Himesh Patel

0:00Membership means more with American Express Business Gold. Earn four times membership rewards points in your top two eligible spending categories every month, including eligible U.S. advertising purchases and select media, and U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery. What are you waiting for? Get the card that flexes with your spending every month. Terms and points cap apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash business dash gold. Amex Business Gold Card. Built for business by American Express. Does anyone actually really understand what happened in Tenet? Probably what didn't happen was I think Rob himself went, I don't really know.

0:36I don't think I understand the movie. Which I think I believe. Like, I don't know. I completely believe it, by the way. Yeah, I completely believe it. So when you're doing scenes with Rob, did he ever say out loud in your presence? No. No, he kept it to himself. No, no, no, yeah. But I think, I mean, there is a story that at one point he turned to John David and went, am I dead? Or, you know. You just need a basic ass. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins.

1:28number of years. He is killing it. And this summer is great evidence of that. He's got the one-two punch of Enola Holmes 3 on Netflix and the biggest movie summer year, maybe, arguably, The Odyssey. So this is a great chat. Very thrilled to have him on the podcast at last. Before we get to Chimesh, remember, give our Patreon a try if you haven't already. Check it out because you get all the early access to every single episode. You get discount codes, You get access to our live events, autographed merch, all sorts of fun stuff. Patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused. Just check it out. See if there's something there for you.

2:05I won't hold it against you if you don't sign up. But if you do, there's bang for your buck. I promise you. Main event today is Himesh Patel. This was one that's been long in the making. He's been, as I said, on my radar for quite a bit. How could he not be coming off of eSenders, which admittedly is a blind spot for me and most Americans, but was a huge part of his career, nine years on that iconic British show. But then what he's done in the last six, seven years, really astounding. Yesterday was essentially his film debut, center stage of that one, big hit, Danny Boyle, of course, and then following it up with things like Station Eleven, which is maybe, I don't know if it's underrated.

2:49I think people acknowledge what an accomplishment that one was, but might have also been a victim of the pandemic. If you haven't seen Station Eleven, highly, highly recommend. One of the great shows in recent memory. But he, of course, joined the Christopher Nolan fold in Tenet. We talk about that. He's back in the Odyssey and Enola Holmes 3 as Dr. Watson, another iconic role. I had a busy Enola Holmes few days because I had the opportunity to chat with Millie Bobby Brown, which by now you guys probably have seen if you haven't already really great episode I will say a live event we did with her at the 92nd Street Y if you haven't checked it out check it out in the archives a really good one and then followed it up with this I um we weren't able to get him to my usual studio but I made the the trip to the plaza in New York to sit down with him at the junket carved out our usual big chunk of time so I appreciate him and the Netflix folks and his reps for making it work.

3:47And I'm so glad it did because just a soft-spoken, serious, but also clearly has a great sense of humor and above all else, a hugely talented actor. So thrilled it finally happened. Himesh Patel, for your eyes and ears today. Without any further ado, enjoy. Himesh, should we do this? Let's do it. We're here. There are cameras. Thank you for inviting me to your home. This is your place, This is where I live. Yeah. This is how I imagine every London flat to be. So it looks exactly like this. There's a few, but not many. If I invaded your home, is there more evidence of you being an actor or are you being a dad in your home?

4:32Dad. Yeah, yeah. I figure. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Just detritus. Wow, you're blaming it on your children. No, no, no. We know it's all you. They can't tidy it up. You know, but yeah. Yeah. Are you one to keep souvenirs or any like mementos? I'm way too sentimental actually. Really? Yeah, yeah. What do you got? Just every like trinkets and stuff and you know, there's a little rock. It's like some rock or something that my kid found maybe when we were in India and I still have it in my bag. This is lovely. And I keep finding it and going, I was probably going to get rid of this but I don't.

