In the beginning, he doesn’t show his American counterpart a shred of respect with his antagonistic nature. Adversaries who slowly develop a mutual respect for each other is one of the genre’s favoured tropes, but rarely does it happen in a gun-toting action flick where those two characters are world leaders.

Everett isn’t a sidekick or there for comic relief, but thankfully, Hodge didn’t have to look too far to find his inspiration: “Unfortunately, there were various characters in our political life we’ve seen over the years who I could easily base it on without it seeming like some sort of comic thing. We’ve had a whole roster of buffoons who’ve been prime minister, in my view, some more than others, some lasting less long than others.”

“So it’s a bit of a composite of some of those,” he explained without naming names. “The idea as well as that for this story, there’s someone who is entitled, who’s distrustful of women, who doesn’t like Americans, and there’s a long way to go, and thinks he rules the world, doesn’t really value what she says, and then learns that lesson as he goes. So I don’t think it’s that far from the truth, to be honest.”

Continuing to rail against the establishment, Hodge suggested that “there’s one, particularly, that could easily have behaved like that and is still behaving like that, I think.” And he wasn’t done there. “I think all of them long to be Margaret Thatcher when they grow up, and none of them will be. So I don’t think it’s that far removed, unfortunately, from what we actually see in real life.”

Given his extensive career in film, television, and theatre, it was worth asking if there’s any discernible difference between playing a government official in a straightforward drama and doing it in a heightened genre film like G20, where realism isn’t necessarily the order of the day.

“I think there isn’t any difference,” Hodge replied. “I think you approach it in the same way. I mean, you still have to know the parameters of the person you’re playing, how they speak, how they stand, how they laugh, how they cry. Everything comes from the text. I’m essentially a theatre actor. I came out of the theatre, so everything I do is based on the script I’m given, not the fact that you get blown up and shot and have to dive through hoops of fire.”

“You just have to be the same person doing that, I think,” the actor continued. “And in a way, the film is lovely for that because it doesn’t just have all these action sequences. There is a heart to it. There’s a family at the centre of it, there’s certainly a relationship between me and the president of America. So there’s things to play with, as well as just the harum-scarum, shoot ’em up, edge-of-your-seat action movie.”

This isn’t Hodge’s first action movie rodeo after appearances in Ang Lee’s Gemini Man, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, and Francis Lawrence’s Red Sparrow, but it’s definitely the most hands-on he’s been in the genre. Four decades into his career, finding a new challenge remains something he’s always keen to take on.

“I’m delighted to get to play something different all the time,” he agreed. “I think I’d never really done anything like it, and I’ve loved films like that. I think we need some films right now where we just escape, and we stop worrying about the world and the politics or the work that you’ve done during the day, and you just sit at home, and you watch something that really, really absorbs you, and you’re on the edge of your seat, and it’s pure entertainment.”

Some theatre performers might look down their nose at an actioner like G20, but Hodge isn’t one of them: “It’s just as skilled as doing Titus Andronicus at the Globe or something at the National Theatre. They all require different elements, but they’re all about telling stories, and they’re all about the audience believing what you do.”

To illustrate Hodge’s commitment to versatility, G20 makes him the first actor to play both the British Prime Minister and Willy Wonka after headlining the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical. Not only that, but after the 2018 docudrama series Watergate, where he played Richard Nixon, he might be the only actor to embody the leaders of both the United Kingdom and the United States in film and television.

“Yes, I did! Yeah, you’re right. I played Nixon,” he recalled. “There is a trend in acting at the moment as well. I’ve been acting for so long that there are these trends now. But there’s certainly a trend at the moment where you’re paying people who exist or real people, either they’re dead, or they’re living. But certainly, more and more, that’s the case.”

Adding, “I’ve just started a new series, and it’s all based on customs investigators in the ’80s in England trying to stop heroin from coming into the country. They’re all real people. I’ve also just done Lockerbie, which was a true story. Nixon, as you say, I played the guy who invented waterboarding. It’s quite a responsibility when you think these people are watching and they’re still alive at the moment, but, yeah, it’s interesting.”

Obviously, G20 exists at the other end of the spectrum. “You just go, ‘OK, now we’re in absolute escapism’, and they have to do what they want to do in the story. So, it takes on a different dimension, a bit like doing Shakespeare. They were all based on real, you know, Shakespearean kings or whatever, and then they’re developed or extrapolated onto something else.”

One of Hodge’s upcoming projects is a feature-length extension of the Jack Ryan series starring John Krasinski. His G20 director, Riggen, helmed several episodes of the show, but, somewhat surprisingly, it was something that never came up in conversation despite the pair working together.

“I didn’t know she directed them!” he admitted. “Patricia is a magnificent action movie director and someone fantastic to have on set because there’s a nurturing element to her. She’s got great eyes on every single aspect that’s going on. In fact, when I was going to do Jack Ryan, I went back and watched some of the series. I saw her name, texted her, and said, ‘Oh my god. I just saw you directed this’. I think that’s where she was learning the ropes before she did the big movie that we’ve just done.”

G20 is the latest action movie in which the president of the United States is forced into becoming an action hero, but for whatever reason, it never seems to happen to the prime minister. With that in mind, has Hodge been daydreaming about a hypothetical spinoff where Everett gets his time to shine?

“Absolutely, don’t you think?” he inquired. “I mean, there seems to be no end to his limit of skills. The only way he gets through this film is, really, hiding behind Viola Davis. But yeah, I’d be all for the spinoff. It might be a little funnier and a little less terrifying. But, yeah, bring it on.”

As mentioned, Hodge’s career is a difficult thing to pin down. He’s acted, written, directed, and composed. He’s played prime ministers, presidents, and Willy Wonka. He’s won a Tony and an Olivier. He followed in Michael Caine’s footsteps to play Alfred Pennyworth in the Academy Award-winning billion-dollar hit Joker. He’s written the music and lyrics for the 101 Dalmatians musical, performed the works of William Shakespeare and Harold Pinter, and shared scenes with Will Smith and Jennifer Lawrence.

There isn’t much that he hasn’t done, but is there one role he’s always wanted to play that’s continued to escape him? “Yeah, there’s many I want to play,” he acknowledged. “Fagin, I’d love to play. I love that musical [Oliver!]. I’d love to do Pinter’s The Caretaker. I want to do [King] Lear. There are all sorts of theatre things that I’d love to do. The films seem to just come up, and then you think, ‘Wow, that’s fantastic. That’s interesting.’”

Tying that to his career overall, Hodge elaborated that despite the myriad of eclectic credits he’s amassed during his time as a performer, he’s always driven by the material first and foremost, even if he’s constantly aware that sometimes he’ll feel obligated to mix it up between mediums.

“Always by what you might learn, really,” he offered. “Also, the grass is always greener. So if you’re doing a run on Broadway for a year, then during it, you start thinking, ‘I’m gonna have to do a film after this. I can’t do another eight shows a week living like this.’ So there is that aspect to it. But certainly, I’m choosing things because if the script is thrilling, interesting, unusual, if it means that I have to learn some new skills, I don’t really want to ever repeat myself.”

For now, G20 is up next, but if that spinoff does happen? “Yeah, well, 10% is ready for you right now,” Hodge promised Far Out for planting the seed.

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