Lord of the Rings' Billy Boyd & Dom Monaghan | TellyCast Podcast

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We have a bit of a scoop for you this week as we welcome - direct from Middle Earth - Billy Boyd and Dom Monaghan famed for playing Merry and Pippin in the epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Billy and Dom have been all around the world filming their new 6 part travel TV show Billy and Dom Eat the World which is produced by Dash Pictures and distributed by Abacus Media Rights. In conversation with Justin Crosby. 

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Transcript

 Hi, 

I'm Justin Crosby and welcome to another TellyCast. We have a bit of a scoop for you this week as we welcome direct from Middle Earth, Billy Boyd and Dom Monaghan, famed for playing Merry and Pippin in the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy. Billy and Dom have been all around the world filming their new six part travel TV show, Billy and Dom Eat the World, which is produced by Dash Pictures and distributed by Abacus Media Rights, who soon, of course, to be Sphere Abacus Media Rights.

Welcome to the show, guys. How you doing?  

Very good. Really well. 

Thank you for popping into TellyCast. Of course. On your travels around the world. When was the, I mean we'll talk about the show in a second, but when was the last  episode finished? I mean, you've been filming this over the last year, haven't you?

All around the world. Yeah, so the last episode 

was Switzerland, right? And that was just before Dom and I did the play together, was it? Yeah. Yeah. So it must have been end of the year,  right before Christmas. 

Right, 

okay. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Yeah. So, 

um. Good time to go to Switzerland, because obviously we did a lot of kind of alpine stuff.

Yeah. It was breezing there. Yeah, it looked it. Amazing. Beautiful though. Everything else that we'd done was, was  kind of warm. And some places were very warm, like Texas, so to do the last one in Switzerland was brilliant. 

Well, let's talk about the show then. Um, give us a bit of information. I mean, I've got, I've got the list of the, of the locations.

But first of all, tell us how you got involved in the show. What was the genesis? Was it, was it originally your idea or, you know, and how did that all come together?  

So Dom and I had a podcast together, uh, a few years ago, uh, called The Friendship Onion. And part of The Friendship Onion. We didn't always have guests on but  whether there was a guest there or not we always had Billy and Dom eat the world where we would, it was easier when there was a guest because they would bring something from their childhood or from where they were from or just a memory or so If it was someone from Texas, they might bring something from Austin that, you know, his grandmother had introduced them to, and then we would try it and we would mark it out of 10. 

And it was always everyone's sort of favorite part of the podcast, and we really enjoyed it because it kind of introduced us.  Sometimes if a, a, a guest was a, a bit nervous or not talking much or you bring out the food and it just takes them right back and then they're like, Oh, I remember my grandmother used to do this.

Or, or I remember all my friends would go down to the shops and we'd buy this, you know? So it was a sort of easy way in. So from that, we, we kind of thought it would be a good TV show and a good way of, you know, It's about seeing a community and seeing people and how people live through the food that they eat, you know, so that's how it sort of came about.

It's a 

communal thing, right? And it brings, as you say, it brings people together and, and it's a very, you know, you can't get much more social than sitting down and eating together. 

Yeah, true. And I mean, Billy and I have known each other for, you know, over 25 years now. Some of the things that we've been talking about we're both younger when we first met.

The way that we would, kind of, get together and socialize and explore places was probably more like bars, right? But as you get older, you get to a point where, you know, you might have a glass of wine with dinner, but you'd rather have a meal as opposed to being out and tying one on a little bit. So, it's just really kind of evolved in the way that Billie and I spend time with each other.

Billie and I are also interested in what people are passionate about, what people feel positive about. You know, the things that they hold on to, and all that stuff really speaks to food, you know. 

Yeah. Well,  there's six episodes, and you're in London, Scotland, and in particular, the Outer Hebrides, which is, which looks fantastic.

You're in California, Texas, Japan, and Switzerland, so literally all around the world. Um,  why did you choose those particular countries to go to? Because, obviously There's lots more, right? You could go to India or you could, maybe that's for season two. Yeah, let's hope so. Yeah. But yeah, why, why those particular six territories then? 

