Actor James Payton has had his hand in two of the biggest film franchises of the 21st century. He is best known for his portrayal of Frank Longbottom in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and USO Adolf Hitler in Captain America: The First Avenger.
James Payton also worked as a stand in for Colin Farrell in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Jake Gyllenhaal in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
A stand-in is someone who substitutes for an actor before filming for technical purposes such as camera setups and lighting.
The Indiependent spoke with Payton about his experiences in the working in the British film industry over the past 20 years and his new Theatre venture: Order of the Improv.
The Indiependent: How did you get into acting?
James Payton: It was always something I was interested in when I was at school, but it really became a career choice when I was twelve when my father died. In the afternoon, I was absentmindedly watching television…and this film came on called Frances. This film was about a talking ass and I found myself laughing.
Later on in my life, I realised that was the moment; that was the sort of epiphany. Cos I had a clear memory of me thinking, how am I laughing when the worst thing I could have imagined has just happened. This has taken me away from terrible grief – I want to do that.
You were cast as Frank Longbottom in Order of the Phoenix, and appeared in the film through a moving photograph where Neville’s tragic past is revealed to the audience. How did you get the role?
I got a call from David James’ office asking me to come and do a screen test for Harry Potter and I said, that’s very kind but I’m busy, sorry. The next day, they called back and said, I don’t think you understand, Dave wants to see you; only you. You need to make that happen.
So I went back down south to Leavesden, did my screen test with David [to] sort of figure out what he wanted to do to get across the love that Neville had for his parents and they had for each other.
I was awake for sort of three days while I was doing it, which was probably not the wisest thing. Or maybe I should always do that. I didn’t really think anything much would come from it because it was so small.
Obviously since then, it’s something people do want to talk about all the time, which is great. That’s how I got started, how I got, not successful, but how in a certain area of the world, of the Wizarding world, some people seem to know who I am, which is nice.
For me, the hardest part of acting is getting in the room. After that, it’s a numbers game. Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t control. There’s a million different reasons why you won’t be cast in something.
This year, you have a new theatre venture: Order of the Improv with fellow Fantastic Beasts alumni Walles Hamonde. What gave you the inspiration to start your own improv show?
It was [James’ agent] Kaye’s idea. I was at a comic con with Chris Rankin [Percy Weasley in Harry Potter] and Nick Moran [Scabior in Harry Potter] and Tony Slattery in 2019. And we were both very excited about meeting Tony Slattery…you know, a very funny man; a master of improv in this country. We sort of had a bit of a bond and we started just sort of playing improv games with each other; making each other laugh.
And my agent realised that this could be an interesting development. So she came to me and Walles and said, cos you know I knew Walles from Fantastic Beasts and from the comic con circuit, and she said this is what I would like to do. What do you think? Which we replied, well fuck it…why not?
We did our first show in Manchester in 2019 and people seemed to laugh, which was great. So we did another one in Peterborough and all the while we were finessing this show and seeing how it goes. Not the improv parts because that’s improv, but the shape of the show.
How did Covid affect your career? Did you have multiple jobs at once?
We had essentially five or six months off like everyone else. And then we went back in September of twenty, still in the middle of the pandemic. And we were at that until March of twenty-one.
I decided that that was going to be my last, if I could swing it; that was going to be my last stand-in job, because I should be really focusing on my career at this stage. I could free myself up to be as good an actor as I could be.
One of my other jobs is working in the snow business. So we do winter effects for film and television. So if you see snow or ice or something like that and it’s good, it’s us. If it’s bad, it’s not us. It fills in and pays the bills.
Do you have any tips for aspiring actors looking to break into the industry?
There’s a sort of golden rule, I think, for anyone in any industry and that’s don’t be a dick. I will also add to that: turn up on time and smile. You know, because turning up is half the battle and the thing to remember with any entertainment, any sort of endeavor, is that somebody gives it up every day because you will face more rejection in a couple of months than most people will face in their entire lifetime.
And you have to sort of go into it knowing that and having a bit of a steal core and sort of being pragmatic about it.
Work on your craft…and say yes. Say yes more than you say no.
Tickets are now available to watch James Payton and Walles Hamonde in Order of the Improv.
Words by Madeleine Raine