Samson Kayo

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1:15Hello and welcome to Headliners with Nihal Arthur Naika. And I have got such a great conversation for you today. Trust me. You may or may not be aware of the actor Samson Kao by name, but my gosh, you will know his work, whether it's Sliced or Bloods or Famalam or the countless TV and film shows that he has been on, including the new F1 movie. and he tells some great stories about meeting Christian Horner, hanging out with Javier Bardem and Jason Statham at an Eminem concert and who would win a showbiz battle off between him and John Boyega and Daniel Kaluuya. I know, right? It's a fascinating conversation and it's fun and it's interesting with a man that just draws you in with his positivity and his great outlook on life.

2:15So sit back, put your headphones on, go for a walk with the dog or just stare out the window and listen to Samson K.O. Do you know what's funny? At the New York premiere, Christian Horner came up to me and he was with Jerry. And he goes, Samson. And I would turn and I went, oh, hi. And he goes, congratulations. I loved your performance, man. I really loved your performance. Yuki could do with a manager like you. And I started screaming. I was like, oh, bless you. He's such a cool guy. And then he goes, let me know if you want to come with me to Silverstone and watch the race. And then Jerry comes in.

2:51She goes, are you going to come and watch the race with us? I was like, yeah, this is my life. Yeah, let's do it. I'm down.

3:00Headliners with Nihal Arthamayaka. Are you still in Peknam? no i've left the norm i left the norm a long time ago did you my mum took me out of there a long time oh is it before you were before yeah really yeah yeah we we had to we we left when i was around when i leave peckham about 18 okay and i moved to catford which was a a new experience but i think i think it was necessary i think it was necessary and it got me into the creative space I just needed to spread my wings a bit. Was that, because you're still a young man, but still when you were 18, was the postcode thing still a thing? Like if you were from the wrong estate or the wrong postcode and all that?

3:49Yeah, that's kind of why we moved because I essentially, we would just be hanging around, you know, outside, out, etc. And you know what, that's stark. You know what that means? so he kind of just took a preemptive action and just said look i've got to move you guys away from where you guys are too comfortable how old were you when dami lulu taylor happened i must have been because i'm about what dami was he'd probably be 36 now so i must have been about 10 he was 11 around the same age yeah like nine i might have been i think he might have been a bit older but yeah um but yeah it was mad seeing him around i used to see him around a lot um back in the day yeah yeah yeah back in the day um but we weren't obviously i didn't know him too tough but he used to be quite tight with john boyega um and i used to go to church john's dad was a pastor um in in a church that i used to go to a long time ago and they were quite close yeah it's mad do you know what that's really interesting because that must have hit everyone so hard to see something that because now the sadness is that now you hear about a young person being stabbed up and it hurts you but when Damien Ola Taylor happened it was mad yeah it rocked it rocks you yeah you're such a good kid as well do you know what I mean it's like it's someone that didn't do anyone any harm and for him for his life to be taken at such a young age who knows like you know what who he could have become it was so funny because I used to go to um a center right because I got kicked out of school got kicked out of school at 10 at year 10 and I went to a center called from boyhood to manhood foundation which was in Peckham and I remember there was a day that Damilola Taylor's dad came into the center to speak to all of us all the kids and I remember him speaking to me because obviously I'm Nigerian and he's Nigerian and I remember him saying like you know you have you you seem to have a gift you have a gift of being able to speak to people and and sort of calm a room down don't lose that go and go and find your lane in whatever it is and I remember that a long time ago he said this to me I must have been about 13 and I saw a video of it the other day and it just just hit me yeah yeah it's crazy man what wow there's a video of that of dumber taylor's dad talking to you yeah yeah when i was what i must have been about that's so mad innit i've been trying to look at my video i saw it on tv the other day there was like a i think it was the anniversary but um yeah it was wild wild in the video that they showed it on tv did they clock that it was you no my boys did my boys did so my boy that's what happened because I didn't see the video my boys recorded it and sent it to me and I was like oh my goodness I look so young so I've got like a screenshot of a still of of us having that conversation it's wild that's exactly what I was just gonna say wild wild yeah so I I so because like basically we lived in Peckham when I was young then we moved like three minutes away to Dulwich East Stulwich and that's where I kind of grew up but we still kind of dipped in and out children of the Peckham boys and then when I started going to school more so in Peckham that's when I kind of got indoctrinated to to the ends um it's where I learned all my talents all our skills was learned on those I'm telling you now well the thing is with that and I'll just go back to being a brown kid in a white comprehensive school in Essex is the amount of acting you're doing on a regular just to navigate your way is survival, right?