Well, I think London obviously works really well with Dash because the production office is based in London. They've obviously made quite a few episodes in and around London, so they know all the people. And it was just for the first episode, getting to know a crew, like, doing it in a place where we all speak the same language, same currency, all that kind of stuff made sense.

Obviously Billy comes from Scotland, so that's, you know, something that just again has a nice correlation with the people doing it. But as you say, I mean, we flew out of Glasgow to the Hebrides, right? But we spent, we purposely spent no time in the kind of Scottish mainland we wanted to get to the islands.

And I've spent some time with Billy in Glasgow and a little bit of time in Edinburgh apart from that Obland for like four or five days. But the Outer Hebrides, I mean, we got there and had the best weather of the year. The guys said, they said that, you know, for four or five months of the year, it's, it's brutal up there.

And it was roasting hot, super friendly. Did you get the midges? 

Did 

you? No, we didn't. No midges? No. Beautiful. And I think we, we gave a list of places that we would like to go and, and we, we, we kind of wanted to, tell different stories as well. So as Dom says, when Scotland came up, which was a great idea, loved it.

But we thought, well, let's go somewhere where we haven't seen as much, you know, as the big cities. So the idea of the outer Hebrides came up, which I'd never been to. And it's beautiful. You wouldn't believe it. There's like, it looks like tropical beaches, right? White sand. Incredible. Going into turquoise waters.

It's absolutely beautiful. And the people, the things that we  we kinda found out about up there, Honesty boxes, so, when we went to make breakfast,  to get eggs, we didn't go to a store. We went to an honesty box, where you just, there's eggs in there from a farm and you just leave the money in there. It was, eh, all these kind of, off the beaten tracks, it was, It's such a beautiful thing, you see.

I 

think one of the top five beaches in the world is in the Outer Hebrides. Wow. Yeah, which we drove past. We were above it. It was stunning. 

And it's not somewhere that you think about food, though. I mean, you don't think about, you know, this is a foodie hotspot. Mm. Um, so tell us about what sort of food, without too many spoilers, you know, what sort of food did you discover in the Outer Hebrides?

Because I think we, we see the show  Even more than, well, I mean, the food is kind of the star, really, but we, we see it as a way of getting into communities and people and telling stories and, you know, if it's a,  a guy who's passionate about making cheese in, in Switzerland, then you get to know him and his family and the history of that through cheese.

But it's not just about the cheese, it's more about the guy who's making the cheese. And that was the same thing in the Outer Hebrides.  There was families, butchers making black pudding that's known throughout the world, our Hebrides black pudding. And there was, I think, three butchers who were making it up there.

It was Macleod and Sons, Macleod and Macleod, and Macleod  butchers. And we, we, we went to, I think it was Macleod and Son. And, uh, and then we had a pizza that had black pudding on it, but that was from Macleod and Macleod, and we felt bad that it was from a different, you know. So you find out about, uh, these families that have been doing this for generations and generations, you know.

Uh, and another great thing up there was we got to,  uh, judge a baking contest. So all the great bakers all come to the, to do this competition. So we had, like,  You know, 50 different shortbreads to try and 

This is like the Outer Hebrides village fete. Exactly. It just 

happened to be the weekend that we were there, and they asked us to judge it.

And then there was a clouted dumpling in the competition,  which I'd forgotten about. What is that? It's a sort of, as Dom says, it's sort of like a, a sort of fruitcake, but it's Scottish and grandmothers. My granny made it. And I used to love it when she says, Oh, I've made a clouty dumpling. I was like, Oh, great.

And I haven't thought about it in 30 years. And as soon as I tasted it, I was like, Oh, that's my granny, you know, straight back there. So those sort of emotional memories that food can bring us. It's super important. Yeah. 

We chose the best tractor, didn't we did. Best tractor. I wouldn't say we know much about tractors.

No, no, it was more kind of appearance than anything else. And then we did, we went farming for kelp. They had a little kelp farm off the coast and they used kelp to make this gin at this distillery. So Billy and I were like, yeah, great. We like gin and tonic and that's cool. But we obviously, I assumed that most of the distilleries up there would be for whiskey, but the guy said to us, you can't have a whiskey distillery until, was it 15 years or 10 years?

