{"id":10895,"date":"2010-05-13T16:58:12","date_gmt":"2010-05-13T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2010\/05\/13\/face-off-with-facejacker-kayvan-novak\/"},"modified":"2010-05-13T16:58:12","modified_gmt":"2010-05-13T16:58:12","slug":"face-off-with-facejacker-kayvan-novak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/13\/face-off-with-facejacker-kayvan-novak\/","title":{"rendered":"Face Off with Facejacker Kayvan Novak"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Interview with the man behind the mask<\/h3>\n
\"\"DESPITE being a BAFTA Award-winning TV star with millions of fans, British-Iranian star Kayvan Novak can walk down the street completely unrecognised.<\/strong> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, as the voice of Fonejacker, the inspired prank phone caller with a seemingly boundless supply of characters and voices, his face is never seen on screen. But all that has changed – these well-loved animated characters have been made into flesh at last, as the Fonejacker becomes the Facejacker. Here, Kayvan reveals all.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Your new series is on Channel 4. It\u2019s a bit of a twist on the Fonejacker theme, isn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The idea is that I play some of the characters from Fonejacker, some of the animated characters, but I play them in real life. So we\u2019re achieving that by heavy prosthetic make up that\u2019s transforming me into the characters.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You must have to spend half your life in the make-up chair<\/strong>.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite time-consuming. Each character takes about three hours. But it\u2019s worth it, because the transformation is pretty awesome. Terry Tibbs is a good example: we gave the picture of Terry Tibbs to our make-up guy, who then took a cast of my face and then tried to make a mask that looked like Terry. And the results are pretty sensational. I\u2019ve been going round as Terry Tibbs quite convincingly. People have heard the voice and then seen the face and gone \u2018My God, it\u2019s Terry Tibbs!\u2019<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Who are the original animations based on?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Well, Terry Tibbs, for example, is two people that we Photoshopped together. We got the massive skull and cranium and suit and shirt and neck of one guy that we found on the internet, and we merged him with my Polish mechanic\u2019s features, his eyes, nose and mouth.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Now that you\u2019re playing these characters face-to-face as opposed to over the phone, does it feel very different to perform? Do you prepare differently?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good question. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve never experienced before. Playing someone so completely different, who doesn\u2019t even look like you, is quite an escape. To just go out and be these characters is great, they\u2019re suddenly real, and you get to play with them in different ways. Over the phone, you can only say things to people and hope that they accept it and react in the right way. There is more of a jeopardy being face to face. For the first few minutes of the interaction, you\u2019re never quite sure that you\u2019ve convinced them. You always wonder what they\u2019re thinking. Ultimately, I\u2019m a 31-year-old Iranian dude wearing a plastic helmet, putting on a voice and trying to convince them that I\u2019m a character. I try and come across like a tornado, destroying everything in my path, so they have no choice but to accept them. It\u2019s credit to the make up that you can stand face to face with people and convince them. The comedy potential then is massive; it\u2019s much bigger than on the phone.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Have there been any characters from Fonejacker that aren\u2019t in the new series?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Yeah, there are some guys who I can\u2019t play in real life. For example, as much as I love the \u2018Internet Service Providings\u2019 guy, he\u2019s a small, meek dude. I\u2019m a tall, proud, arrogant man, so it just doesn\u2019t work physically. With others, I put on the fat suit and I\u2019m off. The African scamster guy\u2019s name has changed, though. Terry looks quite like he does in Fonejacker, but the African prosthetic, with my features, made the African character look very different, so we changed his name, because it clearly wasn\u2019t the same guy. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re playing a well-loved character like Terry, you must sometimes get rumbled by people who are Fonejacker fans.<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Yeah, but not that often. It was occasionally more a case of someone saying \u2018Hang about, mate, who are you under there?\u2019 Inevitably, sometimes when you\u2019re doing work with prosthetics, sometimes people will spot something. That\u2019s par for the course.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

What have been the best reactions you\u2019ve had from people? Has anyone ever tried to hit you?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

No-one\u2019s tried to hit me yet! Although Nigel Benn gave me a little warning tap, because he figured out something was going on.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You wouldn\u2019t want him hitting you!<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

No. He\u2019s a lovely guy, and he only did it in jest, thankfully.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In your other life, you\u2019re a screen actor. You were blown up by George Clooney in Syriana.<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Yeah, that was great. Four days in Casablanca, in Morocco, filming there. I really enjoyed it.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And you\u2019ve just done a film directed by Chris Morris, a comedy about Jihadi terrorists.<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Four Lions, that\u2019s right. I\u2019ve just come back from Sundance, it was premiered out there. It was a great experience. I did the pilot for Facejacker, finished that in March, and then went off to film with Chris Morris for ten weeks, with a bunch of amazing actors, and amazing Chris Morris.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Do you prefer doing the Fonejacker and Facejacker stuff, or the films? Where does your heart lie?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really committed to making comedy, so if I\u2019m acting, I prefer doing comedy. I like doing my own stuff, but if I\u2019m going to work with people, then they\u2019ve got to be the right people. And I\u2019ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing people. I\u2019m a lucky boy right now; I\u2019ve got my fingers in a few pies.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You won a BAFTA for Fonejacker. How did that feel?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

That was completely awesome. It was totally unexpected. We always used to joke \u2018This will get us our BAFTA\u2019 after a George Agdgdgwngo call – we just assumed no-one at BAFTA would give a shit about a bunch of prank calls. The success of Fonejacker was so unexpected. In 2008, when we were doing the second series of Fonejacker, we just seemed to win every award we were up for, which was just bizarre. We also had the anxiety of thinking \u2018They\u2019re awarding us for this fluke, the second series is going to be awful, what am I doing?\u2019 And the anxiety of wanting to make the second series as good as the first.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

How do you feel about this series? Now most of it is in the can, are you pleased with the results?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Very pleased. I think we\u2019re making something that\u2019s never been made before, and that\u2019s exciting in itself. Not only is it pioneering and original, it\u2019s also very funny, which is ultimately what you want. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Facejacker is on Channel 4 on Fridays at 10pm.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with the man behind the mask DESPITE being a BAFTA Award-winning TV star with millions of fans, British-Iranian star Kayvan Novak can walk down the street completely unrecognised. That\u2019s because, as the voice of Fonejacker, the inspired prank phone caller with a seemingly boundless supply of characters and voices, his face is never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}