I've Never Said This Before With Tommy DiDarioThis week, Tommy is joined by actor Colin O’Donoghue who became a household name by playing Captain Hook (aka Killian) on the smash-hit series, Once Upon a Time. The show tells the story of what happens when fairy tale legends and modern life collide. Once Upon a Time instantly became a fan-favorite series, going on for 7 magical season on ABC. Between film, tv, theater, singing and voice over work, Colin has proven that he is a man of many talents, leaving audiences with memorable and powerful performances time and time again. Today, Colin opens up about how his life completely changed once he booked a huge role on Once Upon a Time, why he was surprised when he got the part, that very special first day on set with Robert Carlyle, how new generations keep discovering Once Upon a Time, what working with Jennifer Morrison was like for all of the years together, how moving on from playing Captain Hook was a difficult transition, where he keeps his iconic costume, if Once Upon a Time deserves a revival, if he would jump into a Hook spin-off, his thoughts on that controversial final season of the show, how he tries to move past anxiety and nerves to be present in the moment, how his approach to acting has changed over the years, if any new music may be on the way, the surprising legendary celebrity he found out he is cousins with, and so much more.
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Hey guys, welcome to I've never said this before with me, Tommy Tadario. So every once in a while a TV show will come around that it lives beyond its time, right. New audiences keep discovering it, original audiences keep rewatching it, and it's because the show makes you feel so good inside. It provides you comfort, it gives you hope. Well, my guest today is a huge part of one of those shows that I am talking about. Colin o'donahue. He became a household name through starring in Once Upon a Time on ABC. Once upon a Time, It's about a brand new world, one in which fairy tale legends and modern life collide. Colin played Killian, also known as the iconic Captain Hook, in a very magical and enchanting world, and his performance is nothing short of brilliant. Colin is such a gifted actor who can do it all, film, theater, TV voice work. He's an actor who pours every inch of his being into the characters that he creates. And today we are celebrating that fan favorite work, but we're also getting to know the human behind the actor a bit more intimately. So let's see if today we can get Collins say something that he has never said before. Colin of Don Hue, How you doing, my man.
I'm good, thanks, so are you?
I am good? I am good. It's so good to see you. It's been a minute, but it's always a pleasure to hang out. Yeah, yeah, thanks for having me of course. Of course, Well I've been following your career over the last few years. You've been up to all sorts of exciting things, including the theater, which I am a huge fan of. So we're going to dive into that and in a little bit of course. But I guess to start this conversation, man, you have so many credits to your name. You've done so much, you know, film, TV, voiceover work, animation, all the different things. But there's one role, of course in particular that kind of blew you up and made you this household name, and that's of course killing In aka Captain hook In Once upon a Time, right, It's it's such a beloved fan favorite role. When you booked that job with that role, did you have any idea that your entire life was about to change?
No? No, to be honest, I I was. I was living in Ireland, so I didn't once upon a time, hadn't the first season hadn't come out over here. When I sort of taked for it and met with or when I'm an auditioned for it and met with Ellie and Adam. I knew it was a big show in the States, but I didn't realize just how big it was till I was on the show. And I also didn't think I was going to get get the part. When I got centered, I was kind of like, there's no way that I'll ever be playing Captain Hook. I still had an image of Dustin Hoffman, you know what I mean, and or any other previous nation of Hook was kind of slightly older. So I kind of thought, no, there's not a chance. So I just went in and did whatever I wanted, and luckily the guys responded to But I never thought. I never knew just how big a show it was, and just how big the character was kind of going to become.
That's so interesting. So you weren't, you know, gripping this role. You weren't like, I have to get this role or my career is over. You went in very nonchal Yeah.
Well, I wouldn't say nonchalant, but it was sort of I had just done a big movie with Anthony Hopkins, which had opened number one all over the world, and you know, that was my first kind of big thing. And then there was a couple of conversations about these other movies that were going to happen, which I couldn't believe, but they never did. So I did a pilot for ABC the year that Once Upon a Time was a pilot. So it was Angela Bassett and I were the two leads in. It was called Identity, and it was about a guy who's kind of living a double life. But he's a detective and he's investigating identity fraud. But it turns out he's living a second life. He's married to the he was married to the sister of an Irish mob boss. Now I was American and stuff like that. But we thought that show was going to go. It looked like that show was going to go at the same time Once upon a Time did, and so I was kind of I didn't know what to expect. Basically, one I wouldn't say nonchalant, because it's just I didn't think I was going to get it, and I thought maybe I might have gone for something more dramatic. I guess you know. I was coming off the like The Right was a horror, but it was sort of like a psychological horror, sort of exorcism movie, and Identity was very much a drama, you know, So that's kind of what I So I sort of, well, I'm not going to get it anyway, so I'll just go in and lo and behold. The next I got a phone call after I went in and auditioned, So I'd already had kind of had a bit of a relationship with ABC anyway, and I auditioned for it. It seemed to go well. The casting people thought it was really good, and I got a call to going to meet Eddie and Adam the next day, and I was goind of like, okay.
