just wondering here it is. This is a big moment,

Jamie: so it's it's a two fold answer, no threefold. It's a threefold answer. So it was Chelsea Because that was what was inflicted on me. I was given the blue kit at the age of two or three, and that was it. It had the old school CFC with the red lion on it. And that, that was, it was Chelsea all the way through after I saw them win the premier league and the consistency changed in football.

You, you didn't watch a team that had the core amount of the players go through for a few years and it slowly developed over time. It was So I, I sort of fell out of love with Chelsea around the drug Saluda,

Dan: the Moraine Neo years.

Jamie: Yeah, the, the end of the Merino years, really? Sort of like when you were, they were still bringing in the    good.

Johnson's all that sort of stuff was still, all those players were still coming in and out, but it wasn't the same Chelsea anymore. money changes, everything. But I saw Chelsea win the league and that was, that was awesome. But then I was involved with what foot for a long time and I just love the family feeling of what I love being at village road because I'd been there because I used to go and watch a lot of rugby.

And whenever Lester were playing Saracens would be vigorous road and then sort of be working at Watford. I sort of got an idea of the club and what, what it was to be involved with a real sort of. So what food vicar, Gerard? Yeah. So yeah, like a family orientated club, rural community orientated club.

So I started watching them and then they had players like Troy Deeney loyally I think Was it Lee camp was there at the time. And just some really cool players. And it was that whole thing of the, the almost guys they'd had their FFA cup thing. And back in the year era of like John Barnes and things like that, and you kind of had that feeling that it was coming around again.

So I got a little bit invested in Watford. I was, I was at Wembley for that goal. the one way it was ammonia safe, the penalty, and then goes long and Deni scores at the other end. Now I was at Watford. I was at Wembley for the Kevin Phillips penalty in, in, in the, in the 93rd minute.

Just that devastation of this is going to extra time and penalties and then no, it's not the sofa. And it. It was gut-wrenching a lot, I've got a few friends that are like diehard, what for trends. And it, it w you felt it, and it was great that they were in the premiership the year afterwards. And then the last club is Brentford because my my grandad was a huge Brentford fan.

And I was lucky enough to work at Brentford for awhile. And I got to see a club that had. Again was like a league one championship club and you see what running a club properly can develop and do. And again, another community club Griffin park is awesome to be at. It's a lovely place. All the people are really nice and now I'm sort of watching Brentford compete to be

Sidey: yeah, I was going to say, they've got to make it soon as that. It seems like every year they just fall away

Jamie: last year was gutting. It really was.

Sidey: that was a bad

Dan: is it's nice. Three London clubs on Westham fan side. He doesn't like

Jamie: My

Dan: side, he doesn't like football

Sidey: Yeah,

Dan: spurs fan. So that was interesting. I was hoping like a, a friend at a pod Mark Jenkins who did a fantastic film called bait. He's a Western fan. I was just trying to turn it into a bit of a Western pod I was having.

Jamie: Well, it's, it's more of a

Dan: it is. It is Steph

Jamie: Western.

Sidey: well, I'll got to

Dan: No, but getting back on onto the films and stars, we wandering stars in your phone.

Jamie: I, I gotta be hush hush about some of them, but it's kind of awesome in terms of I'm working me and my business partner. We're working with Eddie hall at the moment and Just to be chatting on the phone with Eddie about stuff like what he's doing next finishing the film. So Eddie hall is awesome.

One of the big ones for me is I'm a huge rectal fan ever since the first season when I was far too young to have understood anything to do with rectal Wolf all the way through to now. And I was at the visionary awards in 2018, 2019, and Danny John jaws. Turned out. Yeah. And yeah. I lost my bottle completely.

I'll be perfectly honest. And my, my business partner's there and he's like, just go talk to him. I can't, do you know who that is? I know funny story cause my same first agent was Danny's first agent as well. Obviously decades apart, but it, and it was that cool thing. I was like, Oh, I actually have an in to talk.

So. Finally built up the courage cause I don't drink. So there was no Dutch courage involved. And it w was like just, just this guy that nobody knows. So going up and saying, yeah, hi Danny, pleasure to meet you. And then we got chatting. And we ended up chatting about a few. I've been to his live show, which is absolutely incredible.

He, he's doing Sammy Davis Jr. And he. It's an incredible show. And then end of 2019, I I've just finished on set and I'm exhausted and I get this phone call and it's Danny and he's like, yeah, mate. How far away are you from Pinewood? I was like 15 minutes. And he was like, can you get your 15 minutes?

