Ghost Stories and Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness

In this interview, actor Eddie Loodmer-Elliott shares insights with Xan Phillips about his role in the critically acclaimed play 'Ghost Stories,' set to show at the Mayflower Theater from June 24th.

Eddie reflects on his first experience with the play and how it captivated him.

He describes 'Ghost Stories' as a love letter to horror, highlighting its macabre elements and the atmospheric performances that keep audiences engaged.

Eddie also discusses the upcoming film 'Modi,' directed by Johnny Depp, in which he stars alongside Al Pacino and Steven Graham. The film, about the life of sculptor Modigliani, releases on July 11th and shares his experience working with the high-profile cast and how their calm demeanour on set influenced him.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Xan Phillips: On Southampton's voice affirm. This is arts and culture. My name is Xan and a very good afternoon to you. And if you would like to enter a world full of thrilling twists and epic turns where the ultimate love letter to horror is imagined live on stage. Then show Ghost Stories is for you.

It's one of London's best reviewed plays of all time. Keeps you on the edge of your seat and coming to the Mayflower Theater from June the 24th. Here to tell us more is Eddie Loodmer-Elliott. Hello, who plays Mike Priddle? I'm Eddie. Uh, how are you? 

[00:00:28] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: I'm good. I'm very well, thank you. How are you? 

[00:00:31] Xan Phillips: I'm very well, thanks.

I'll start with a bit of a personal question. Uh, do you frighten easily. 

[00:00:38] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Oh, that's a good question. Do you know what I'd say? No. I'd say no. I don't. I, it takes a bit to make me spook, I think. 

[00:00:46] Xan Phillips: And well, well, when you, so when you saw this show for the first, I presume you saw it before. Saw it before you started.

Um, did it make you jump? 

[00:00:54] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Yeah. Oh, it did. Yeah. I saw it when I was, uh, I'm gonna say 18, uh, at still at school in my last year at school. And I went to go see it with a friend. And, um, we were looking to do, I think I. I was doing theater studies at school and they insisted on us going to go see one play that was currently on.

And I found ghost stories because I thought it would be the most rebellious pick I could, I could make. And uh, and it was epic, but it was, it was terrifying. And so when the audition came round a good, you know, nearly, uh, 12 years later. I thought, well, we've gotta jump on it. We've gotta jump on that audition and, and here we are.

So, yes, I would say I spook pretty, pretty hard, but, uh, it's, sorry, hard to make me scared, but I think ghost stories did at that time make me jump outta my seat. 

[00:01:46] Xan Phillips: Well that's, that's quite a testament to the show then, so. Oh, yeah. Presumably it's because it, the way, it just draws you in and takes you into a completely different world.

[00:01:55] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Yeah, well, the, the, the play is like a, um, uh, a love letter almost to those old freak shows and circus. I'm, I'm talking like, you know, 200 years ago, the old, like traveling circus where they were like, come see the elephant man, or Come see the, it's like that kind of. Really dark. I mean, it's, it's created by the co-writers of the League of Gentlemen.

So that gives you an indication of the sort of, um, macabre abstract world that we sort of get into with ghost stories. And I think it does not disappoint. We've had so many screams. We have like a scream count backstage where a like a little, like a screamometre, like a meter where we judge. How well the show is going because unlike, well, sorry, a lot like a comedy, you can judge it off the laughs, but with this, you can judge it off the screams that are always followed by laughs.

'cause people always laugh after they've, they've screamed as like a natural, uh, wow. We've all shared that experience together. Um, and the scream moment has really been going off the Richter recently. It's getting, the further we go, the more scared people seem to be getting, which is great. 

[00:03:06] Xan Phillips: But this show has been going for over, um, I mean it's, as you can pointed out, it's been for at least 12 years, but you've been in this show, I think, over at least 120 times.

[00:03:15] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Yes. Yeah. So how, 

[00:03:17] Xan Phillips: how do you keep it fresh? How, how do you react? Obviously you are an actor, but, um, it must be quite tricky to keep it fresh or not fresh, but your reaction. Wow, I didn't expect that. 