All right.
And then I'd known that Captain Hook was teased a comic Con that year, so I knew that the character coming on. I knew wasn't an important role for that season, but I didn't know that it was going to become become what it was.
I mean, I think that's a great lesson for anyone that when you go into something and of course you want it and you want to do your best work, but when you can find a way to not let that define you right in such in such a way that it can actually mess you up. Like you went in you wanted the role, but you weren't like, oh my god, well.
I mean I very much like the thing is, I wouldn't want people to think I didn't. I very much wanted the role. Yeah, right, so I wouldn't have gone for it. I just didn't think that I was going to be Wifert is the thing. So so that took the pressure off, which I think is what I'm more trying to say is I didn't feel the pressure of having to go, Oh, you know, I really I really hope I get to I really want to get this, because in my head, I was like, there's no way I'm going to get it.
Yeah, you know.
I was like, they're going to see a whole broad spectrum of people. Somebody in there mid to late forties is probably going to get it. So like at the time, I was thirty one maybe, and I was like, well, I'm not going to get it anyway, So you know, I'll just go in and I'll do the character the way that I very much wanted them to do and to play it. And I just look at worked for the Guys.
Well, thank god, man, I mean, that's destiny. It was meant to be. So you didn't get to see the first season, as you mentioned, because you didn't you didn't have it in Ireland. You get the show. You know, they teased Captain Hook of comic Colm. But when was the moment do you remember it? Was there a specific moment where you thought, oh, man, like I'm I'm part of something pretty big that could changed my career.
It was my very first day on set one because I was working with Robert Carlisle that first day, and Bobby was one of my genuinely one of my heroes growing up, especially as an actor, you know, Train Spotting. I watched every single movie of his, The Full Monty, I watched every movie of his as a teenager and into my twenties, and I honestly think he's one of the greatest actors of the last forty years. And I was standing there in full leather pants and eyeliner. They'd gotten a ship called the Lady Washington, which ended up being the Jolly Roger, and we were going out around the sound at Vancouver and we were sailing on this real ship on Robert Carlisle was there and there was like camera boats and stuff. Yeah, this is a lot bigger than I expected. And that's the moment that I kind of went wow. But then the other time was when the when the show screened and the character, you know, my character's first episode, episode four and season two came on, and then it was like, you know, we didn't really have social media so much back then. I think Twitter was kind of starting off. There was stuff that it wasn't like nowadays where everything is on and I was kind of you know, the response was immediate from people, and you know, you see people would see me then walking down the street to go you know, and I was like, oh, this is this is crazy.
You know what I love about the show too. It's kind of I think one of the last shows to have that twenty two twenty three episode. You know, Mark, you don't see that anymore. You're six, No, I mean you.
See them, you see them kind of with sort of procedurals or you know, like any of the like cop shows or the you know, medical dramas and stuff you see a little bit more. But yeah, I think we I've got a feeling that we might have been one of the last I think it might have been even the last one that had like we did two seasons and twenty three episodes, you know, the rest of all twenty two and that's and there are our long episodes like that's a that's a lot to do in the season and try and keep people engaged. And it's a testament to the writers more than anything that you know, they were able to keep people watching that watching the show week in week out for twenty two weeks. I mean, when you think about it, like that twenty two weeks, it's massive.
Yeah. Was it rewarding being on a show with that format, Like do you do you miss that kind of format or do you prefer the shorter episode series?
It was, Yeah, I mean I enjoyed it because you know, my wife came over with me and then we had our two kids were born in Vancouver, and so we had a family. You know, we set up a life there for nine months of the year and very much made friends with people who became like a surrogod family. So in that respect, yeah, I really I really enjoyed that. You know, the kids obviously being born there were young enough for us to be able to be away from from Ireland for that length of time. I think it's really difficult. You know, Like I'm not a right, I'm not a writer, so I'm not in the writing room. I think that that's where that level, or that amount of hour long TV shows I think to sustain that can be very, very difficult. And sometimes you know, I'm not talking about Once upon a Time whatever, but sometimes the quality gets diluted a little bit because you have to kind of drag out the storyline that you want to accommodate that many episodes, And in that way, having a shorter season allows you to maybe you know, fill those episodes with a lot more to keep people engaged. But I grew up you know, TV shows over here and in the UK and in Ireland and stuff. Eight ten ten episodes is a season of something, you know what I mean. Anyway, so that's what I was used to watching.
