Mackenzie Crook shot to fame as the pedantic and ambitious paper salesman, Gareth Keenan, in the critically-acclaimed Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant sitcom, The Office. Since then, he’s made a succession of feature films, most notably the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy, in which he played the one-eyed pirate, Ragetti; the British comedy, Sex Lives Of The Potato Men; and The Brothers Grimm, for director Terry Gilliam. In Three And Out, the XX year-old London-based actor plays Paul Callow, a Tube driver who, after inadvertently killing two passengers with his train, learns of a ‘three and out’ policy: if he kills three people within a month, he’ll be given a pay-off worth ten years’ salary more than enough for him to get away from the oppression of London and to pursue his dream of becoming a serious novelist. Paul’s search for a willing accomplice brings him in contact with Tommy Cassidy (Colm Meaney), a terminally ill Irishman about to end it all. Paul and Tommy strike a deal, but first Tommy drags his would-be killer on a road trip across London in search of his estranged wife, Rosemary, and daughter, Frankie with whom Paul soon forms a romantic bond. When the time comes, will Paul be able to set aside his growing friendship with Tommy, and do the deed? After all, 'a deal’s a deal'.
This is a world away from the Pirates trilogy
There’s not probably going to be anything much bigger than Pirates again. So anything is going to seem small compared to that. After spending two years doing those sequels, the Pirates, I’d had quite enough of Hollywood, to be honest. Not in a bad way, but I wanted to get back and do something that was smaller.
So what made Three And Out stand out from the crowd for you?
It stuck out as a really nice script with a brilliant story, a brilliant concept and low-budget films and low-budget movies, it seems that people will put more of themselves into it.
It seems that people are more passionate about it, because of the lower budget they pull their weight a bit more. And on Pirates Of The Caribbean, you’re a very small part of a very large machine and you get lost in it. This feels like a cottage industry almost. We’re pulling together to make a movie.
You said that the concept is brilliant.
It’s just such a simple and brilliant idea. It’s a brilliant part and it wasn’t Gareth out of The Office. I do get sent a lot of scripts where they’ve obviously just written something for a Gareth-type character, a nerdy, pedantic character, and Paul’s not that.
I wanted to have a go at playing a lead role as well. I’ve never seen myself as a lead actor necessarily, but at least it’s an opportunity to give it a go. If people after this movie comes out don’t accept me as a lead actor, I’ll be happy to go back to playing quirky character roles, but it’s a great opportunity.
I couldn’t help but notice that Paul has a copy of Naked Lunch with him in this scene.
That’s all in the script. It wouldn’t have been my choice. I dipped into it. Have you read it? Wow. It’s relentlessly horrific.
What kind of guy is Paul?
Paul’s a dreamer more than anything, I suppose. This opportunity that comes his way makes him sit up and do something about it. It actually pushes him into action. But if it hadn’t, he’d probably just go along driving his train forever and not actually doing anything with his life. So it’s about him getting this kick up the arse to go and try to make his life better.
But he does it in a very unorthodox fashion. Morally, how does he deal with what he’s going to do to Tommy?
He doesn’t see it as murder. He’s a very sensitive bloke and he does have a conscience. I guess he doesn’t think about it too much beforehand. He just goes off to find someone who wants to end it all so that they’ll be helping each other out. He doesn’t think too deeply about becoming emotionally involved which is what he ultimately does, and which is what makes it more difficult.
And what are you shooting today?
This is a scene where I first meet Tommy. He’s about to throw himself off Holborn Viaduct and yeah, it’s a start of a beautiful relationship.
It’s very much a buddy comedy in the grand tradition?
Yeah. If it wasn’t a comedy, it would be depressing. It would be relentless. You have to inject some comedy into it. The idea of this scam that he’s going to do is darkly comic anyway.
I don’t think it would work if it wasn’t a comedy because it would be unpleasant. And it’s played straight. It’s not really broad humour. It’s not Dumb & Dumber. And it’s not laughs all the way through. There are some really poignant movies and some hopefully really moving moments, especially towards the end.
Does Paul, in a way, become Tommy’s angel?
Yes. That’s how it turns out. I don’t think that Paul would ever think that about himself. From the moment they meet, really, he’s literally about to jump off the bridge when Paul grabs him and stops him and takes him for a pint of Guinness. That pint of Guinness is the first part. In exchange for this service that he’s going to do him, he offers him money and Tommy takes his money to make his peace with his family and put a few things right before he dies.
How have you found working with Colm?
We’re very different characters in the movie and I think we’re probably very different people in real life as well. But we got on really well and it’s been great working with him, and great watching him. He’s a very experienced actor.
Personally, he’s very politically driven, and I’m not necessarily. I have my views but I don’t get fired up about issues that he does. I would rather spend my time fighting an environmental issue for example rather than a people issue. We’re very different.
Does that feed into your on-screen relationship?
Yes, absolutely. He’s an aggressive character in the movie and I’m a pacifist which is ironic as I’m the one doing the killing. On the surface of it, at the beginning of the relationship you wouldn’t ever think that they would get on, but by the end they’re good friends and are very fond of each other.
It’s been a tight shoot, time-wise, but has the atmosphere stayed light?
Every day I’ve been in. It’s been great, I’ve really loved it. It’s been a really good atmosphere. Everyone seems to have put their all into it and have been very passionate about it.
This is Jonathan Gershfield’s first film how have you found working with him?
He’s a very experienced director and a very good director. He’s brilliant with actors. It’s been a joy to work with him and that enthusiasm of it being his debut feature has carried through to everyone.