7:47Like you're trying to chuck it when you have to chuck it, even though you're not that guy really. Like you don't really want to have a fight. There were people that loved having a fight, but I wasn't that guy. But you had to chuck it in a certain way, right? So that's acting straight away, right? Then there's the bully that you have to make laugh to get him off your back. That's acting again. You know what's so funny? It's mirror. It's like mirror images I'm seeing now of just like, yeah, six, the bully. I used to get chased to school by a bully every day until one day I got bigger than the bully and I turned around and went, I can take you.

8:23And then he never chased me again. Oh, that moment needed a soundtrack. Honestly. When you turned around that in super slow-mo as you turn around. It's like, hey, dude, I'm not afraid anymore. But, you know, and then you grow up and you kind of, where we grew up, It was like, especially around like 2004, 2005, it was probably the most dangerous time for any area. It was really bad at that time. And you kind of just had to learn people skills growing up to either save yourself or get yourself out of situations or just be able to move around. because a lot of the time you're watching your back for so many different elements, bullies, police, and you know what I'm saying?

9:13There's so much happening and you're just trying to be an actor. So you meet so many different characters and I met so many different characters along the young, busy journey that I had. And I've seen now how I've adapted that to my career today. you know you know when you're like how did you get these characters how do you wear like they're people that i just see around in nando's or in hsbc you know just just different you know personalities and i just soak them all up and and and play them i guess if that makes sense yeah of course of course it does yeah what i wanted to ask you is about the character you grew up with or characters you grew up with that would switch so that joe pesci in goodfellas yeah he goes well Am I funny to you?

10:03Yeah. And that, that is the character that's always, I always remember those guys growing up, those ones where you'd be like, yeah, you think you're kicking it with them. Yeah, you think you're kicking it with them. Then suddenly they're just like, they just go zero to screw face. And they're like, and what? What do you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Who are you talking? What did you say? It's like a switch. And I remember, I remember back in the day, cause I've never been, I've never been an angry, I never grew up angry. I never grew up with, my mum raised me well I grew up with a single mum who was hilarious and full of charisma full of character and she instilled that within me from a young age so I'd always kind of grown up being sort of like a class clown um and then it became a thing where in year six I was being chased by this bully and then I remember and you grow up and I realized that I don't have to do that thing but you're forced to you know because because if you don't put on chest up and and and kind of stand tall you get chewed up where we come from just get mugged off every day so there was a fine line for me between like not sort of being taken a mick out of but also remembering that there's a journey that I'm trying to attach myself to you know and so I've got to tread carefully is there any relationship at all with your biological father um my dad um passed last year actually um in september thank you bro um uh we i remember i i didn't grow up with him but he was definitely a big presence like he'd pop in and pop out and when i was about 14 15 um that was the last time I saw him and about 15 years later I remember I had a weird dream man I had a dream and it was like go and see your dad and I was like why do I have to go see him I didn't leave I've been about right I've been here I've got a child and I'm here so I was always like what why do I have to do it and then something in me was like nice it's it's if you're you're about to break generational curses you need to go make amends with your dad and so I traveled to Nigeria for the first time in 15 years the last time I went to Nigeria my mum tried to keep us there because we were getting in too much trouble so she she wanted us to go to school there but me and my brother escaped right we escaped Nigeria and got back to London yeah yeah yeah yeah that's another story I'm I'm making a movie about it I'm making a movie about it now but um yeah it's gonna be hilarious but I I met my I went to see my dad and this is the first time I'm ever telling this story.

