Joseph Gatt has done it all! From movies to television to the stage, he is a bonafide triple threat! Growing up in the UK wasn’t easy on him but he persevered and eventually found his calling. His latest incarnation is as a new member of the Enterprise crew in the latest Star Trek movie titled Star Trek Into Darkness. TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Sari N. Kent had the chance to speak with Joseph about growing up in England, about his time performing on stage and what it was like walking onto the Star Trek set and onto the Enterprise.
SNK: Your Internet Movie Database bio says that you caught the acting bug at 8 years old when you went to see Star Wars and decided you wanted to be Han Solo when you grew up. You later began your professional training at the Sylvia Young Theater School then followed that with a 3 year acting and music theater course at the Mountview Academy of Theater Arts, graduating with a degree. Can you tell me about that?
JG: I made the decision to go to Sylvia Young at a time when I really didn’t know what acting was all about. I was studying law and economics in college and I was doing one 1 hour acting class just to make up the time in the schedule. I didn’t really have an idea what acting was. I just knew there was something called ‘acting’ and I knew there were people doing this in TV and films but I had no idea how you ended up being one of those people on the screen. When you’re a child growing up in London and you’re not part of a showbiz family, so to speak, it’s difficult to have any perception of how you could ever become one of those people and really understand it in anyway. So, I was still this wide-eyed child who grew up watching Star Wars and Star Trek and various other movies and to be those people, I had absolutely no idea what it was all about. So, I was doing this acting class and my teacher said to me, ‘You know what? You’re actually pretty good at this. You should think about auditioning for a theater school.’ And again, I had no idea what that meant. She guided me through it, told me the places to audition for, helped me learn an audition speech and I auditioned for Sylvia Young and got accepted. My parents worked really hard to come up with the money. Drama schools in England are all private, none of them are state funded in any way like the regular schools are and we weren’t exactly overflowing with wealth in my family. So, my parents so it was something that I really loved and they didn’t really understand it either but they thought it was a good thing for me because at the time, I lived at home and I did home schooling because my hair fell out a couple of years earlier because of alopecia. I was very very shy, vey introverted and they thought it would be a good thing for me to do theater, maybe it would get me out of my shell. I had a great time at Sylvia Young, I went there for two years and from there I auditioned for a full-time theater school doing a Bachelor of Arts at Mountview Theater School. I actually ended up getting into three different drama schools, and I picked the one closest to home. I started to really learn about the business and find my passion for what I was doing and understanding what this whole thing was. Though, at the time, there was no concept of working in TV or movies. It still was one of those weird dreams, it just didn’t feel attainable for someone like me. It was something other people do and the most I could expect from my career was maybe do musical theater in London. That’s about it because I had a lot of friends who worked in the West End of London. To be doing television or film was a completely, it wasn’t even a dream, it was that far away. So, I completed drama school, graduated, didn’t have the best time there to say the least. *laugh* Drama school was the first place I learned that looks can affect your career. It was very horrible at the time. I had a lot of very bad experiences at drama school because of that, from the teachers and the students. But, in the end, I think it was really good for me because it really hardened me to the realities of the business early on. That it doesn’t matter what you can as an actor, how well your skills are or how passionate you are, the first thing people are going to be judging you on is going to be the way that you look. That’s going to determine whether you get called back from an audition, it’s going to tell what roles you book, how people perceive you before anyone cares how you are as an actor. I’m kinda grateful to drama school for teaching me that an early age. Luckily, it didn’t affect so much when I graduated because I booked a couple of really nice roles in the West End. I had a lot of fun doing that. I still miss it, I had tremendous fun working in musical theater in London. Met some great people and had a lot of fun. So, that was my early life in acting.
SNK: Your first film role was opposite Oliver Reed in 2000’s Orpheus & Eurydice, which filmed in Greece. Can you tell me what that was like?
JG: That was a huge amount of fun. It was the first movie/TV role I’d ever booked and I booked it through sheer luck. A friend of mine was already working on the movie, and already been in Greece and he suggested me to the director. I literally got the call and didn’t even need to audition. It was fantastic! And they had already been shooting in Greece and they flew me out to Greece to work. I think I was there for about three weeks in total and it was an incredible experience. For my first job to be flown out and to be working with Oliver Reed, unfortunately, I wasn’t actually on set with him. At the time, he was shooting other things, which was a huge disappointment to me because he’s a fantastic actor and I’ve always wanted to meet him. The chance to be in a movie with him, my first movie, was like *laugh* a massive dream come true. Yeah, I had a fantastic time doing that. The finished product maybe wasn’t so fantastic but it doesn’t take away from the experience. I went back to Greece two or three times on vacation after that. I made some friends out there and had the best time.