He’s very open to suggestions from the actors and he wants to hear your opinions and if anything you want to change, he’ll listen to it. But at the same time he has a strong idea of how he wants it to look and if he doesn’t agree with you, he’ll tell you.
He’s not sycophantic in any way and that’s great. I’ve worked with directors who have been a bit like that, but Jonathan’s got a strong idea of how it should look. He has a brilliant sense of humour so he understands humour.
Paul looks very different long hair, beard, scruffy clothes from Gareth. Was that deliberate?
There is always that, because Gareth is such a recognisable character and people know me as Gareth. Whenever I can change the appearance away from that, I like to do that. Not that I have much facial hair going on but at least it’s something slightly different.
Not that I’m worried about people always knowing me as Gareth, but if I looked like him in this, they’d be thinking about him. I’m very proud of that character and what we did on The Office, but it wouldn’t be fair to the audience to be imagining Gareth doing these things.
Are you done with Hollywood, then?
No, I love doing movies. That’s what I want to do. And I’m not ruling out TV at all. I’d love to do some more TV, some quality TV. It’s difficult after The Office. I have to be very careful about choosing another sitcom to do, I think. People will inevitably compare and I don’t know if I could stand any of that ‘it’s not as good as The Office’ stuff.
Were you wary of doing another British comedy after Sex Lives Of The Potato Men, which was savaged critically?
That was one I chose, purely because the script was brilliant. It sounds strange knowing now what happened to the film and how it was received, but it was laugh out loud funny. Everyone who was involved in that movie did so because the script was so great.
I’m not sure where it went wrong, or if it did go wrong because I have a lot of people come up to me and tell me how much they love that movie. Lads, admittedly it’s a very laddy movie but people are really fond of it.
The Daily Mail didn’t like it. I was on the front of the Mail saying ‘ban this filth’. And yeah, it is a gross-out movie and the humour is infantile but it’s not the worst British movie ever made. In hindsight, I am oddly fond of it.
Three and Out is released 25th April
Mackenzie Crook shot to fame as the pedantic and ambitious paper salesman, Gareth Keenan, in the critically-acclaimed Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant sitcom, The Office. Since then, he’s made a succession of feature films, most notably the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy, in which he played the one-eyed pirate, Ragetti; the British comedy, Sex Lives Of The Potato Men; and The Brothers Grimm, for director Terry Gilliam. In Three And Out, the XX year-old London-based actor plays Paul Callow, a Tube driver who, after inadvertently killing two passengers with his train, learns of a ‘three and out’ policy: if he kills three people within a month, he’ll be given a pay-off worth ten years’ salary more than enough for him to get away from the oppression of London and to pursue his dream of becoming a serious novelist. Paul’s search for a willing accomplice brings him in contact with Tommy Cassidy (Colm Meaney), a terminally ill Irishman about to end it all. Paul and Tommy strike a deal, but first Tommy drags his would-be killer on a road trip across London in search of his estranged wife, Rosemary, and daughter, Frankie with whom Paul soon forms a romantic bond. When the time comes, will Paul be able to set aside his growing friendship with Tommy, and do the deed? After all, 'a deal’s a deal'.This is a world away from the Pirates trilogy
There’s not probably going to be anything much bigger than Pirates again. So anything is going to seem small compared to that. After spending two years doing those sequels, the Pirates, I’d had quite enough of Hollywood, to be honest. Not in a bad way, but I wanted to get back and do something that was smaller.
So what made Three And Out stand out from the crowd for you?
It stuck out as a really nice script with a brilliant story, a brilliant concept and low-budget films and low-budget movies, it seems that people will put more of themselves into it.
It seems that people are more passionate about it, because of the lower budget they pull their weight a bit more. And on Pirates Of The Caribbean, you’re a very small part of a very large machine and you get lost in it. This feels like a cottage industry almost. We’re pulling together to make a movie.
You said that the concept is brilliant.
It’s just such a simple and brilliant idea. It’s a brilliant part and it wasn’t Gareth out of The Office. I do get sent a lot of scripts where they’ve obviously just written something for a Gareth-type character, a nerdy, pedantic character, and Paul’s not that.
I wanted to have a go at playing a lead role as well. I’ve never seen myself as a lead actor necessarily, but at least it’s an opportunity to give it a go. If people after this movie comes out don’t accept me as a lead actor, I’ll be happy to go back to playing quirky character roles, but it’s a great opportunity.
I couldn’t help but notice that Paul has a copy of Naked Lunch with him in this scene.
That’s all in the script. It wouldn’t have been my choice. I dipped into it. Have you read it? Wow. It’s relentlessly horrific.
What kind of guy is Paul?
Paul’s a dreamer more than anything, I suppose. This opportunity that comes his way makes him sit up and do something about it. It actually pushes him into action. But if it hadn’t, he’d probably just go along driving his train forever and not actually doing anything with his life. So it’s about him getting this kick up the arse to go and try to make his life better.
But he does it in a very unorthodox fashion. Morally, how does he deal with what he’s going to do to Tommy?
He doesn’t see it as murder. He’s a very sensitive bloke and he does have a conscience. I guess he doesn’t think about it too much beforehand. He just goes off to find someone who wants to end it all so that they’ll be helping each other out. He doesn’t think too deeply about becoming emotionally involved which is what he ultimately does, and which is what makes it more difficult.
And what are you shooting today?
This is a scene where I first meet Tommy. He’s about to throw himself off Holborn Viaduct and yeah, it’s a start of a beautiful relationship.