BIRD LEAF FUCKING BIRD LEAF
David Tennant and Michael Sheen - photographed for High Life Magazine
(promotion for Good Omens)
Excerpt from David Tennant Does a Podcast With Michael Sheen:
David: We have just come from a publicity photoshoot for Good Omens, which is a show we’re doing, during which we had to sort of dress up in clothes and have our photograph taken, kind of as ourselves.
Michael: Yeah
David: I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that both of us find that… not our favorite part of the job of acting.
Michael: No. We haven’t talked about this until now, so this is quite fun. [David laughs] Can I ask you, am I the grumpiest person you’ve ever seen at a photoshoot, or have you seen grumpier people?
David: Oh no, I’ve seen grumpier
Michael: You have?
David: Yeah. I don’t think you’re that grumpy. I think you’re an honest version of how I’m feeling
Michael: I wanted to kill everyone. Including myself
David: [Laughing] That’s exactly what’s going on in my head, but because I could see how annoyed you were at times, it made me become sort of a performing monkey, going “No, everything’s great! Everything’s fine!”
Michael: I’m so sorry
David: No! Because you’re right! It was excruciating
Michael: I was aware at certain moments that I was totally leaving you to pick up the pieces. [David laughs] I was just refusing to answer certain things. I was like a child, just not answering. And you were very nicely, because you’re a lovely person, saying something just so that there wasn’t utter silence.
David: Usually I’m you in that situation
Michael: [Laughing] Are you really?
David: Exactly. That’s what I mean. I think we’re very similar about it. I’m asking you, as a means of therapy for myself, why is that bit of the job so excruciating?
Michael: Because it sort of strips away a lot of the stuff that allows us to feel better about ourselves.
David: Right
Michael: So it strips away all the pretense of artistry. It’s just, “MONKEY F**KING PERFORM, MONKEY!!!”
