“I’m quite a sensitive soul…” - actor and national treasure Danny Dyer talks tough guys, aliens and being a gay icon with David Watson.

“I’m quite a sensitive soul…”

With his new film Deviation just out on DVD, actor and national treasure Danny Dyer talks tough guys, aliens and being a gay icon with Cinema Editor David Watson.

Since his debut as a streetwise rent boy back in 1993’s Prime Suspect 3, Canning Town boy Danny Dyer has practically never stopped working.  On stage he worked with the late Harold Pinter who became both a mentor and a friend.  On TV he’s been in everything from The Bill to Cadfael.  He’s starred in over 40 feature films and he’s worked with the cream of Britain’s acting talent; Helen Mirren, Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Sean Bean and Steven Berkoff. 

Admittedly, he’s also made a few films with Craig Fairbrass and Billy “Have you had an accident at work?” Murray but hey, he was also Moff, the best thing in Human Traffic.  So why, oh why, do some people just hate Danny Dyer?

“I do get the fact that I divide people, especially as my career’s gone on,” says Dyer “There is a certain community that will never watch any of my movies, would never give me a chance, hate everything about me.”

Maybe it’s the roles he plays; football hooligans, drug dealers, gangsters, thugs, wide boys, geezers.  Working class anti-heroes.

“I remember, I was trending on Twitter once and somebody told me I should have a look.  It was the people that hate me hoping I was dead.  “Please tell me he’s dead.”  I mean, fucking hell!  Whatever you think of me…”  A loving father of two daughters, Dyer shakes his head in disgust.

Maybe it’s the documentaries; The Real Football Factories, The Real Football Factories International, most damning of all, Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men, documentaries that have seen Dyer strut a thin line between exposing and lionising a culture of violence and disaffected masculinity in UK society.  He’s both poster boy and demagogue of the New Lad culture. 

“We are living in this generation now where all these people want to sit behind their fucking computer screens and want to be nasty, you know?  There’s just not much you can do about that.  But my fans, they back me.  They are so fucking loyal.  And that’s what’s important to me.”

It’s not hard to see why Dyer inspires both devotion and enmity.  A charismatic, instinctive actor, in person Dyer is confident, funny and brutally honest.  Self-deprecating and charming, he’s nobody’s mug. 

“I feel blessed the career I’ve had.  It’s a tricky thing because you get a niche in the market and people like to see you do a certain thing.  For a certain film or role, I’ll be the first one they consider. 

“I went through a stage of just saying “Yeah, yeah, yeah…”  I mean, there was one year I did eight movies.  It’s ridiculous.  And, I’ll be the first to admit some of the movies that I’ve had come out have been shit.  My heart wasn’t in it.  I needed to take some time out.”

After years of playing yobs and tough guys, Dyer’s ready for a change, looking for the chance to play more sensitive, more vulnerable roles.  Like Frank, the serial killing psychopath at the heart of his new film Deviation.

“I was waiting for a great script.  This came along and I just loved the simplicity of it.  Just the idea of two people, in a car, you know?  A victim, a predator, the dynamic of that.  And just how brave it is to make a movie with no gimmicks and no big stunt sequences, just two people talking.  That’s what appealed to me and there’s nowhere to hide in that.  You gotta keep that interesting as an actor.”

Over the course of his career, Dyer’s played more than his share of messed up characters; the conflicted avenging angels of Straightheads and Outlaw, the dodgy geezers of The Business and Dead Man Running, the nascent thug of The Football Factory, but last year saw him play his first out-and-out hero in World War 2, Boy’s Own adventure, Age of Heroes.

“I was really excited about Age of Heroes.  I was really honoured that they came to me for that because, like I said, there’s certain roles I’ll be considered for and others I’ll be the last on the list. 

“I did a war movie before called The Trench, William Boyd movie, and that was in 2001.  It was a war movie but the idea of it was you are just in a trench, these poor young guys sort of just sitting around and doing nothing, you know, with no training and then all of a sudden going over the top.  They was lied to and it was such a sad thing that war. 

“Whereas Age of Heroes was more about training up and being part of a commando elite unit.  That really appealed to me.  It was great to work with Sean Bean again, I hadn’t seen him in a few years, and it was sort of my story and told through my eyes.  Again, I don’t think it got the release it should’ve got. 

“I know that cinema, British films, especially low budget, independent films, are going through a mad stage at the moment.  Just to get the money raised, there’s no money around, to get them made and then to get them a theatrical release.  People just want to get them out on DVD. 

“It’s the same with Deviation.  It’s getting a small release so they can say it’s a theatrical release and get it out on DVD ‘cause that’s where the money is.  And let’s be honest, it’s all about the money.”

Despite his tough guy image, Dyer’s always had a gift for comedy, his natural charm allowing him to shine in films like Severance, Human Traffic and Malice In Wonderland.  Soon we’ll be seeing him in Run For your Wife, the film version of Ray Cooney’s classic play.

