It had been some time since I’d last met actor, writer and creator Andy Nyman, so long that I couldn’t quite remember when it had been. No worries, he recalled it: “Twenty four years ago when I did the Merchant of Venice at West Yorkshire Playhouse,” he tells me.
His recall is nothing to do with my memorability but more down to the fact that in matters of the mind, Nyman is somewhat of an expert, as the co-writer and collaborator of mentalist and illusionist Derren Brown
In those 24 years he has also created an impressive CV as an actor, with roles on TV in everything from Eastenders to Peaky Blinders, several major films with a healthy dose of good theatre thrown in.
Add to that co-writing and creating at least eight of Brown’s TV shows and several of the stage shows, winning an Olivier award along the way and being nominated for a BAFTA.
His most successful work has been Ghost Stories, which he co-wrote with Jeremy Dyson, famed for The League of Gentleman. First it was a West End play which ran for 1,000 shows at the Duke of York’s theatre, winning two Olivier Awards. Then it became a film starring Martin Freedman, Nyman and Paul Whitehouse. The film was huge success internationally, and this week became available for streaming and on DVD.
None of this would have happened if two nice Jewish boys hadn’t met at Chai Summer Camp when they were 15 years old. There was an instant bonding between Andy Nyman from Leicester and Jeremy Dyson from Leeds; “The second we met there was a recognition of kindred spirits,” says Nyman, now 52, “We were thrown into the dorm together, and within minutes both realised we were obsessed with horror films, had a similar sense of humour, mischief and loved magic.
“There was this incredible amazing coincidence that has been the greatest gift of all, having been able to spend hours and hours and hours with my dearest, bestest friend sharing these incredible life experiences. Totally unadulterated joy.”
Ghost Stories is a dark tale centred around Professor Phillip Goodman (Nyman) who has a TV series where he reveals psychics to be charlatans. The professor is challenged to prove there is nothing supernatural in three separate incidents. What follows is a journey of classic horror combined with spine -tingling moments of sheer shock with a twist at the end which is perfectly ,succinctly clever. The film is made even more haunting by the original soundtrack created by Israeli composer Frank Ilfman.
To say it’s a Jewish story isn’t accurate but the influence of Judaism is throughout, not least because both creators are Jewish; “There were big changes between the play and film. The Jewishness of the play was always very light, it’s definitely in there and part of who Professor Goodman is but it’s sort of skirted around, lightly. Within the film, it’s a world we dig much deeper into,” says Nyman.
“The film opens with what is ostensibly a recreation of mine and Jeremy’s bar mitzvahs. So that opening sequence, most of the extras are family and friends; both of our mothers are in there, many of the people who were actually at my bar mitzvah are there.”
A lot of the film was shot in Leeds, Jeremy’s home town, and where Nyman’s grandparents live; “It’s set at The Allerton where my own barmitzvah was, the date of my barmitzvah is shown and there is some real footage, so total authenticity. I’d say the film explores the impact of religious belief within a family, positive and negative. As we discover with Goodman, the impact is not good because of the fundamentalism of his father. But it is a world that we love, that has truly affected our lives positively.”
One can only imagine what it must be like to be in the room when Nyman and Dyson are collaborating; “Jeremy and I are two beings split down the middle. Extraordinary, we’ve known each other since we were 15. Our mums sent us off to camp to find ‘wives’; nice Jewish girls and we found each other instead. We both have the same sensibilities. I can say something really terrible and dark and he will go ‘Oh my lord!’ and then make it even darker if possible!
“Collaborating is a joyous experience with lots of empty silences in-between the fun. We spend a lot of time sitting staring waiting for inspiration to come.”
Nyman grew up in Leicester, where his late father Ivan was a dentist. He lost his father 11 years ago but his mother Phyllis still lives in Leicester and Nyman describes her as ‘amazing, an incredible inspiring woman.’
As a child, although he always wanted to act, his heroes were impressionists of the day, Mike Yarwood and Joe Longthorne; “I like the notion of mimicry,” he says.
His family originates from Poland and Lithuania and three years ago he was able to visit his ancestors’ homeland in Lithuania whilst filming The Eichmann Show for the BBC; “My fathers’ side are from Kovna (Kaunas) and Vilna, we shot the film in Vilnius. It was amazing to think in the old town, my great grandparents had walked round there, I went to Kovna too and walked round there. I’m very proud and intrigued by my heritage.”
Nyman has recently celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary; his wife, artist Sophie Abbott, converted to Judaism. The couple have two grown up children, Preston and Macy, both actors.
They had a glorious wedding all thanks to Weetabix. “Around the time I was about to get married I did a Weetabix commercial which, virtually to the penny, covered the cost of our wedding! We got married at the West London Shul, Hugo Gryn avashalom officiated. It was wonderful.”
We’ll next see Nyman in the new Judy Garland bio-pic Judy with Renee Zellweger in the title role: “It’s set in London in 1968 — Judy’s sort of farewell tour. My character, Ben, is a stage door fan that is there all the time to meet her. Then an event happens and it’s part of where the story goes.
“It’s a really sweet and beautiful story. Renee Zellweger is astonishing, absolutely amazing. It’s a very exciting project.”
Ghost Stories has been a great success, so could there be a sequel? “No, we feel that, it would betray the truth of the story,. We feel we’ve done that. We are on to writing our next film now. Another genre film!”
Dark?
“Oh yes definitely!” he says without a hint of menace.
