Richard Gadd on ‘Half Man,’ Masculinity and Life After ‘Child Reindeer’

[ad_1] <img id="11860455" alt="" src="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 16: Richard Gadd attends HBO's "Half Man" New York Premiere at Regal Union Square on April 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)" srcoverride="Richard Gadd attends HBO's "Half Man" New York Premiere at Regal Union Square on April 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)" credit="" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="3744" height="2496" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2271700032.jpg?w=640&quality=80&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2271700032.jpg?w=750&quality=80&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2271700032.jpg?w=1000&quality=80&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2271700032.jpg?w=1200&quality=80&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2271700032.jpg?w=1360&quality=80&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2271700032.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2271700032.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1"/> "I went in with restricted intention and most ambition. That is how I am going about most of my initiatives."

Richard Gadd follows Child Reindeer with Half Man, an HBO restricted sequence about two repressed ‘brothers’ in Glasgow. “I got here up with the 2 characters, and I could not shake them.”

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<img id="11860439" alt="" src="Richard Gadd and Jamie Bell in Half Man. Photograph by Anne Binckebanck/HBO" credit="Photograph by Anne Binckebanck/HBO" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="1280" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd-jamie-bell.jpg?w=640&quality=80&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd-jamie-bell.jpg?w=750&quality=80&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd-jamie-bell.jpg?w=1000&quality=80&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd-jamie-bell.jpg?w=1200&quality=80&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd-jamie-bell.jpg?w=1360&quality=80&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd-jamie-bell.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd-jamie-bell.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1"/> Editor's Observe: This dialog has been edited and condensed for publication.

After the large international success of Child Reindeer, was it intimidating to determine what to do subsequent? That will terrify the sh** out of me.

I do not know. Stress is barely strain to the diploma during which you let it in. Exterior strain is at all times going to be there, however it is nothing in comparison with the strain I placed on myself to attempt to make one thing pretty much as good as doable. I used to be simply fortunate that I knew what I needed to do after Child Reindeer, and I knew I needed to do that, and that offered a readability of feeling and which means to me that allowed me to maneuver previous any type of emotions of strain or expectation off the again of Child Reindeer. In lots of methods, the most effective factor I did at that time was spin 180 and simply go straight into my subsequent venture. And it was actually straight into the subsequent venture. The entire of Half Man has just about been performed within the house of about two years, which is taking rather a lot out of me [Gadd is writer and creator], however I did not pause to let that feeling in. I simply needed to maneuver on to the subsequent factor and attempt to make it pretty much as good as doable.

You can have performed something. What made this the plain subsequent venture?

I at all times suppose that your individual work ought to come above every other sort of alternative. Finally, I really feel most fulfilled by doing what I've performed throughout my life, which is create an thought from the bottom up and oversee it to its conclusion. Cash is just not a motivating issue for me in that respect, and I did have lots of presents, loopy presents in lots of methods, however I turned all of them down to do that as a result of in the end my coronary heart was telling me that is what I wanted to do subsequent. I simply needed to do it subsequent. It is laborious to explain.

I am obsessive about the portrayal of masculinity on this story, and also you go from excessive to excessive inside these characters. What was it about masculinity particularly that you just needed to discover?

I simply needed to dig deep inside the entire challenge of it. All of the contradictions, all of the idiosyncrasies, all of the pressures, all of the expectations of what it means to be a person. It simply felt like one thing that referred to as me to write down about it. I cannot actually boil it all the way down to anyone factor. It is not like I attempted to get to the center of what it means to be a person. I did not go in to hunt solutions to questions I've been grappling with my total life. It simply seems like one thing which referred to as me to write down about it. I got here up with the 2 characters and I could not shake them and I simply needed to discover it. I went in with restricted intention and most ambition, and that is how I am going about most of my initiatives. I cannot actually say what it's about it that makes it fascinating to me different than I simply suppose it is an entire advanced theme, and that is what I prefer to discover in my work.

<img id="11860441" alt="" src="Richard Gadd in Half Man. Photograph by Anne Binckebanck/HBO" credit="Photograph by Anne Binckebanck/HBO" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="1280" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd.jpg?w=640&quality=80&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd.jpg?w=750&quality=80&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd.jpg?w=1000&quality=80&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd.jpg?w=1200&quality=80&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd.jpg?w=1360&quality=80&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/richard-gadd.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1"/> What's it in regards to the Britishness of this story that makes the dialog round masculinity much more compelling?