I was like, yeah, yeah, great. I've got Oh, you're on my guest list for the live recording of the latest read the off season. That the two part special I the shock on my face, I immediately, all fatigue was gone. I was like, right. Get on. And it was amazing. Turned up Take to the green room sat down and just this incredible experience of being behind the scenes of a show that I genuinely thought I would never seen, never been any sort of involvement with at all.

Cause it's done by ballot. So you don't, you can't just buy a ticket. And then after the show sat chatting with Danny in the green room and then meeting Craig Childs, Chris Berry, Rob Llewellyn. And it was just this whole thing of like, A whole or really, or inspiring for me because I've spent two and a half decades watching these guys on TV and you know, it it's, it's that whole sort of thing of Oh wow.

Your people that I can actually talk to, you know? So yeah, that, that would be the big ones

Dan: Amazing. Amazing. Now, if you would have no doubt, you've listened to lots of our, our bad dad's episodes and you would have had

Jamie: The the, the mid-week ones are great. I love them.

Dan: You, you, you may have heard then our impressions obviously I, I do a friend. I love what it is we do. We we've got David Bowie pops in now.

And again we've got to obese mine now, Sarah, obviously from labyrinth Sean Connery and penny we'll cover that, that all happened as well.

Jamie: that's, that's a very Bain bond at that

Sidey: Yeah, that's

Dan: it's all in the locker. Have you, have you gotten any yourself, Jamie, that you could share with us?

Jamie: Oh, I'm, I'm that weird guy on the train that does impressions and practices, voices and stuff like that. I, yeah it was weird because it was part of the whole thing of getting into acting was that whole thing of you start going over the actors and the characters that they portray. And I mean, Gary opened in True true romance where he's like, Oh, so you're a bad motherfucker, Ryan.

I see a lot. I'm a pretty motherfucker with you, but yeah, it was pretty the paired titties and it was just like, all right, I've got to start doing this. I've got stuck into this. And

Dan: Perfect on the train. That line.

Jamie: Oh no, it gets worse because We'll start there with us and just her talking to herself from then I have an argument with myself and yeah, well, and then the guys on the train, just get up and

Dan: Claire in the carriage.

Jamie: yeah, I mean, I'm always working on different ones. I'm like I'm doing a lot of voiceover because of the, the thing that shall remain unnamed from the last 12 months. I, I'm doing a lot of voiceover and duration work and stuff like that. And then one of my favorite books is lost human, which is a red Wolf audio book.

And it's some of the scenes that are from the series and they recreate them in a different story. And there's this whole bit where cat goes, well, why don't we add defensive shields? That's a superlative suggestion show. We've just two minor drawbacks. One. We don't have any shields and two, we don't have any shields.

And I realize that's only one suggestion, but it was such a biggie. I thought he was mentioning

Sidey: Oh, that's good.

Dan: That was very good. Yeah.

Jamie: I mean Seth McFarland is a big one for me because he. He does. He has three to 10 voices in any one episode, like family guy or American dad. And so when he's doing Stewie, you know, you put them a voice, you know, mother, the, as the first woman at the stage Helen Page once said, I'm going to kill you.

And I've just sort of challenged myself to sort of do as many as I can. And It helps to go onto set and I'll can you do a Yorkie accent? And it's like, you know, nothing, Jon snow, and you can just sort of drop in and out of them and say, yeah, it's a really fun

Dan: excellent. They were, they were cracking. They were very, very good. I enjoyed them. If ever you want to just drop one into the bad dads though? Just, just tweet is another one. Let us let us know her is well, Jamie, what are you doing now? What what's going on? What would you like to be doing in the next few kind of months and years?

Going ahead.

Jamie: So I've, I've, I've kept relatively busy, which is pretty, I'm massively grateful for and all the people that I've worked with over the last sort of. 16 months it's been fantastic. So I've I just did an appearance on an American monster on discovery which was a load of fun. They, they, they are great people that do that show.

So that was fun. And then I got phone call from a director I'm working with later this year and he was like, we've got hotel and I've written a horror film. Okay. This was, this was during like the

Sidey: Dan's Dan's

Dan: I'm already. I'm already, I'm not a big horror, man.

Jamie: I, I know it's a problem. The shining style horror film, where the hotel is

Dan: already specked out.