So the world's catching up to you guys now.
Yeah, Well, I just think it's just so hard to invest the time for people to spend writing and keep people engaged, you know. I think that there is a scope for those types of shows that go on for that long, you know what I mean. But like the so many things now are so gritty and drama. You know, you want everything wants to be snappy and quick, and you couldn't do that over twenty two episodes.
And what's cool is people are still craving that because so many different generations are now rediscovering the show and streaming it and watching it. And it's not only for the original watchers and the fans, but all new demographics are now getting really on board the Once upon a Time train, which I imagine for you is such a cool thing to see.
Yeah, it's great, Like I never thought that I'd be a part of something that would would be like that. That was the great thing about Once Fun of Time was that it was a show but hope more than anything, and never try to be really super gritty or hard hitting or anything like that. You know, there's dark moments in it, but it was just about hope and it was something that families could watch together. So now what's happening is with Disney Plus is that people are you know, people who've grown up watching it are let's say we're in their late teens watching Once Fun of Time now probably have kids of their own or whatever, and they're beginning to watch it and there's a whole you know, there's a whole gamut of people now who are rediscovering it on Disney and like it's pretty great. Like it's pretty incredible to think that that people are still crazy about the show.
Yeah, it's a timeless show and that's a testament to yes, the writers, but also you guys, the artists who brought this to life, that people want to keep watching it over and over and introducing it to people that they know will love as well. And the characters and the actors everyone across the board, which was fantastic. I feel like you worked probably the most with Jennifer Morrison exclusively kind of for like five years. You guys were doing a ton of scene work together. Yes, teaming up with her.
It was great. It was great. We just managed to capture something that that clicked, you know when I. When I came on, there was a suggestion that would sort of be a bit like Lost whether there was the Sawyer hate Jack kind of storyline, So they wanted it to sort of start out as a kind of a love triangle between Hook and Emma and Neil. So I sort of knew that was going of fasile in the background, you know, like Eddie and Adam had said to me, Look, we want you to kind of be the Sawyer character, the bad boy that people kind of wouldn't respond to, you know, but you know, we we sort of we worked a lot together. We just it just clicked. You can't you can't quite manufacture it. It just sort of either it happens or it doesn't happen with that sort of stuff, and luckily for us it did. I mean I was very low on the show. Somebody was asking me recently, you know, is there anyone that you hadn't worked with that you would liked to have? And I pretty much worked with nearly everybody on the show. I don't think there's you know, the only people I can think of were like young snow white or young like. Other than that, I think I was pretty much in in stuff with with everybody. Hook managed to manage to be in everybody's business.
Hook got around a little bit. Huh.
I was gonna say that, and then I thought I better not.
It's true, man, It's true. And how fun to get to work with different people and then you get to reunite. You just reunited with a bunch of people in Paris, I believe at a convention in Paris.
Yeah, and I'll see Becks and Alana in Germany this weekend.
So is it like no lost time, just picking up where you left off?
It is funny, like I saw I saw Jen for the first time in years in Birmingham, but a month ago, just over a month ago. And it is weird because once we all get together, it is like we're just back on said, the relationships, the way people talk to each other, it's like no times past.
Was it weird or difficult as an artist to have to let go of playing Captain Hook when that time came? Because he was such a part of our life. You did play him, as we said, for twenty two to twenty three episodes this season. You invested a lot of time into this role. So when you finally had to move on from that, was that a weird transition?
It was? I mean, I was the next sort of work that I got. I really wanted it to be very different and because of that, but you know, I loved I didn't want to say goodbye to Hook, you know, because I love that. I love playing the role, I love the character. But yeah, no, it was. It was tough. I mean, I think I think when you play a role like that for so long, it's kind of always It's always there, you know, And especially because people are finding the show again and rewatching it and stuff like that, Like, I think it'll always be I'll always be Captain Hook in some way, you know what I mean. But I was ready to try something different, but you know, I was sort of lucky. I do small projects in between on the hiatus and stuff like that, and try and pick stuff that was so different from Hook. But yeah, no, I think I think it's tough when you play like especially one that people related to so well, it is tough to let that go a little bit.
