~*~JoE~*~
Joe Spencer aka Matt Milburn
How did you get into acting? I sort of fell into it really. My sister and brother both work in acting; my sister at college and in theatre, and my brother Greg was in BROOKSIDE, playing Terry Gibson during the siege storyline and also in the new DVD UNFINISHED BUSINESS. It was some of his friends who asked me to do a part in a play - just a two-week part in a student film over Christmas.I had absolutely no acting experience, and had been at the same model agency as my brother, but wasn't particularly enjoying that. And I knew there was something burning in me to try acting, so I did this student film over Christmas.
What led you to audition for HOLLYOAKS? I got some good response from the student film, so I went to my agent and said I'd like to try and do some acting auditions - knowing full well that I was nowhere near up to standard, but thinking maybe it could lead to some amateur dramatics.Then I got sent for a part on BROOKSIDE, and got down to the last five out of 50 and was really chuffed for getting that far. Then a week later I got a chance to go for a part in HOLLYOAKS. I didn't really know much about it. I came into the audition room and there was a crowd of 30 lads; I didn't really know what to expect, because I'd only read a piece to camera once before for the BROOKSIDE audition. I read for the part, then went back to work - which was on a scaffold site. I was working as a labourer! I got a phone call the next day up a three-story ladder while carrying a load of roof tiles. They said you've got the part!
What was it like on your first day on set? Absolutely everything was new. Directors were telling me to move upstage and downstage, and I was just looking at them. When they were saying things like, 'Could you find the light?', I was looking at them as if I should be holding a torch. I'd no idea what was going on at all. It took a little while, but it's funny how quickly you pick things up.
How quickly were you able to strike up a relationship with Joe's mate Robbie, aka Andrew Newton-Lee? At the audition we were the last people to read together, so we'd sort of had a chat then and got to know each other a bit. Then when we found out we'd got the parts we liaised over the phone and said we'd meet up, and spoke to each other before we came in for our first day.But you're never going to get a bond straightaway until you've been on screen and acted together. For me I was initially concentrating on developing my own role, because I didn't really know anything about acting anyway. Then subconsciously I could feel a bond growing between myself and Andy. It must have been after about a month or so when we thought we could start suggesting things to each other, and responding more to each other's characters and quirks.
Do you have any empathy with your character? No! He's that bold and brash a character, bordering on the obnoxious sometimes in the way he's so ignorant. But I think there are subtleties in the script that suggest there is a bit of a sensitive side to him. So I can sort of empathise with that, but it's very difficult when he's so brash, loud-mouthed and opinionated. As regards inspiration, I've been told by the producers, and I think it's true myself, that even on the day we started filming I came out with three different catchphrases that you could associate with Alan Partridge. That sort of, "Come on in, the water's lovely!" type of thing - off the wall things you really wouldn't say. So Joe has a cheesiness I'd associate with an Alan Partridge type character, which suits me because it's quite fun to do. Not that I base Joe entirely around him, but it's that mentality of someone being oblivious to what you're actually doing and saying. That's Joe.
What kind of response have you got from family and friends to joining HOLLYOAKS? I think everyone was as gobsmacked as I was that I'd got the part. When I saw friends that I'd not seen for a while, especially from school, they'd say, "I didn't even know you did acting," and I could turn round and say, well neither did I. It was just one of the those things that happened. I think everyone was genuinely chuffed. No-one had any idea of what I could do. There's been the odd criticism though, off my big brother - he's my main critic, not in a bad way, he's my best help in the world at the moment. It's good to have him around!