Jamie: they is it's it's a proper lock-in horror thing, and I got a chance to go full Jack Torrance with it. Which was awesome. So I, I got to play a bit of a, a bit of a stoner light relief character and for a large portion of the start of the film, I'm on my own in this hotel. And it can be, even though the film crew are there, I mean, you can get quite lonely when you're interacting, just with yourself in that sort of big open space.

I won't spoil the film is it's due for release late this year, early next. But the hotel possesses. My character and he is sort of a descent into madness. It's an awesome concept and loaded jump scares some, and it's not one of those Gore films either. It's it's way more about the actual story and yeah, it's got a real sort of political vibe to it as well.

A lot of stuff where there's, there's a fantastic scene where I go full Jebel and it's just start pulling stuff. Out proper, the proper sort of like really interesting horror stuff. And then I'm really lucky. I I'm working on a film called Morris Smith and which is due to start filming in October, which I'm super excited about.

It's about a guy called Tommy Martin comes back from tours of duty overseas, and it has gone back to his hometown and ends up looking for his old girlfriend and. She's involved with Morris dances and it turns out that these most dancers, it's not quite all this seems, and there is actually a front for league of assassins.

So it's very Kingsmen style. Fantastic concept. It's going to be a lot of screamer work, some pick it up another martial art loads of par core as well. So I'm going to be doing a lot. So like wall runs and flips and all that sort of fun stuff. So I'm super excited about that.

So I've, I, I went and I'm a massive geek and a massive nerd and immediately when the production. Guys came up to me and said, we're basing this around this screamer. I immediately got on YouTube, died, studying his screamer martial arts and went and bought myself some screamer sticks to work with.

I'm very lucky to crew and the production team behind that. They're all incredibly talented award-winning and just genuinely lovely people as well. So from that side of things the, the writer is. Incredible in his vision. He he's putting together a lot of different elements. Fantastic. I DB Morgan and the, the producer is also a lead actress, Leona clock incredibly talented award winning actress and I'm just humbled to be a part of it really.

It's a big thing for me. And I've I liked the idea of a more character driven film, where the action is sort of the. The support part of it. And it's more about building that character, making that character believable first and foremost. And then working. Forwards from there. And then, yeah, I've got a couple of the little bits that are coming up.

Some fun sort of featured roles a love, the tough guy stuff, because I don't get the guy next door that never happens. I've walking, I walk into a cast in and they go, Oh, right. So you're the bad guy. Cool. Um, I use is, and it was something I had to learn. Yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm the kind of guy that opens the window for flyers.

You know, I, I, I, I, I've got a no kill policy. I, I, I, I can't do the whole nasty thing. I'm terrible for that. So to play actual. Nasty characters is a real sort of challenge for me is it's. And it's also something where I've got to do my research because it's not something that comes naturally.

I've got a really long fuse, so like it's really hard to sort of go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I can play a complete tool problem in

Sidey: That you're a huge key cause now what we got on the wall behind you, there's that and comic books,

Jamie: there or there.

Sidey: right shoulder.

Jamie: So my right. So my parents made the mistake one birthday of getting me action force number 31, which was released on the 3rd of October, 1987. And it was this pristine, beautiful comic. And then I, I was like, I wonder what else came out? On the 3rd of October 87 and then it started building from there.

So my, my studio is covered in October, 1987 release comics. And then that side is because I'm a huge Batman

Sidey: couple of jokers in a Batman. I can see.

Jamie: Yeah. Yeah. Adam West takes pride of place and then it sort of goes from there.

Dan: we were talking as well. Obviously we've spoken about your acting, but you've been doing a little bit behind the camera as well. Where do you see yourself over the next few years, spending more your time?

Jamie: the best phrase to use is. Actor by choice producer by necessity would be the way to put it. I, I need to be proactive a lot of the time. Like I said earlier, I can't sit and wait for it to come to me. I'm a big, I'm a big believer in the work you put in as the work you get out. So I started learning everything in anything to do with filmmaking much to the annoyance of.

My then girlfriend, because we were on holiday in Croatia and my head was stuck in filmmaking for dummies the entire time. And she'd be like, yeah, this is where Searcy did this. And I was like, yeah, yeah, that's lovely darling. And just like so I be in like, say a big geek. I I've always got my head in books.

So I started learning everything there was to know about filmmaking. And I've still got so much to learn. I wouldn't profess to be an expert in any way, but I know a lot more than I did a decade ago. And it was, it was little things that you don't really think about. And like things that stuck with me with things like the 30 degree rule and the

Dan: which is what for, for the uninitiated.

