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Ed Westwick plays Chuck Bass on TV’s Gossip Girl. Like his character, he’s charismatic and handsome; unlike his character, he’s down to earth, straightforward, and has an adorable British accent. Not only is Ed a talented actor, he’s also the front man of a band, Filthy Youth, who had two tracks featured on the Gossip Girl episode, “School Lies.” I spoke to him on the phone recently to find out what he’s doing during this unexpected hiatus.

Me: How are you today?

Ed: I’m doing good. Thank you, I’m doing good. I’m back at home in England right now, so everything’s going well. How are you?

Me: I’m well, thank you. I’m here in Los Angeles.

Ed: I just left, I was there, I was there on, when was I there? I came home Wednesday, Wednesday morning. I just left Los Angeles. I left the lovely sunshine and traded it in for the gloom and rain of England, I’m afraid.

Me: Do you like Los Angeles?

Ed: I love it. It’s great. In recent times I’ve been able to spend more time there on and off; and coming from somewhere like England, it’s always a pleasure to be in a place where it’s constantly kind of sunny and warm. It’s one of those places where it’s great to drive around, I think, and be in a car. It’s got this kind of big, open, spread out feeling to it. So I like it, definitely.

Me: What are you a fan of? Is there anything you’ve ever been rabid about?

Ed: Aside from normal things, like cinema and music and things like that, I used to be into sneakers. Like really, really, really into them, a little while ago, like when I was fourteen, thirteen. I used to have these pairs of Nike Air Force Ones with a Gucci pattern on. There was this website that used to take the material and then sew it on to different parts of the shoe, and they used to sell them, and I had several pairs of them. I had a Louis Vuitton imprint; they were very kind of snazzy and very showy and everything like that. I used to be an avid fan of those.

Me: What sort of band is Filthy Youth?

Ed: It’s a five-piece, indie, punk, rock-and-roll outfit, and we’ve been playing together about a year and a half. When I was in England we were doing a lot more regular gigs and things like that; with me in New York it’s taken on a different kind of – what’s the word – a different angle really, a different way we go about things. Now we have to make the most of our time, because I’m not always back in the UK. We’re trying to get the band out in the US, maybe next month, maybe a bit later, we’ll play some shows out in New York and such. It’s something that I really, really, really enjoy and I’m really passionate about and just have a good time doing.

Me: Which do you prefer, acting or music?

Ed: I don’t think I prefer either. Both give me this buzz; both are creative. With the acting, especially doing film or TV, it’s a slower piece of art, there’s no instant gratification. Whereas if you’re on stage doing a play, or if you’re performing a song live, at the end of it you get your applause and you’re living off that raw, in the moment energy. And that’s not always the case with acting for television or for film. You have to wait until you see the finished product, and often you don’t have any direct contact with the audience.

Me: Are you looking forward to Gossip Girl airing in the UK?

Ed: I am looking forward to it very much. I actually have press to do, and I’m looking very much forward to seeing what the buzz is. They’ve already started putting up some preliminary commercials and advertising, but it’s my home ground so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how it will be received.

Me: I know there are no scripts for upcoming episodes of Gossip Girl, but have they given you any clue as to what’s going to happen when the show returns? We were left with such a cliffhanger.

Ed: Your guess is as good as mine. I know, we left on a knife’s edge, huh? I don’t know a thing; I don’t know a thing.

Me: When you’re in New York working on the show, you share an apartment with Chace Crawford (Nate on the show)?

Ed: I do indeed, yeah. It’s great. We have a great time together, he’s a wonderful guy, we kind of hit it off as soon as we met each other and we do the shared place thing, which is great, because we’re there for each other, support each other, help each other out kind of thing. It’s good to have a friend like that.

Me: Which do you prefer to play, the good guy or the bad guy?

Ed: Well, it’s always interesting to play the bad guy, because it’s something… I’m almost living out… it isn’t me, because I always like to think I’m not a bad person. The way Chuck is, he manipulates for his own benefit, and is over-arrogant at times, and has these negative traits to his personality, well a lot of people would say they’re negative traits, but for me, to be that selfish is interesting, because it’s something I wouldn’t be doing in my normal, every day interactions with people. So, it’s a lot of fun in that respect. He’s multi-layered. The bad boy always gets up to the mischief and the scandal, and it’s always interesting to be a part of that, definitely.

Me: Obviously (obvious to me on the phone) you do not have an American accent.

Ed: Yeah.

Me: Who was your inspiration? Is there anyone in particular that you studied, or is it an amalgam?

Ed: I think it was probably an amalgam, actually. There was no one specifically. I was able to do an American accent before, way before I auditioned for Gossip Girl. I think it’s just my take on an American accent; it’s just my voice with the accent. But definitely being around Americans, spending more time in New York, conscious of the way they speak, I’m influenced to a degree by the people I’m with, the people I work with, and the people I hang around with and everything. So, as I’ve been out there more I’ve been able to polish it.

Me: Anything we can look forward to seeing you in soon?

Ed: Yeah, Son of Rambow. It’s set in the 1980’s, on the outskirts of London, and it’s the story of these two kids who become good friends and they try to make their own little movie, using a video camera, to enter into a competition. It’s about how their friendship develops; it’s funny, it’s got some good laughs in it. I play one of the older brothers of one of the young boys. It got some good buzz at Sundance last year, I believe it’s opening in March in the UK, May in the US. I’m excited for it, I think for the two kids, they get to live out their adventure and go on this adventure and I think it will do well in terms of, I think a lot of kids will like that. When you’re seven years old and there’s something you really, really want to do, just go on an adventure, and it’s what these kids do, and I think the audience will definitely relate to that. So, I’m very excited for it.

Me: What’s been your favorite fan moment since the show began?

Ed: You know it’s happened a couple of times, and it seems such a simple thing, but it really means a lot when someone says that they love what you’re doing or they love Chuck or they love the show, or something like that. It’s fantastic, because it goes back to what I was talking about with the instant gratification, it’s not so instant, but it comes around eventually. When someone comes up to you and says that they really enjoy what you’re doing, then you get your merit for all the work you’ve done. So things like that have been great.

Source: nohiatus.fanlib.com