12:47That's crazy. But I went to see my dad and I knew something was up, something internally I could just feel something was up. And I didn't end up seeing him. And at first I thought, is he embarrassed? You know, was he embarrassed that I made this long trip by myself and just said to my uncle, look, I want to meet my pops. can you can you set it up um was it was it embarrassment no I later found out that he was ill and he was just kind of hiding away I don't think he wanted me to see him in that state um but we spoke on the phone we spoke on FaceTime and stuff and and we really bonded and over like the following year we were talking a lot you know he met his grandkids and and then one day last yeah I was um getting my glasses in uh in Carnaby Street and I got a call and said that you know he he had passed away and it was weird it was one of those weird feelings where I kind of knew you know as soon as they said it in fact I said it before my brother had a chance to say it to me so he called me and I was like dad's passed in it and he went yeah and I went all right sweet and then I just you know I just hung up the phone and I was just walking around where was I Soho just walking around just taking it in but I always feel but when we went to the funeral there was this sense of strength and responsibility that came over me that I wasn't fearful of you know it kind of it kind of felt as though he departed but a part of him just went straight inside me and kind of was like look I'm going to be here now I'm inside so you can move without fear and i've been moving without fear ever since now i'm not gonna lie wow really so yeah yeah so so this is interesting because when my dad died and that was 25 years ago yeah sorry to hear um thank you my bro um because he had always been there and he was in my life it was nothing but love and grief but you have this more complicated relationship i mean it's still your dad and you as you've just said you you kind of rebonded with him but still i wonder just how many more complicated emotions there were around that because there's also abandonment and there may have been anger and frustration and questions and disappointment so i just wonder what else you went through i think i think it was more because it wasn't it wasn't so much grief and this is just speaking candidly about how I felt like in the stages it was it was more um regret I guess it was it was I wasn't mourning someone that had passed I was mourning somebody that I wish I'd known you know I was the father that I wish I'd grown up with right um because he wasn't a bad guy man like really I remember like Like when I was young and growing up myself, I've been in relationships with women and I've seen how, you know, it can go good, it can go bad.

16:01But he was always kind of, he was always charismatic. And every time I saw him, he always had a smile on his face. So I always knew he wasn't a bad person. You know, it was just that it didn't work out at the time. And of course, he was going through his own battles growing up. them and I learned and and being in Nigeria with the family and actually meeting my brothers and sisters for the first time that I didn't even know existed and just and just shaking their hand and being like oh you look like me what up twin and sort of like you know just kind of meeting the family and learning who he was through the family it kind of clarified that I knew this guy was a good guy but just you know was just struggling with whatever he had going on um so yeah it was and and and I wondered for a while I didn't shed a tear up until um you know he was he was he was being lowered into the grave and and I remember everyone looked at me and went oh thank goodness you are human and I was like yeah of course I'm human but I just it just had to hit me you know I didn't realize when it was gonna the emotion was gonna come and afterwards you have like aftershocks you know there's there's a few aftershocks so I wish he could have taught me this I wish she could have taught me this but you know my mum raised me in fine form you know she raised me as a woman but she raised a man um and it also made me look at her like a superhero because I'm like I don't know how you raised me and my brother by yourself and you and when you first came to this country you were sleeping in Camberwell McDonald's do you know what I mean So it's like to see her build and raise us, it made me realise that there's nothing that can stop me from really achieving what it is I want to achieve.

17:46Do you know what I'm saying? Of course. What have you done for her with the first big check you got? A crib for her ass. Yes! What? You have to do it immediately. Immediately. That one was just like, right, the crib. Let's get mum the crib. Happy. Done. and got her a house in Nigeria as well. Wow. Yeah, man. I'm going to spoil her for the rest of her life. Do you know what I mean? Wow. She definitely got a return on investment. Her ROI on that was. Yeah, man. She paid dividends. It really did. That's so cool. Did your mother ever mention aspects of your character that were like your dad? and she may have sometimes used that to curse you and sometimes she may have just gone, oh, you're just like your dad.