Seven years. Seven years. The whiskey has to sit in a barrel. Before it could be called whiskey. But they had, they had, they made, they created the distillery, so they're like, well, in this seven years, we'll make gin instead. Until the whiskey, we can call the whiskey whiskey, right? But then the whiskey ended up being this like, super popular, sought after whiskey.

Sorry, gin. And we, uh, watched them make that. And I got a little bit drunk at this point. You got a little bit, 

yeah. We're doing pretty, we're doing the, the spirit of the whiskey as well, after a couple of gin and tonics. So, I mean, really interesting stories, you know.  Getting to know, I mean, Who's opening a distillery that you know that you're not making any money or doing anything for seven years?

So these guys made the whiskeys, put it in the barrels and then went, oh What do we do now?  

Brilliant. Amazing. Yeah, I love that. So, you know, really wide range of Culinary experiences that you've had on your travels. What was your favorite meal? Do you think? Your one favorite meal? dish that you had 

tried or?

We've been struggling with this answer for a long time since we made the show because honestly, we were so spoiled.  Here's a couple of little junky things that we tried that you probably wouldn't try again, but even those weren't unpleasant. And I would say 90, maybe even 95 percent of the food you'd think, I can't believe we got that for free.

That was fantastic.  Like, as Billy was touching upon, a lot of this is about the way it makes you feel and the night and all that kind of stuff. So the one that sticks in my head the most is we, we, when we were in Japan on our last night,  we were able to set up this yatai, which is basically like a, a, a huge kind of, uh, food stall, restaurant, kitchen on a, on a trolley.

So the guy showed up and the trolley was like a little bit bigger. Than this table. And we said to him, how long will it take to set up? And he said, about an hour. And I thought, there's no way it's gonna take an hour. It'll take 15 minutes. But then we realized he's got like gas connected to it, electricity wa running water.

He's got a bar, a full bar, draft beer and draft beers, 

and there's stain 

like frying pans and, and boiling pots and all this kind of stuff. Served. Served everything.  We did the segment with the gang, but because it was our last night, we then stayed for a couple of hours afterwards. People are coming in, locals are coming in, drinking beer.

He's, every so often he's coming over to us, here, have this snack, have this, you know, little gyoza. Billy said it was the greatest gyoza he's had in his life. A little yakitori chicken. I mean, it's just chicken on a stick, a little bit of, you know, spring onions, sesame, some soy. So simple, but Just the people put so much love in it.

So I think ultimately that's the one that I would go to the first. 

Yeah. There's so many. Yeah, there were so many, but you just took me right back there. And that's exactly what we want from the show. You know, this guy and his wife set that up every night. Takes him an hour, set it up. People come out of offices and that might be their favorite.

Is it Yatai? Yatai. Yatai. Or there's other ones along the street that are all getting built every night. And then at 1am or 2am, put it all back down again, takes an hour. They go off in their trolley, it gets, and then the next night they're out again. And the woman's father had it before,  before them. So that yatai has been coming out there for, you know, years.

Yeah, because the husband kind of, he wasn't necessarily the leader, but he slightly kind of ran the show a little bit. So I think Billy and I both assumed, oh, he's the boss man. The wife's helping out and Billy asked him like, how did you come about the business? And he was like, it's  her business. It was her father's.

And he also said that that Yatai gave permission for all the other Yatais in the area. Do you remember him saying that? That's right. So if you wanted to set up a Yatai, you had to come work for him, volunteer for him for a little bit and show that you mean business. And then they would allow you to have a Yatai.

And the other thing that he said, which I think is now changing for the That's it. is the, the Tokyo, the Japanese government tried to close it down during the Tokyo Olympics. They said, we don't want any of this street food thing. It doesn't look great. So they, they kind of calmed it down a little bit and now it's building again.

And Billy and I were like, why are you taking away like the great thing, the idiosyncrasies that define these places, you know? So we were really happy that we got that on, on camera because hopefully it will, it will build and build. 

Well, as you say, it's a cultural language that you're learning as well as just food as well, right?

Which is, you know, the joy of it. 

Exactly, the joy of finding that place. And maybe, you know, as we said, eating the best gyozo you've ever had. And you've found it, and it's this family who's made it. 

Yeah. 

You know, rather than going to some, you know, You know, chain restaurant that you could go anywhere and, you know, it's been shipped in.

