Preacher Man
We were singing his praises for Life On Mars and now Philip Glenister is back as a bible-basher.
He found fame as gruff Mancunian copper Gene Hunt in Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes, starred as a stereotypical PE teacher in David Walliams’ sitcom, Big School, and we recently saw him dying a Shakespearean death as Talbot in The Hollow Crown: The Wars Of The Roses.
So it comes as a surprise when, as we are discussing his latest TV series, Outcast, in a London hotel, Philip Glenister switches between three different American accents before coming home with a convincing Michael Caine impression.
That is not because Outcast is some sort of sketch show. Far from it. This pitch-dark series comes from Robert Kirkman, creator of hit zombie drama The Walking Dead.
But the accents come into play with Philip’s lead role as the Reverend Anderson, a West Virginia evangelical preacher who helps fight the good fight in his inimitable way.
And, says the 53-year-old actor, his ear for dialect – and love of golf – was all it took to transform his British accent.
“You just get an ear for it, listening to the rhythms,” he says. “I am a keen golfer and quite a lot of golfers on the American tour are from that neck of the woods and I would listen to them – and we had a great dialect coach. Plus I pretty much stayed in the accent while I was there.”
Retaining the American accent led to some confused co-stars when Philip revealed he was from Harrow and not Houston, rather like fellow Brit and The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln, who producers believed to be American until discovering otherwise – after they had given him the job.
Because The Walking Dead is the biggest show in the US, expectations are high for Outcast, and even though the early reception from critics has been good, Philip remains cautious.
“I’m a terrible pessimist with these sorts of things. I always like to wait until the public have seen it because ultimately they are they ones who decide whether they want to see more,” he confesses.
Philip must have more confidence than he admits to, though, not least because of his need to move to America for months at a time for filming a show that could run for years. It must help that he’s married to a fellow professional, actress Beth Goddard, who he says pushed him to take the job and took their daughters, Millie, 14, and Charlotte, 11, to visit him.
“That is the hardest part of something like this,” he admits. “But thank God for Facetime and Skype. Where would we be without it?
It has been a godsend, as it’s four-and-a-half months filming away from home. We start shooting at the end of July so the kids come out for all of August then go back home for the new term.
“My wife has been incredibly supportive. She was the one who said, ‘Look, you’ve got to go for it, it’s a great opportunity. If you turn it down, I think you will regret it. If it doesn’t work out then you’ve tried it.’ So we just thought, ‘It’s an adventure. You might as well go through life and have a few adventures.”
Simply watching Outcast is something of an adventure in itself. From levitation to beating the devil out of a 10 year old, it can be behind-the-sofa viewing at times.
“Yes, there are some very dark, gratuitous moments,” says Philip. “But I feel they are deserved. I think because of the character development and the strength of the story, we have earned those moments where you can show an exorcism going on.
But it never gets into the realms of stupid, and it feels quite real. However, I can categorically say that no 10 year olds were harmed in the making of this production!”
Philip found TV helpful when it came to perfecting his characterisation of Reverend Anderson.
“I watched some of these TV evangelists and there was a young guy who was like a rock star and that is what the reverend is. When he’s in church, that’s his stage, that is his performance,” he says. “We shot a scene in episode two where I have to do a three-and-a-half page sermon, preaching. I wanted to be really on it so I learnt it two weeks before, I really got under it. When we shot it, I said to our director it would be great if we get down among them and we won’t tell any of the supporting artists and we’ll just go for it. I went right through, did the whole thing, and we finished and I got this round of applause. And this little old lady, a supporting artist, grabbed the back of my leg and I turned round, and she went, ‘I’m converted.’ So I thought, ‘Right, there you go, we’re off and running.’ So that was a good day. I enjoyed that.”
The subject of takes brings us back to the many accents of Philip Glenister and he says his love of capturing the moment (and getting home on time) may have started a new trend in the States.
“They do long hours, the Americans, and they do a lot of takes,” he says. “I am not overly keen on doing take after take. I tend to get disinterested and you feel like the spark has gone. There’s something nice about that instantaneous moment where you just do a take and it feels right and you move on. We had this running gag where some directors would be like, ‘Let’s go again, go again.’ So I started doing Michael Caine, saying, ‘I think you’ll find, look at the rushes, it’s all there.’ I started doing this with Reg [E Cathey], who plays Police Chief Giles, and he thought it was the funniest thing, so he started doing it. Then he went off to Baltimore one weekend to shoot House of Cards and he was doing it on that, so [Kevin] Spacey starts doing it, saying, ‘Man, it’s in the rushes, it’s all there.’ So we’ve started a cult now. I want to hear it on every American TV show.”