18:36Yeah, no, she never, do you know what? She never actually did that. You're just like your father. How can you, nah, she wasn't one of those, she wasn't one of those parents. She was really, she really wanted to sort of instill an independence with us as men because, you know, she worked, she worked night shift. She'd get, she'd leave at 7 p.m. She'd get home at 6.30. We'd go to school. um we get home and then she'd leave at like four o 'clock so I'd see my mum maybe five hours a day for 10 years because she was always working um which then forced made us you know rebel because there was we were always free we were always able to just jump out the window at 10 the p.m when every all the aunties are sleeping and go to sidewinder or whatever it was you know I mean like one of these raves and but she she she knew i had my dad's sort of charisma she always said that you've got your dad's charm um but i've definitely got a lot of personality traits from my mom like if you meet her you're gonna go yeah that's you that's it yes no it's uncanny you know um yeah grateful that was because it's interesting because looking at that story of you going to you know buy an iron and ended up in a queue and getting that job you know that that story's out there my interest was how you came to be the guy that can walk up to the front of that queue and not have a number for an audition not even know about the audition and still manage to blag your way into it you know what's mad about that that so that that story i remember telling that story that was my um first television role right my first acting role was madder than that oh with Amel Amin.

20:21Amel Amin, exactly. And I remember it was, I was at a football club. I used to play football in East Darlige Hammond. You were in a pub. It was the woman behind the bar that recommended. The woman behind the bar. She went, look, you've got something, go to this audition. And I remember I was from South, going to North London for an audition. It was insane. And I remember going up there and kind of, and Mel was going in and Mel was like, come on, just do the audition. Went and did the audition and I got the role. And it wasn't until I was on set, because I'd never seen actors before. I'd never seen anything other than what was going on in the hood, right?

21:03So being, so I remember going there and seeing like 100 black people, young, my age, on a set, extras, producers, lighting, camera. and it felt like I felt Chalk Farm felt like a new world it felt like another realm at the time and and I remember watching and and then was it was like an ensemble of five and Amel he came out and he went um right can we bring our heroes in let's bring the heroes in and I was like who is he calling who's a hero and he and he was talking about us like the cast he was like no you guys are heroes that's how I I see you guys and I was looking around and I went oh my god I've just found what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

21:48Do you know what I'm saying? And then big, big quiet time after the short film. And then we went to buy an iron. And then I went in and that was what happened next. So it was almost like this career never escaped me. Because after we did the short film of Amel, I still went back to the ends. Do you know what I'm saying? And I was still on the ends for a couple of years, just kind of wanting and hoping, but, you know, not knowing any route and luckily Shaheen Baig and Aisha Bywaters gave me an opportunity that changed the whole thing you know I mean after Drink Drugs and KFC which is the name of the short film you know you're falling in love with this thing but where's the route I mean can you see a path that even to navigate to get into this no not at all um only in my dreams man like I'm the type of person I manifest a lot um and and I believe like if I feel something and if I see something or dream something that is to do with this I feel like it's the route I'm supposed to take so I was going to buy an iron because I was going to be a paramedic I was looking I was going to buy a shirt to go in um for my interview to be an ambulance driver right which is how blood came along eventually and some reason there was the the queue in front and it was a long line and you just dive in and you're like all right you know what here we go let's just give it a go so it's almost like god sort of just gone no no no no this way go go go no no no this way go go go go and i've just been sort of grinding and hustling because when you grow up where i grew up you learn to hustle you learn how to speak to people you learn how to navigate yourself in and out of situations and navigate a room.

23:37So I've literally just taken the skills that I got from the roads and put it into my career. But the one thing that I made sure of was that I studied the craft. So as soon as, you know, we did the short film, Amel put me in touch with his old stage school agent who became my agent. And he got me an acting coach called Rob Whitelock who, you know, would put us in, there was like 10 of us, put us in a room turn the clocks around and we just go in just learning about stan of zlasky my is not everything to do with with the craft and writing comedy all of these things and i just kind of took the time and honed in my skills because i didn't want to embarrass myself on the stage you know um so yeah it's just like everything that i've learned growing up it's just been one big um guide to to to sort of where i am now but yeah sometimes i pinch myself especially in new york the other day at the f1 premiere i'm just looking okay let's yeah let's talk about that let's let's just talk about this what are we doing was was the role of cash man was something you had to audition for or were you like just rang up and gone we've got this part for you in f1 now wish what no i am lucy bevan and emily brockman the casting directors um bless them um quick story i remember i did uh dr doolittle right with robert downey jr um years ago and i had a speaking role but obviously in in these movies especially big movies like f1 and um dr Doolittle the edit there's only so much they can fit into the movie so I had a few scenes um and they ultimately got cut and around this time this was the same week of filming that I was nominated for the BAFTA for Famalam right and I was on set for uh Formula One and I remember the director was like hey man it's not often we get a BAFTA nominee on set like congratulations and I'm playing an extra really like in Dr.

