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The award-winning House of Dragon returns for season 3. You can stream that from the 22nd of June on HBO Max. It's also the place to catch up with seasons 1 and 2. Plus, we've also got Game of Thrones and A Knight of Seven Kingdoms. And we're joined now by House of Dragon star Matt Smith. He's here on the Silver Rooftop Bar. Great to see you alongside your friend Joe Cole. You two go a little bit back, we don't you? What's the deal? How do you know each other? We met each other at the Oasis gig. So, in the summer, we must have done about five or six. Did you have to do that? Yeah, yeah. We had a great crew and a good crew.
It was love at first sight, then. Love at first sight, yeah. I can see how you look into each other's eyes, actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blinding, yeah. Blinding. Blinded by love. Uh Matt, brilliant to see you. You're You're not actually an Arsenal fan, but Am I yet? you're here to look for a win. fan. Yes, exactly. Lifelong Blackburn fan. Do you get to eat with Bart Man I do, actually. Yeah, yeah. I was up there this year to see uh I saw him play Coventry.
Um Ooh. Yeah. We did Frank a favor. Or Frank did us a favor. Yeah. I'm always up at Ewood. Love it. Yeah. Love it. You're still channeling the spirit of 1994. Ah, '94, '95. That's got to be the best year. What's And also, What's the Story Morning Glory came out the same year as well. And then it was '96 Yeah, yeah, yeah. After which was another great football year. What an era. Yeah. What an era. Showing my age, didn't it? I'm getting old. It's all right. Don't worry about it. Look at us. Look at the two of you.
You're like young pups. Speaking of uh young pups, when you were a kid, you were I mean, look, you were on the road to being a professional footballer, weren't you? Well, I'm I mean, I'm not sure I was on the road to being a professional footballer, but I was part of like the youth academies. Yeah, yeah. I was at Leicester and I was at Forest, yeah. And uh until the age of about 16. But, it could have turned into a big career, couldn't it? When did you realize that you could act? Cuz it Cuz usually actors can usually act as kids. I'm usually a I
know you're still trying to and that one out, aren't you? Yeah. Watching that, I'm like, you know, I don't know. It was like cuz like Yeah. You know, I know friends who've had kids who are in drama school and they go for it and they go from a young age. But you would if you can't have done both as a young kid or whatever. No, I was lucky really. I had a great teacher called Mr. Hardingham who when I was released from Leicester, I was at odds really and I didn't really know what to do and he was convinced that I should be an actor and he kept um trying to put me in plays and I just kept not turning up and then one summer he phoned me and my mum and said, "Look, please try and get him to come and join this, you know, the kind of
drama club." And I did and then from there I joined the National Youth Theatre and um here I am now. Yeah. What did he see in you? No, and I mean that in the That's a bit strong. You know that How would you know How would he know that you could What was it that he told you? No, no. I think actually there's a lot of like transferable skills that you can take over from being a kind of sportsman into the acting world, but who knows what he saw in me. He was just a really good teacher and I think in life you're lucky
if you get a really good teacher in your life to sort of push you forward and push you onto the next thing. Yeah, absolutely. But you look at like Max Dowman. He's been in the middle of doing his GCSEs. Do you look at him and yeah, exactly. But do you look at him and go, "Wow, like that is what a place to be in your life." But also because you did have the option of a different path, like do you think it's really important for him as well to maybe concentrate on his studies even though he might not have done them this summer? No, he's a footballer now.
There's no doubt about that. He just won a Premier League. He's just like Max is a genius, right? And to all the kids out there, my daughter's doing her GCSEs. Kids, do study these things. But for Max Dowman now, he's he's trans he's transferred that he's now he's he's an important player in a Premier League team and he's still at school. It's incredible. We've never seen anything like it. Yeah. You know, and if listen, if he's on the bench tonight, he probably won't start. He could come on and make an impact in a Champions League final, at 16, and he's still not finished his GCSEs.
100% incredible. Like he lifted the trophy and then he went to do his exams today. How on earth? I know what I mean. It's unbelievable. But he's he's a one-off. And I actually look, I was at Forest at time when they were trying to copy this like Ajax model, right? Where you left school on a Tuesday and a Thursday to spend more time up at the sort of academy. So I missed loads of school, which at the time was amazing cuz I thought this is blinding. Yeah. But I look back and I think You know. Yeah, yeah. I needed a private tutor to scrape by in maths, you know what I mean? It was Do you always need a plan B, even if it is all going really well? Like do you think I'm not a Well, I don't believe in
plan B's. I think just Well, well, I don't know, Jen. No, no, no. I No, I think there's something in um if you're in it and you've got no choice, that there's that gives you an internal drive and everything. But the chances like Max Dowman's one in a million. He's even in the academy system, there's no I have to I've not seen a player like him at his age cuz even Rooney was a year older when he burst onto the scene. Do you know what I mean? So what he's doing we've not seen before. And it just shows credit to Mikel Arteta, the bravery for that he's been No, this kid's ready and he's using him in big moments. He's had big moments already. And there's other kids that we're looking at on the continent as well. You've got Lamine Yamal, for
example. You know, young kids as well. Where do you think he can compare or what where do you think he can improve to get to that absolute Listen, Lamine Yamal is the other one who's the outlier in the situation. I think you're seeing these young players pop up now because of the football uh the football's getting a bit more sanitized. I think if you're technically proficient and you're physically capable, you can play football now, whereas when you had I got in at 17, when you're 17, 18, like 20, 30 years ago when I was playing, you there was a physical element of violence that now you can't be put on these young players. So these young talents uh can thrive more than these technicians
like Lamin Camara is a good player by the way. Thank you mate. See that shirt? I Do you know there was no sizes? So, everyone had an extra large. Yeah, it's like so I'll be wearing the same shirt size as Razor Ruddock. I mean it was like a parachute. You know you're taking off and yeah, I put it on the other day. I had it in It was in the loft and just drowning me now. Really? Yeah. That's cuz you keep in shape. Yeah, I'm trying mate. I saw him in the gym this morning. This is like look at me and my life.
Wow.