Do you feel like there's a piece of that character that you kind of kept with you throughout the years.
I've kept my beard.
Not negotiable, Beard's not going anywhere. Huh.
Yeah, I say. I actually shaved it a month ago, and I said, oh, why do that. I grew it back. But I don't look, I don't think well, I mean, I don't think there's anything of an eight hundred year old pirate that you sort of really keep with you day to day, day to day life. But I look back very fondly on on what we did and the opportunities I got to be a part of something like Once and I still have. I have the costume here and stuff like that, so I don't walk around the house wearing it, but it's here.
Is it on a manquin like on displayer in the Cloud? No?
I want to get a monnequin, but I just didn't have. No, I never got around to it, So it's sitting in a sitting in a in a wardrobe.
It would be pretty epic if one day one of your kids wants to be that for Halloween and you're like, well, I have the costume.
I know, Yeah, it'd be great. And they've told all the friends. See some of their friends now are beginning to watch Once Fun of Time, so like they sort of when I pull up to pick them up. Now you can see them sort of looking at you.
You know, Oh my god, that's so cool. Though, what a cool feeling. You're probably the coolest dat in the world now.
I doubt it. Bush. Yeah, if you say so, Yeah, I'll take that.
So here's a million dollar question. Does Once upon a Time deserve a revival?
I mean that's a big question. Yeah, I guess I think it's a that's a question for the bosses really in Disney, I guess, you know, there's people love it and people still love it, so there's a world where I think it could exist again.
So what you're saying is you're not opposed to possibly revisiting it one day.
I don't know if I'd be a part of it, but yeah, maybe.
You would like the opportunity to decide at least. Yeah, okay, all right, that's fair. I mean there's been some time now for simmering on ideas for a spinoff. Have you thought of anything you would you would want to see should that day come.
I think it should be a Captain Hook centric spin off, so.
Well played, well played. Yeah, but you know what, all jokes aside that would be there would be way way there would be plenty of material for that kind of a series, I think.
I think so.
I think so going back to the theme of you know, hope and being a show that really so many people find such good in was that part of the appeal year after year continuing to play this character is that there's this idea that everybody kind of can get their happy ending.
I think so, you know, I think I mean, for me, it was I just liked wearing the leather pants. But no, I think there was a lot of that. I think everything everything that was being made at the time, and I'm maybe even still now, I'm not that I'm a positive I think it's great, but everything was super greaty and everything had to be really hard hitting and you know, all that kind of stuff, and to be a part of something that people would just say, look, I watched that with my grandmother, watched my parents, you know, like you'd have There's very few shows that you would have kids from whatever, ten years old up to people in their eighties watching and all loving like that's a massive achievement to be able to go across the whole gamut of ages and have people like that. You'd be stopped by some people that you wouldn't expect, like a sixty year old man would stop in the streets saying, oh, I watch it with my family. We absolutely love it, you know, and then you'd have like kids or you'd have so and that is simply because sometimes people just want to watch something that's going to make them feel good and entertaining and hopeful. You know, we all meet a lot of people, a load of fans of the show who really talk about how the show happened through really hard times, you know, and how that was their escape, was watching Once upon a Time. And I'm not so sure if it was a show about drugs or addiction that that would be the case. So I think that that is what the ipeal was, that it allowed people an hour no matter what they were doing in their lives. It allowed them an hour on a Sunday us escape into fantasy. And to be a part of that is an honor, really, you know.
Yeah, And it was so creative, like every season had such a different spin and it kept you guessing where it was going to go. And you know, from season one to the last season, and even the last season it was quite different, right, And I know, I know it was more of a controversial season for some people and whatnot, But for you for that season, were you pleased without it all kind of ended?
I was delighted. I loved it, you know. For me, it was great to be able to do another version of Hellian and to play a different version of Hook. For Hook to have a daughter too, Like I just my wife had just giving birth to our daughter that year, and I had a young son, and I thought, and having kids was such a massive thing for me, and I thought, I have that love. And what I liked about it too was that it wasn't trying to replace Emma or that whole storyline. It's a different kind of love and it's it was a really deep thing, and I thought that that was really important. You know, it's complicated. The last season is complicated because people have their opinions thinking, you know, they think that they wanted the same show, but it couldn't have been the same show because some people's contracts were up, they were ready to move on. And so how do you go about with the same world when when you won't have a lot of the people who who made that exist, So you have to change. And I think the writers were brave the way they went about it. And look, Once upon a Time was a good show that you could have a curse for anything, you know, and you could have parallel universes, you could have parallel worlds, you know. So no, I thought it was I thought it was good. I thought it was really good, a good way of going about it.
