Interrogation: 'Playing a gay man changed my life'

Sunday Mirror, Feb 29, 2004 by Richard Barber

Your wife, Joanna Roth, is expecting twins next month. What sort of father do you think you'll make?

John Hannah: Probably crap. I'm so impatient I can't even handle it when the cats misbehave. But I'm not going to work for at least six months so I can be with them.

How did you and Joanna meet?

JH: We'd met briefly before, but on the way to a picnic with some mutual friends she drove into the back of my car. I looked in the mirror, and I could see her slumped over the steering wheel, but she was more upset than hurt. I gave her a hug and a kiss to reassure her and people standing at a bus stop nearby all started applauding. They didn't realise we already knew each other.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

JH: Obsession, lust, desire, all of those, yes. But it takes years to discover love.

Did you mind playing a gay man in Four Weddings...?

JH: Not in the least. I'd never met Simon Callow who played my 'husband', but he was just adorable. I'm told that grown men wept when I recited the WH Auden poem at the funeral. Mind you, I was quite popular in certain pubs in Soho when the film was first released.

Did you have any idea Four Weddings... would be such a huge success?

JH: None whatsoever. When I first read the script, I didn't get it. It seemed to be about a lot of twitty types for whom I had no sympathy. I was quite politicised and it wasn't my sort of film. On the other hand, I'd been out of work for a long time and wasn't in any position to turn it down. Then it changed my life.

How did you first know you were famous?

JH: The first time blokes started staring at me on the underground in Glasgow and didn't want to beat me up. Now, I've become quite adept at not catching anyone's eye.

Can you imagine ever moving to Hollywood?

JH: No, but I lived in LA for six months in 2002 when I was making a TV series called MDs. I don't know why people are so snooty about LA. I've got lots of friends there - smart, sophisticated, witty people who laugh a lot. The sun shines. The salads are great. I don't understand the mentality that Glasgow in the rain is somehow better.

How do you know you're rich?

JH: I don't drink a lot of champagne but I had a couple of bottles of Dom Perignon last summer and you certainly can notice the difference. We were staying at One Devonshire Gardens, my favourite hotel in Glasgow, at the time. That's a great indulgence. Joanna and I always stay there if we're visiting our parents. Actually, we brought the champagne in with us and then sent down for a couple of empty glasses. Why pay room service when you don't have to?

What would you do if your bank account was credited with pounds 10,000 in error?

JH: I probably wouldn't say anything unless they asked me and then I'd tell them I hadn't noticed. If you write a cheque, it comes out of your account immediately, but if you pay in a cheque, it takes four days to clear it. So no, I wouldn't feel guilty.

What's the worst thing you've ever done while drunk?

JH: I once did a performance of a play while I was drunk. I was having a bad time personally and I was on my way back to Liverpool for that evening's show and got drunk on the train. I got through the play, but then a fellow actor pointed out I was meant to be a Scouser: from start to finish, I'd done it in my Scottish accent. Not my proudest moment.

What do you like least about your appearance?

JH: My teeth. I ate far too many sweets as a kid which means my teeth are full of fillings. And I knocked out the front two on the kerb playing football in the street when I was 12. So they're both capped.

And best?

JH: My wife says she likes my footballer's thighs.

Do you exercise?

JH: I go to the gym. I had an operation on my knee which I damaged snow-boarding with Brendan Fraser after we'd finished filming The Mummy. Because of that, I took up walking and running on the treadmill and static cycling.

What do you think is your most irritating habit?

JH: My short temper. I flare up over the most stupid little things, but if something major happens, I somehow tell myself this problem has been presented to me because I'll be able to deal with it.

So, what irritates you?

JH: Men in yellow jackets on railway platforms who have no idea when the next train is coming. Nobody you talk to at stations seems to work there or know anything. They've got all the kit and none of the answers.

Whose career would you like if you didn't have your own?

JH: Jeff Bridges's. He's got integrity, makes great choices and never does the same thing twice. I'd watch something he was in just because he was in it. I also like Ed Norton, John Cusack and William H Macy.

Are you superstitious?

JH: Up until last year, I'd have said no. But then I was on a beach in California, killing time, and I picked up some shells. When I took them out of my pocket later in the day, I realised there were 13 of them. And, for some reason, that didn't feel good - although it's not a number that's ever bothered me before.

What was the first record you ever bought?

JH: Slade's Come On Feel the Noize. I must have been about 14. I'd liked them from the time they were a skinhead band.