He, he was making that in front of our eyes. The lady had made this amazing soup full of dumplings and, you know, and she's making that all day before they got there. It's just, I mean, you can't, you can't buy that. It's beautiful. 

He's also showing us how to make the gyozas, which, you know, he's got this paste, you know, a little bit of pork and some spices and stuff.

And you just go, yeah, super simple. You take the little thing. A little bit of paste. Do that. Do that. Put it down. And we're like, okay. And I watched Billy do it first. And, you know, Billy's kind of going, what? And I'm going, is it really that hard? He's like, you won't believe how hard it is. And I was like, give me a go.

And it just falls apart in your hand. There's 

something about the, yeah, the angles of the fold. I just couldn't, my brain couldn't put it in for some reason. And he was making You know, 80 a minute. He was like, oh, come on,  

it's 

amazing.  

So is this the first travel series that you've done together? Is it the first TV project that you've done together?

Or have you done other things? Yeah.  I mean, we've guested on stuff, haven't we? But in terms of like, 

Billy and I together, yeah. Yeah, 

this would 

be 

the first, 

yeah. 

And you're executive producers on the show, so this is something you're really invested in, right? This is something that you've come up with and developed from the podcast idea.

Yeah. And what's it like? Because obviously, you've been friends right from back to a lot of the Rings days. What's it like working together then?  It's great as mates, right? Because yeah, it can change the sort of dynamic of friendship if you're working together. And yeah, 

but I think we both very quickly realized when we did the podcast that the billion dollar meet the world thing kind of writes itself, you know, you pick the food item when we're doing the podcast, and that's it.

And then for Billy and I doing the show, alongside the people over at dash, we pick the location. And there's a, there might be a couple of moments where Billy and I may have said in the first season, Ah, could we do this instead or maybe switch the order or like,  that doesn't really quite feel like the show, but for the most part, I think we just said, that's exactly what we want to do, you know, so I like the idea that we can try and get across on the show of we are landing and having the experiences in real time and it's being recorded as opposed to being overly busy produced or scripted in a certain way.

So to a certain extent, I mean, obviously we want to know where we're going, what we're doing. But I don't really like a huge deep dive into the things that we're doing because I want to find out on camera.  

And sometimes us not being very knowledgeable is, you know, it's more like the normal person, you know.

We're just learning, genuinely 

learning for the first time. Yeah, 

and the people at Dash have been great, kind of really taking on what we want from the show and finding the  best people for that. That we want people who are. Kind of really passionate about what they're doing and, you know, the positivity that comes through that, meeting people who are passionate about whatever it is, you know, you know, whether it's a barbecue in Texas or, you know, making a clouty dumpling in Scotland, if you're passionate about it, then, you know, you, you, you could be on TV speaking to them for a while.

And it would be interesting because they're, they're telling you about their passion, about  their community, where that food came from, you 

know? And it's, it's kind of, this is one of the things that I'm, I've been passionate about for a while. It's like, it's a really interesting time in the arts, I think.

Cause like,  there's this, I use the word culture kind of broadly here, but there's this kind of culture now that's, that's gone kind of seeped through the art, seemed to start in the music industry and it's kind of moved around a little bit of, we want everything now and we want it free. And it's because it's created this kind of jaded kind of feeling in the arts of nothing special and nothing's great because you get it for free and it doesn't really mean anything.

And I think that's why Billy and I were really keen on leaning into people's passions. Cause anytime you hear someone speak about something passionate, there's that great energy, you know, and I think we are losing that a little bit in all forms of art, but in documentary TV, when people are watching it, it's like, ah, yeah, there's another person, another rich person traveling around the world doing stuff.

And we want it to be a little bit more kind of. But it's about us spitting spit and sawdust and talking to people who might have spent their entire life savings to create this little restaurant and it's doing well and they believe in it. You know, those are the stories that we want to tell. 

And it's, what's I really enjoyed about this series is that  It's not so long ago we were in lockdown, right?

It's not so long ago that everyone was saying, you know, when are we ever going to be able to create a travel series again, you know? And it's not that long ago. And to see  a show which is really premium and looks fantastic and, you know, you guys are genuinely engaging with people from all around the world.

It's, you know, it's a really nice, fresh take on it, I think. 