25:49Doolittle and I remember after that Lucy Bevan she she said she always said when I went in for the um F1 audition she was like I um mate I just hope you get this I really hope you smash it because I owe you one I've never forgotten how humble and respectful you were in that time especially being nominated for a BAFTA you just wanted to work and I was like oh thank you so much man i had an amazing time she was like nope get this get this so i went in joe kaczynski jerry brockheimer i couldn't believe it i'm like oh jerry's here wow um so joe's like hey man how are you boom boom boom boom we're doing this movie um are you a fan of formula one i'm an absolutely big fan i took a year out after they robbed lewis but you know to heal but we're back now and they did rob they did rob your boy they robbed our boy man um but i did the i did the um i did the audition and and then jerry in the corner was like can you do it again and i was like uh yeah and the director was like and i said to the director can i improvise can i just play with some stuff because i come from improv and he was like yeah man let's do it and then I just went in I just started going in me and Joe just going in and he was just laughing his head off um and I was driving home one day from the set and my agent called me and said you got the role and I immediately called Dampson because he didn't know that I was going to audition Dampson Idris yeah Dampson Idris yeah and we grew up together I've known Dampson 20 years so I called Dampson and he was running up a hill I think he was at Runyon Canyon in LA and I was like, where you going?

27:32And he's like, bro, I've got to get a six pack for this film, man. And I was like, all right, cool. I'm going to come and train with you. I'm playing cashman. And we just started screaming on the phone. It was mental because he had no idea that I'd gone into the room. So it was just like an easy layup because it's my boy that I'm working with.

28:01all through the store, like maple leaf cookies from 365 brand. Swing by the bakery for pumpkin cheesecake, here for a limited time, and pumpkin turmeric bread freshly baked every single day. Sip the season with 365 brand cinnamon spice coffee and pumpkin spice creamer. While you still can, spice up fall at Whole Foods Market. It felt like everything I believed in was suddenly collapsing. This is the story of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia with a dark secret of the school's head teacher. This was someone I respected above anyone else. And the investigation led by students he's trying to silence.

28:43If this is leaked to the media, I'll be destroyed. This is World of Secrets, catching my teacher. Listen on BBC.com, the BBC app, or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

29:02so if there's a a black version of the illuminati right right right let's just talk about south london yes john boyega yes daniel kalua yeah you there's like there's stormzy there's there's gigs There's this entire... Moe the comedian. Moe the comedian, like weird vibe of people that knew each other, some of which knew each other before they were famous. Yeah, absolutely. I've known Moe the comedian since I was eight years old. I saw Moe's first comedy stand-up show was at the same club, that the bar that I was told to go to the audition for. So, you know, the Dulwich Hamlet, the bar at the Dulwich Hamlet.

29:51Mo did his first standup show in Dulwich Hamlet. And I remember watching him and I was like, oh my goodness, we just have to try. You know, we just have to try. And Mo's just gone from strength to strength. And it's so good to see, like, all of us sort of realise the opportunity that we have. Because whether we like it or not, whether there's something in the water in South London, we still have to it's still a big job and it's still a massive responsibility and we had to unlearn a lot of the things that we learned growing up in order to sustain longevity okay that's a really good point because that's one thing that i always think about when when you come from an environment where if someone tries to mug you off you go zero to like 100 face right yeah right zero to 100 um but then you get into a world which in some ways is has more snakes in it than than the hood did yeah yeah yeah yeah it's it's very so you can't talk to them like that yeah exactly you can't what do they say well you can't bad up everyone you can't take arms out to anyone's mom's house Not in this taxpaying.

