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  • First things first, are you a cat person in real life?

  • We had cats growing up, yeah

  • I don't have a cat now, but I had a cat until I was 15 at home

  • Me and Bob got on really well, he came round to my house a few weeks before we started

  • filming

  • And then he'd be- we got on really well

  • And then in the dressing room in the day, I'd bring my guitar in, and he'd be sitting

  • in my guitar case, having a rest

  • We got on really well

  • James was brilliant at kind of-

  • It's quite hard to get a cat that knows you so well, to then be comfortable just nipping

  • onto somebody else's shoulders while they walk around a busy London street

  • But it was incredible

  • And you know, we'd have these little things, like I'd put Bob on my shoulders and we'd

  • go for a little walk up and down

  • And after we did that, Bob would then realise I was a safe person to stand on, and be comfortable

  • and sit on my shoulders

  • It was just funny little things like that

  • That's incredibleyou can't even get a dog to do that and they're easily trained

  • Well yeah, Bob is just very receptive

  • I mean, he had his eye on the prize didn't he, he wanted to be on the poster

  • He was going to get involved in that film

  • He knew this was his shot

  • It was his shot, yeah

  • His make-or-break deal

  • Sometimes actors have to do a chemistry test with another actress or actor,

  • Did you have to do a chemistry test with Bob?

  • It wasn't meant to be Bob in the film even, it was meant to be four cats

  • Which also are in the film as well, there are other cats which were trained for things

  • like jumping on a bus, and the stunts, basically

  • And they were brilliant as well, with brilliant handlers that trained them

  • But then we found that Bob, having had the experience of being around so many people

  • in his life, was just very zen, very cool

  • And he could sit down whilst people were walking past on the pavement and not bat an eyelid

  • And that was amazing, so we ended up using him a lot

  • Wow, I just died when I saw him in the scarf

  • I almost cried in the screening just then

  • Did you on set?

  • He's a cutie isn't he, he's lovely, and he was just very cool

  • It was weird, because I didn't know the bit beforehand

  • Like some people are just massive, massive fans

  • And I remember thinking it's a bit like – I don't have kidsbut I imagine it's a bit

  • like when people see a baby and they just don't even say hi to the mum or dad

  • They go straight for the baby like that

  • And walking around with Bob on your shoulders, it was this amazing beacon coming off you

  • And people were just blown away to see James and Bob walking around Covent Garden

  • You know, they're icons of Covent Garden now

  • So yeah, it was cool

  • Getting to know James, did that make the story hit home a bit more?

  • Well I was already very touched and moved, and felt like it must have been a very hard

  • journey that James had gone on, from reading the script and the book

  • And then, having- before I met him, before he came round to my house, I'd watched loads

  • of interviews with him and got this idea of who he was and what he might be like

  • But then for him to actually come round and for us to have- I think the first night, we

  • spent about five hours just talking and playing guitars, and just hanging out, basically

  • And he was just so open and up for sharing things and details about his life, maybe things

  • that weren't even in the book

  • Whatever it was that I felt might be helpful to know he was very kind to share, really

  • And he just wanted it to be right, for the story to be right

  • So I took all the information I could from James

  • I also went to drug clinics and addiction centres to speak to both patients and doctors

  • Because you have to build up all angles to really understand it, I think

  • Some people might be able to explain what it's like for them, from their point of view

  • But a doctor might be able to give you a scientific version of what it is, what's happening in

  • your blood stream at that point when you're coming off something

  • Things like that, which was really useful to get a handle on

  • You don't want to try and portray addiction or homelessness or anything like that, without

  • having a clear understanding of it

  • Otherwise, there's a danger of just generalising it.

First things first, are you a cat person in real life?

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