It's been a busy five years for British actor Toby Jones. After making his mark in theatre during the mid-1990s, the 40-year-old Oxford-born star has begun to build on bit parts in films like 'Finding Neverland' and 'Mrs Henderson Presents', to take the lead role opposite Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sigourney Weaver in 2006's 'Infamous'.
Since then Jones' profile has been on the rise and this year will see him star in Ron Howard's 'Frost/Nixon' and children's fantasy 'City of Ember'. When we spoke with him last week, Jones was in Louisiana working on Oliver Stone's much-talked about biopic of George W Bush, 'W', in which he will play Karl Rove.
Prior to all that, though, is 'The Mist', acclaimed director Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's novella about fear in a small town. Jones plays shop assistant Ollie Weeks in the movie and he spoke to Steve Cummins about the role.
Steve Cummins: So Toby how was filming 'The Mist'? Did you have a good time?
Toby Jones: Well I had a claustrophobic time! We were shooting in a supermarket set so we were in the same supermarket all day, every day. Because they were shooting with two cameras, everybody may be in the shot at any time so it was kind of like all-day, every day you had to be on, as it were. We did a couple of exterior shots but the overwhelming majority were done in this one space.
SC: I'd imagine that was very like being on-stage, where you've done most of your work?
TJ: It was a bit, yes. Well it was exactly like it, really, in some ways, because of the fact you weren't quite aware of when you were being seen or not.
SC: Being almost constantly on the one set, did you film chronologically?
TJ: Oh yeah, they tried to do it that way and that was great. There were a lot of extras involved, so when we were in between takes Marcia Gay Harden [co-star] would spend some time trying to gee-up the religious fervour between her crew. It was great in terms of getting the changing drama of the character to flow throughout.
SC: In a lot of ways, 'The Mist' is really about fear and how it can manipulate people. Would you agree?
TJ: Yeah, it's very interesting. At the moment I'm filming in Louisiana on an Oliver Stone film about George W Bush called 'W'. One of the things in it is about how Bush and the people around him have instilled fear into the culture, where it's controlling the culture, really. And I think that in 'The Mist', Frank [Darabont, director] was very clearly trying to bring that out using the kind-of horror genre to look at what fear does to the community, and is doing to communities at this time. Yeah, I think it's definitely about fear.
SC: Funny you should mention Bush, because in 'The Mist' it often seemed that Darabont was drawing some kind-of parallels to the Bush administration's justification for going to war in Iraq, especially when it came to Marcia Gay Harden's character, the religious extremist.
TJ: Well, everyone has their different response to the fear of threat and in a strange way the monsters in 'The Mist' are so ridiculous, and so ancient and prehistoric, that it almost takes the p*** out of that genre (horror/sci-fi). It's really about people's response to the monsters, to fear.
SC: And it's not a conventional horror movie either.
TJ: No it's much more suspense, really, isn't it? It's a B-movie too. It uses the conventions of the B-movie to explore its topic.
SC: The ending in particular is very atypical.
TJ: Well, I didn't believe the ending when I heard about it because we weren't told it until right up before we were due to film it. That was to do with keeping it off the nternet and all that. Frank's very savvy about all of that, so when I heard what it was going to be, and when I saw it, I just thought that it was an extraordinary ending for a mainstream Hollywood movie. It's extraordinary. When I meet Americans out here that have seen it, they're still sort of reeling from it. They enjoy the film but they all want to talk about the ending, which I think is again very smart of Frank.
SC: Especially given that there's no real ending in Stephen King's original novella.
TJ: Yeah, it's a kind of cop-out ending in the book, really, isn't it?
SC: Was there a lot of guesswork on-set as to what Frank's ending might be?
TJ: Well, yeah, there was, but you can't really keep anything too secret on-set. I think amongst us (the actors) we really couldn't quite believe that he would go through with it. For one thing, we thought that Bob Weinstein or someone was going to intervene, because of how strong that culture is. I mean, it's extraordinary, really, because in an art house film you wouldn't blink twice about it. But because of the genre that it's in, that's what makes it so shocking.
SC: You play shop assistant Ollie Weeks in the movie, who is very much in the mould of a small-town, born and bred American. How would you describe him?
TJ: Well I think he's supposed to be an everyman in a way. He's an unlikely hero obviously. I think you can say that without giving anything away. That's his function in the movie, really. You know, when a crisis comes, it brings extraordinary things out of people which you wouldn't expect.
SC: Being British, was it difficult to get into the roll?
TJ: I don't know if it was difficult. I've spent a lot of time out here over the past five years, and because of the tax incentives you often end up filming way outside of New York and LA. So you see people like Ollie quite a lot. They're everywhere. And while I don't know what it's like to grow up in one of those towns, I'm not quite sure I found it difficult. I always find it very flattering to be asked to play Americans. I was the only British person on-set and it was kind of an honour to be asked by Americans to play one of them. They're over-reverential to British actors in a way.
SC: And I suppose they put a lot of trust in you to get the accent right?
TJ: Yeah, of course. I'm paranoid about that to be honest with you. It's fine if you're doing a generic New York or a Texas accent but at the moment I'm playing Karl Rove ('W'). Someone like him travelled around a bit. He was born way out west in Denver or somewhere. As you soon as you get into accent blends, it gets kind of nerve-wrecking!
SC: I suppose as well the fact that Rove is obviously a real-life character and his accent is recognisable?
TJ: Oh please don't remind me of that! (Laughs)
SC: Well it must be similar to the time you played Truman Capote in 'Infamous'?
TJ: Yeah. Well, there's that one, and that was massive because the guy was like a massive icon, in the same way that I suppose Rove is a kind of evil icon, or rather the way in which he's viewed here. I'm not saying that he's evil, just that’s how people view him here. You know, it's a responsibility. When you're playing a real-life character, who is revered for whatever reason, there is a fearful kind of responsibility attached.
SC: Would you hold strong views on Bush?
TJ: I would but I probably wouldn't air them on the entertainment site! I mean, look who knows what will happen with Iraq but you know it's no big news to know that the whole thing was ill-considered.
SC: Going back to 'The Mist', Toby, were you a Stephen King fan?
TJ: No I wasn't. I'd seen a few of the movies and some of them were absolutely extraordinary, especially 'The Shining' and 'The Shawshank Redemption'. But I wasn't particularly a Stephen King fan, and really part of the fun of doing 'The Mist' was tapping into this world around King. You realise what a massive figure he is just from the amount of Internet speculation which surrounded the making of this movie.
SC: And working with Frank Darabont must have been special.
TJ: It was. He's like a massive film fan. He's a Stephen King fan and he has that energy of someone who really loves the material. That alone is inspiring to be around.
SC: Your own career has really taken off in the last number of years, what with this and 'W'. What else have you lined up?
TJ: Well, I'm also soon going to be seen in this big 'Frost/Nixon' movie, which is directed by Ron Howard. Then I'm also going to be in a big kind of children's film called 'City of Ember'. Well, it's not really a children's film, more a teenager's movie. That also has Bill Murray and Saoirse Ronan in it. Both of them are out in October.
SC: That's three fine directors you've worked with in the past couple of years - Darabont, Howard and now Stone. It must be great.
TJ: It is amazing. I mean, working with Oliver Stone is absolutely extraordinary because you're working with a guy who has won three Academy Awards and has had fingerprints on a lot of really important films. So yeah, it is really exciting and he creates an awful lot of excitement on-set.
'The Mist' is now on general release.
