Hi, Tom. Hey, AJ. How are you? Oh, my gosh. So excited to be talking with you this morning, especially because tomorrow is such a big day. Your new movie, Love in the Villa, is coming to Netflix. How excited are you? Very excited, very excited. It's a big day in the Hopper household because my wife is in the movie as well. So it's the first movie that we've done together, so it's a big moment for us, you know, that we've got a movie coming out that we're both in.
Oh, how cool! So how much time did the two of you get to spend on the set together? Were you in Italy for this together? We were. Yeah, we were in Verona, Italy together, which was, in one way, incredible, because it was the first time we were away from our children for, you know, a few weeks. I'm from time alone again, which we haven't had since both our kids were born. But at the same time, the time we were away from our kids was really, really hard because we were
away from our children. So it was a kind of bittersweet in that sense that we had an amazing time shooting this movie. It was just such a great experience. Verona is incredible and the crew and the directors and We just did a great team, so we had a great time. Well, let's talk about how this is a bit
different. Obviously, I've got a lot of listeners right now who are, you know, loving the Umbrella Academy and you did Game of Thrones, but this is a bit of a shift for you and more of a feel-good movie, putting some joy out there. Can you share what it's been like for you making Love in the Villa? Yeah. Firstly, the big change for me was being able to go to work in something that isn't armor or a big muscle suit. So I could go to work with my own body than to put on
jeans and a shirt as my costume. It felt pretty great, actually. But yeah, it was a new one for me because, you know, Mark Steven Johnson, our amazing director, he approached me about the role. He was like, you know, I think you'd be great at it. I was like, what do you mean? I've not done anything like this before. How do you know? I was actually quite apprehensive about going into something like this because I've not done it before. But it was actually Laura,
my wife, who read the script first. And she was like, no, I think this would be great for you. And I read the script and I thought it was brilliant. I thought Martin did such a great job with it. And like you said, you know, I felt like a movie like this. is what everyone needs at the minute. It's so feel good. It's got so much heart and a few giggles along the way. And I think it's just, it's just a very light hearted movie. And I think You know, who doesn't love a rom-com, right?
It's very easy watching. Well, and I have to ask, because I'm a huge cat lover. I actually have a book about to come out about cats. Like, cats are my life. So when I saw the trailer, I was like, man, I got to ask Tom about the scene where he's on the bed and there's all the cats in the room. Like, how is it trying to actually work with a bunch of cats? Yeah, I mean, they were actually, there were some days that they were brilliant, and they
did exactly as they were told. And then there were some days that they just didn't want to play ball. And we ended up having to CGI some of them in. But yeah, the cats are a tricky one, right? Because you can't just get them, they're like dogs, where you can train them to do the treat thing, and then they kind of pick it up what you want them to do. They're a bit more free-spirited. Yeah, there were some days that were pretty
tricky actually, but we got through. That one, that particular day when I was coming around them, you know, they were, they were pretty good that day. They played ball. That sounds about on brand for cats. Like some days we're gonna, we're gonna do what you want and some days we're not. Exactly, yeah. Well, if you don't mind, Tom, I've got several questions for you while we've got you here.
Michelle was the first one and she said, you know, first of all, she's had it on her calendar to watch Love in the Villa when it comes out tomorrow. She actually said, did you know he has a new movie out tomorrow? I said, yeah, that's why we're talking. She wanted to know, Being a fan of you from Umbrella Academy. Can you talk a little bit about?
You know the announcement that we're getting another season and it may be the last and you know any hopes that you have for Luther's Future before the show comes to an end. Yeah, I mean it's very interesting because I mean we We end up knowing a little as you guys do as fans of the show, as we find these things out. You know, like when we shot the end of that season last year, we were like, what does this all mean? Like, what's going on here? So we went completely in the dark.
And then as we find out that we're doing the fourth season, until we get like a season breakdown from Steve Blackman, our marvellous showrunner, we're kind of clueless. So I think it'd be good to get, to see Luca get some kind of I don't know what's going to happen with Sloane. I don't know whether Sloane's in the next season or not. So, obviously, after he's been married, that's going to be a big part of it. I'd like to see him...
I hope he's not too down in the dumps. You know, I hope he's not too miserable if Sloane isn't there. Apart from that, you know, I always keep a very open mind, because no matter what you do in terms of trying to guess what's going to happen, as you can see from the beginning of Season 3, with the dance and the fight and the way that all went, there's just no way you can guess which way Steve Blackman is going to take
this show. So just sort of sit back and wait for him to tell you, because he's going to take you on a ride no matter what. So either way, you know, it's going to be exciting. Are you hoping for another dance scene in season four? Is that fun for you? You know what? I went into the start of the season while I did the whole show thinking, well, thinking that I would not have to dance in the show. I had no idea that there was going to be such a massive dance component
to it. Because the first time I read the script, the dance that we did in I Think You're Alone Now dance wasn't in there, in the initial one I read. So I had no idea that the huge dance component was going to be part of it. But I'm sort of now got to the point where I'm assuming there is going to be some kind of dance component every season. So I'm always, like, disappointed if there isn't one now.
Well, Tom, before I let you go and remind everybody, Love in the Villa is out tomorrow, I have to take a moment to just ask you a little bit about Doctor Who, because I don't mean to, like, take this back to cats, but two of my cats are named Melody and Amelia Pond, because I loved that episode you were in so much. Are you a Doctor Who fan? Well, you sort of grow up in the UK. You know, you grow up with Doctor Who. It's part of our heritage, I suppose. Like, you know,
it's a generational thing. I watched, you know, all the Tom Baker ones as I was growing up. And I think you kind of automatically become a fan because it's just part of your everyday life here. I certainly wasn't like a mega Who fan, but I certainly watched it throughout my life. Yeah. Well, and I know the moment we started watching Umbrella Academy, we were like, that's Jeff from Doctor Who. So excited to see all of
this success that you are having, Tom. Thank you so much for being on the show with us here today. And congratulations on Love in the Villa. We'll be watching on Netflix tomorrow. Oh, bless you. Thank you so much.