Advertisement

Patrick Gibson reveals everything he stole from The Portable Door set

The Portable Door star Patrick Gibson sat down with Yahoo Lifestyle to unpack the movie.

Video transcript

- Congratulations on the film. It's such a fun watch.

PATRICK GIBSON: Thank you.

- How does it feel to be back in Australia?

PATRICK GIBSON: It's good, yeah. I got here the day before yesterday. And we had the premiere last night which was a lot of fun. And I got to see everyone again. And yeah, then I've got the weekend. I'm looking forward to exploring Sydney.

- Nice. And when you were shooting, did you do all the usual things like the vegemite, holding a koala, finding a huntsman on your--

PATRICK GIBSON: We take them off, yeah. Holding a koala, I didn't get to do. Although that, maybe I should try to do that this weekend because that sounds fun.

- Yes, I'm glad that you didn't-- did you have the huntsman situation, the spider?

PATRICK GIBSON: No, I didn't. I was pretty lucky. I had a spider in my hotel room yesterday which I'm glad there was no cameras there when I saw that because it was not my bravest moment. But I don't know which one-- I'm not very familiar with which ones are poisonous. This one is pretty small, though.

- I'm sure-- yeah, I'm sure it's fine. In the in the city, you should be fine. Yeah. What was it that drew you to the film?

PATRICK GIBSON: So many things. I mean, initially, I actually didn't even know that it was going to be Sam and Miranda and Christoph so it was really the script. It was so much fun and something that I hadn't seen before. And then I mean, as soon as you see the word Jim Henson Company, it's pretty hard to resist. I love those films growing up. Yeah, the kind of practical nature of all the effects and stuff that they do is such an exciting thing, especially when there's so much CGI in our days and stuff. So all of those elements together, I was like, I'm in.

- Some pretty cool sets and costumes and things. Did you ever actually feel like you were in London? Or were you kind of like, I'm definitely in Brisbane?

PATRICK GIBSON: No, I did. I mean, especially we shot in the studio for a lot of the time so it was like 6:00 AM till 6:00 PM, we were in the darkness in the studio. Definitely, yeah, I mean, the sets were very reminiscent. And then we had like a London bus like a couple of double-decker buses. And when we were shooting around the city, it was-- yeah-- I definitely could've mistaken it for London.

- Look, I'm almost home.

PATRICK GIBSON: Yeah, yeah. I guess far away and as close to home as possible.

- Yeah. And people have-- a lot of people have described it similar to "Harry Potter." How would you describe the film?

PATRICK GIBSON: Yeah, I think the "Harry Potter" is definitely a good comparison. I think if you like "Harry Potter," it's definitely for you. Maybe "Harry Potter" like in some kind of fever dream. There's a lot of comedy in it and a lot of fun. And I think it plays with that fantasy genre in a really fun way. And yeah, if you like "Harry Potter" but in like a corporate setting almost, which is a really funny juxtaposition-- and yeah.

- And was there anything that happened behind the scenes that might surprise viewers?

PATRICK GIBSON: We had a lot of fun behind the scenes. I think when you're working on something like this, it's hard not to have fun. And you've got people like Sam Neill who was just giving it socks every day. He was so much fun to work with and very unpredictable and very spontaneous.

And definitely, I had to practice not laughing because you had no idea what he was going to do next. And you could guarantee it would be something pretty wild. But yeah, there was so many memories. I mean, just getting to act opposite those guys was such a dream.

- What was Christoph like? Because I feel like he plays such a good villain like in the "Bond" films. He can't get much better than that. But what's he like behind the scenes?

PATRICK GIBSON: He was amazing. He was so, so wonderful to work with and was so generous. When you get to work with people who you admire and you've watched growing up, it can be a daunting thing but it was so, so cool. And just to be in those scenes with him and watch how those guys work and try and learn something and absorb some of that was a very fortunate position.

- Speaking of the sets with Sophie and Miranda, they were saying they were very tempted to take things from set. Sophie said that she stole something from you.

PATRICK GIBSON: Oh, from me?

[GASP]

So she blamed it on me and then said she stole it from me? So I'm like the Robin Hood of the set.

[LAUGH]

- And that was Christoph's soul.

PATRICK GIBSON: Oh, yes! I did steal Christoph's soul. I mean, look, when you have the opportunity to steal Christoph Waltz's soul, how can you say no? Yeah, I did-- I took actually quite a few things. I've got the application letter or my acceptance letter that I got. And I got Humphrey Wells' soul. And I got the poster of a missing dog. That's like a bit of like an Easter egg but yeah, the dog that steals my scarf. So yeah, god, they don't have any props left. I'm done.

- I'm sure there are a few.

PATRICK GIBSON: Yeah, yeah, they got some.

- Speaking of Easter eggs, is there anything else that people should be looking out for?

PATRICK GIBSON: There's a lot of-- yeah. It's throughout the film because the book has so many-- it's pretty multilayered with references and stuff like that. And I definitely think if you were to have a keen eye on the lost and found part of J.W. Wells, there's definitely some funny things in there. It's almost like there's one of everything that exists in the world that's down in that basement. Or anyone who's ever lost anything, it kind of ends up there.

So if you look closely, there's some pretty, pretty wild items and a mad selection of stuff. The props department I think must have had a lot of fun. It was like you'd see somebody carrying an Egyptian sarcophagus. And then behind them, they'd have a pinball machine and then an atomic bomb. And yeah, it was pretty wild.

- As you do, that's just normal kind of-- yeah.

PATRICK GIBSON: I don't know where they were getting all this stuff, but--

- Just creating it just like--

PATRICK GIBSON: Yeah, some magic, I'm sure.

- I love that. And there are lots of powers and things in this film. Would you-- if you had to choose one of them, what would you have? And would you use it for good or evil?

PATRICK GIBSON: Powers from the movie or any powers?

- Oh, no, no, we'll make it any power.

PATRICK GIBSON: Well, I'd hoped to think I'd use them for good. Although sometimes that's what people think and then they end up-- I think everyone thinks they're doing it for good, right?

- I think mind reading.

PATRICK GIBSON: Yeah, mind reading would be a very good one.

- And that could be very evil.

PATRICK GIBSON: Although, I don't know if I want to know what everyone thinks of me, to be honest. I think Twitter already gives you some of that. And I think I'm good not knowing people's honest opinion.

- No, you're lovely.

PATRICK GIBSON: Thank you. No, I'm kidding. I mean, yeah, mind reading? Teleportation, I guess the portable door would be pretty fun.

- Absolutely. And where would you go with that?

PATRICK GIBSON: I'd probably go somewhere that would take a big trek, but I wouldn't have to do the trek so the top of Mount Everest or something would be pretty fun.

- Yeah, don't you have to trek to Machu Picchu?

PATRICK GIBSON: Yeah. Yeah, that'd be good. Yeah. I mean, yeah, if you've got a whole day, you just do the whole-- all the wonders of the world, yeah.

- I love that. And in the beginning of the film, your character, there's so many things that go wrong as he's going for his job interview. Have you ever had something like that happen before an audition or a job?

PATRICK GIBSON: Oh, well, my entire life, that's literally the story of my life. I was-- yeah, there was not much of a departure from my experience. I feel like-- yeah, I definitely related to Paul in that sense. And I think that's what's fun.

I think we're used to seeing heroes who have everything together. And they're really slick and really cool and collected. And Paul is everything but that. He's definitely a lot more hapless. And yeah, it was fun to do that.