Interview: 5 minutes with Andy Mcleod, actor, The Introduction.
The next project from The Curious Room is The Introduction, a Rom-Com short about a woman who is stuck, in more ways than one but most obviously, in a bathroom, in Dan's bathroom.
Playing on the concept of the 'female gaze' the film stays with the central female character of Olivia leaving Dan, the love interest, out of the picture on the other side of the bathroom door.
We are delighted to welcome actor Andy Mcleod to The Curious Room for the first time to play the role of Dan. We caught up with him just before filming commences to ask him 5 minutes of questions...
Andy Mcleod plays Dan in The Introduction
Kate Sawyer: Hi, Andy! Welcome to The Curious Room. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Andy Mcleod: Hi! I'm Andy Mcleod. I'm an actor and I'm playing Dan in The Introduction.
KS: Thanks for sparing the time to chat. Where are you right now?
AM: On the phone to you, at home, trying to focus and not at all being distracted by Pointless being on in the background.
KS: We'll jump straight in...hopefully I can win out over Alexander Armstrong! Olivia and Dan met online. Have you ever done online dating?
AM: The whole online dating scene passed me by! I've been in a relationship for 8 years, long before Tinder was even thought of. A friend once suggested I joined OK Cupid but I never met anyone through it. That friend did eventually become my partner of 8 years though...
KS: Oh okay, you're going cute before we've even started! I was hoping for some dating horror stories to add to mine! How about first dates before you met your partner? Anything embarrassing happen on that front?
AM: I got totally ghosted in a pub back home in Liverpool once! I thought it was going quite well, she said she needed to go the toilet, some time passed, I realised she'd left. A classic tale.
KS: Ha, ha! Yes, we've all been there! But you must've done something right to bag a partner of eight years?I guess you were smooth as hell date one?
AM: No chance! I had no idea what was going on, I just went with the flow.
KS: Okay- I'm sensing you don’t want to talk about dating…let's move on to another theme of the film. Any experience of being locked in a room? Or indeed out of one?
AM: I locked myself out of my house in East London once and paid £40 to stay in a "hotel" down the road. It was bleak, I'll leave it there.
KS: Both the characters in The Introduction, Olivia & Dan, are fans of a bad joke…do you have a favourite bad joke? Hit me!
AM: How does Bob Marley like his doughnuts? ... Wi'jammin! (One for the Northerners).
KS: (groans) Well I suppose I asked for that. How about books? Like Jack Spratt and his wife…Dan will read no fiction and Olivia will read no non-fiction…okay not quite like Jack Spratt- but you can see where I’m going, opposites sometimes are a good match…but are you a fiction or a non-fiction reader? Or do you dabble in both? Recommendations please!
AM: More non-fiction really. Greyson Perry's new book 'The Decent of Man' is ace. 'Sapiens' by Yuval Noah Harari is stunning.
KS: LOVE Grayson! And I loved seeing you performing in 'The Secret Life of Humans' based on 'Sapiens' at Edinburgh last August, I think that was where I first mentioned The Introduction to you!
AM: It was!
KS: And now you are about to head to New York with the show for Brits Off Broadway? I'm so jealous, I love New York, it's a dream of mine to perform there.
AM: Yes, can't wait. I'll be sure to tell everyone I meet about The Introduction too!
KS: Oh, please do! The Introduction is a riff on the trope of The Fairy Tale princess who is trapped and waiting to be rescued- do you have a favourite fairy tale or folk tale?
AM: Does Star Wars count as a fairy tale?... I'm going with Star Wars!
KS: Oh I see a Star Wars fan...I'm not going to wade into the dangerous territory of discussing the genre of Star Wars but I can comfortably say: The Introduction is a Rom-Com. What’s your favourite RomCom…or, indeed, which do you love to hate?
AM: Honestly? Notting Hill is a genuinely brilliant film. I've only appreciated that recently but I'll happily watch it whenever it's on.
KS: Best bit being the Ronan Keating song at the end. Obviously.
AM: Haha. Obviously!
KS: Okay, just time for a little quick fire round, say what comes into your head first…no thinking! Locked in or locked out?
AM: Locked in.
KS: Fact or fiction?
AM: Fiction
KS: Happy Ending or Cliff Hanger?
AM: Cliff Hanger
KS: Hellos or Goodbyes?
AM: Hellos
KS: And with that, we'll say, Goodbye! Thanks for your time Andy!
Follow Andy on Twitter @AndyMcleod1985 to see what he is up to next!