“They’re very rare, you know, scripts that come along that are really funny, genuinely are funny.  Human Traffic was just perfect.  I’ve got a movie coming out this year called Run For Your Wife, which is the play written by Ray Cooney.  It’s a farce.  I think that style of movie and acting, it’s not been done in a long fucking time.  So I was honoured they offered me the lead in that.  I play John Smith, married to two people, Sarah Harding and Denise Van Outen, could be worse couldn’t it?  The whole film is me trying to prevent these two women from ever meeting and just trying to keep everything sweet.” 

The film’s all-star cast includes the great and the good (and the not so good) of the British acting fraternity with cameos from the likes of Dame Judi Dench, Cliff Richard, Donald Sinden, Rolf Harris, Russ Abbott, Bernard Cribbens, Andrew Sachs, Sue Pollard and Richard Briers.

“And they all come and done it for a bottle of wine,” laughs Dyer “Dame Judi Dench has got three lines of dialogue in it.  She plays a bag lady I meet at the beginning.  Just to be around these sorta people who’ve had these amazing careers and longevity, you know, I just loved it.  It was great coming to work and doing comedy.

“It’s great for me this year that I got two movies coming out that are completely different.”

Possibly the closest thing Britain has had to a home-grown, working class movie star since Sir Michael Caine, Dyer is a real advocate for UK cinema.

“Well, it’s been good to me as well to be fair and I think I’ve had quite a rare career that I have just made movies.  Like I said, I’ve made over 40 movies, and a percentage of them are shit but…I like to give directors a chance.  And if they write to me, send me a letter or email and go “Listen, I got no money, I’ve got a script, I’d really love you to be in it even if it’s for a couple of days…could you do me a favour?”  And if I see a passion in someone, I’ll do it and try and give them a chance, you know? 

“I think everybody deserves a chance.  It’s a tough business and people have took risks with me.  Sometimes it doesn’t work out.  Sometimes people aren’t meant to be directors.  They want it, they want it all their life but it’s just not meant to be.  Others, it’s their calling.  It’s a tough gig directing, being leader of the pack, having a vision, getting everyone excited every day…It’s tough.  When you’re a first-time director it can swallow you up a little bit.”

While some of his contemporaries have found success and fame in the US, Danny Dyer’s still a London boy at heart, resisting the temptations of Hollywood.

“I wouldn’t say I’m not ambitious enough but I had a child at 19 years of age and I’ve got to commit to that.  I can’t just fuck off to America for three…four months, which is what you got to do. 

“I’ve always gone out there, had a couple of weeks, got the agent and went “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be back,” and then didn’t come back for two years.  I didn’t commit to it enough but I got a 15-year-old daughter who’s just taking her exams, I got a 4-year-old who’s just started school.  And for me to up sticks and take them away from what they know would be very selfish of me.”

Particularly when his eldest daughter is following in her father’s footsteps.

“She’s got an agent, she’s really talented.  Thing is I called her Dani as well, Dani Dyer, so she’s got a little bit of pressure on her I suppose.  I’m really proud of her.  She’s been for a few auditions, she’s gotta work hard and she’s gotta understand that it’s a tough business and she’s gotta learn the ropes like I did.  I’m there to advise her more than anything.

“I think for me though, the first audition I went for, I got it.  Literally, the first one, which was Prime Suspect.  So I went straight in, auditioned with the other kids, shitting myself, going in there, doing it, getting the lines out.  And I got a phone call saying I got it so it was just a beautiful process for me. 

“Next thing I know I’m up in Manchester, my dad chaperoning me, on set with Helen Mirren and David Thewlis.  I didn’t have a rejection until later on.  I was like “Wow!  I can’t believe they’re paying me for this.”  I was on set and I wanted to learn, just absorbing everything, watching Helen Mirren and definitely Thewlis.  He was Method.  He played my pimp.  He didn’t talk to me.  He was nasty to me.  Until we did the scene.  And then I realised why he was being nasty to me.  Because I was fucking shitting myself.  It worked.  I’ve seen him since, I’m quite pally with him now Thewlis, he’s a great man, great actor.  But what a way to start.  Surely that’s better than any drama school.”

Given his own sometimes…tempestuous relationship with our tabloid press, what father wouldn’t worry about his daughter becoming an actress?

“I worry about her constantly, I worry about everything she does at the moment.  She’s very hormonal.  It’s her against the world.  She’s taking exams at the moment, boy trouble, everything, I worry about everything. 

“But she’s carving out a little career for herself already before she’s leaving school.  She’s got an agent, nothing to do with me, she goes to drama school every Sunday and they have workshops and agents came down and she got it off her own back.  So she’s got an agent who’s working for her.  I can only be there for her.  She’ll get a part soon and she’s going to crack on and she’s going to love it, relish it.  Listen, I’m constantly worrying about my daughters.  It’s just life, innit?”

As well as Deviation and Run For Your Wife, Dyer recently went back to TV, guesting in an episode of BBC1’s Casualty.