So could we have lost this most British of actors to Hollywood? Perhaps not. Outcast may take him back to the States for years to come, but family, as well as work, will keep him here. “I have been very lucky with my career here and I wouldn’t just want to pack that up. If something good here is sent my way then of course I will do it. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
He found fame as gruff Mancunian copper Gene Hunt in Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes, starred as a stereotypical PE teacher in David Walliams’ sitcom, Big School, and we recently saw him dying a Shakespearean death as Talbot in The Hollow Crown: The Wars Of The Roses.
So it comes as a surprise when, as we are discussing his latest TV series, Outcast, in a London hotel, Philip Glenister switches between three different American accents before coming home with a convincing Michael Caine impression.
That is not because Outcast is some sort of sketch show. Far from it. This pitch-dark series comes from Robert Kirkman, creator of hit zombie drama The Walking Dead.
But the accents come into play with Philip’s lead role as the Reverend Anderson, a West Virginia evangelical preacher who helps fight the good fight in his inimitable way.
And, says the 53-year-old actor, his ear for dialect – and love of golf – was all it took to transform his British accent.
“You just get an ear for it, listening to the rhythms,” he says. “I am a keen golfer and quite a lot of golfers on the American tour are from that neck of the woods and I would listen to them – and we had a great dialect coach. Plus I pretty much stayed in the accent while I was there.”
Retaining the American accent led to some confused co-stars when Philip revealed he was from Harrow and not Houston, rather like fellow Brit and The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln, who producers believed to be American until discovering otherwise – after they had given him the job.
Because The Walking Dead is the biggest show in the US, expectations are high for Outcast, and even though the early reception from critics has been good, Philip remains cautious.
“I’m a terrible pessimist with these sorts of things. I always like to wait until the public have seen it because ultimately they are they ones who decide whether they want to see more,” he confesses.
Philip must have more confidence than he admits to, though, not least because of his need to move to America for months at a time for filming a show that could run for years. It must help that he’s married to a fellow professional, actress Beth Goddard, who he says pushed him to take the job and took their daughters, Millie, 14, and Charlotte, 11, to visit him.
“That is the hardest part of something like this,” he admits. “But thank God for Facetime and Skype. Where would we be without it?
It has been a godsend, as it’s four-and-a-half months filming away from home. We start shooting at the end of July so the kids come out for all of August then go back home for the new term.
“My wife has been incredibly supportive. She was the one who said, ‘Look, you’ve got to go for it, it’s a great opportunity. If you turn it down, I think you will regret it. If it doesn’t work out then you’ve tried it.’ So we just thought, ‘It’s an adventure. You might as well go through life and have a few adventures.”
Simply watching Outcast is something of an adventure in itself. From levitation to beating the devil out of a 10 year old, it can be behind-the-sofa viewing at times.
“Yes, there are some very dark, gratuitous moments,” says Philip. “But I feel they are deserved. I think because of the character development and the strength of the story, we have earned those moments where you can show an exorcism going on.
But it never gets into the realms of stupid, and it feels quite real. However, I can categorically say that no 10 year olds were harmed in the making of this production!”
Philip found TV helpful when it came to perfecting his characterisation of Reverend Anderson.
“I watched some of these TV evangelists and there was a young guy who was like a rock star and that is what the reverend is. When he’s in church, that’s his stage, that is his performance,” he says. “We shot a scene in episode two where I have to do a three-and-a-half page sermon, preaching. I wanted to be really on it so I learnt it two weeks before, I really got under it. When we shot it, I said to our director it would be great if we get down among them and we won’t tell any of the supporting artists and we’ll just go for it. I went right through, did the whole thing, and we finished and I got this round of applause. And this little old lady, a supporting artist, grabbed the back of my leg and I turned round, and she went, ‘I’m converted.’ So I thought, ‘Right, there you go, we’re off and running.’ So that was a good day. I enjoyed that.”
The subject of takes brings us back to the many accents of Philip Glenister and he says his love of capturing the moment (and getting home on time) may have started a new trend in the States.
“They do long hours, the Americans, and they do a lot of takes,” he says. “I am not overly keen on doing take after take. I tend to get disinterested and you feel like the spark has gone. There’s something nice about that instantaneous moment where you just do a take and it feels right and you move on. We had this running gag where some directors would be like, ‘Let’s go again, go again.’ So I started doing Michael Caine, saying, ‘I think you’ll find, look at the rushes, it’s all there.’ I started doing this with Reg [E Cathey], who plays Police Chief Giles, and he thought it was the funniest thing, so he started doing it. Then he went off to Baltimore one weekend to shoot House of Cards and he was doing it on that, so [Kevin] Spacey starts doing it, saying, ‘Man, it’s in the rushes, it’s all there.’ So we’ve started a cult now. I want to hear it on every American TV show.”
So could we have lost this most British of actors to Hollywood? Perhaps not. Outcast may take him back to the States for years to come, but family, as well as work, will keep him here. “I have been very lucky with my career here and I wouldn’t just want to pack that up. If something good here is sent my way then of course I will do it. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
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