5:10Well, at least it's not taking up a large amount of space. No. Small rocks you can do. Yeah, yeah. Just trying to, you know. But I do. I keep a lot of scripts from there. I've got like tubs full of old scripts and stuff. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with those. It marks a time. It does. Yeah, yeah. And do you, I'm curious. I sometimes ask actors this. I'm curious like what their scripts actually look like. Like are yours like filled in the margin with notes or is it pretty spare? They're quite spare actually. But I'm getting better at actually being a bit more sort of academic about it and writing things down rather than just trusting that I'll remember them in some sort of internal way.

5:51Yeah. But yeah. Yeah. I'm talking to you at a very cool moment. So I mean, I've been on my radar for quite a while. Congratulations on all the success. Thank you. Thanks. And right now, you know, I joke, but we're at the Enola Holmes 3 junket making some time for me and happy second views. I appreciate it. I'm also going to see you next week for the Odyssey. Great. So we better get along today. Yeah, yeah. Otherwise it's going to be real good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, look, those are two great accomplishments. Obviously, massive entertainments in their own right. You're also, I think, shooting or just shot maybe X-Files, which we can tease a little bit, which is, can't be more excited about that.

6:26You and Ryan Coogler. Just give me a little sense of like, do you take a moment to kind of like assess where you're at? 35 years old, a dad, a husband, but also where you are at in your career? I can barely fathom it, in all honesty. It's kind of beyond my wildest dreams. So I am very thankful for it. And I'm trying to be better at living in the moment. I was saying earlier, this week in and of itself, probably the next 10 days or so, is going to be a real whirlwind. Yeah. This is the unusual. Yeah. Yeah, it is. But I don't want to take it for granted. I don't want to wish it away. Maybe I've been a bit guilty of doing that before.

7:10So it's just sort of just soaking it in and maybe allowing a little pat on the back every now and then. But it's not very British to do that. We'll allow it. In this circumstance, we will. But I mean, are you a goal-driven kind of an actor? Do you set markers for yourself? And what do those look like? I don't think previously I've set like you know specific markers yeah but I I certainly maybe more recently have come to terms with the fact that you know yes I do have ambition I have things that I would like to do but what's happened is they just sort of ended up happening uh you know now I think that's maybe a lot to do with I've maybe got a good team behind me who just got to understand me and what's gonna get me going and so they've they've found me that stuff but it's also So I guess you have a sort of sense of what gets you going.

8:02And so whatever's been guiding me thus far has done me well. And I certainly want to maybe take the bull by the horns a little bit and go, okay, what can we achieve while we're up here? Yeah, you know, what can, how can we continue to steer X, Y, Z conversation, you know, that sort of thing. So, yeah, there's plenty that I want to achieve. And I just, I want to do it in the best way possible. Well, there is that always that transition point for many actors I talk to, which is like a fascinating one, because it's that period of time from like just taking a job, because God knows any actor just wants a job.

8:45Of course. It's hard out there to the luxury of choice. Yes. And it is a luxury, yeah. And also the strange thing you have to wrap your brain around where you have the opportunity to say no to things, which is also like a crazy thing, because I would imagine now you say no to things that five years ago, 10 years ago, would have been unfathomable. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. It is a real luxury, and it's scary to say no. It's scary to say no, because you're just kind of going, is this a horrific mistake I'm making? But as I say, I think so far it's worked out well. From the outside looking in, yes.

9:24Yeah, yeah. I can be a non-partial arbiter of this. But I think it's also, you know, your priorities in life will shift. As you say, I'm a parent now, so that shifts certain things. But yeah, so far it's all generally balancing out pretty well. So if I talk to friends and family that knew you growing up, Are they surprised at the trajectory of like that you're in the arts, let alone so successful? Like was this always in the cards, you think? I think it was pretty much always on the cards. Not that anyone went, yeah, of course he was always going to get to do the kind of things that I've gotten to do.

