8 minute read
DAVID GYASI
Living the DREAM
Buckinghamshire’s David Gyasi takes us on a journey through time, space and the simple things in life
By MARK KEBBLE
It’s rather apt that a lot of this conversation with Buckinghamshire local David Gyasi revolves around sci-fi. The past year has been like something out of a bad dream, and as we talk in early April, snow is falling outside the window. Even though cinema has pretty much come to a crashing halt, streaming has managed to save many of us from total boredom, and for Gyasi lockdown has also seen opportunities spring up elsewhere. “It’s bittersweet really,” he says when reflecting on 2020 and early 2021.
It’s fascinating talking to Gyasi. His roles to date stand out because of their uniqueness, from playing a faun through to the warrior Achilles, but all have been approached with clear thought going into what he wants to show on screen. “I felt
Achilles was a pacifist,” Gyasi says of his role in BBC’s Troy: Fall of a City. “It seems weird to go into an audition and to be playing the greatest warrior of all time and say that! I think his gift is to end war, so if he is this super power people would not want to go up against him – he’s too good, too efficient – but all he sees is war after war after war. Achilles’ power is a blessing and a curse.”
Speaking of lockdown, one show that certainly piqued the interest of many was Carnival Row on Amazon Prime. A murder mystery that takes place in a fantasy world that resembles the Victorian era, it stars Orlando Bloom as a human detective and Cara Delevingne as a fairy facing up to an unimaginable monster. If it sounds bonkers, it is to a certain degree, but also carries with it some weighty messages. “I thought the symbolism was off the chart,” Gyasi says, who plays a wealthy faun shunned by society due to his appearance and origin. “As an actor, when you get something that chimes with what you are thinking, such as how have we allowed our world to get to this stage, it feels like an honour and a privilege to be a part of telling that story.”
Despite the inexorable rise of streaming services this past year, Gyasi isn’t overly concerned about what may happen with cinema. “Cinema may have to work a little harder, but there is a space for collective viewing,” he muses. “The likes of Netflix, Amazon and Sky Movies have changed the game and levelled the playing field, with more niche, independent stories being accessible to more people. When you look at some of these series and the budgets behind them, the line between the silver and golden screen is not so wide any more.”
Having worked in one during my student days, I hope that all cinemas return with a flourish later this year – and rather apt considering who I am speaking to, one of my greatest ever experiences watching something on the big screen was one Gyasi’s most important roles. When Interstellar was released back in 2014, starring Matthew McConaughey and directed by Christopher Nolan, it felt like a landmark occasion for cinema, especially seeing it at the BFI IMAX in London. The story of a dying earth and a group of astronauts – Gyasi included – going into the furthest reaches of the galaxy on a mission to save humankind, what we saw on screen was absolutely breathtaking.
Slightly uneasily – you never want the magic to be destroyed – I ask Gyasi about the shoot itself. “It was incredible,” he says to a
HOTEL DU VIN'S COURTYARD
relieved interviewer. “Usually a lot of people would do this kind of stuff on green screen, but we had this panoramic screen that filled the whole studio – when you looked up when we were in the spaceship, you’d see space. You would feel travel sick after a take! That kind of immersive experience was so useful – there’s no acting required when the team around you go to that level.”
Although I am not a fan of the term, Interstellar was slap-bang in the middle of the “McConaissance”, where Matthew McConaughey had a run of acclaimed dramatic roles that ripped up the script in terms of roles he was typecast in pre-2011. “He is super dedicated,” Gyasi says of his Interstellar co-star. “I remember Dallas Buyers Club was doing the awards season [McConaughey went on to win the Best Actor Oscar] when he was filming with us, and his team were saying he needed to be at this event and can we organise the filming schedule in such a way [to help facilitate], but he was 100% committed to the job he was doing. As an example of a leading man from that standpoint, your commitment to the job you signed on the dotted line for is paramount. I remember walking past his trailer and he had notes everywhere on the floor, just figuring things out.”
Back to the present day, and while the pandemic has dominated for the past year, there have been other depressing moments that have shaped the lives of many. George Floyd’s murder in May 2020 caused shockwaves across the globe that
AS AGREUS ASTRAYON IN CARNIVAL ROW
are still being felt today, and Gyasi’s next project is sadly not a million miles from that. “I shot a film during lockdown called Ear for Eye, which was a play by Debbie Tucker Green,” he explains. “She wrote the piece after the Trayvon Martin murder [in America], where a Neighbourhood Watch guy saw this teenager as a threat and shot him [George Zimmerman ended up being acquitted after claiming self-defence]. It’s an incredible piece of writing. I play an American father who has to prepare his son to go out on the street on his own and what he may have to do, and how he may have to act if he’s stopped. These are conversations I have had to have, which are painful. You just see the innocence stripped away.”
As we emerge, cautiously, from lockdown, Gyasi can continue to follow up some of the projects that have come his way – “Imaginations and creativity are at boiling point, so I am being sent some of the most interesting scripts that I have ever read” – but you get the sense a part of him will miss being home in Buckinghamshire for so long, snow or no snow. “I enjoy being with my family and hanging out with them, so this past year has afforded me time to do that. And we have a puppy now, so that’s encouraged us to have lots of amazing walks together and take in where we live. That’s a side I am super grateful for.”
WITH CO-STAR MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY IN INTERSTELLAR
David Gyasi’s
LOCAL PICKS
WOOBURN GREEN We as a family love Wooburn Green. It’s where we fell in love with this area. I love the park, the walks, it’s such a pretty village and there’s a great café there called Perkys – I love sitting out there on a nice day reading scripts and sipping coffee. • HOTEL DU VIN I had my 40th birthday at Hotel du Vin, which is in Henley. That was a wonderful memory. My birthday is 2 January, so I was 40 in 2020 and we went into lockdown not too long after. So many of my friends and family say it’s their last memory of going out. • THE THAMES I love being by the water when get to be by the Thames, whether that’s in Marlow or Maidenhead. My heritage is Ghanaian, so a coastal country. I feel really good when I stay in LA and often spend time on the beach. • PERSONAL TRAINING If I need to get my body into a certain shape, the personal trainer I use is Sam Shaw at Lemon Studios, which is in Wooburn Green again. I have also just discovered Wild Training, which is an incredible playground of a gym.
DRINK & FOOD
CHANNEL HOPPER
CATHY GAYNER Recipes from Le Rouzet is the debut recipe book from Berkshire-based Cathy Gayner, an acclaimed home cook who has perfected a way of producing French food with an English eye – and which has already won great praise from Rick Stein, Thomasina Miers, and Alain Roux. Tuck into more on page 28. cathygayner.com
