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How do you play gay?
In order to play any character ? comedy, drama, whatever it is ? I have to, as a person, believe 150% in the person I?m playing in order for the audience to believe that. I just didn?t want to play it as me and people would go, ?Oh, that?s a bit unbelievable.? So you have to strike a balance, you have to play it truthfully, you have to play it as real as possible. And find moments and it instinctively happens ? it wasn?t ever planned ? and find moments where he becomes slightly more effeminate.

I found that more in the emotional [scenes], when he was becoming very emotional. Especially times when he?s with Giles. When he?s being emotional it?s all pouring out.
Some women who kiss other women on screen claim it?s a better experience than kissing a man. How is it from the male point of view?
It was a big issue. It was one of the challenges. I mean, I didn?t take the script on and go, ?Oh God, I?ve got to kiss a guy twice.? I took the script on knowing that I had to do that, that was part of the attraction. Not that I want to kiss a guy, but it was part of the challenge as an actor.

I was pretty scared, to be honest, if we?re being honest about it. But then I thought to myself, ?There are few things in life that you do, whatever stage that you do them, that you?ve not done before.? In this case, I was 30 and I was doing a film and I was about to do something I?d never done in my life. So there?s got to be something quite interesting coming from this. ?Will I like it? Am I not going to like it?? So that was interesting to me.

The day I met Kristen [Holden-Ried] who plays Giles I went into a room and Ian went, ?Kristen, Jimi. Jimi, Kristen,? and we both had the fear of God in our eyes. We had cold, clammy hands. We rehearsed and he said, ?Let?s go get pissed. Do you want to go out and have a few beers? Let?s go and watch a game, let?s go play a video game. Let?s go and just be blokes, please.? I said, ?Absolutely.? So we bonded as friends. So funny enough, when it came to those moments, however weird it felt, there was no bullshit there which you might get if you?re playing opposite a girl. Not that there is, but there?s no sexual tension. It?s just two guys wanting to make the script work and just get on with it.

It never gets easier, however there?s the scene where I?m just lying in bed with him and I say, ?What?s wrong with you?? He says, ?Nothing,? and we do kiss. By the time we filmed that it was quite towards the end of the shoot and me and him were [close]. And we were lying in bed between scenes laughing and telling jokes, farting? Just having a laugh. It was just something that we did.

How well did Toronto stand in for England?
I think they did very, very well. I think it was great considering that 85-90% of it was shot in Canada and it?s set in London.