Oh, I'm glad because that was the other, we wanted it to be authentic, that it's not.  I think I totally agree with what Dom's saying, that things are so easy and throwaway now, you know,  that, you know, if we went to a restaurant in London and  this gravy, which is one of the greatest things I've ever tasted, was, it's like three days to make, you know, to, and that's, you know, that's special.

And, and for us, we, we don't want the shorty to be  polished, you know, we want it. to say that is special you know that let's see how did you make that you know we want to be excited about it it's not us popping in for one day's filming and someone telling us what to see you know that it's all genuinely happening you know 

yeah that was hoax more in london where like billy said it was a hoax I mean, I've never really had my head turned by a roast dinner.

I know that's a terrible thing to say as someone who's English, but I'm, I like spice and I like fresh flavors and, you know, vibrancy and food and stuff and a roast dinner fine. But it's, it's just never really revved my motor. It completely changed the way I felt about a roast dinner. And this chef Matt at Hawke's Mall, we just, while we, while we were waiting for the Yorkshire Puddin, one of us said, so how did you become a chef?

And he said, well, I came from a part of England where we didn't have a huge amount of money, and I wanted to be a chef, but there were no opportunities here. But there was a kind of a grant system being ran for young chefs to come down to London and stay in digs and work at places like the Ritz and the Savoy and get their training.

And Billy and I were just like, this is why we're making the show. Like, if he can tell that story, I And a kid somewhere else around the world thinks, Oh, I'm gonna ask if I can do that in my community. Then we've cracked it, you know? Yeah.  

Looking back to how you met, how did life change for you then, after that first day on set on the first Lord of the Rings movie?

I mean, how has life changed you? Because you both live in California now, right? 

Yeah. Yeah, we both live in, uh, Los Angeles. And one of the episodes, we wanted it to be a California, for, you know, to kind of show  why we are there and what we like about the place. Because I live on the west side and Don lives in the east and we wanted to show the differences there. 

Um, before we went to northern California and that sort of  amazing weird place where  sort of it's like they've let people  have crazy ideas and big ideas, you know, all iPhones and it's always Northern California. Somehow it's allowed. So we wanted to look at that, you know, but yeah, how is this things change?

I don't know. I mean, I don't know if you ever feel that things change, you know, because it becomes your life.  It's a sliding doors thing, isn't it? That you're now that's now your life. I don't know what it would have been. If we hadn't done Lord of the Rings, you know. 

Yeah. 

But it's, it's nice to have Dom in my life, I'll tell you that.

Yeah, yeah, I agree with Billy. You never really think it's weird or really tune into it being weird because that would maybe throw you off kilter a little bit, you know. If you're a clown and every day at work you're getting custard pies in your face and the car's falling apart, that job must be strange.

And you're like, well, I do it five times a week. 

So I think you just get used to it. I'm obsessed with the Beatles, Billy and I are huge fans of the Beatles. And one of the things that that they all talk about was feeling sorry for Elvis being a musical artist on his own and not being able to share it. And I do think that that Rings experience  would have been much harder to navigate if I wasn't experiencing it with Billie and Elijah and Sean and Orlando and Viggo.

And you know, this real kind of hardcore group of of nine, unfortunately, men, there wasn't any females in the fellowship, nine men, and I think almost all of them were single and almost all of them didn't have a huge amount of ties and enjoying their life and dinners and drinks and everything else that came with it.

So if you two have had that similar experience, but it was only you and you couldn't share it with anyone, maybe that throws you off a little bit more. But you know, I wanted to be an actor since I was a kid, since I was probably, I don't know, seven, eight, something like that. An actor in, in however way it was going to show up.

And of course, any actor, including myself, would be delighted to have done something that was able to cross over in such a way. I mean, we knew it was a great project. We knew that it had been received well by people, but the further we get away from that project, the more you come to terms with the fact that it, it, It very quickly kind of rose into this kind of classic moment in cinema.

And we were lucky enough to be along for the ride in it. It 

was a huge cultural moment. And you obviously reunited, didn't you, on Zoom on a podcast, I think? Yeah, with Josh Gad, yeah. End of May 2020, I've got it written down, yeah. What was that like then? I mean, how long had it been? I mean, I guess you'd seen different cast members at different times since, but what was that experience like?

