“It's down to luck” he simply states of his career path to date. “I didn't go searching for the roles I've played. I think that the parts find you, not the other way around. I think if you're right for it you'll get it and you'll play the parts you're meant to play. You read about these big famous Hollywood actors picking and choosing their way to whatever they've done and it's just bollocks. They've been lucky just like everyone else, it's bollocks.”
Hogg's luck has thus far equated to being cast in leading roles for the last three films he has been involved in, with parts ranging from a mentally unbalanced recluse reminiscing over a freakish world adventure, to a booze swilling drug taking Appalachian mountain dancer with a wide streak of danger in his heart, back to a mentally unstable young man who descends into a nightmare of his own making only to claw his way out again. He explains to me though that his career trajectory has followed a very steady path, with roots in regional theatre, to bigger theatre roles in London and bit parts in TV and film along the way until more recently when his roles have become more significant across the board.
Hogg's chosen field has not always been acting though. For many years he was the singer in a punk band called Porno Kings. After three or four years the band broke up (though not before all members indelibly marked the time with matching tattoos) and Hogg says he “kind of fell into acting from there.” After two and a half years of trying he was granted a place at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he studied between 1999 and 2002.
“I was very naïve to tell you the truth,” says Hogg of his decision to try out for the school. “It was kind of like the blind leading the blind because my drama teacher had never gotten anyone in to drama school either so we were going around in circles for the most of it. But because I was so naïve I never thought I wasn't going to get in either. I don't really know what I was expecting but I loved it. There are some people who go there and they're desperate for it to be one thing and it's not or they put up a lot of barriers about only wanting to work a certain way but I went in to it so green that I just let everything wash over me and I just loved it.”
Though he is far from dressing the part of an actor teetering on the verge of becoming well known (Hogg is decked out in trainers, sweats and a nondescript woolen beanie), his portrayals are fast accumulating him attention, perhaps most notably his role as Jesco White in the American produced movie White Lightning. The movie is based on the true life of an Appalachian mountain dancer and his battle with drink and drugs as he tries to measure up to the legacy of his famous father betwixt a whole lot of mischief and mayhem. A Brit with a thick Doncaster accent may not seem the perfect choice to play the infamous character, but Hogg's depiction of White should put paid to any of that sort of talk. By the way he tells it his casting in the role of Jesco White was down to pure luck, as if he'd been plucked from the side of the road and given the job.
“I think they'd been trying to cast it for a long time in America. I know the script had been around for about five years and I think eventually they just ran out of ideas with what to do there so they came over here to cast it. I'm lucky because I kind of look like Jesco and it was an accent that I thought I could do alright. But I think I also just had the right look. Because you know if you're given the opportunities you go away and work on them and hope that it comes off, but 90% of the time it comes down to your look and being in the right place at the right time. I was fortunate enough to be right for them at the right time.”
The film, directed by Dominic Murphy and written by Vice Magazine founder Shane Smith and Eddy Moretti has already notched up considerable praise in various film festivals with Hogg himself scoring best actor awards at several festivals for the role. I wonder though if being he had any qualms about playing the role, given that West Virginia and its Appalachian mountains are a long way from the shores of Britain and Sheffield?
“I think I would have been more concerned if it was a straight forward biopic like Ray,” says Hogg thoughtfully. “The story was pushed to such an extreme level. It starts off being him but it becomes a very warped version of him so it wasn't like doing a direct impression of Jesco. But he hasn't seen the film so I don't know what he thinks about it and I don't know how many people from West Virginia have seen the film so I don't know what they think about it. They might absolutely hate it. I mean there are a lot of stereotypes in the film.”
Due to funding difficulties Hogg's preparation for the role was two years from when he was cast until the cameras got rolling. He used some of this time to go and visit White at his home in West Virginia, which was an eye-opening experience for the actor.
“I stayed with Jesco for a bit,” he relates with an excited grin on his face. “It was great, mad but great. There's a lot of youtube footage of him, dancing and talking so I watched all of that in order to prepare for the role too. But the best thing was meeting him, and talking to him. You do get the feeling that he is properly edgy, but sweet. He's a very sweet man. I think that's what the film captures, is that even though he's dangerous - and there is a line with him that you can cross and he won't be nice Jesco anymore. But as long as you don't cross that line he'll be nice and sweet Jesco. We got drunk when I was there and he shot his gun and he was kind of frightening but it fun as well.”
More recently Hogg has finished Bunny and the Bull, a bittersweet comedy about a young man trying to pin point where his life started falling apart, tracing it back to a whirlwind holiday he took with his best friend, meeting some unlikely characters along the way. The film features a host of British comic talent including Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and Richard Ayoade, which kept Hogg playing his character very straight as he knew he couldn't compete with the others. With this project complete and Ollie Kepler's Expanding Purple World due for release next year it would seem like the young actor is heading toward breakthrough point.
“Well you know I was talking about this to my friend the other day and it doesn't feel any different,” counters Hogg. “I still have to audition for every role. I mean people do say nice things about you when you do a certain role but it doesn't change things much. You still audition three or four times for a part and you're still up against people who are a lot more experienced than you and have done a lot more film work for you. I am hoping that if I become more successful then I'll be able to take some more artistic freedoms but at the moment I go for the auditions and if I'm offered the role I take it.”
So landing consecutively envious roles was not a matter of picking and choosing what was out there?
“It's an absolute fluke. I've been so lucky with what I've got so far. I don't think that you ever pick the films, I think they pick you. It's not like I had any choice and had to think about whether I was going to turn down the rom-com movie for something more serious, it's just been all luck. I'm just really lucky that I've been a part of those three films because I'm really proud of all of them.”
For the moment Hogg is balancing film roles with theatre, both of which he says he enjoys, as different as they are. As we leave he is telling me about the TV drama he is going to audition for today and there is a familiar sparkle in his eye, highlighting his excitement for what he does. I sense a passionate man who summed up his love of acting during a conversation on our way to have coffee. Telling me about the photo shoot he had done a few days earlier for this very article he became animated when he told me that there were lots of different hats for him to wear, saying that he just loves dressing up. A simple childhood feeling of playing make believe that has existed within us all and is still very much alive in this fledgling talent that is sure to be breaking down the few remaining doors between him and stardom very shortly.
1 comment:
very interesting article!
thanks a lot!!
valerie (france)
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