[00:03:32] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: I think, yeah, no, I know what you mean. I think, uh, that it's actually made really, I, I, the cop out answer is to say that I'm a genius actor and I work out how to do it every time.

It's not the case. I think, uh, honestly, the show is so atmospheric that my character is haunted. For example. And so I don't need to imagine what I'm haunted by because the show will make me feel haunted naturally because it goes so dark and our sound effects are so scary and loud. And the audience every time.

'cause I played quite a young, um, sort of teenage boy, well not teenage boy, but sort of early twenties. Um. The audience is sort of very empathetic towards my character and my sort of vulnerability, and so they go with me on this journey every time, and so because they're scared for me, I naturally feel scared, so it's very rare that I do the show and don't sort of feel the right way, if that makes sense about how I'm being haunted.

[00:04:34] Xan Phillips: That's fascinating. So it's the, the audience are almost Oh yeah, yeah. Pushing you along. Yes. Because I'm 

[00:04:41] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: alone on stage, so it's just so, so the way the show sort of works is we're in a, uh, parapsychological investigation lecture that's thrown by a paranormal investigator who is debunking ghost stories.

And he has three that are his stories that he just sort of keeps him up at night and he. Always kind of comes back to and, um, my story. Uh, so each story, story is a, the actor is alone on stage telling their story. And so when you are my character, who's this sort of nervous, uh, driver, I'll say, um. Getting spooked out when you are in a literal car where it, we are literally the effects of the show at West End.

You know, it's a West End tour, so like, it's like watching the Harry Potter show live. The amount of effects Renee are crazy. So I'm literally in a literal car that actually has something happen and the thing actually does happen and the lighting goes and the sound goes and there's smoke and the audience go crazy.

And so what I mean is. It's very easy as an actor to just actually get lulled into what's going on. It doesn't feel very fake. 

[00:05:52] Xan Phillips: That sounds brilliant. 

[00:05:53] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Yeah, that 

[00:05:54] Xan Phillips: sounds absolutely brilliant. So when you saw this as an 18-year-old, as part of your rebellion, your, your, your end of teens acting rebellion,

[00:06:02] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: I sort of was like, I'm not gonna go see Shakespeare. I, I wanted to see something radical and I, and I chose Ghost Story. 

[00:06:08] Xan Phillips: But presumably you thought to yourself that was the part you are playing is the part that you would want to do? 

[00:06:12] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Yes. Yeah. 

[00:06:14] Xan Phillips: Yeah. Amazing. That's, that's manifesting, isn't it? 

[00:06:17] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: It is manifesting. I know. And I, and I do, you know what? It's one of those things where I didn't think it would ever come back because it was on when I was 18 and I thought those, that, that show will be done now, well, by the time I leave drama school, and by the time I'm sort of back in the world of acting in the, as a professional.

The industry will have moved past ghost stories and move on to the next show. And Andy and Jeremy, who are the writers, will have written their new show and so on, and they have done, and that's all happened. But everyone keeps coming back to ghost stories. And there have been so many ghostie plays that have since Ghost stories come on.

You know, we've got 2:22 A Ghost Story, which is, which is on Paranormal Activity, I think is another one that's coming on. And yet ghost stories. Is always like a ghost brought back and resuscitated and put back on because audiences love it. It was made into a film. Um, I dunno if you've seen the film, but the film's great.

Um, and it, it's literally been on, I think now, it's been coming back in some, um, form or another for the last 15 years. 

[00:07:22] Xan Phillips: Amazing. So when, when you were training then, how much is horror part of the curriculum? 

[00:07:31] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Uh, as a genre, you mean as Yes. I mean, '

[00:07:34] Xan Phillips: cause obviously they must do, you've gotta do some Shakespeare, you gotta do a bit of comedy.