“It’s weird.  I always thought that if you make movies you’d automatically be accepted into TV, you know?  Movies are the highest thing you can do as an actor…  But it closes a few doors.  People don’t consider you for TV ‘cause they don’t think you’ll do it.  Which is bollocks, if it’s quality.

“I auditioned for a thing called Inside Men, BBC thing, and I didn’t get it…and it hurt.  It was a kick up the bollocks, you know?  I’m always looking out for stuff though.  I think TV’s going through a mad stage with this reality TV, isn’t it?  It’s The Only Way Is Essex.  Documentaries following people around being themselves or things like The Only Way Is Essex where, are they being themselves?  So, actors are a bit redundant at the moment. 

“The rare dramas that are around are things like Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs…They don’t consider me for stuff like that.  I don’t know why.  But I reckon I could do it standing on my head.  I understand that I’ve had a good career but it does frustrate me.  Casualty was just an odd thing.  I’d took a bit of time out and they wanted me to do it, they were really lovely about it and cause it was a paramedic I thought yeah, I’ll do it.  ‘Cause it was different and it was a one-off.  I went to Cardiff for a week and it was a nice little experience.  I’m sure it surprised a few people.”

He also isn’t ruling out a return to the stage.

“You need to do it as an actor.  It gives you a real kick up the bollocks.  I was blessed to work with Pinter.  He had a real bond with me.  He saw something in me.  I think because he was from Hackney originally, he was an East London boy.  He was an education for me.  And he reined me in when I needed to be reined in.  I was devastated when we lost him.  We lost a great man there. 

“But, I struggle with the six month run, eight shows a week, one day off.  Like I said, as a father, you’re not seeing your family, you’re not putting the kids to bed, you’re not sitting at the dinner table with them.  You’re coming home, they’re all in bed, you’re eating on your own.  You get Sunday off.  And on that Sunday you’re fucked, you’re shattered, you just want to lay around.  But at the same time you gotta use that day to be with your kids.  And you’re constantly thinking about the play, all the nerves. 

“So the play has to be brilliant and it’s got to be a six to eight week run and I’m totally up for it.  Anything longer than that, I really struggle with. “

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Dyer is the diversity of his fan base.  While the core of his support is undoubtedly the Burberry-clad and the white van man, Broken Britain’s disaffected working class, women love him and he’s also got a sizable gay following.

 

“I made a decision…I did the documentaries about hooligans and stuff like that…it wasn’t something…I didn’t really want to go down that route but I did it for the money. 

“I was promoting the documentary The Real Football Factories which is me running around with fucking hooligans, nasty fuckers, men being men and all that sorta stuff…and I wanted to put a spin on it so I went and done Attitude mag. 

“A lotta people were surprised at that, because of my image.  They thought I was gonna be homophobic, you know, thick as shit, a lotta people think I’m really thick…which is frustrating.  Just because of my accent maybe.  So I wanted to do Attitude and they gave me a four-page spread where I really spoke my mind and I was really honest. 

“And I think a lot of gay people maybe appreciated that and thought “Oh, actually, he’s alright.  He’s not the sorta guy who wants to kick our fucking heads in.”  Because that just couldn’t be further from the truth.  I’m quite a sensitive soul.  I’m a father more than anything.  That’s my priority.  And I live in a house full of girls.  The hard man image, there’s not much I can do about that.  I’m no thug but I’m not a prick either that lets people take the piss out of me.”

However there’s also a more spiritual side to Dyer as he proved in one of the more bizarre and enjoyable documentaries of 2010, I Believe In UFOs: Danny Dyer which saw him meeting astronomer Patrick Moore and travelling to America in search of his own close encounter.

“I’m a bit of a sci-fi geek.  I love all that shit.  I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of it.  And because the only documentaries I ever made have been Deadliest Men and people chopping fucking people’s earholes off and all that stuff, I wanted to go off and do something completely in the opposite direction. 

“The BBC had read in an interview that I was quite obsessed with the idea of aliens and they came to me and said “Listen, we’d love to do something with you,” I said “Sweet!”  And they took me to America.  And I got on a real spiritual one.  I wanted to show that side to me.  It’s important that I do show different sides.  I mean, Harry Hill assassinated me but I took that as a compliment. 

“I fucking know there’s shit out there.  I saw some mad shit on that documentary.  Things that freaked me the fuck out!  The idea that we’re the only things living in the Universe is fucking ridiculous. 

“Whether or not they’re coming here and chucking things up our arse and fucking off, I don’t know.  But there’s shit going on and I wanted to explore that.  As much as I could on a BBC3 budget.  I get lots of letters now from UFO enthusiasts, sending me pictures and stuff, drawings of shit they’ve seen, wanting me to be honorary member of their different societies…I love it, I love it.  And I’ll never stop believing.”

Deviation was released in UK cinemas on 24 February and DVD on 27 February from Revolver.  Run For Your Wife is scheduled for release in 2012.