Yeah, well, you my friends, season after season nailed the role. I mean, but you did, and it's no surprise. He as a fan favorite, and he was in some pretty wild circumstances and you put it all out there and you were you know, you delivered. I imagine that character is a lot more we'll say, extroverted and in the spotlight, more than you like to be. Like you strike me as someone who's a bit more shy, a little bit more introverted, Is that right?
Yeah? Yeah, yeah. I wanted him to be the opposite of me. And I remember trying to figure out what it was about people that I met who I just couldn't take my eyes off or felt like, oh, there was such a charisma there, and you know, I was trying to figure that out and I realized it that when somebody looks you in the eyes, most people don't do it day to day because a bit like I'm doing now, you sort of look around when you're talking, and then you when somebody really focuses on you, they're only listening to you. Do you know what I mean? It's only you in the room. There's something really kind of think about that. So that's what I wanted to hook to be like. I wanted them to be like, oh yeah, Okay, oh, you know what I mean and straight in. But I'm not like that at all, So I'd rather just sit in the corner of the room and not talk to anybody.
Probably, Well, you chose a very interesting profession for a shyer guy. So how do you how do you, you know, put yourself out there and then not let anxiety or stress or nerves kind of prove.
Well, it's interesting because you know, I think I became an actor to pretend to be somebody else. Like I get terrified before I go on stage and stuff that I get really nervous. But when I discovered acting, I realized that there was an opportunity to take on the skin of somebody else and I didn't have to be me for whatever length to time. That was not that there was anything wrong with me, but it just I could pretend to be somebody else, live a different live in a different world for that hour or whatever. And there's quite a lot of actors I think, I like that are quite shy and stuff. But that's why we do it, is that you can you can just pretend to be another person for that time, you know. Like sometimes I think when people meet actors, they expect them to be like a character they've played or whatever. But writers are writing the dialogue for us. We're not, you know what I mean. You know you improvise sometimes, but most of the time you were taking on the skin and you were saying somebody else's words, so you don't have to. It just allowed me to pretend to be somebody else.
That makes sense. And like you said, artists are not the characters they play. So when you walk into a room, if you're going to a social gathering where you don't know a lot of people, is that like your worst nightmare? Do you not enjoy that?
I don't fully enjoy it. No, I don't fully enjoy it. I sort of slink in if I can at the back and sort of stay for a while and then leave.
We need but man, listen, we need introverts and extroverts in this world. But I always find it fascinating to your point, when someone is so commanding on screen, it's their actors. It's your job, right, like you're playing a role. So yeah, I imagine sometimes when people meet you, if you are a little shyer, if you're a little more reserved, they're like, oh, it's it's not Captain Hook No, it's not.
Yeah, I mean, look, I could go in and pretend in some respects, when you know, you go do things you are like, I'll be playing a character of myself kind of to get myself out of you know, if I have to go in and speak to people whatever, you know, it'll be I don't mean that in the sense of line team, but it's like you have to go, Okay, I have to be on here and then so you sort of pretend a little bit that you're a little bit more outgoing than you are. But yeah, I'm not. I'm not really that outgoing.
Well, I mean, hey, you throw it all into your work, which is respectable, very respectable. And Colin, you've been working a long time, You've been doing all sorts of different projects. How would you say, even from your one stage, or even before that, how is your approach to acting changed from that point to today.
