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PULP: Introducing… The Boys of ‘JUNK COMICS’

It’s all very well me waffling on about the goings-on on set of PULP – the gossip, the in-jokes, the lashings of verbal abuse – but unless you know who I’m going on about it’s all going to seem a little pointless, now isn’t it?

So, before I get cracking with the dirt-dishing I thought I should probably tell you a bit about some of the characters.

And that’s why, in the wee small hours of day 1 of the shoot, I found myself in a room at the top of Birmingham’s Thinktank, talking to three men while they had their hair and makeup done.

TONY LEARY (Jay Sutherland)
LIKES His girlfriend, comics, films
DISLIKES Liars, cheats, being broke

Tony’s a man with a dream: a dream of bringing joy to fans across the globe with his amazing comic books. Sadly his company, Junk Comics, is in more debt than the RBS and his previous titles have gone down about as well as a fart in a lift. But Tony’s no quitter; he’s gearing up for one last roll of the dice and assembles his trusty team to take their new comic ‘The Sodomizer’ to a convention in Birmingham.

Unfortunately for Tony, it’s not all plain sailing - there are rival comic companies to contend with, rabid nerds all over the place, and the landlord of the house they’re staying in seems a little… too friendly. Oh, and the police have saddled him with a foul-mouthed undercover officer in order to expose a money laundering racket.

Yup, it’s just another day in the heady world of comic book publishing! But can Tony overcome adversity and become a real life hero? And can his geeky friends stop arguing about Inception for long enough to help him?

Actor Jay Sutherland definitely has that classic ‘leading man’ quality. He’s handsome and talented, of course, but under the confident exterior is a subtly vulnerable thoughtfulness that hints at a lot going on beneath the surface. It’s an even more pleasant surprise to discover that, despite having recently landed several juicy movie roles, he’s still very much down to earth, almost bashful, and happily admits to having a lot in common with his on-screen character. “Tony’s just a normal, everyday kind of guy… He’s like lots of people who have a passion in life and want to pursue that through thick and thin.”

So what prep work has he been doing to take on the role of Tony? “Adam Hamdy [Producer on PULP and author of graphic novel series ‘The Hunter’] has told me about how he writes comics so I can climb inside the brain of Tony in terms of trying to understand how he does that. It’s very similar to any artist’s creative struggle, whether you’re an actor, artist or writer.”

That’s not to say that he’s uncritical of Tony’s somewhat misguided offerings before The Sodomizer. “He’s put everything into it – all his money… If it weren’t for [his girlfriend] he’d have given up by now or been homeless. He’s been writing for all his life, really, and all of them have been rubbish. My personal favourite’s Rat Warriors – it’s sort of like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But with rats.”

Jay says he hopes that Tony will help people realise that geeks aren’t all mile-thick glasses and social constipation. “He’s still a geek, and that’s the key thing, really: geek isn’t a stigma, it’s not actually a bad thing, and a lot of people still don’t realise that. He’s just a normal bloke. People basically just need to be less judgemental, in all walks of life, really.”

“Geeks are presented in cool ways a lot more in today’s films and media. Nowadays they’re funny in their own right – rather than being funny to laugh at they’re now funny people, intelligent and charismatic. Hopefully that line between geek and ‘the inbetweener’ is fading, which can only be a good thing. Everyone should have a passion anyway; if you’re not passionate about something then you’re missing out on a massive part of life. There are a lot of people who haven’t got a passion in life and it’s them that you should feel sorry for rather than those who happen to be passionate about comics, because that’s a brilliant thing!”

RICK BEAN (Gavin Molloy)
LIKES: His Gibson guitar and his best mate Tony
DISLIKES: Fakers, philistines, fans

Opinionated, charismatic and brutal in his criticism, Rick’s the perfect contrast to nice-guy Tony. As Junk Comics’ graphic artist, he’s responsible for bringing ‘The Sodomizer’ to life. He’s also responsible for dishing out the wise-cracks and almost reducing Keith to tears on several occasions. Just don’t have a pop at his beloved Star Wars, right?