Jamie: So, so the one 80 degree, you're always when you're having a conversation and it's so that if I'm on this side of the camera during the conversation, when the reverse is done, I can't be over here because it's jarring to the audience. And then the 30 degree rule was, if the shot is here, you can't do another shot within any 30 degree angle of that shot because he doesn't work.

So for instance, if you're doing a medium closeup, Punching in is okay, but you can't come off that angle any less than 30 degrees. So again, massive geek. But I, I got into the producing side because I had to know how I had to understand the process and having I'm a self-professed people watcher anyway.

I will be the guy that sits in Costa and watches people go past and just watch, but do it on a film set and you're watching people and how incredible they are at their jobs and the, the, the amount of effort that goes into, regardless of whether you're the set PA a runner, the S the focus, puller, the boom operator, whatever it is.

And I just started learning. I just like watching. And then it was like, understanding those jobs. To the point that you understand how a production comes together. So for me, getting into production was something that I had to do. Cause if I do it now, I'm ready for it for when I start looking at building my entire own productions.

So yeah, I, I see myself fundamentally pushing forward in front of the camera a hundred percent that, that. It's that old phrase of if you love your job, you never work a day in your life. And that, that, that is never more true for actors ever. So that that's the, the prominent thing. But then producing, and then I wouldn't mind like second unit direction because that's always the fun direction.

That's always. Go off and do the explosion bang action thing, and then leave, leave the grownups to do the proper stuff. So that, that, that would always be like an awesome thing to do. Fan of anything action-based. So when it comes to action choreography, I mean, I, I will sit and watch a YouTube video on like the, behind the scenes of the rate, for example, and just to, and cause I couldn't work out how the toilet cubicles scene was shot because they do a three 60 in a fight in a two by four cubicle.

But it was only when I watched behind the scenes that they had to at the prop department that were acting as the walls of the cubicle. And so they were moving and making it bigger and smaller. So that you never lost your debt fulfilled in the frame. And it was little things like that. It was like, Oh, right.

So that's the creative side of it. That's that's those sort of things. So, yeah. It's as much for me as enjoyment for learning how things work as it is for the fact that it's it's, it's my job and it's it's it's part of the progression forwards. I, I think you have to be you're you're your own producer for a lot of it anyway, because no one knows you better than yourself.

So yeah, I'm a hundred percent on the acting, but I'm definitely going to be doing production and second unit moving

Sidey: and let's see in the running in some competition, the frog coughing present this thing

Jamie: Yeah. Yeah.

Sidey: We voted for you. Don't worry.

Jamie: Oh, you guys are lovely. I, I love doing new things and I'm all about saying yes to everything. I'm a firm believer that you are your own brand and you can make your brand wherever you want it to be. I love presenting. I love talking about things. I did some stuff in fashion when I was doing equitable fashion.

So talking about that and making fashion and more sustainable and also less exploitative. Environment. So I was doing that for awhile. Love talking about sport, love, talking about film, obviously. And in case you haven't noticed. when it came up, this whole thing, the chance to jump in on that sort of the crest of that wave as it were, I was like, yeah, why not? it's another challenge. I I'm, I'm relearning how to use the teleprompter so that it doesn't look like I'm, cross-site the whole time. So like that, those sort of things that it was a challenge to get back and do green screen because when I'm doing self-tapes or doing impression work Then a guy that I absolutely think is outstanding.

Voice tactical, Charlie Hopkinson. He does like the most iconic Morgan Freeman impression, but he's also got his green screen set up properly. And I was like, well, my standards are way below that. So like it was relearning. It was another challenge. So I, I, yeah, I it's, it's a yes to everything, you know?

Dan: if you want to check out what Jamie's up to, he's on Twitter at Jamie chambers underscore, So you're hard working. Non-smoking non-drinking actor, presenter, producer, all around. Nice guy. That's playing bad guys. Jamie has been an absolute pleasure talking to you.

Thank you so much for coming onto bad dads and giving us your time. I'm going to be following your career. I'm rooting for ya. And I know.

Sidey: You're going to watch a horror

Dan: I I'm I'm, I'm going to build myself up to you know, I'll get plenty of pillows, plenty of popcorn. But exactly, exactly. I'll get all the necessary precautions and things in place, but it will be really interesting to see what you do next, Jamie.

Thank you so much.

Jamie: Guys it's been awesome. I've loved it. Thank you so much.  Cheers guys.