Sound Recordist Andrew Simpson (AKA Geordie) tells us about his walk on role as Hiker 1

Last up is Andrew Simpson (aka Geordie) who although sound recordist on the film, found himself in the walk on role as Hiker 1. He pestered us to allow him to do an interview, and in the end we cracked.

Q: What can you tell us about the Hiker character? A: I play one half of the charismatic hiking duo. There is a darkness within my character that really becomes apparent as the scene develops. They also suffer from erectus nipperosis which adds an intense yet alluring charm to their personality.

Q:How did you get involved with the project? A:James sacked his wife, Danielle, and I got told I had to do it. With limited acting experience (I once played a star in the Christmas Nativity) it was a challenge that I threw myself into.

Q: How did you approach playing the Hiker? Was there any aspects of the character that were challenging? A: To prepare for my role, I really wanted to capture the essence Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Jack Torrance in the Shining coupled with Robert the Niro as Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. This involved studying hours upon hours of footage and replicating facial expressions and their demeanour. I feel, in my humble opinion, that ultimately I failed in this aspect as unfortunately you can’t polish a turd. The main challenge I endured was maintaining the erect nipples for the duration of the scene. Pre-scene work outs of Nip curls and 40kg nipple dead lifts were great preparation but you can’t plan for stage fright when faced with a camera.

Q: What was the experience of working on “The Shimian” like? A: It was really fun. The rest of the cast were always play jokes on me like pushing me down stairs, pretending to ignore me for the duration of the shoot, leaving me to walk home from Warwick with no shoes, really hilarious stuff like that. I miss those guys, hopefully they’ll see my request for the group chat soon enough and we can catch up.

Q: Any favourite memories from the set? A: Just being involved with the team and trusted with tasks such as standing in the rain so I could let them know when it had stopped. This did result in trench foot and mild hypothermia but I managed to give the signal and I was later informed in the ambulance that scene was a success.

You can see Geordie and his erect nipples on the giant screen at the premiere on the 29th September 18:30 at Millennium Point Birmingham. Info and tickets HERE