You can instantly see why Gavin got the part of Rick – he positively oozes rock star attitude in a Russell Brand/Noel Fielding kind of way and his own wardrobe of skinny jeans and distressed leather jackets so closely resembles Rick’s that you’d need production stills to determine whether he was actually in costume or not. His particular brand of attitude is laid back and softly-spoken, though, rather than an ‘in your face’ persona, and he seems rather intrigued by Rick’s ‘screw you’ attitude. “He’s quite an interesting one, Rick. He’s a nice bloke but I think he’s also quite a sarky bastard as well. He doesn’t take a lot of crap. He’s got that classic British sarcasm. He’s got a snidey comment for everything.”

But as you’ll soon find out, in PULP being nasty doesn’t necessarily make someone a villain. “He’s an anti-hero. He’s a little bit Han Solo. That’s the nice thing about the bunch, they’re all quite different instead of that typical ‘oh, they’re just a bunch of geeks’ thing. There’s a bit more diversity than that.”

Being the guitarist for too-cool-for-school band ‘The Dash’, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the weird world of comics was new territory for Gavin, but you’d be wrong! “As a kid I was absolutely obsessed with comics, but to a bit of a weird scale because I used to collect them avidly but I didn’t used to read them? I used to preserve them, put them in backing sleeves. There’s boxes and boxes of them in my parents’ attic somewhere and they go back to first editions of Mickey Mouse and stuff. I think I’ve got The Death of Superman as well which has a black cover, limited edition.”

“The thing I like about PULP is the way it’s fused”, says Gavin. “It’s got that very, very British thing about it. It takes that whole comic thing but it doesn’t take it too seriously. I just think it’s a nice insight into it and it’s uncharted territory. Brave new ground.”

KEITH DAVIS (Simon Burbage)
LIKES: Watching films, talking about films, dreaming about films. Reading comics, talking about comics…
DISLIKES: Science fiction cynics. Pet-hating cults.

If Rick is Han Solo, then Keith is most definitely C3PO. As players of Oblivion will confirm, every hero needs an adoring fan, and that’s precisely what Keith is to Tony. Socially inept, obsessive and misunderstood, though equally harmless and loveable, he’s arguably the most classic ‘geek’ at Junk Comics, and while his hilarious arguments with Rick cause tension amongst the gang, he’s more than happy to be Tony’s dogsbody.

Two things quickly become obvious about Simon Burbage: firstly, while he and Keith share a fresh-faced optimism and (obviously) a face, he’s far too eloquent to ever be confused with his on-screen persona, and secondly, he’s got that bright-eyed sparkle only sported by someone who adores his job. He describes Keith as “a very enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky, simple minded side-kick. He loves comic books and he’s very commited to Tony. He’s not in the job for the money, he’s in it for the love.”

“He represents the minority of comic book fans that are misunderstood as being a little bit odd, and we’re not odd, we’re just a little bit… we have special needs. And those needs are comics.”

‘We’, eh? So I’m guessing that playing Keith isn’t too much of a stretch for Simon? “I play a lot of loveable geeks so I think I must be quite similar. I’m very comfortable in this niche. I am a bit of a simpleton. I’m quite innocent and naïve, I like to think”.

“I got into graphic novels last year when Watchmen came out... that was brilliant, and I’ve read a few since then. I’m reading Starmaker [written by Adam Hamdy and David Golding, both of whom are on the PULP production team] at the moment, which I’m really enjoying. I never understood before how a comic book could be so filmic. It does read like a film and that’s really cool.”

So what really gets Simon’s geek on? “I love Star Wars. Most sci-fi and anything to do with fantasy I love. I think cinema and film should be about escapism and showing you things you’re not going to see in your general life, and that is what’s wonderful about sci-fi.”

Images courtesy of Alison Grainger Photography and Damian Hayes.

Written by Amelia Tyler

www.twitter.com/ameliatyler

A self-confessed geek with a love of anything involving superpowers, aliens or kickass futuristic weaponry, Amelia is an actress and voiceover artist. She was SyFy's continuity announcer for five years, spends more time online than is healthy, and would one day like to own her very own scutter and/or tribble.

Catch her soon in several movies, including as overly-affectionate Ashley in 'PULP', devious temptress Sarah Smith in 'Wasters', fiesty political protester Charlotte in 'Bad Blood', and Superman's biological mother Lara in 'Superman: Requiem'.

www.twitter.com/ameliatyler