Oh I don't that's a good question, student. I don't know that it has changed, to be honest. You know, I was always just really grateful to have an opportunity to get to do something I would really love to do. I know an awful lot of people who are doing jobs where they're not happy at all. They don't enjoy it. They make a lot of money, but they're miserable, you know. And I was like I was working before I had any kind of what you would consider a success, you know. I was working for ten years as a jobbing actor around Ireland, doing plays too, sometimes ten people in the audience, sometimes one hundred to couple of hundred, not getting paid a lot of money, but really enjoying it and honing your craft and doing the best work that you could do and feeling like you were a part of that world, even though it was a struggle. So I was just always really grateful to have a job, and I think that's the most important thing. It's really like, it's a really it's a really difficult profession. Not everybody gets the opportunities that you know, I've been blessed to get. Yeah, it's it's like for you, like to get on a show like Once upon a Time or whatever, it's like one in a million. Sounds really for someone like me from a small town in Ireland, like that's not a common occurrence and you have to grasp it with both hands but be grateful for it and really appreciate the fact that you you know, you're in something that you know looks like it will be around for a while, that people really respond to. So I don't think my approach to acting has changed. I just want to work. I want to do I want to do the best work I can. I want to try and do something where people will respond to it and get something. My my thing was I always if I'm doing something, I always want somebody to leave watching it, whether it to play or it's TV or to film, feeling something whatever that is. But I want them to feel something. And that's part and parcel of what. You know, Like, people have been acting for I don't even know how long, maybe a thousand years whatever, there's been tour, you know, hundreds and hundreds of years anyway, And originally it was go around telling stories to people of what was happening in the world at that stage and being a reflection on you know, it was an important thing because most people would never have that. Like I feel like being an actor is an important job for me. It's not saving lives, but it's important for people to have escape.
It depends who you're talking here, because a lot of the work you guys do is credited with helping people still be here today, so you know.
Yeah, well that's my point, is that like to be on once upon a time where people literally would say, I feel like that show saved my life because I was in a really dark place and it just allowed me to come out of that. Now whether or not, look you sort of you know, I don't really know how to respond to it sometimes, but to be a part of something like that is, you know, you have to be grateful for that and appreciate it. And yeah, so I just look, I love being an actor and I just want to I just want to work and do good work, whatever that is.
And I love that you said you want to make people feel. That's one of my favorite things about live theater. And my husband and I try to see shows really like every two weeks if we can, because to be in a room with people experiencing something together collectively, it just doesn't happen anymore. You know, we're all connected on our devices and phones, and it's a very me, me, me, you know world that we live in. And even with streaming now, you watch so many movies from home instead of a theater. So to be in an actual playhouse and see, yeah, musical theater production or play, I think is thrilling not only because of what you're watching, but to see how other people are feeling and experiencing the art, either in the same way as you are in a different way, which is pretty cool.
Yeah, it's an incredible thing theater. You know, as long as it's good, right, right, right, But it's an incredible thing to be able to create a world. You know, when people walk in and they see a stage, you know it's a stage, and you know you're an auditorium whatever. But if you're in a show that manages to suck people in, for them to believe that they're watching something real on something that's so clearly fake, it's an incredible experience for everybody. And it's very palpable. You can you can very much feel it on stage when it's clicking, and you have there's an energy there that you know you don't get from film and TV. You know, you feed off the audience's energy when you're on stage and vice versa. When you're watching something it's really clicking, you're like getting this incredible energy and it's you know, it's an amazing thing. But yeah, it's like theater is a whole different keellfish. I hadn't done it in fifteen years before, and I did a show there in the summer, and luckily it was the show that people really responded to. And it's just an incredible it's just an incredible thing to be able to know that there's maybe a thousand people in the audience, you can hear a pin drop and nobody's on their phone. Yeah that's you know, yeah, And I do think it's it's something i've you know, I've started to I really like taking my kids to the cinema and there's something about just sitting in a room with other people when people aren't just doing this and oh yeah yeah and texting whatever, just to have people focused on the one thing. It's really it's really quite something I think.
Yeah, I do too, And it's clear those are probably many of the reasons why you return to the stage for the first time in like fifteen years, Is that right?
Yeah?
I think so.
I think it was around about fifteen years.
Yeah, yeah, So I guess the next move is New York City and Broadway. We're ready for you, man. Yeah.
Well, I was lucky that the show, the show I did was a big hit in the West End, and it was the West End production that we did, so which I think they were talking about going to New York with it, but not not with me, but I think there was talk. But yeah, I mean, it's a big The only thing about theater is it's a big commitment. You know, it's a lot of work. It's great, but it's a lot. It's a lot of work in a different in a different kind of way. I had always thought that maybe I wouldn't go back to do another play because all I remembered really was I remember loving it, but I just remembered how nervous I used to get every night before I went on stage. And that's terrifying, just in case you try on stage and you forget your lines. I was always, for the last number of years, have just been terrified about that. And I actually spoke. I remember speaking to Robert Carlisle on the set of Once Upon a Time about it, because he had a theater company in Scotland, you know, and I'm just saying, I don't know, Bobby, if I could go on stage again, I think I'll just be too scared. But I did, and luckily, luckily it was okay.
I'm a man of many talents. Like I said earlier, you also sing song, right.