SNK: After that you returned to London to perform on stage in Miss Saigon. Which do you prefer, acting on stage or in the movies? Why?
JG: *laugh* Whenever I’m asked this question, I’m never know how to respond because they are two amazingly different experiences in so many different ways, in every way almost. My favorite part about working in theater is the rehearsal process. I absolutely love the rehearsal process. Working out the characters, figuring the character out, the relationships between the different characters. I love all of that, which, unfortunately, in film, you get very little opportunity to have. Generally, when you’re working on a television or movie project, the rehearsal process you get, unless you’re doing an action role, the rehearsal process you get is 10 or 15 minutes. They’re setting up the camera and you’re talking to the director about the scene and you’re blocking the scene before you shoot. Whereas, obviously, with a play, you’re talking about weeks and weeks of rehearsal. In saying that, in working in musical theater, the rehearsal process is different again because you’re rehearsing a lot of time on your own, sometimes with two or three of the new members of the cast. Then, the first time you actually do a scene, it’s the first time you’re actually on stage in front of 2000 people. That can be incredibly never wracking, when you start a show for the first time and going through the whole process with the whole cast. The actual acting part of it, for me, acting is acting. There are different methods and techniques that I might use depending on the time but, acting itself as an art form, is going to be the same. The only difference is the technical way it’s actually used. Obviously, when you’re working in front of a camera, there are technical aspects you’re required to know and use in order for you to portray what you’re trying to do for the camera. When you’re working on stage, it’s a very different thing. You’re trying to show 2000 people, in a huge auditorium, what’s going on and it’s a different technique. It’s a different way of showing what you’re doing. In a film, you want smaller, you don’t have to be that big. On stage, it’s much more real. If you simplify it down to how you use your voice. It can very natural, your voice, when you’re doing film or television, you’re thinking of the technical aspects of projection. So, there are different physical techniques to actually sell what you’re doing to the audience and when the camera is in your face, it’s obviously, very different, you don’t have to do as much. It isn’t as exaggerated unless you’re doing a sitcom or certain kinds of soaps. But, for me, I love all of it! There are different things I love about the different types of acting, whether it be film, television, stage. I had the opportunity, a few years ago, to do stage work in America and had such an incredible time doing it. I played ‘Stanley’ in Streetcar Named Desire It was a dream role for me, but incredibly tough because it was like I was learning a foreign language because it’s written with the dialect in mind. So, I had to learn the southern dialect, had to do a lot of research, it literally felt like I was learning a foreign language, but it was such an incredible experience. Very tough but incredibly challenging.
SNK: Besides your achievements on the stage and in movies, you’ve sustained a successful modeling career in Europe and the UK, modeling for British Telecom, Levi's Dockers Jeans, Gucci and Guess jeans for billboard campaigns, runway shows and magazines like Vogue UK and Entrepreneur. Your Internet Movie Database bio says that the highlight of your modeling career so far was working for Giorgio Armani during Milan fashion week. Can you tell me what that was like?
