John Simm, are you ever not grumpy? And why is it adorable? Also, bonus Persian poetry.

[margo_kim]

I'll be honest, I wish John Simm wouldn't do plays. I want him readily available to me while he does exciting new things. I'm an ocean away from England and no one made bootleg Youtube clips of Elling. But him starting Hamlet does have one direct benefit to me: press. I love his interviews. He's such a miserable bastard. (In this interview with the

Comments

[mamishka]

He IS very grumpy! I wish he was less grumpy - not only as a fan but just because clearly the fame side of his career makes him actively unhappy and that sucks for everybody. Ahh well.

The poem is quite Sam though. And lovely.

[lozenger8]

It's not entirely him. That interviewer went in thinking he'd be 'chippy', so John complied. It all depends on the journalist, really.

[mamishka]

No offense, but I've read and seen many interviews with him and he often is, well kinda chippy. ;) More often than not comes across as cranky and kinda bitter in all the interviews that I've read with him. He's an actor who just wants to act and doesn't want the rest of the stuff that comes with that. I can understand that and even empathize with it. Problem is, there's kinda no getting around that if you're going to be a famous and successful actor. But rather than avoiding it as gracefully as he can or simply not talking about it he tends to be cranky and snippy about it. I can't say that I blame him, but I don't think it's doing his reputation any good.

[lozenger8]

Oh, I hear you. I have also read the many, many interviews of John needing to CRY MOAR. But I can also tell when an interviewer has deliberately geared the interview that way, and this guy did.

The thing is, John can be charming in interviews. He has a decent sense of humour about himself, his work, life in general. He's not just a miserable bastard. For a good long while there we had at least five interviews straight when he was full of good-humour and bonhomie.

I'd like to think the stress of Hamlet is making him go back to his snippy, annoyed ways. That, coupled with a journalist who went in with a particular take he wanted, and we get this kind of interview. It fucks me off, but there we go.

[margo_kim]

I agree, John definitely has interviews and moments when he's much more good-humored. I think in general he is a man that skews toward bitter or cranky, but that seems like his personality. I probably have this bias because he reminds me so much of one particularly miserable bastard of a family friend, but it seems if you took the grumpy away, he's not himself anymore. So all his charm will be filtered through that mindset and comes out sounding bitter even if he doesn't mean it, and if you're a reporter on a time budget and an angle in mind you go with like that.

I wonder if journalists like featuring him. It's probably easier to write about him than someone who's better at keeping their thoughts to themselves.

By the way, is "It fucks me off" really a phrase? Cause it's great. I've never heard that before, a shame since it really fills a need in my vocab. It's so much more satisfying than "It pisses me off."

[lozenger8]

"It fucks me off" is a phrase I use a fair amount. I don't know if other people do. I never really thought about it before. I should probably apologise for having such a foul mouth. Sorry!

I know a few bitter and cranky people (and can be one myself on occasion!) and, yeah, John does come across that way. I think it probably feeds into his acting skill, too, because he feels things deeply and can convey emotion so well because of it.

Some interviewers are definitely out to get him from the start, though, because they've read things with him in the past and think it will be terribly amusing.

[mamishka]

I think in the end John is an actor who doesn't pull his punches, doesn't play the game, and speaks his mind. So yeah, when someone brings up something that irks him, he doesn't hide it, he says how he feels and voila! Cranky boy. But I agree that he's not always cranky and that there are a lot of things that he enjoys in his life. He's also very conscious of the fact that he doesn't have that easy charm that say Tennant has (I remember him noting that once explicitly) and kind of wishes that he did. It would certainly make his life easier and I think he realizes that.

I do feel badly for him in general though. It must be hard to watch all of these other British actors pass him by. I think, in the end, it's mostly that his style of acting is too subtle for America. And then it becomes a catch 22 - he won't get hired by Hollywood to play any big roles until he's a Name in the States, and he won't become a name if they don't hire him. Bah!

But this American loves him, cranky boy or not. :)