10:01But I always enjoyed it. I always loved it from a young age. And I was encouraged. My parents really encouraged me to go to youth theater to begin with and then to audition. And so they were behind me all the way. And I've got wonderful friends in my life who don't allow me to leave terra firma. They very much make sure that I'm grounded. And what was, when you think back, was there early formative moments of validation that really kind of kept you going? even as a kid where someone said, yeah, stick with this. You've got something. The first time that happened, I did. There's a show in the UK called This Is Your Life, if you know about this show.

10:52And they did it. There was a version of it that would be done in schools around the country called This Is Your Life, Santa Claus. OK. And I played Michael Askel, who was the host of this show in the UK. And obviously, you're playing a version of him for this sort of Christmas show at school and and I did that and apparently as my mum tells me that the teacher said that you know he's got a certain aptitude for this and you know maybe sign him up to the local youth theatre which she did and then you know I had a great time at the local youth theatre they were really encouraging the key youth theatre in Peterborough at the time and and and they really nurtured me and then I I joined another youth theater in Cambridge in the UK called the Young Actors Company.

11:38And they... I did a screen sort of Sunday Screen Academy thing with them. And that was my first introduction to cameras and how cameras work and how you shoot things and that sort of thing, which couldn't have come out in one opportune time because then a year later I got my break in the UK on EastEnders. And so there were just sort of, I felt really well nurtured along the way. I was very lucky that those infrastructures existed around where I grew up. And very lucky that my parents were very encouraging of it and supportive. And so those were, rather than necessarily any particular validations of talent, it was more just the continued support that I had from various contexts.

12:28And did you see a path even then, before EastEnders, I'm even saying? Did you see people that looked like you on screen that said, yeah, that could be me? There were a few. I mean, I'd say probably not long before I got EastEnders was when Dev appeared on Skins. Sure. And that was a big thing. And actually around the same time, Riz was doing, he did a show called Brits. Okay. Which, he doesn't know this actually. I don't know if we've ever spoken about it. I did a day's extras. I was an extra on that show for a day, which I don't know if he knows that. This is the source of the friction because you were just on the outside while big time riz.

13:09And that's why we hate each other. I have to say, just like off topic for a second. Yeah. One of the most enjoyable things I've watched the last week was you guys at South By. Oh, yeah, yeah. That was great. Promoting. Bait. Yeah. Yeah. The deadpan, the commitment to the bit. It was great. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. No, so, you know, they were appearing and, but there was a whole generation of actors before, almost all of whom I've had the privilege of working with since, South Asian actors who I saw on TV. But it was rare to see anyone in a prominent position or a leading position or anything.

13:48And so, yeah, I felt very, the path wasn't that clear. Right. I just wanted to try and then see where that led. And then same thing, even when I left EastEnders after nine years, there wasn't really a path necessarily of, okay, I can... This is what XYZ has done. There's so few exact... I had a little bit. You know, my mate Ben Hardy had just left. And, you know, he... I remember he left and then a week later they were like, he's going to be an X-Men. I'm like, oh, that sounds good. I was like, what? Who does that? But there was no one I that I knew who'd been on a soap for nine years Right and then got to be in in things like that So contextualize this for the dumb Americans like me because like I know of EastEnders.

14:39Yes I've not to be honest watched an iota no, I apologize. This is not part of our cultural fabric What is the comp? I mean is it daytime soaps here like the night type like is it like what's the It's somewhere in between those things, I think. From what I've learned about US soaps, it's a very different thing. But it's somewhere between that and a sort of gritty drama, really. And the volume of work? Because you're there for nine years. Like, how are you - You're shooting - a block is four episodes of half an hour TV. And that takes two weeks to shoot, and they're sort of overlapping blocks. So then you can have one week where you in the morning are shooting one block and then in the afternoon you go back in time to the next block.