31:11But you know what it is? You sort of understand. We kind of, I think that's actually a strength that we have, is that because we've grown up with so many different personalities and such a diverse background of so many different ethnicities that you kind of grow up with. I grew up with Jamaicans, Albanians, Indians, Pakistani. I grew up with so many different ethnicities that you just start to understand people. So like in the streets, when you can, there's an intuition you need to have. There's a discernment you need to have when you're in the end, because it's the difference between life and death.

31:49So as long as in this industry, we know that nobody's going to hold up a knife to you. It's always just going to be some snidey stuff. So that's the stuff that we kind of go, OK, we see that and we multiply, you know, or we stare around it but it does exist it definitely exists um i saw a really interesting instagram post by someone who looks at actors of color and see when they are achieve something what does their progress look like compared to their white counterparts and they did this whole thing about daniel calure's oscar win and they were suggesting has he disappeared after this and Why?

32:31What is it about an industry that says that he can get this Oscar win and then kind of disappear? Whereas a similar actor, perhaps who's not black, would then be just fast tracked into something. Catapulted. Yeah. Have you thought about that? I don't know. I think I heard. I remember I think I saw the same discussion. And the one thing I can't answer for Daniel, but the one thing I do know about Daniel, because I've known him for a very long time, a really close friend of mine, is that he really is specific and careful with his character choices. And I think it's because I think the dude's a genius.

33:11Like if you meet him and you speak to him, you realise, oh, this isn't just an incredible actor. This is a very intelligent human being. And I feel like he's very much, when he wants to enter a role, he needs to believe that he can portray the character to the best possible, to his best possible ability. And so for me, again, I feel like that is what he's always done in his career, you know? And I feel like now that he's won the Oscar, I guess there's a certain level of, you know, the next one has to be as good as, if not even better. So, but to answer your question, I definitely believe that there is more of a space for our white counterparts that with roles, because I just think there's just more roles for white actors than there are for people of our ethnicity.

34:14So I don't know. I might ask him that question when I see him tonight at the premiere, actually. But I don't know. I can't say if it's a thing that's happening. But I do know that there are more roles for white actors than there are for people of colour. That's just a fact, you know. And also as well, this question around has the kind of liberal guilt associated post George Floyd disappeared now? right oh yeah that's right look listen okay see you see and you see where we are now right it's in the economy um there's there's i've learned recently that there's there's i don't think anyone's getting let off i don't think anyone's kind of getting gifted or or there's a token i think everyone's all in it right now especially with the strike that just happened and and the current state of global affairs there's an uncertainty within our industry there has been since covid let's be honest and and that's one of the reasons why i started writing because i remember a long time ago a friend of mine a rinze kenny who incredible writer incredible actor he always said to me samson if you want to work consistently you've got to write your own stuff and i remember back then i was a bit like well if i left school i don't want to write i left school so I don't have to write.

35:35I'm acting so I don't have to write. And you mature. I matured and I grew up and I did the Javon Prince show and Phil Bowker, bless him, creator of Phone Shop, you know, he kind of pulled me and said, look, you have a lot of improvisational talent. I want to teach you how to write. You know, you have ideas, you just need to learn structure. And then Phil helped me learn structure and we created the show Sliced Together that I did with UK TV. And from there, I realized that, oh, in order to do this and in order to help the people around me, I've been blessed with, you know, to be able to create these shows.

