Daniel Mays reveals which Hollywood star has a trailer ‘like a village’-Larushka Ivan-Zadeh-Entertainment – Metro

Daniel Mays (Picture: Shutterstock/Metro.co.uk)

The actor, 44, on shooting Christmas films in June, going all out for Line Of Duty and whose trailer is as big as a small village.

Happy nearly Christmas! Have you been naughty or nice this year?

Come on! I’ve always been nice. I’m on the nice step.

And what do you want for Christmas?

I remember when I was a kid and I got a BMX bike. That was my best ever Christmas present. But the older you get, those real surprise presents have all gone out the window, haven’t they?

Now it’s normally all pants and socks and aftershave. Actually, I got a pair of slippers last year. So maybe I’ll get the pipe this year and I’ll have the whole set.

Tells us about your new romcom Your Christmas Or Mine?

It’s about a couple of drama students, played by Asa Butterfield and this fantastic newcomer, Cora Kirk. They say goodbye to each other at a station on Christmas Eve and then in a split-second decision decide they want to spend Christmas together so join the other person on their train.

But because they both do it, they end up swapping and then get snowed in while spending Christmas with each other’s families miles away from each other. It’s like your favourite Christmas film meets Sliding Doors. You just can’t help but get pulled into the story.

Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield (right) stars alongside Daniel in Your Christmas Or Mine? (Picture: Sam Taylor/Netflix/Kobal/Shutterstock)

What’s the fake snow made of?

It’s made of this weird paper mesh-type stuff. They put it in this huge spray gun and it goes absolutely everywhere. We shot the film in June and I was like, ‘How on earth is that gonna work?’ But I was absolutely blown away by all the smoke and mirrors.

Thanks to the snow machines you’d be walking down this lovely country lane in the summer, then you turn the corner and it was like you were slap-bang in the middle of Christmas.

But it was still incredibly hot and I was sweating under scarves and my lovely Christmas turkey knitted jumper. What a hideous thing. I gladly left that jumper behind.

Daniel’s Christmas Day always featured the Only Fools And Horses special (Picture: BBC)

What’s your fave festive movie?

Growing up, we would, without fail, watch an Only Fools And Horses Christmas special on Christmas Day. That was a given. And I do love It’s A Wonderful Life. It’s an absolute classic, isn’t it? It never grows old. It’s one of those movies that always makes me cry.

Do you tend to cry at movies? Are you a bit of a softy?

I am a complete blubber. That’s really not good for my hardcore street cred, but there you go.

Ben Affleck, pictured in Pearl Harbor, had the biggest on-set trailer Daniel has ever seen (Picture: Touchstone/Shutterstock)

What happened to your Hollywood career? Wasn’t your movie debut in Pearl Harbor?

Yeah – but I’m in it so fleetingly, you’d need matchsticks in your eyes so you don’t miss me.

After I left drama school I didn’t work for six months. Then right out of the blue I got four episodes in EastEnders and straight after that I got a week’s filming on Pearl Harbor.

Suddenly I was standing in the middle of a field watching Michael Bay screaming through a megaphone on the end of a crane with Spitfires and Hurricanes flying through the air. Ben Affleck had the biggest trailer I’ve still ever seen to this day. It was more like a village.

Did you watch Line Of Duty even when you weren’t in it?

Daniel as Sergeant Danny Waldron (centre) in Line Of Duty, starring alongside Vicky McClure and Martin Compston (Picture: BBC)

I watched the first two seasons because my old flatmate Craig Parkinson was in it. Those leads in Line Of Duty really demand something out of you as an actor. They’re so multi-layered and fantastic due to Jed Mercurio’s writing.

So when the opportunity came up to audition for the new lead, I was like, I have to go in and nail that.

I learned pretty much all of this 15-page interrogation scene and I just went for it. It was one of those auditions that was like, ‘I’m not gonna leave this room until I’ve secured this part.’

Any particular gigs you’re still eyeing up?

I do like Peaky Blinders. That was something that never came my way. But you never know what’s around the corner in this game.

How about reality TV?

I’ve been asked to do Strictly but it was the smaller Christmas version. People say, ‘You’d be great on Strictly, Danny,’ because I did this funny dance routine in that comedy Plus One. So I could definitely throw some shapes. And I was asked to go into the jungle a few years ago but I wouldn’t last five minutes.

What are you shooting now?

Daniel has to pinch himself sometimes when he’s acting opposite Hollywood legend Michael Douglas in his latest role (Picture: Shutterstock)

I’ve been in Paris shooting a big show for Apple all about Benjamin Franklin. I’ve been filming with the amazing legend that is Michael Douglas. He’s playing Benjamin Franklin. And I’m playing a character called Edward Bancroft, who was American, but he was effectively a double agent working for the British government.

I’ll be sad when it finishes, because it’s been one of the highlights of my career. Michael Douglas is a real team player. I’ve had a couple of moments where there’s just you and him in the scene and all these cameras around you and your brain goes, ‘Oh my God, it’s Michael Douglas! You’ve come a long way from Essex haven’t you, Danny Mays?’

Your Christmas Or Mine? is out now on Prime Video

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