15:32Sure. And you have to remember where you are and what your character is doing at any given point. So it's a great training ground. It must be. It's just you're putting in the reps, you're putting in the hours. Yeah, exactly. It really, you know, you drill a lot of things. And also I was very, again, when you talk about being nurtured, You know, they really believed in me and and pushed me in many ways as an actor You know, they wrote things for my character to do that Didn't necessarily pigeonhole me and and so I got to try my hand at various different things and And that really stood me in good stead.

16:06I think how did you handle? I mean, I would imagine being a prominent part of that show Especially back in the UK that changes your life like in terms of like walking the streets like how did you handle it did to some extent it did to some extent for the first five years i was still living at home with my parents in my little village right so there it didn't really change a whole lot because there's a bit of a novelty for a bit and then then the villagers are just like well you're just a kid from the shop still like you're not you know you know you're not all that yeah exactly especially when i was still delivering newspapers for my parents for those five years.

16:45Keep them in check, yeah. Yeah. Like it doesn't really. And then, you know, I moved to London. People kind of, they see people around all the time, to be honest. It is a very different type of fame, though. It's a different type of fame. Because people don't necessarily know you. They know the character. Yeah, you're in their living room. Yes. You're with them a lot. Yeah. So it's not like anyone knows who Himesh is, that they know the character and the show. And so it's a very strange, specific type of fame. But I think there's a very sort of thin line I found between being on a soap in the UK and being a celebrity, being someone who does that sort of thing.

17:35And if that's what you want to do, that's great. There's a lot of people who've had great success through doing that, and that's wonderful. But it was never my aim. The actors that I had the privilege of working with on that show, they were about the work. They were really about making the work the most important thing, making it the best it can be, and that's how you grow as an actor. And that was my main aim. My main aim was to get better every day as an actor. So I made sure that I had no real interest in fame. You know, it wasn't really a, I really value being able to just walk down the street with a relative sense of anonymity and live your life, you know.

18:14And I'm very lucky I can still do that really, you know. So I, it doesn't, I don't, I don't really, I don't want much more besides that. Yeah, you're kind of in that sweet spot I would imagine where you get like a nice, I'm sure there are some nice nods and some nice recognition. Yeah, of course there are. But it's usually just people just sort of being really nice, just coming up and saying, you know, I liked you in XYZ and that's lovely. Gives you a little boost and on with your day. And then you get on with your day. You continue to walk around. We'll be right back with more Happy, Sad, Confused.

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21:10I want to come to kind of the exit out of these centers, but I want to backtrack also because I'd love to get more of a sense of like your sensibilities of like as a consumer of pop culture the entertainment film and tv most curious like you know obviously the films that made an impact the tv that made an impact the actors that early on really were resident to you um what comes to mind when i say stuff like that i mean early early on there was there was a real sort of uh a rich tapestry of things in the home i grew up in yeah because i had all the pop culture that was that was there as being a young, a sort of British household.

21:50So you have everything that's coming through the TV. You have all the sort of Disney movies. I mean, Aladdin was a huge one for me. The Lion King, those were huge. They had a big impact on me. Toy Story, all those sorts of, you know, Space Jam. That was a big moment. I loved Space Jam. You know, Jurassic Park, all those sorts of classic movies that we all grew up watching on both sides of the pond. But then I had a whole other context of Indian cinema or Bollywood. And that was huge for me. That was really a huge part of my childhood. Because I think it was probably a lot to do with, oh, there's someone that looks like me on a screen.

22:32The center of the frame. Yeah, exactly. and a whole context of music and a culture that I understood in that way. So that was a huge thing. And then, you know, as you grow into your teenagers, you sort of music was a huge thing for me. You know, growing up in the noughties, there was the big sort of indie move in the UK with, you know, some great bands probably spearheaded by like Arctic Monkeys amongst many others. And what about like, you know, when you think of like the quintessential, you know, British TV film, like I know you have some, you've had some connection with Doctor Who over the years.