JG: That was quite an experience. I was very fortunate, I did a lot of modeling in the UK. A lot of it wasn't high fashion because I really don't have the body or the face for high fashion modeling but I did a lot of sportswear, swimwear, beachwear, that kind of thing. I had the opportunity to go to Milan for fashion week and a friend told me to come and I said, 'I'm not going to Milan. They're not going to use me. I don't have the right look' but he said to come and that I'd be great. So I arrived there at the station and I had my suitcase with me and I walked the half mile to the agency and I'm greeted in a very casual way by the guy who runs the agency. He was very exuberant, very Italian, he gave me a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks. *laugh* He took my suitcase and moved me aside then one of his assistants gave me a piece of paper with a big long list and I asked her, "What's this?" and she said, "Oh, that's your list of meetings for today" and she showed me how to get around the city and how to get to different places. So, I had nine or 10 meetings that first day. One of those very first meeting was for Armani, but it was for Armani Black Label, which is their couture, suits, all of their real high class stuff. Most fashion models, chest size 38, that’s about as big as it gets. If you’re any bigger than a 38 chest size, you will not fit into any of the clothes they make for the runway shows. So, I went in there and it was very frustrating because I didn’t fit into anything but they loved the look of my face. So, they had me come back the following week and had me try on the swimwear and the sportswear, which I fit into perfectly. I still thought nothing of it and then one of my roommates, she got an appointment to work fashion week for Armani doing the high couture stuff. Later on the day, I got a call from the same agency, and they told me that they wanted me as well and I couldn’t believe it. We had just spent most of the afternoon celebrating that she had booked Armani and then I get a call that I booked it too. We were both absolutely over the moon. I did three shows in total, wearing swimwear and sportswear. One of the funniest moments was when we all went to celebrate at a local club, ironically called Hollywoods in Milan, it’s one of the most famous model clubs in Milan. It was the big Armani after party and Giorgio Armani walked up to me. He hardly speaks a single work of English so he had a translator walking around with him everywhere. So, he came up to me and went, “Joseph, you were fantastic. I love you.” Then, he gave me a big kiss and an autographed picture of himself. *laugh* I was like, ‘Am I really here?’ I ended up staying in Milan for six months because I was having such a great time there. It was a great experience. I’ll hold on to that for a long time.
SNK: You appeared in 2011’s Thor opposite Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. What was it like working on such a big budget movie?
JG: My favorite comic book growing up was Thor. It was one of my three favorite comic books. Obviously, Marvel is such a huge name but for me, to book a role in a Marvel movie, and for it to be Thor. When my manager told me I booked Thor I literally didn’t know what to say. I was shocked, to say the least. I didn’t know how to react to it. It was an amazing experience especially when I found out who was involved in the picture. When I knew I’d be working with Kenneth Branagh. I’d already auditioned for him and the casting director. But, to be working with Ken Branagh, who’s an amazing British actor/director. Most of the American people on the set had never heard of him. You had the American people on the set and you had the British people on the set and the British people were like, ‘Oh my G-d, we’re working with Ken Branagh! Ken Branagh’s directing us!’ and the American people were like, ‘Oh, Ken Branagh, isn’t he that British actor?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s a major major British actor!’ And, of course, you had Anthony Hopkins. So, here I am being directed by Ken Branagh and working with Anthony Hopkins on a Marvel movie called Thor. It was pretty much as good as it gets. All my big fantasies, and professional fantasies rolled into one. It was like somebody up there heard me and I’m working with everyone I’ve ever wanted to work with in one movie and they brought me into the mix. I had such fun working on it. It was incredibly challenging because of all of the makeup. A lot of people assume, in this day of CGI, they assume everything they see on screen is CGI. What was great about doing that picture was that a lot was done in-camera. It was real makeup, we spent six hours in makeup and it looked incredible. It was enhanced in post-production with CGI, but generally that was us. I truly loved that aspect because you watch a lot of movies that are done with CGI and I think people are really losing the old-school love of making films. I think you kind of lose something when it’s not really there and it’s done in post. I love working with directors, who want to put as much in front of the camera as possible. Whether you’re using special effects, makeup, physical spaceships instead of CGI spaceships. The fact that they used real makeup instead of CGI, I really loved that aspect.
SNK: You’ve also been on a few episodes of the Cinemax original series, Banshee. What was that experience like and will you be making more appearances on the show?