You gotta, you gotta cry, you know, but how do they actually say, right, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna do a bit of horror today? No, 

[00:07:44] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: and I, I think if you look at it, really, there aren't that many, it's quite a recent genre, to be honest. I mean, I, I'm trying to think of before the woman in black. What was there, and I don't know, I'm sure someone has got a very clever answer for what was on in the West End, but my chronology, chronology, you know the, what I'm trying to say?

Yes. So it starts with the woman in Black. I remember watching the Woman in Black when I was also at school. Then I saw Ghost Stories, and then there have been two or three, as I've mentioned, shows that have come out in the West End. But that's it as far as I'm aware in terms of the genre. In the West End, I'm talking Edinburgh Fringe, which I've been going to for years.

I've seen all forms of scary, uh, uh, inundations of ghostly stories. Million. I mean, I love it as a genre, but yeah, the point is in terms of like professional mainstream, as an actor, you can make your career through this medium. It's, it's quite a new, in quite a new genre, I think, to be explored. So, no, the drama school did not give me any horror.

Um. Prep because of that. 

[00:08:50] Xan Phillips: But I suppose then is if your character is nervous, then that is, that's what you are drawing from, from your experience either. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:08:57] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: And we, and we are performing to massive crowds, so, uh, you know, the nerves instinctively come in whenever you're performing sort of like an excess of a thousand people, you on your own, you naturally get nervous.

Uh, and the nerves are great because my character is so nervous. So like, it, it just helps to be as nervous as possible in real life. 

[00:09:17] Xan Phillips: Fantastic. It's the only time that being on the stage and being nervous is actually very beneficial. I, 

[00:09:23] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: I know a hundred percent. 

[00:09:23] Xan Phillips: Yeah. That's, that's amazing. So, um, as, as far as, uh, this show goes and then your future, I mean, are do you, you've done over 120 shows.

Are, are you you hoping to stick with this as it goes on, or, or whatcha expecting? 

[00:09:39] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: We've got a West End transfer that's happening in, um. I'm gonna say the wrong dates now that starting in late September and running all the way through spooky season in October in London, and then concludes in the middle of November, and that's at the Peacock Theater in London.

Um, and then after that, who knows, who knows by that point, I dunno how many shows I will have done. So I, I, I'm not sure we'll see what happens, but, um, uh, acting wise, other than that I've been, I've, I've got a film coming out in, um. In July, which is, uh, directed by Johnny Depp, which is a good, fun film, 

[00:10:17] Xan Phillips: which is great.

Yes. I I saw that actually. Yes. That was Modi or something? Yes. 

[00:10:22] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Modi. 

[00:10:23] Xan Phillips: Modi, yes. Three Days on the Wing of Madness. Yes. Tell us more. 

[00:10:26] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Oh, well, that's great. I mean, it's a, it's a film that, uh, one of those times when you look at. The actors around you and you sort of go, I have imposter syndrome big time because I was in the room filming, uh, my scene with Al Pacino, uh, Steven Graham, uh, and Johnny Depp.

Uh, and I was kind of going, and it was the four of us in this, in this room. And I was going, I am seriously outta my depth This is, this is the big leagues. Um, and anyway, we film this film, uh. It is, it is a beautiful film. It's about Modigliani the, uh, sculptor, an artist who, um, likes many of the great artists of our time died before they received any, uh, fame or fortune or recognition, recognition of their work.

And actually he died because he was so upset that no one was taking his work seriously, or, uh, took any notice of it that he ended up sort of having these. Kind of mad, you know, the modern word would be like a mad rager or a mad bender where he like, hadn't gone to bed and just stayed up drinking for, you know, days and days on end.

And then ended up getting bronchitis, I think, uh, and another form of, um, breathing lung issue and, and passed away. And so the, the film is about what happens in his kind of. On one of these, as the title suggests, uh, 72 hour kind of, uh, rages and, um, it's really good fun. It's, it is definitely told with sort of a, a.

