Funny man Josh Gad chats to Janice Butler on the set of Artemis Fowl about transforming into the kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch.
Josh Gad is one of those actors; you know you know him, you're just not sure from where. He’s been LeFou, Gaston's sidekick in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, the voice of Olaf in Frozen, gave a stellar performance in Marshall and when I met him on the set of Artemis Fowl, he’s dressed as an overgrown dwarf for his role as Mulch in the Disney adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s best-selling novel.
The thieving dwarf becomes a partner to Artemis on his quest and his performance is being hailed by critics as the best part of the movie, which landed on Disney + on June 12. Gad brings a charming edge to Mulch’s unpredictable, sarcastic personality.
He’s equally charming in person: funny (he has the group of journalists in hysterics for most of the interview) and seems to be enjoying the wave of success he’s riding at the moment. Here, decked out in a mangy jacket and extra fur, Gad talks about working with director Kenneth Branagh again and how the Artemis Fowl books compare to Harry Potter.
How long did it take you to get your full Mulch costume, hair and make-up on?
Josh Gad: What? This? I wake up like this. We’ve actually gotten the process down to a fine art. I’ve an unbelievable make-up team. They call me 'Heathrow’ because it’s like seven people on a runway-ready to get their hands on my face. It takes about two hours – we listen to a lot of ’80s music that gets us in the mood.
What was it about a character with a loud mouth that appealed to you?
It’s funny you should mention that! It felt like something I haven’t done before, which is nice! Ok, being serious, I’ve been wanting to play in this space for a long time, something in the fantasy world. I had never read Eoin’s books prior to getting the offer to do this and I’m a massive Harry Potter fan but for whatever reason, I had never come across Artemis Fowl.
After I read the script I picked up the book and I literally read it in a night and I immediately picked up the second book. What fascinated me with it, rather than Harry Potter whose entire journey is about learning and coming into himself, this is a journey about a kid who really is already very mature and makes mature decisions for better or worse and I just loved that.
It felt extraordinarily original to me. What I fell in love with about Mulch is he’s this guy that’s sort of a loner but at the same time, while he’s a thief and has his bad qualities, he’s somebody who has a conscience and genuinely is a good guy.
There’s a lot of young new talent in this movie; what sort of dynamic does that bring to a set?
It’s liberating to watch because they don’t know what the industry entails; there isn’t that anxiety or the nerves that you have as a seasoned actor because I would say that the more that you do, the more anxious you get about your choices and over-think things.
When you’re young and you don’t know any better, you don’t know how big this could be or how much your life could change. Experiencing these kids at the ground level before they become stars is really wonderful, because they’re just having fun. Talk to me in two years when they’ve probably turned into monsters!
They probably grew up with Frozen, so did you have some Olaf moments?
Yes, we very much did. The first time we met they were like ‘Oh my God! You’re...Olaf’ and I was like ‘Don’t do it.’ If they asked me about being the guy in anything else, then we could have that conversation.
You worked with Kenneth Branagh right before this on Murder on the Orient Express – what’s it like working back to back with him on a movie?
He’s my favourite director right now – other than anyone else I’ve said is my favourite director! But what I love about him and what’s so intoxicating is it’s a different experience when you hear the words coming out of an actor/director's mouth. Meaning, he understands our strengths and our weaknesses. So for me, coming off Orient Express, where he was also my co-star, into this where he is very much just my director, we have a shorthand that is just wonderful.
Artemis Fowl is available on Disney +