It was great. We were in the middle of COVID. So I'd gone insane. You know, I'd been living on my own throughout all of COVID and hadn't seen a person who knew me for like 10 months, you know, going to the supermarket and just seeing people, but not someone whose face I knew and whose face knew mine. And I, I'd gone mad, you know, I just really enjoyed the madness, but definitely gone mad.

So to see What ended up being, you know, 14, 15 people who I loved in front of me, it was like an amazing moment for me during COVID. Really special. And I think a lot of that, we raised a lot of money for charity as well, which, which was a great feeling. Yeah. 

Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was a strange time, wasn't it?

Because everyone was trying to. Yeah. reinvent art or something and put it online, you know. So there's a lot of people asking you to do plays online.  I kind of avoided all of it. Did you get involved in the Imagine song, you know? No, I didn't. All of that stuff, you know, and that was the first thing that I did.

So as Dom says, it was kind of weird to like, 

see everybody in. It was intense. In their little rooms somewhere. Everyone's growing big beards, right? Nobody had any trousers on, they're always trying to keep their waist up.  

Talking about the Beatles, and obviously Peter Jackson went on from Lord of the Rings to do lots of other amazing, amazing projects, but one of which was the Beatles.

Yeah, extraordinary. I mean, that must have been, you must have been looking on in envy of what he 

was having to go 

through. We both, we both 

were, you know, we would, I mean, I think Billy and I, it was probably our favourite documentary of the year when it came out, wasn't it? We watched it so many times. Yeah.

Yeah, Pete's a huge Beatles nerd and there were times, you know, before it came out quite close to the release where he would, you know, send a couple of emails of hints. Oh, you're going to like this. You're going to like that. And, you know, I've always been a little annoyed with this narrative of Yoko breaks up the Beatles.

I mean, Yoko didn't break up the Beatles. The Beatles are big enough and smart enough to break up their own band. They don't need Yoko to come in. And. You know, all these things of like, you know, whatever. Paul's the hard worker, and George is the spiritual guy, and John's the kind of lunatic, and Ringo's the actor, and all this kind of stuff.

And you see, these are fully rounded humans, and they have faults, and they have foibles, but they clearly love each other, and they're clearly in a pressure cooker.  And, I mean, that moment where you see Paul start the genesis of Get Back, and then Harrison kind of helps out and Ringo's in the back just kind of following along.

I was like, what am I watching here? This is magic. And 

you try to help him write it because we know it. We're like, no, it's not that. Oh, that's amazing. I just put it all on his background. Yeah. It's 

one of the best things I've ever seen. Yeah. Brilliant. And you've just recently done a theater production together fairly recently in, uh, uh, in Canada.

Yeah. Tell us about that. 

So when Dom and I were up a tree in, in the second of the Lord of the Rings movies, tree, beard, we were stuck up there quite a lot of time. So we're always discussing what we wanted to do.  One of the ideas was to do Rosecrans and Stein, which is a play that we really liked.  And I was working in Halifax doing a TV show and got to know the theatre and got to know the the director and he'd asked me to do a couple of things and it never worked out but I really love Halifax.

I love it as a, as a city.  And he said, do you think Dom would think about doing Rosencrantz Guildenstern? I said, we spoke about this 20 years ago. I said I'll run it past them and then the wheels start going, you know, could we fit it into our diaries at the same time? Could the theater fit it in? And then it all just worked out and I said to Dom, I think you'll love Halifax. 

And then we put on the back of that, we went to Toronto with it.  And, uh, it was great. It's as good a play as I thought it was.  And it was a really nice production. And. You know, we played in Halifax. Dom got to know the town a little bit. 

Which will be a great location for Billion Dime Eat The World Season 2.

Yeah. Halifax. Oh, wow. Great people, great restaurants, really fun. You know, they're doing their own thing, they're in their own little lane. Yeah, great for a season 

2. Yes.  Ones that have been there, like the Bicycle Thief that's been there forever. And then there's the Highwaymen that's just opened. And the guy's passionate about making food.

So, yeah, I mean, again, just all these places are great for the show, but it was really fun to do a theater piece together because we're. By the time we die, we're going to do every piece of art together. Yeah. 

