But, I thought it was a really, really engaging read.
There just happens to be a lot more to it than that.
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Which made the following interview a really interesting one to do.
It about page 308 of your book.
So whats wrong with the third one?
I just dont think its as good as the first two.
I think I only remember how I felt when I went to see it at the cinema.
And that was I didnt enjoy it as much as the first two.
Its the cowboy one, isnt it?
Because now I feel bad!
I should go back and watch it.
It depends how nerdy you want to get about it all.
I think its massively underrated.
I think I didnt really appreciate it as much as I should have done.
Im definitely going to rewatch it now!
Moving onto your book, then.
You certainly come across as happiest, professionally, when doing either theatre or writing in the book.
Would you say thats a fair reflection?
I think theyre the two times where youre allowed to be the most creative, I think.
In the theatre, you get to rehearse for five, six, sometimes seven weeks.
And then opening in a show, like the play Im doing now, its wonderfully rewarding.
The truth is that the thing I enjoy the most is writing something, and then being in it.
Because you really get to be there at every stage of that things life.
That would happen on our show [Gavin And Stacey] quite lot.
We had such a good cast, and they would lift it 50 per cent sometimes.
Im absolutely at my happiest there.
It struck me, reading that, that its theatre youre most in awe of?
I still do it now.
Is that strange in any way?
And its like youre regrounding yourself?
I think it was over a year before we started it that I agreed to do it.
Just because of schedules, and things like that.
What you want, or what I want, is a varied and full career, thats all.
Its about nothing more than that.
Im overjoyed, and blown away by how the play Im doing at the moment is being received.
Its such a wonderful place to be.
I think I do, and I dont really know why.
Im unsure as to why that is.
I think Ive been very honest about how I feel about those projects.
But Im not the first person to have been in a film that was very good, and underperformed.
And Im certainly not the first person to have hosted the Brits and not go down very well.
I think that the third series ofGavin And Staceywas good, which was written after that.
So, I dont know.
I wonder if itll ever go.
If someones not really liking you, youre probably not doing anything, is the truth.
I love the bit in the book whereThe History Boysdirector Nicholas Hytner accurately predicts individual critical reaction to it.
I just wonder if that helps?
Someone like Gary Barlow is a prime example.
Or, you know, I was lucky enough to go to dinner once with Tom Jones.
And I was asking him about Elvis Presley.
People were just out to get him, and now, no one remembers those things.
When Woody Allen dies, no one will talk aboutMatch Point.Theyll talk aboutManhattan.
You cant think about it.
But thats not for me to think about.
All I can do is try and do my best.
And I dont think anyones really written about working with Mike Leigh as explicitly as you do here.
Because thats a very different thing.
Criticism of a show is very different to criticism of a person and their abilities.
And thats a line which I think people confuse.
Of course, anybodys free to criticise a show and not like it.
What Mike didnt do was dismiss anyone involved in that show as not being talented.
Its just not a show that he liked.
Thats the fine line.
But I am just a person in it.
I am just a cog in a wheel.
It can only be as good as the script in your hands and the people you are working with.
So this play, being a success, isnt down to me.
In the same way thatLesbian Vampire Killersunderperforming or being reviewed badly isnt down to me, either.
Michael Owen said a great thing once.
He said, youre either the greatest footballer in the world, or youre shit.
And the truth is neither of those things is true.
And thats the same for me.
None of those things are true, the good and the bad.
I have a go at take them with a bag of salt.
Working with Shane [Meadows,TwentyFourSeven] was as beneficial.
Theres something incredibly inspiring when youre eighteen years old and youre watching a film director whos twenty four.
You go wow, hes just doing it.
Hes not waiting around, hes just doing it.
The same with Mike, when you realise that character and story are all that really matters.
Good characters, and a good story, and thats it.
So, yeah, it was all of that.
I do feel like theyve sort of shaped, and some of the work that Ive done.
And how seamlessly the film came about.
Those parts aboutThe History Boysfeel like a real freeze frame of your life.
And thats it, and when its done its done.
All youve got is your memories of it, and perhaps a programme.
That text, those lines, those words.
It was a magical thing to be involved in.
And then I read the book.
But it got me thinking.
You say in the press release that you should never have been this guy.
Youre not the cool, good-looking boy at school.
But now, youre proven you could.
What do you push to do next?
I think youre probably right.
Ive never really thought of it like that, as pushing against stuff.
Ive never really seen it in such a black and white way.
The trick is to try and keep challenging myself, really.
Id love to just carry on, really.
For all of it, I truly am.
I wasnt really behaving in a manner…
I got asked yesterday if I thought Id been misrepresented badly.
Right now, sat here, Ive never really been happier, both personally and professionally.
You cant make anything without making mistakes, nobody can.
All you’re able to do is try and do your best.
You know when youve done your best, and you know when you havent.
You know when youve worked your hardest, and you know when you could have tried a bit harder.
And thats all it’s possible for you to do, really.
Keep going, and keep trying to help yourself.
Do you think you give some of your detractors a pass in the book?
I did wonder that while reading it.
You know that some people are going to like what you do, and some that wont.
I think they were right about the work.
I could write a book about how I felt at the time.
I cant see how it can benefit anyone, and I cant see how itd benefit me.
And Im at an absolute loss to see how it could benefit them.
Obviously, they take some form or solace or enjoyment from it, and thats completely up to them.
I couldnt think of a worse way to live my life.
When I say I think theyre right, I mean I think theyre right about those particular projects.
They werent good enough, they werent.
On no level were they good enough.
But that doesnt mean that someones not very good, it just means they did something that wasnt.
You speak for yourself where forgiving De Niro forRocky & Bullwinkleis concerned.
[Laughs] Well, Im looking forward to seeingKiller Elite!I think Jason Statham is really underrated.
You ever see Clive Owen inChancer?
One of the greatest television series ever!
Its interesting you mention Steve Martin in the book, too.
[Laughs] I love Steve Martin.
Well, perhaps other thanBringing Down The House.But Im with you.
He made The Jerk, The Man With Two BrainsandAll Of Mewithin a few years of each other.
John Hughes is another example.
If you look up the 80s, and what he did in ten years.
And then he made two films that didnt work, and people killed him.
They killed him so much that he said, right, Im not going to do this any more.
And he just moved out and built a ski slope in his garden.
You kind of what to go, who am I?
you’re able to say that you didnt like that film, I didnt enjoy it John Hughes.
But you are still one of the greatest film makers ever.
If theyll go after John Hughes…!
And then he dies, and hes a hero again.
Its just so said.
Just because you do something thats not great, it doesnt mean that youre bad.
For me, one of my all-time heroes is Ronnie Barker.
And I remember whenNot The Nine OClock Newsdid a massive piss take ofThe Two Ronnies.Thats just how it goes.
Comedy should evolve like that, it absolutely should.
It needs to keep breaking new ground, and new people should come through.
And with that, we ran out of time!
James Corden, thank you very much.
May I Have Your Attention like?is available now, published by Random House.