36:20This is what I feel like I need to do. And then when Bloods came about and I saw the success of Bloods, it just gives you a confidence to know that oh i'm supposed to do this you know when i when i when i brought when we brought in nathan brian to to come and co-write bloods with me i remember at the time i was a bit nervous because i was like yo nathan brian that's right like this guy is a writer do you know what i mean he's a talented guy and and bless him i remember when he came in and i was like look nath i've never written properly before i'm going to be leaning on you because you know you have the experience that i don't have and he was just like yeah man you know nathan he's so lovely he's like so lovely so warm so open so generous yeah he was so he was always like no what does samson think because i was filming at the time and nathan would always call and go no no we're not doing this until samson says that so he would we'd go back and forth and he really made me um understand what it's like to be a writer so i say that to say that you know in this industry i just feel like at this moment you you you kind of need to be a multi-hyphenate you know in order to to sustain longevity yeah it reminds me it does remind me the idris elba character from uh family oh yeah you have to be that guy yeah barrister brain surgeon

37:44Do you think there could be a black British version of Tyler Perry, someone who is so in control, like who has so much power that he doesn't almost have to. You can't imagine Tyler Perry having to go to anyone and ask permission. I want to say yes I want to say there are people in our spaces That kind of are on that journey So for instance, Rapman I think Rapman is an incredible talent Incredible director who's shaping his own lane With his stories I think Michaela Cole is a gem of our country Who has been paving the way without chewing gum there wouldn't be sliced there wouldn't be bloods and that's a fact right and then hopefully myself in these in this comedy space and and i can boldly say that i would love i feel like i could you know take on that mantle i guess it's just about whether we will be given the freedom and the trust i think more than anything it's trust from um the execs that we know what we're doing and that we are we will be able to bring you projects that you know um on a big scale that everyone is going to love but because in america there's this there's this feeling where when you when you go into an exec's room there's an energy of risk that americans have where they're like oh i like this idea let's do it you know there's like it's just they really just jump in.

39:23Whereas I've noticed in the UK, because it's, again, there's not as much money as there is in America. There's only so many TV shows and so many films that they can produce. So I guess it's just about finding the balance of, you know, we do know what we're doing and we do have incredible stories that can reach a global scale. And if we're just given the opportunity to, there can be so many Tyler Perrys, there can be so many Shonda Rhimes. There's an incredible writer called Bola of Baje she wrote the play Gone Too Far that was that one in Olivier years ago I think she's our Shonda Rhimes you know but I just feel like she just needs to be given the trust and the opportunity to be able to tell those stories so yeah they definitely definitely exist for sure the thing is America doesn't have a class system like we do here and class is a massive issue here i think it's not just about executives it's not just about money it's about having shows made in the image of the people who are commissioning them right so i mean there's so many shows i'm sick and tired of shows that represent how terrible the lives are of super rich people yeah yeah there's a lot of those but that's the thing it's like that people there's an appeal people love that you know in the same way that you know everyone runs home to watch love island at nine o 'clock there's like a a love for these type of shows but there's also other stories that but you come across super rich people i i come across not super rich yeah they seem quite happy to me i've seen i've not seen many people crying in them ferraris bro and and and f1 is a is a is an expensive sport and everyone there was grinning teeth the whole time i take it you've done a in real life not in the in the movie but you've done a pit lane tour and you've been to no no never they never we never got let in but um it was the movie so have you ever been to a grand prix yeah well with the film with just a minute before being in f1 you'd never been to a grand prix i've never been to a grand prix you know it's funny at the new york premiere christian horner came up to me and and and he was with he was with jerry and he goes samson and i would turn i went oh hi and he goes um congratulations i loved your performance man i really loved your performance yuki could do with a manager like you and i started screaming i was like it's like oh bless you he's such a cool guy and then he goes let me know if you want to come with me to to silverstone and and and watch the race and then jerry comes in she goes are you going to come and watch the race with us i was like yeah this is my life yeah let's do it i'm down it took you being in a movie about f1 to be invited to an actual grand prix absolutely by the red bull mad innit i'd never been i'd never been um i just i don't know i just couldn't afford to go i'd no forget all that but you're famous you've been in enough things and that's what happens right you get connected and someone says oh we're going here and we're doing this because the amount of money i mean i've only been to the belgium one spa and i did that like three times right and and there were people who were fans of f1 and them and their mates would all get their ferraris and just drive there and turn up and just park and then there are people taking pictures as like five ferraris go past and they're and then in the pit lane and in the kind of vip bits and all that there are so many men who are tanned all year round with long back hair with pink jumpers around their shoulders wearing like tight chinos and like italian shirts no socks

43:23that's hilarious there are so many of those guys it's like going into the city of london now and seeing tech bros with three-quarter zips and gilets on it's there's the f1 equivalent of that which is like punk jumpers around their shoulders and i guess it's the same guys that go to tennis yeah similar flex yeah where i've never i've also never been to wimbledon with so i need to I wish I was in Challengers. I probably would have got invited. But no, it was honestly, it was it was an incredible experience because what we'd we'd we'd follow that we'd shoot live. So we'd shoot during the races. And so what that meant was we'd travel with the F1 team.