Tongue in cheek, Sally Phillips is in it. Um, and we've got, yeah, Johnny Depp and he directed it, and Stephen Graham and Al Pacino and me, which is just hilarious. So, uh, and a lot of other brilliant, I mean, a really, a huge a-list casts that I'm not even giving credit to now, and Antonia Desplat in it, and, uh, Riccardo Scamarcio and, and lots of great actors.

[00:12:28] Xan Phillips: But I've, I've got a question for you because. Did you, what did you notice that was different about them compared to other actors you've been with in your career so far? 

[00:12:38] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Oh, wow. Uh, calm, very calm. They were very, very calm. That's, that's the thing I remember the most. No one was taking themselves in any way that seriously, uh, I mean in, in the most brilliant way.

It was by far, obviously the biggest job. Um, in terms of the room I was in, that I'd ever done, and, uh. Before shots. I was sort of having a giggle with Steven Graham 'cause he sort of wrestles me onto the floor from, we're at a house party at his house and I'm on a table and he sort of pulls me off the table and um, you know, we just, we were just joking about a lot.

It was really, and then it would take action and I was trying to be, you know, my first day, it was like my first day at school. I was like, trying to be such a good boy, trying to, you know, get the lines out and do a good job. And, uh, I just realized it was all very calm and very fun. Um, and that was the real energy.

Yeah, it was, it was great. But yeah.

[00:13:36] Xan Phillips: And, and did you get your lines out?

[00:13:38] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: I got my lines out. I got my lines out. Yeah. And I, I set fire to a painting, which is always good fun to do. And, um, then the film, I've not yet seen the film, but the film has come out, um, is coming out, sorry, in the UK on, uh, July the 11th.

[00:13:56] Xan Phillips: Wow.

[00:13:57] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: International release, I think of it. Yeah. So that's great. Good fun.

[00:14:00] Xan Phillips: Excellent. So congratulations. I'm so happy for you. That sounds like, um, um, in a way a dream come true, but I'm sure everyone's wondering what did Johnny Depp smell like? 'cause we've seen him,

[00:14:11] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: he smelled great

[00:14:12] Xan Phillips: advertising perfume. 

[00:14:16] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Eau Savage

[00:14:17] Xan Phillips: Yes. Did, what did he smell like?

[00:14:19] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: You know, you know what he. He, Johnny Depp was so tactile. He, he was like, really? I think he, he had, he could tell that it was one of my, um, biggest, you know, jobs to that point. And so he was super. Sort of fatherly. He gave, kept giving me hugs, you know, during the filming of it, going well done, you know, great, you know, really nice stuff.

[00:14:41] Xan Phillips: But, but he gave you good direction and that's, I mean, we,

[00:14:44] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: oh yeah. He was amazing. He was amazing. Mm-hmm. He, sel nice and his direction was great. 

[00:14:48] Xan Phillips: Fantastic. And Al Pacino, as far as he, I don't need to know how he s smelled, but it was like, um, um,

[00:14:54] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: I mean, I hardly saw, I hardly saw him. He was, he, I saw him the least, but he was, you know, extremely lovely and, and, um, you know.

Gracious in, in just what you expect really. He's also had a child, he, he had a child, um, who I think now must be about one or two years old, I think. Um, so, but at that time he had just had his child is my point. So, uh, yeah, it was great. 

[00:15:20] Xan Phillips: Brilliant. Well, Eddie Loodmer-Elliott, uh, you play Mike Brittle in, uh, the, the, uh, play Ghost Stories, which is, uh, coming to Mayflower Theater from the, uh, 24th of June.

Thank you very much for talking to us. Not only about that, uh, but also about the film, uh, Modi. The three days on the wing of madness. We wish you the best of luck when that comes out with the reviews. Thank you. So, and uh, we, we look forward to you, uh, scaring the pants off us, um, when we see you on stage.

[00:15:51] Eddie Loodmer-Elliott: Oh, great. Well thank you very much. 

Book your tickets here https://www.mayflower.org.uk/