And what about Beecake? So you're in a band called Beecake? 

Yeah, I am. We've done a few albums together.

Three now.  Sadly, one of the guys passed away a couple of years ago there. So we do have one other album  recorded, but we're just working on when's the best time to release that. And, you know, but I was just up at Glasgow. I just saw the guys there.  And, uh, they're all doing very well. We went out for a nice Italian meal.

Oh, I thought you were going to say an Indian, because you would assume that in Glasgow with you guys. I tell you what, I did go for an Indian, Tom, and it was fantastic. When in Glasgow? Have you had Indian food in Glasgow? I must have done. Very 

good. Yeah. Because obviously you've got, you know, London, I'm sure, Bradford and Manchester and Birmingham and stuff, but 

And, and the kind of thing that we're talking about in the show, which we love where, you know, a restaurant like Mr.

Singh's in Glasgow.  It's great Indian food and then slowly they add haggis so you can get haggis pakora. Right. You know they're taking what's from that community and then that changes it and it kind of changes the community because of that. You know, it's all really interesting. Proper fusion. 

Yeah. Real fusion, yeah.

So there's a restaurant tour up there. Sharon Gill, whose daughter just opened a new Indian restaurant that I went to, and it is some of the best Indian food I've ever had. Not quite the sort of Glasgow, um, You know, classic Indian food, but we must try that when we go in next time. All right. There's another 

occasion there.

Yeah. Dom, I've got to ask you about Star Wars. Uh, so you've appeared not only in Lord of the Rings, but Star Wars Rise of Skywalker. And X Men. 

Oh, yeah, he's in them all. Yeah. 

And what was that experience like? Oh, you know what? That was just kind of a boyhood dream thing. It's this kind of thing that you can't, you know, Turned down.

It was the last Euros. So we're currently tomorrow, England are going to play Holland in the semifinals of this current European football competition, the last Euros. We were in a quarterfinal against Columbia and I'm friends with JJ Abrams, which sounds like a name drop, but we were just friends from doing last years ago.

And he sent me an email before the match begun, JJ and I like to kind of tease each other and have fun with each other. And he said, if England win this game. I might have a role for you in Star Wars, but if they lose it No. He was joking. I hope he was joking.  So we went to a penalty shootout. 

It 

was the first penalty shootout that England have won in a major competition for like 30 years or something.

So by the time we got to the penalty shootout, I was like, oh no, it's not going to happen. Trying to use the force. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But we ended up winning the penalty shootout. And then, you know, JJ got on the phone with me and said, I'm back in L. A. in a week. Let's have a chat when I get back. So we got back.

He said, Look, you know, everything's under lock and key. Obviously, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaacs have a script. But he said, you're going to do four or five scenes and there's no real script. I'll, I'll get you something to read when you get to London. And I said, like, of course, you know, Star Wars is the reason I'm an actor.

It's, I mean, it's not my favorite film. I think Apocalypse Now is probably my favorite film, but Star Wars is certainly the most influential film because it was a thing that made me want to act. So you just, or I am personally just never turning down a role. That role, of course, I would, I would want to play a bigger role or be in the entire trilogy or be in the original trilogy.

We all would. But if someone comes along, especially someone who you know who's directing it and says, Can you come and do a little favor for me? I mean, I was delighted, you know, and I mean, I was a real nerd because they were giving out Star Wars jackets and all this kind of stuff. And John and Daisy and I and Oscar, who I became pally with, they were like, Ah, no, we're good.

We don't need a jacket. And I was like, 

You don't need 

a jacket? So I had like four or five jackets. a jacket? 

I'll take 

it. I'll take it. Caps and, you know, sign this and sign that. So I was a real nerd, but I think my favorite moment was We were on set, a huge set in, um, was it Shepperton? No, it was Pinewood.

This was Pinewood. And something had gone wrong with, with the lights. Massive set of lights above. So JJ got on the megaphone, and he said, guys, it's gonna be like a 35 to 40 minute reset, but there was a bunch of actors on the stage. And he said, if you could just do me a favor, instead of us resetting all you guys as well, And then bringing you back, which is gonna take another 20 minutes getting in costumes, you messed your hair up, you've had a nap, you've got sausages, you know, gravy falling down your face and stuff.

