It sounds like a weird concept for a show… an American actor plays himself (or a fictionalised version of himself anyway) in the US version of a hit British comedy, which is written by a husband-and-wife duo who become increasingly exasperated by the leading man and Hollywood in general. Yet, it’s been a huge success for Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan on the BBC, and is about to return for a third series.
Speaking to Red magazine in the April issue, Mangan reveals that unlike his often tense relationship with LeBlanc in the series, in reality he enjoys spending time with him. “He’s a 14-year-old boy in a man’s body,” says Mangan. “We go to his ranch north of LA and drive around on quad bikes. Of course there were going to be quad bikes.”
He says that everyone calls him posh because of his accent, but that’s certainly not how he was brought up. “Yeah, everyone thinks I'm posh, but Dad was a builder, Mum worked in a bar in Camden and they lived in Kilburn.”
His Irish parents knew how to have fun when he was growing up and he compares himself to Ab Fab’s Saffy. ‘”It would be 4.30am and the carpet would be rolled back and the Irish music starting and I’d be at the top of the stairs shouting, ‘I’ve got double maths in the morning,” he says.
Sadly Mangan lost his mother to colon cancer at the age of 21 and it completely changed his outlook on life and what he wanted to do, which of course was acting. He now has two very successful shows under his belt (Green Wing, as well as Episodes) but was initially worried he wouldn’t have much luck with television acting.
“The trouble I have with photos is I always look sad or afraid… It’s what put me off going into film and TV. I felt I wasn’t good looking enough,” he tells Red. “I was never secure about the way I looked.”
Read the full interview – as well as cover star Winona Ryder’s interview with the magazine – inside the April issue of Red!
Subscribe and save on a Red magazine subscription today.
Posted by Marianne Kaskela.