23:14Was Doctor Who big in your house? It was, yeah. Doctor Who was big, yeah. When it came back, it was rebooted. That was a big one. Who was your Doctor? Who was the - As in my favorite? Well, who was the one like when you think of Doctor Who, like peak Doctor Who for you. I mean, it's got to be David Tennant really. I mean, it was really, you know, I love Christopher Uckleston. And then like, but there was that, it was a really special time just in the year. It felt like everyone was watching Dog 2. Yeah. As opposed to it being a sort of niche sci-fi kids show. It was like everyone was just watching it.

23:44Yeah. So that was, you know, that was a big, big thing in our household. James Bond, Harry Potter. Bond, Potter was big. Yeah, I remember my dad taking me to see Casino Royale. It was the first Bond movie I saw in the cinema. That's a good one. That was like, because then I'd seen Bond movies on TV. Yeah, there was something visceral, that black and white sequence at the beginning. Oh my gosh. Come on. I mean, he just rewrote the rule book. And when I say he, I mean, it was Martin Campbell, right? He directed that. But there was something in his eyes, man. I always go like, you're going to reboot Bond and you go, let me, okay, let me just drown a guy in the sink and then shoot the other guy.

24:26Totally. They announced themselves. And we're offs. They did. It was just like, okay, then I guess we're not doing any subtle winks to the audience here. It's just like - No Roger Moore this time. Yeah. And what a great movie it was. So, yeah. What's your place in the Bond universe going forward? Whether you're Bond or a Bond villain. Oh, gosh. I just want to see them do it really well, you know? And what a huge opportunity. I mean, she was just like, how can you get it wrong? And so let's see what happens. but I'm really excited to find out who's going to play Bond. It's like we're getting closer.

25:02Yeah, that's what I was reading. And then, yeah, let's see what story they choose to tell. I heard you were a big Lord of the Rings guy. I was a big Lord of the Rings guy, yeah. Books, films, both? The films led me to the book. And then I had this, like, it was the whole unabridged version with everything and then the appendices and all of that. And, you know, I got into all of it. And I also got into, you know, the games workshop. Does that mean anything to you in the US? I don't actually know. You know what Warhammer is? Yes, yes. Okay, so I never got into Warhammer. That was there. But they did a whole Lord of the Rings version of it.

25:36Okay. Like this tabletop game of these. I never cared about the game. I never cared about that. But I was really into painting. Like there was just something sort of meditative about. Have you talked to Sherlock about this? No. No. We don't really get so much time together. I know. You know he's like the biggest Warhammer. Yes, I've heard. Yeah, yeah. He's trying to get a movie, isn't he? He's trying to make a movie of it. Yeah. He's legit. He's like. Yes. Yeah. So, you know, Lord of the Rings was massive for me. I mean, you know. And, of course, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do. But I just, I don't see how you.

26:09How do you top? It's a fact of the hollow. Andy knows the world. He's a, yeah. And having met him a few times now, I mean, what a lovely, lovely guy. Have you done performance capture yet? I would love to. Yeah. I would love to. Some actors let me to be like, not for me, I can't. But that sounds intriguing to you. I remember taking my dad to see the second Planet of the Apes movie that he did. Matt Reeves directed that one, yeah. The Matt Reeves ones are - I'd seen the first one with James Franco and I thought it was fun. And then I was like, I was going to take my dad to the cinema and take him to see Planet of the Apes movie and then the second one, that would be fun.

26:43Came out of it having like an existential crisis about why we'll never be a utopian society and that we were going to just like kill each other eventually. I just wanted to watch a movie about talking apes. I don't know what happened, but I'm basically having some sort of existential crisis. The power of cinema. So I mean, I thought it was amazing, you know, what you can do with that technology. That really brought it home for me. And yeah, I'd love to try something like that. Yeah. Okay. So coming out of these tenders, you kind of alluded to this, like, yes, Ben Hardy accepted. Like, did you feel there was a path that like, oh, oh, crap, this is going to like, I don't know.