Jennifer Bannon gets down with the star of ‘The Crazies’ on his love of acting, his days as a gawky teen and his dream of breaking into the directing industry.

It’s a balmy spring day in Newcastle upon Tyne and Joe Anderson is on the set of his latest project, an art house gem called Flutter. Full of excitement from the wonderful feeling he gets when filming, Joe is more than happy to talk about, well, just about anything I feel like throwing at him. The best thing about Joe is that he was so relaxed and easy to talk to, which makes any interview go a whole lot easier. And it also helps when you are talking to someone so ferociously handsome!

‘I got into acting because of dyslexia’, Joe laughs when I ask where his passion for the vocation came from. ‘My folks were theatre actors and I was never academic. The way that acting lets you tell a story in a different way really appealed to me and seemed like the logical thing to do.’ But wasn’t Joe tempted to hit the stage as opposed to the big screen? ‘No, not at all. I have always associated theatre with a certain degree of academic snobbery that I really had no interest in. I loved that film gave me a way of escaping from the world.’
 

Since it seemed pretty obvious to me that Joe had been a bit of a film buff growing up, I asked him were there any films that had made an impact on him growing up. ‘Oh, I haven’t thought about that in ages. I think the one that sticks out is when I saw Midnight Express. I was probably a bit too young, but it just blew me away, the journey and that world.’ But hasn’t this mystery and element of a distant magical land been drained out of film in recent years? ‘They say that there are only seven stories and they just keep getting told over and over again. I think that audiences are getting used to fantastic things. I think it’s something I am very aware of. The last thing I want to do is perform and explain what it meant. That’s not what acting is about.’
 

This said, Joe admits that he does accept that there is a human need to explain involved in film. But, is this taken a step too far with the amount of hype there is about the celebritizing of actors? ‘I am actually a very private person. As an actor, I don’t need to give my views on politics or whatever. It is completely self indulgent. And I also think that when people choose their favourite films because of who is in them, it makes it a McDonald’s kind of acting.’

With the groundwork in place, I went on to ask Joe about ‘The Crazies’ and what he thought of the original. ‘I watched the original lightly because obviously I had to know the basics, but I don’t think that anyone should immerse themselves in an original, as it makes an imprint on your mind. I think that you are not being true to the concept.’

‘The Crazies’ has been cast as a horror with a dash of harsh reality. When I questioned Joe on this element of reality, he said that the portrayal of the military is strikingly accurate. ‘We were very careful not to paint the military in a negative light.
 

'But, at the same time things that we see as so far removed from reality in this film are completely real for people in Afghanistan. But that isn’t overly obvious. I mean, you have to really reflect on it.’

Anderson went on to praise the atmosphere on set. ‘I had worked with Olyphant before and he is just amazing, it was great to work with a mate. And of course Breck Eisner is fantastic, he knows his craft and he knows his cinematography. I am really interested in directing and he is really inspirational. We disagreed on things at times, but when I’d watch it back, I would realise, yeah actually he really knows what he’s talking about. He really understands that every actor has a different concept and he works so hard to keep all the ideologues in check.’

One thing that Anderson seemed to be adamant about was the importance of a character’s development through the film. ‘There has to be an arc. It was great for me because it was the first time I got to play a character with balls. I’m such a skinny git and it was great to step up into the shoes of an adult character. And Russell (Anderson’s character) really develops as the movie progresses.’

But, will it actually scare us? Joe laughs as he scolds me for putting him in a difficult position. ‘I haven’t seen the whole thing from top to bottom. There are definitely dark moments and it will make you jump but I think more than anything it is reflective.’

As I finished up talking to Joe, I couldn’t help but throw in a question which any fellow film buff would understand. ‘What was the movie of this year for you?’ With his answer of The Hurt Locker, I am satisfied that Joe knows a good film when he sees one!

The Crazies is in Irish cinemas now. 

To read a review on The Crazies click here.