Stephen Spencer made his acting debut at age 16 in BBC 2’s television action film Life or Death and playing the role of detective David Jones at the age of 23, Jones has starred in five David Jones’ films since 2001, with the final one being released in July 2011.
From a BBC Radio Interview. Adapted.
Mary: Welcome to our radio show Celebrities , today we have a very special guest. I’m very pleased to welcome onto the show now, um, oh, what do I call you? Do I call you Stephen, or Steve, or David?
Steve: Steve. Please call me Steve.
Mary: It’s Steve Spencer, or David Jones. Star of detective David Jones films. Thanks for coming in today.
Steve: It’s a pleasure… God… it’s fantastic to be here today.
Mary: I am surprised to see that you look a little bit nervous…
Steve: No, I’m just really excited because I’m, I… I mean, I’ve never done an interview in a radio station before!
Mary: Really? Well that’s exciting. Can I start by asking you about your last film? Is this your favourite so far?
Steve: I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. It’s really good, I’ve seen the film twice now, the full, finished version, and it’s really, really amazing. It’s really sophisticated, it’s brilliant. It’s really… it’s quite scary, in parts, I mean… I knew what was coming and I still jumped all the time! It’s quite different from the other films.
Mary: And what about stunts ? We’ve heard you like doing your own stunts, don’t you?
Steve: It’s just fun! I like doing most of them… but, obviously, if something’s really really… like, if I’m incapable of doing something, then obviously I won’t do it, because I’ll probably just kill myself! So… yeah, I like to do as many as is possible.
Mary: So, which were the really good ones? Which were the most extreme? Could you tell us about a nice scary one?
Steve: On my latest film, for example, I had to do this thing where I was climbing up the face of this huge statue, I was on a wire, and I had to do all the climbing, and that was really fun, and there were lots of sword fights, so it was a bit dangerous but it was really great.
Mary: Have you ever had any great bruises, or injuries?
Steve: Not really… I hope to get maybe a few battle scars on the film I am working on at the moment.
Mary: Right, we want you to tell us a bit about your director in this film. There was a story that the new director got each one of the actors and actresses to write essays about your characters.
Steve: Yeah, and that kind of revealed to us how much like our characters we are, and it terrified us, I think. Because… for example, in the film David, at his office, kind of does the work, but he doesn’t really do any great work, he doesn’t do much in fact, he doesn’t like being in his office doing paperwork. So, I wrote just a few lines on a page, which was what David would have done. So, writing about my character was interesting but it was bit scary.
Mary: In this film Michael Goodman plays Jonathan Black, a serial killer. What was it like, working with him?
Steve: He’s amazing! He’s the coolest guy. We talked a lot about music. He’s really big on music, really big on The Beatles and loads of other really cool bands.
Mary: Really? Can I ask you what kind of music you like? We’ve heard you’re a major music fan, is this true?
Steve: Yeah, I love music.
Mary: Do you get to go to see any concerts?
Steve: Not as much as I’d like to, but I’m seeing the Chilli Peppers in Hyde Park. I’m going to that, I’m very excited, because The Drixies are supporting, but my first concert was The Strikes last year, in December, which was really good fun.
Mary: So when did you come across The Drixies?
Steve: Um… I bought a compilation of film soundtracks, and the song “The name of my soul” was on there, because it’s part of the soundtrack to the film Fight Club , and so I went out and bought their greatest hits record The Drixies, and from there, I just, kind of, became obsessed, basically.
Mary: Completely obsessed.
Steve: Yeah.
Mary: And what about music festivals? Are you going to any?
Steve:Oh, I would love to…, but I don’t… it’s just… because I’m filming all the time, there’s just no time at the moment. But soon, I’m hopefully going to get time to start going to some more concerts and music festivals, definitely.
Mary: If you ever got fed up and stopped acting, what would you do?
Steve: I’d actually like to be in a band.
Mary: Really?
Steve: I know that probably sounds really weird, because I’m here as an actor, but I actually would love to do it.
Mary: What instrument would you play?
Steve:Well, I’d like to sing. But, I kind of play a little bit of guitar, as well. I’m kind of getting there, but slowly.
Mary: Gosh, Steve, we are running out of time. Thank you very much for talking to us today.
Steve:Thank you very much indeed.