He said, if you could just wait. Have a chat, sit down, do your thing. It would just be a much faster turnaround. And we were like, yeah, okay. And he said, great. And then he said, cue the music. And they played Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys. Really, really loud in the studio. And all the rebels were dancing with all the Stormtroopers.

And I was like, oh, come on.  

It's just, it gets better than that. 

I think we've seen that footage. I mean, that's, that's, that's It's gotta come out one day. Yeah. At some point. And Han Jensen. Oh yeah, sure. Hans Jenson. You think Hans will never make a, an appearance again? 

You know, I pitched it to Pete when Pete was doing The Hobbit.

I said, what if we have Hans come in and talk to Martin Freeman? But you actually see him this time, you know, and just do a little interview with Martin Freeman and interview with Pete. 

Oh sure. 

He, he liked Pete liked the idea, but he was just like, you know, we'll, we'll see what we can do. And it just never.

It never worked out, but I mean, maybe if it's special, that's the strange thing is like, because I see these things in media that happen once and they're really special and you think, Oh, don't ruin it. Don't ruin it. Just leave it as it is, you know? So a partner is like,  you know, do you dilute it by doing it again?

It would have to be something really special, but poor Elijah. Cause I mean, we're all, What do you think? Um, I think, you know, we've got some really good friends with Elijah. And he's such a good sport, but every single one of these conventions, they'll mention it. And Elijah be like, yeah. 

very much. My kids said, you've got to ask this question.

Will you wear wigs? She's 14 

my 

daughter. And she 

said, yeah.  You know, what's funny is like, I'm sure Billy gets his version of this as well, but, and it is very sweet, but people come over to me and they'll expect that you've never heard it before. Right? so someone will come over and They'll get me to sign something and we'll be chatting and they'll say, Oh, I just wanted to ask you, um, will you wear wigs?

And I, and I'm like, ah, 

yeah, have you 

heard that before? And I'm going, yeah, I've heard it. I've heard it a couple of thousand times, you know, but yeah, 

that's fun. 

So back to, back to the show. What about cooking? What do you like, what do you cook at home? What's your favorite dish to cook at home? 

Ah, good question.

On a Wednesday morning, we always have crepe. creps. And my son, I think that's maybe his favorite thing to the point that he's going to college this year. And he says on a Wednesday, he's going to keep that going at college. Yeah. I think like what we're talking about when there's a tradition or something, it just makes it more special, doesn't it?

So on a Wednesday morning, We put on Paul Simon on the music. Graceland. Yes, thank you. And then make some crepes and it's just a, just a good start to the day. He does good 

Christmas dinner, Billy. Because, you know, there are times where I won't go over to England because, you know, the, the flight or maybe my parents have gone to see my brother or something like that.

So I'm kind of, you know, in LA and Billy will say do you want to come down and I'll kind of say oh no it's fine you guys do your thing he's like no no come down and I think there's been three or four occasions where I'll show up and the kitchen will be chaotic oh it's chaotic oh yes I'll think I'm not sure if he's going to pull it together this year and he always pulls it together 

great and Dom will bring down a pudding or something that he's made there was there was a little twist to it this year was it 

um yeah the time before so I'll try and bring something and this time I did I think I did an apple and rhubarb crumble.

Oh lovely.  Crumble, lovely. I'm always, you're always trying to put a little extra kind of spin on it, so it's different. The version that you've done is a little different. So I added What I thought was a pinch of cayenne pepper just so you kind of go. Hello. What is that? But it was that it actually ended up being a spicy pudding didn't it?

It was. Is 

that cayenne pepper? 

Yeah. You suddenly liked it. 

He did, he loved it. 

And it's nice with a bit of vanilla ice cream, but I did go a little bit over the top. I like spicy food, so I went a little bit 

over the top. Guys, thank you so much for coming on TellyCast. It's been brilliant.  Um, can't wait to see Billy and Dom eat the world, which I know lots of conversations are going on with broadcasters all around the world.

So I'm sure it's going to be coming to TV screens later this year or in the new year. So. Best of luck with it. I can't wait to see season two because I know you're gonna get there. The show looks amazing. So thanks again for coming on TellyCast. Thanks, Justin. Thanks 

a lot  

Well, that's about it for this week's show.

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