Yeah, I'm in my guitar room at the minute, so I don't know many. I think I've got twelve guitars up in the wall here, maybe even more so. Yeah, I was in a band for years and years and years. Actually, when I was working as a sort of jobbing actor, I was really making money playing in a band, gigging four or five nights a week. So yeah, I'm not playing as well. I played the guitar a lot and piano and stuff, but I'm not really writing a huge amount of stuff. But it's nice. I just love music is such a massive part of my life.
It's something for you, right.
Yeah, I don't think I do a music I don't think if that's if that was gonna be your next question, would do musical? I don't think. I don't quite think I have the voice for a musical, but who knows.
Actually, no, funny enough, I wasn't gonna ask that. I was gonna ask if you're ever going to drop a single? These days, I don't know.
I keep getting asked up by people and.
I tell you people want it, man.
Yeah, well maybe I will. My kids are getting a little bit older, so maybe i'd have time. I definitely wouldn't have had time before. And you know, I've been lucky that a part obviously during COVID and stuff like that. But you know, I've been lucky to be pretty busy. So yeah, maybe I will. Maybe we'll. You'd have to promote it for me.
If I do done done coming to New York, We'll have you on the show in person. It'll be great. It'll be great. Yeah, Colin, I don't know much about this, so I don't know how much you can talk about this. But when people found out you were coming on the show, I got a million questions about the Gray House. Okay, yeah, and a lot of people are wanting to know what's going on. Are there any updates? What can you tell us because there seems to be a lot of excitement about it.
Yeah, I don't know, is my answer. I know that they had a Castle Cruise screening in September in la I was over here. I wasn't able to go, and then I don't know. I'm sure they'll come out pretty soon. I think it's all finished. The scripts were incredible. It's an amazing story. My character kind of is in and out quite a bit, and it's based on a true story. But I don't think. I don't think I'm able to tell exactly what it's about just at the minute. I don't know, is the thing. I haven't been told what I can and can't say. But it should come out pretty soon. I would think. Kevin Costro and Morgan Freeman produced it. And it's obviously it's a Civil war story. So yeah, so hopefully it'll be Hopefully it'll be out pretty soon. All right, Well, it was great. I got to ride horses and jump up and off them and do things and stuff. That was good.
Well, we look forward to that. I also look forward to you one day, maybe playing James Bond. I heard that might be of interest.
I mean, I'd like to play James Bond, and I think I've got a feel and I'm too old, now is the problem.
Never say no, Never say never. We're putting it out there, man.
Yeah, if you can make that happen, that'll be good. But yeah, I suspect I'm too old.
All right, Well we'll see you. Never know, Never say never, Colin. As we wrap up the name of the show, as I've never said this before, and I created the show because I wanted to have real conversations with fan favorite artists, and a lot of what we talked about today allowed us to get to know you a little bit more aside from the characters that you play, which to me is such a rewarding conversation. I so much more enjoy that than when I'm on a red carpet for three minutes with somebody, or maybe or a minute and a half with somebody you're you know, you know how that those go. They're so quick and there's not substance there. So this is why this show was born, and the name of the show was born from that too. So I'm wondering, is there anything else today that you've never shared before that you want to say?
I was thinking about this, you know, there was a couple of things. I could go either way. It doesn't have to be very serious or cand of just be kind of lighthearted, whatever you want, because I'm pretty I think even though I'm quite and stuff, and I think I'm pretty open with people about you know, being shy, and you know, I've talked before, but being bullied as a kid, and that was a massive impact on me, but you know, I think I was. I was thinking about it. What would I say? And my son is doing his school play Christmas play soon, and he's playing one of the Beatles in it, so he's playing Paul McCartney. And he found out recently for my mum that Paul McCartney is my second cousin. So that's something I've never said before. My second cousin once removed, so his his his mother was my grandmother's first cousin. And we never knew that. None of us ever knew that. So that's something I've never said before.
How did you how did you connect that?
So? Well, we found out my grandmother was invited to he got married, his previous marriage. He got married in Ireland and tracked down from what I can gather, track down family, you know, sort of closer family, and she got an invitation to the wedding. No, she didn't tell anybody until afterwards. And my grandmother, who's passed away since, didn't go. Said no, she was a far you know, they had a farm and stuff like that, and she listened to Irish country music and had no interest in the Beatles whatsoever. And yeah, it didn't go and then told told us afterwards, told the family afterwards that she had been invited and turned out that we were late. But the interesting thing about it all is my mother was born in Liverpool. My mother and her sister, who's just younger than her, was more but they were the two eldest. And it turns out that they were born on a street that's only ten minutes walk from where Paul McCartney grew up. So these two cousins live ten minutes away but didn't know each other really, But that's that was back in whenever Whenever it was so it wasn't like today where you sort of have a track and everybody. But yeah, so it's kind of lighthearted and something a bit of fun. I've never met Paul McCartney and I probably never will, but yeah, we're related to our family are related to them, so that's my thing. I've never told anyone before.
