Toby Jones at 100th London Critics’ Circle Awards

Transcribed by Felicia Grady, Aimee Schechter, and Kaytee Schwartz

Claire: Hi, Toby. Hey, sorry. I’m from MuggleNet. [unintelligble] fansite.

Toby: Ah, MuggleNet. I wonder what your website is [unintelligible].

Claire: [laughs] I was just wondering. I listened to your interview with the Empire podcast recently, and you told how you didn’t really know much about Dobby and Harry Potter when you first took the role. How do you feel now on the other side of it all? When the franchise ended and you were invited back for the final film.

Toby: Oh, it’s a boring answer, but you feel very proud to be part of something like that. I hope I’m being falsely modest when I say that Dobby is… It’s created by all the people who are fantastic special effects people. The modelers. Primarily, like all the characters in that story, [unintelligble] themselves. They project into the story and create a huge air of expectation, which makes the makers all honorable. I feel very proud to be part of that cast, and Dobby is a great, great character, but I have to say, I only take partial responsibility.

Claire: [laughs] And Harry Potter is just one of the many franchises you’ve been part of.

[Claire and Toby laugh]

Claire: Yeah. Are you going to be in the next Hunger Games?

Toby: Yeah, I’ve shot that I get… Every now and then, they ask me to go in and improvise with Stanley Tucci.

Claire: Quite fun, though.

Toby: Quite often they fly me over to America, and I go […] improvise for an afternoon and do that. It’s not the hardest, most taxing job I’ve ever done, but I’m very proud to be part of that because I think the books are tremendous, and I know from my daughters they’re compelling books. Again. I feel very happy I’m able to represent what they read.

Unknown: [unintelligible] anyone in particular?

Toby: Not anyone in particular, but I was weird. I popped up. I’m in America, and I’m challenged watching sports I don’t understand. With people speaking very intensely. Those ESPN guys.

Unknown: [unintelligible]

Unknown: So there’s a kind of [unintelligible]. What do you think fans will expect from that section of [unintelligible]?

Toby: As I say, I’m only there very temporarily, but I’ve been saying it’s got a different director. They’re very different. Very different. They have a different sense of visual ability, and I think he’ll want to bring his own mark to it. They’ll want to respect the books. They said to me, “The second book is very different. It’s all about establishing [unintelligible].”

Unknown: Jennifer is Oscar-nominated this year. What do you think makes such a remarkable talent?

[Everyone laughs]

Toby: I saw her at the Golden Globes last weekend [unintelligible] her award for Silver Linings Playbook. I worked with her on a film that’s coming up, Serena, and she is remarkable in that she… It’s not that she’s uber confident or uber flashy or arrogant. She’s an incredibly straightforward person. Now all of this may feel natural to you, but it doesn’t always feel natural for actors, and she handles it all with such ease. She has a huge part. It calls for a huge admirer of yourself [unintelligible] nominated. [unintelligible] recognition mean to you? When I took the part of Gilderoy in Berberian Sound Studio, I came to terms with the fact that I love this film. I thought almost definitely I’d be one of very few people who would ever see it. It felt so strange and peculiar. What I’d underestimated was the amount that critics understood what the director was doing. That whole world of [unintelligible] film. And that whole very [unintelligible], strange atmosphere. Picture creations. It’s been really a surprise to me and a real thrill that the film has done as well as it’s done. I found it hilarious when I read it, and scariness [unintelligible]. I’m going to finish up what I was working on just before Christmas [unintelligible]. I go back in February to do some finishing touches.

Unknown: [unintelligible]

Toby: [unintelligible] In America.

Unknown: [unintelligible] Have you seen this before?

Toby: I haven’t seen it because it hasn’t come out. When I’ve been in America, there’s no doubt [unintelligible].

Unknown: How did you get inside the persona of Hitchcock?

Toby: Now, that’s a long question. I don’t know. Alfred Hitchcock. I have a very strong image of him in my mind. He’s very well known to people. For a director, he was actually a hero. He was very, well, self [unintelligible]. And [unintelligible] strong image of him. The script is written… I mean, it’s very hard to answer that question.

Toby: Hi. Hello. How are you? Are you okay?

Be the Red Carpet: It’s the anniversary of Doctor Who this year. And you had a really big role in that. What’s it like being a part of this huge British franchise?

Toby: Well, you said I had a big role. I had only one episode.

Be the Red Carpet: Yeah, but it was a big role in that.

Toby: Well, I’ve only come to realize that after [unintelligible]. Again, at the risk of repeating myself, my kids are big Doctor Who fans, and I love the character. I love many characters. It felt like I was able to take a piece out of Doctor Who while being in it.

[Claire laughs]

Toby: It felt like a very interesting position to take by Steven Moffat. I really loved…

Be the Red Carpet: [unintelligible] You got to be mean but funny at the same time as well. Thank you.

Toby: Mean and funny. [unintelligible]

Claire: Thank you very much. [unintelligible] question. Thank you.

Be the Red Carpet: Thank you.