When we first interviewed stage actor, horror movie star and producer Toby Osmond it was for the darker side of his portfolio: he had just starred in Dark Beacon and featured in Black Site (although he was best-known for playing Thomas Cromwell in hit Channel 5 show Henry VIII and His Six Wives).
All of this was a long time before his agent updated his Spotlight CV to mention that Toby had completed filming “a great royal role” in “the next (and final) series” of “an epic network fantasy saga” that will be airing in “Spring 2019” no less. While he still didn’t choose Game of Thrones as one of his top picks when we asked him to tell us about his fave entertainment, sticking to movies instead, he was still not giving much away. 
For starters, we wondered if supernatural horror Dark Beacon involved effects or make-up, but those cards (Magic: The Gathering, he’s a fan) were kept close to his chest.
“What I can tell you is that there is a character who sat in make-up for four hours, from five or six am every morning. I understand there’s a horrible jittering jaw effect, which is very effective. And there’s something we called ‘bin juice’. Just imagine, you’re emptying out your bin and there’s a bit of juice at the bottom. We had this black gunk, which comes out of this character’s mouth and it literally had that smell and taste – delicious! And we did take after take after take. Sacrificing himself for art, whoever that hero was.”
He was equally sketchy about his character in Black Site, although he did reveal that his “dodgy professor type” is based on the videotapes in Lost. “‘Welcome to Pearl Station. Do not press this button’ – he’s that guy, basically, but a bit more tongue in cheek. He is potentially a returning character but we can’t say what as.
“The thing is, Tom Paton is so talented that he can rewrite a script in two days. You know how Rocky was written in a weekend? He’s one of those gits. At the moment he’s got a story arc in his head for at least a trilogy of films but it could all change at the drop of a hat. So potentially he will come back in the second and third films as a substantially increased character. But I don’t want to jinx it. Although even if he just appears on the video tapes, he’s hilarious.”
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
“I love this because of my dad, who passed away in 2011. He’s the original reason I respect film as an art, although not necessarily why I love acting. He gave me my critical eye for film and good westerns were a part of that. It’s got the multi-parts; the first half is one type of film and the second is completely different. It’s beautifully shot and is just a great film. There’s an homage to it in Kaufman’s Game, which I co-produced, with the close-up of the eyes on the roof.”
BLADE RUNNER: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT
“It has to be The Director’s Cut. I can’t even remember the original now but it has the voice over all the way through. Terrible. Would you try and give Hamlet a happy ending? I watched the new film, Blade Runner 2049 – it was good, it just wasn’t as good as The Director’s Cut. But 2049 was very beautiful and I love Goso.”
DRIVE
“One director I absolutely love is Nicolas Winding Refn – I watched Neon Demon in Amsterdam. I love neo-noir but the problem with that genre is that it’s often sexist and racist in its casting. It’s usually a lot of white men, with one femme fatale. But I love the storytelling and the archetypes and Drive is really up there.”
REDWOOD
“It’ll sound like I’m blowing Tom Paton’s trumpet, which I am to some degree, but I definitely recommend this. I saw an early edit of Redwood and while it was good, I thought it could be improved. The edit that made it to FrightFest is a great film and really stands up. Also, it’s got Xander from Buffy, in a vampire film, which quotes Buffy! [Laughs] That’s brilliant.”
Coz Greenop’s Dark Beacon and Tom Paton’s Black Site are available now on DVD, while Stairs is currently touring film festivals around the world. A diary of Toby’s experiences as the Dornish Prince on the final episode of Game of Thrones can be found here.
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