That's so cool. I feel like you have to reach out. I mean, come on, he.
Would have no interest in responding to anything from me. I'm pretty certain. I'm pretty certain Paul McCartney's too busy to want to say all oad Captain Hook.
Clearly music runs in the family, so you know what, now this all makes sense.
Yeah, so my son was delighted because he was playing Paul McCartney thing my mom told him last week. He was like he couldn't get over it. So but yeah, that's my thing. I was kind of going to go down a deeper route, but then I thought, nah, keep alike.
So well that's such a tease. Now now now I feel like I want the other one too.
No, no, no, I mean like it's it's like I said, I've been you know, when I do interviews it so I'm pretty open. But you know, I don't really you know, I don't really shy away from talking about being a kid and being bullying and how that affected me, and how that was went into sort of the idea of becoming an actor and pretending to be somebody else, you know, because I didn't particularly like who I was, But there was nothing I've realized now since there was nothing wrong with that person. There's nothing wrong with the person I was or who who I am. It's just I felt from the way that other people had treated me that there was but that was never on me. That was on them, you know, And I think, you know, I've talked quite a bit, and I've done some stuff for bullying charities and stuff like that, and I've talked about it a little bit that you know, oftentimes people are attacking you because of a deep insecurity and them that they want to make it about you, and it's not really anything to do with you. You're just the target. And it's hard to realize that, and it's hard to appreciate that until you spend some time reflecting it and go, well, there's never anything wrong with me. I was a good person. There's nothing wrong with me. So, you know, stuff like that I think is important. But I've talked about it before, so that's why I sort of said I'll keep it light. But it's just an interesting thing, you know that people don't realize. I don't think when they're bullying somebody or treating somebody a certain way, people don't well, some people probably don't care, but people don't realize the impact. Like I'm forty three and I still have deep insecurities from stuff that happened when I was ten or eleven, you know, and so people don't realize the impact that can have on somebody for the rest of their life because they're lashing out because of something that's going on with them at home or whatever it is. But you know, I always think it's so important to especially nowadays with you know, social media and people so disengaged from engaging with people. I think it's it's important for people to sort of it's just be nice. Just treat people nicely. You know, say thank you, somebody holds the door open for you, say please when you're ordering something at a restaurant. Stuff like that I think is so important, and I feel we are losing that a little bit because everybody has such an expectation of wanting to be treated like a superstar, no matter what it is. And you know, I think that you have to I think that you should have to work hard to to be to be respected, but I think you also need to be respectful of people to get respect. Does that make sense, Yeah, it does, it does.
I think that's right on the money. And it's a reminder that is good to put out there. Man. I think you're you're right on with that, and it's a it's a good thing to remind people that kindness and manners are things that are not antiquated. It's it's we still need it today.
You know yeah, yeah, I mean it's one thing that drives me absolutely ballistic. It's just a little thing is when you hold the door open and people just walk past you. Mm hmm, Like I don't have to hold the door open for you, but please thank you would be nice.
You know, well, Colin, when you come to New York, I will hold the door open for you, and I expect to thank.
You good good when we're promoting my album There.
We Go, There we Go. This was awesome. I I really really enjoyed this conversation. Like I said earlier, I had so much fun diving into the work that people love, but also just getting to hear more about your story and learn more about Colin and the man behind the characters that people love so much. And I think as an intro you did pretty well. How do you feel you had a good time.
I think my cheeks have gone right because I feel really embarrassed. But yeah, I think I think I've had a good time. It's been good. Thank you so much for having me well, thank.
You for hanging out. I am. I am a fan of your work. I look forward to cheering you on. I look forward to the album dropping. The Broadway show coming and whatever else you have up your sleeve.
Thank you very much, all right, man, be well, thanks Tommy.
I've Never Said This Before is hosted by Me, Tommy Didario. This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Piglisi at iHeartRadio and by me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've Never Said This Before is part of the Elvis Duran podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more rate review and subscribe to our show and if you liked this episode, tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy de Dario
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