Andrew Scott Suffered Through His Stint on Band Of Brothers
If you've watched TV series regularly over the past couple of decades, you've probably seen Andrew Scott, even if you don't remember his name immediately.
Nowadays many viewers may associate him with Jim Moriarty in Sherlock or the Hot Priest in Fleabag.
However, in his youth Andrew Scott played quite a few roles in notable projects, related to World War II – even if the roles themselves were not so notable. They include playing a soldier in Saving Private Ryan, a sniper in the documentary Killing Hitler, and even an appearance in a made-for-TV Disney movie about the rescue of Danish Jews, Miracle at Midnight.
One role that Andrew Scott particularly remembered, however, was playing Private John "Cowboy" Hall in the 10-episode mini-series Band of Brothers. The role was small, but he made the most of it – and playing it took some serious effort. His memories of the experience were less than pleasant:
"I didn't love playing a soldier. I found it difficult to be in 'Band of Brothers.' It's really important to me to have a sense of community on set. There was something about that that I found difficult in relation to, I think, the processes of some of the people involved were different to mine." (via)
Scott went on to explain that it was difficult for him to get into the role, despite the above-mentioned experiences with playing soldiers:
"I didn't think it was necessary to be in character all the time. There was an atmosphere that wasn't set up by anyone in particular that was just different to my own, and I think it's always interesting when you put one of the sexes all together. Whether it's all men or all women, it's a very particular atmosphere, and actually probably very helpful in relation to what it must've been like to go through that experience. But yeah, I just guess I'm not really that into weapons. "
He was not the only actor with complaints of this sort. Dominic Cooper, for example, also mentioned a very difficult and competitive environment on the set of Band of Brothers.
Luckily, Andrew Scott eventually managed to end his string of soldier roles, and get to play characters more suited for his temperament.