JG: *laugh* Banshee I think, so far, has been one of the most rewarding acting experiences I’ve ever had. It was by far, the most challenging. I have to again, thank my girlfriend for being so unbelievably supportive with that. I had to put that audition on tape to play that role. When I first saw the lines, I was having a lot of trouble with it because the show is, I don’t want to give anything away for those who haven’t seen it but it’s very edgy, it doesn’t pull any punches. The character [I played] of The Albino is a pretty reprehensible character, a very bad person and said and does some very bad things. I had a lot of trouble dealing with that at first and my girlfriend, stopped me, grabbed me and said, ‘Joe, you’re an actor. It’s not you that’s doing this, it’s the character’ and I needed reminding of this. So, I put the role down on tape and they got back to manager and he told me I booked the role and they made arrangements to fly me out to North Carolina. I arrived out there and I have to be incredibly thankful to an incredible production crew and an amazing cast. Incredibly supportive with me doing the role I had. Especially Antony Star, who plays the lead character, we had such an amazing time, such a large amount of fun shooting. It’s quite funny how sometimes the most horrific stuff can be the most fun to shoot. There’s a particular scene where I’m beating up Antony, who plays ‘Lucas Hood,’ and I’m being particularly disgusting and I licked him behind the ear. Now, I didn’t rehearse this. The director came up to me without telling Antony and he told me to do something but don’t tell Antony. So, I said, ‘Okay, I’ll think of something.’ So, we do this scene and where he’s lying on the ground and I’m on his back, stabbing him in the side and I licked his ear, and said the line while I was doing it and he had no idea I was going to do that. And the moment, they yelled ‘Cut!’ Antony jumped up from the ground under me, shook himself all over and said, ‘You’re so creepy!’ *laugh* And then we all burst out hysterical laughing and I was like, ‘Okay, I think that’s the take that’s going to stay in.’ *laugh* It was a lot of fun doing that especially when you’re surrounded by people who are that committed and worked so hard on that show. I would have loved to have gone back and done more work on that show but the chances of my character coming back for the second season are pretty slim I think. If they can figure out a way to bring me back, I’d be very happy, I’d fly back to North Carolina, it was fantastic!
SNK: You’re part of the cast of the latest Star Trek movie titled Star Trek Into Darkness, which hits theaters Thursday, May 17. Can you tell me about the character you play and what it was like being a part of such an iconic movie franchise?
JG: When I found out I booked the role, I literally grew up wanting to be either Han Solo or Captain Kirk. On the first day, I stepped onto the bridge of the Enterprise, it really doesn’t get any better than that. All these emotions flooded through my head. Thinking about how I grew up, the things I went through as a child and as an adult and everything led up to me being in Sony Studios in Culver City and stepping onto the bridge of the Enterprise. It was very emotional and it took a lot of energy and a lot of effort for me to not shed a tear at that moment. I was surrounded by Chris Pine, John Cho and it would just be unprofessional. But, the emotions were there and it was an incredible experience. The whole shoot was like a dream shoot. We had some very very long days but we had so much fun. The new members of the cast were welcomed so warmly to the set by JJ and Chris and John and Zach [Quinto, who plays ‘Spock’] and immediately it felt like a family. I mean I had just an amazing time working on that movie. I’m seeing it for the first time on Sunday. I haven’t actually seen it all the way through. I play one of the new bridge officers, one of the new science officers. I play kind of a humanoid cyborg character. I’m kind of a human version of Spock. I’m an augmented human with implants in my brain. Basically, I’m like an artificial Vulcan. So, I have all the same intelligence and abilities as Spock does except with me it’s done artificially because with Spock it’s done naturally because he’s a Vulcan. I had a fantastic time working on the movie. I’m so excited, it seems to be getting great reviews and already friends of mine have seen the movie in Europe and I love what I’m doing in the movie. I’m just incredibly excited, I cannot wait.
SNK: What was it like working with JJ Abrams?
JG: He’s so much fun and has so much boundless energy. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who loves what they do so much. He is so in love with his work, it’s hard to say in words without actually witnessing it. Even at the end of the day, he has so much energy, it’s unbelievable. He’s incredibly friendly, he was always talking to every member of the cast, including the background people and that’s something you don’t see very often. JJ didn’t live by that movie and TV hierarchy. Like if he was standing next to an extra, and yelled, ‘Cut!’ he would sit down next to that extra and start chatting with them about whatever then he’d go over and chat with Chris Pine and then give some direction to Zach and them come over to me and talk about how the scene looked and then go over to someone else. He has so much energy and will talk to everyone and that’s my fondest memory of JJ. He wants everyone to feel as important as ever. Everyone is part of this huge jigsaw puzzle, this huge machine, this incredible piece of entertainment. He really understands that and wanted to keep everyone on set as happy and as energized as possible and for them to feel as welcome as possible. He does a fantastic job at that. I keep my fingers crossed that I get to work with him again.
SNK: Are there any upcoming projects you’d like to mention?
JG: I’m currently reading a couple of scripts. Unfortunately, I’m in a situation where I cannot actually talk about anything. There all top secret projects. But, there are things out there and I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If they happen, it will be a very very big deal. Fingers crossed.