44:02So all the teams, we'd all travel together. So we'd go to a bunch of races and we kind of they they loved us. They loved the actors because, you know, we were cool. They were cool. So they just let us into their garages. Like you could just walk into Haas or walk into Ferrari and meet everyone. And it really felt like an immersive experience. So it was weird when we were in, I think the first race was Silverstone, where we started. And I remember walking in and there was cameras flashing and cameras. And I didn't know which one was our cameras or which was the drive to survive cameras. So it was like, Jerry, I remember Jerry saying, as soon as you enter Silverstone, just assume that you are in character, right?

44:47Just you're in character. So people are like, Samson. This is Jerry Bruckheimer, not Jerry Halliwell, I presume. Yeah, yeah, this is Jerry Bruckheimer, producer extraordinaire. And it's weird because I had like fans of Famalam being like, Samson, Samson, and I'm in Cashman mode. So I'm just blanking people, being like, excuse me. Like, it was so weird. but being there and actually like feeling the the the race experience it it just goes to show that the movie that we've made makes sense you know i'm saying like that feeling of being at a race even if you don't know anything about racing you know you just get there and it's like it's more of a of an experience if anything you know it was weird it was so crazy okay if you got 10 pounds right since was announced that you were in F1.

45:39If you got£10 for everyone that asked you, what's Brad Pitt like, how much money do you think you would have now? £17 ,000. Probably£17 ,000. And it's not like, it's just like, what's he like? Because they're quick. They're quick what's he likes. But it's so mad because even me, I was sort of like, oh gosh, I'm going to meet Brad Pitt today. I wonder what he's like. Oh, I'm going to meet Javier Bardem today. I wonder what he's like. And he's the most down-to-earth dude. Like, I was actually shocked because I'm like, this is the same guy that played Achilles and the Jamaican man in Nietzsche Black.

46:16Like, why is he so calm? Like, I remember the first time we met him and Dampson, I was like, who's faster? And then Dampson was like, yeah. And then Brad comes in. He's like, dude, no way. And we're arguing. We're having this whole banter about who's the faster driver. Because obviously they drive the cars. They drive the F1 cars themselves. And from that moment, again, I feel like I've got a good intuition with people. I knew that this guy is going to be a cool guy. And along the journey, I remember every time he'd come to set, the supporting out artists, like the extras all around, I can see them just looking at him during a take.

46:57And Joe, the director's like, cut! Every time. Brad would just be walking through and they'd just be like... and it's during a scene the guy's doing like he's best acting and everyone just doesn't care it's just like sorry we're never going to experience this again hi brad pitt bye brad pitt like but the most the most given actor the most down-to-earth loveliest guy man really cool dude okay so so before in your head this whole i'm gonna meet brad pitt thing is going through it yeah are you are you going through a re a way of options right i need to play it cool but i can't play it too cool so i feel aloof because i don't want him to think i'm arrogant yeah i don't like are you are you are you having this internal dialogue yeah like i'm like i'm like how do i approach brad because i'm not a beg i don't beg that's what i mean right i don't want to beg it but i want him to know that i'm cool as well it's mad but it made the first thing i was thinking was i don't want to lose my job so it was like the read-through it was the first read-through is everyone's there and I'm just like right get one laugh in your first line and don't lose your job so that was like my main focus because you know it's it's a big deal you know it's a big movie um and once you know we kind of got 10 pages in everyone was warm and the banter started flowing um and I went up to him and I was like yo Brad and I was like hey man how are you boom boom and I was Yeah, Damson said he's faster than you.