Not essentially the Britishness as a lot because the Scottishness of it. I assumed putting the story inside Glasgow was actually fascinating as a backdrop, as a result of Glasgow is a metropolis that has gone by phenomenal change from a spot that was deemed scary and harmful to one of many cultural LGBT capitals of the world. It is nearly like town was progressing greater than the characters have been. These two repressed males cannot transfer with the instances, but town's increasing and progressing sooner than they're. That simply felt like an fascinating backdrop. Finally, points of Britishness or Scottishness did not seep into the story as a lot as simply attempting to tug the knottiness of the characters out. I took two males, and I attempted to make their story, their journey and their relationship as knotty and as sophisticated as I might.

Each younger queer male, and I am certain others too, is aware of the concern and intimidation of a hyper-masculine man. Did you're feeling that in creating the story between these two?

That was a part of it. What I used to be enthusiastic about exploring most of all was the depth of human repression, not simply when it comes to sexuality, however every kind of repression. Ruben's a deeply repressed particular person, simply in a really totally different approach. What Ruben brings into the sequence is a way of chaos and energy, which Niall deflects lots of stuff onto. As a result of Ruben is intimidating and scary and liable to deep violent outbursts, there's a sense of intimidation from Niall, naturally, but additionally a approach during which he can displace a few of his emotions and blame externally. Ruben not solely needed to be intimidating as a character so we purchase this instance of masculinity that exists throughout the sequence, however it was essential nearly as an excuse Niall would make to himself as to why he could not come out or progress in his personal life. It gave rather a lot to the story in that respect.

There's a dialog about hyper-masculinity and a few of these teams who need to reclaim masculinity. What do you hope individuals take from the portrayal of those two masculine characters, or is it as much as interpretation?

The latter. I might by no means need my or any viewers to take something particular from it. Artwork must be open to interpretation and other people take what they want from it. Too typically at the present time, tv and movie is too clear. Its intention is just too clear, what it needs you to suppose and really feel. I do not suppose that is right in lots of methods. If you are in an artwork gallery and you are standing subsequent to a painter and he is pointing at totally different elements of the portray saying, "Properly, I did this brushstroke due to this cause, and behind this character's eyes is that this," it sort of loses the magic. I do not ask something from my viewers. In the event that they take one thing from it, that is what it's. Lots of people ask in regards to the ending and say, "What does it imply?" And I often go, "Properly, what do you suppose it means?" And so they go, "I feel it means this." And I say, "Properly, that is most likely what it's then, as a result of that is what it's to you." That is simply how I feel artwork ought to exist. I could be unsuitable, however that is how I really feel.

The physicality of your efficiency is nearly a supporting character. Your physique and the best way you maintain it turns into simply as intimidating. How essential was it so that you can bodily rework?

It was essential artistically for my efficiency. The load wanted to be felt in his physique. I did not need it to be a Hollywood six-pack. I needed it to really feel actual. Burly is the phrase I saved saying to the non-public trainers and nutritionists. He must be a burly man. The second he appears like a fitness center bro, it would not be right. Ruben's physique is a pure byproduct of his innate primal energy. If he appeared like he preened himself an excessive amount of within the fitness center, then he cares an excessive amount of. Ruben's not about self-image. It was essential in his later life for example of masculinity that he appeared like one. I towered over Jamie Bell, and I appeared thicker and wider and taller than him, and I actually felt like that was essential. I needed to really feel the character in my physique as effectively. I needed to really feel that energy and that weight. For individuals to go on a journey believing Donny Dunn is now Ruben Pallister, I wanted to rework nearly completely every little thing about myself, and that is what I did.

<img id="11860440" alt="" src="Jamie Bell and Richard Gadd in Half Man. Photograph by Anne Binckebanck/HBO" credit="Photograph by Anne Binckebanck/HBO" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="1280" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jamie-bell-richard-gadd.jpg?w=640&quality=80&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jamie-bell-richard-gadd.jpg?w=750&quality=80&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jamie-bell-richard-gadd.jpg?w=1000&quality=80&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jamie-bell-richard-gadd.jpg?w=1200&quality=80&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jamie-bell-richard-gadd.jpg?w=1360&quality=80&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jamie-bell-richard-gadd.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/jamie-bell-richard-gadd.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1"/> What was the very first thing you needed to eat after filming wrapped?

It is so humorous you say that. On the final day of set, they shocked me with a McDonald's, and if I advised you what I ate in a single sitting, you would not consider it.

Jamie Bell is likely one of the most underrated actors working who deserves extra respect. The disparity between your heights, your physicality, the best way he is in a position to personal it, he is nearly like a dancer working round this tree stump of a person that you're. What was it like establishing that intimate relationship?

I agree with you. He is a terrifically celebrated actor, however nonetheless underrated in a way. I at all times puzzled what he was able to, and now I do know he is able to this and extra. He is an exceptional actor and able to vulnerability and layered efficiency. We acquired on right away, which helped, and we had an ease round one another. The second scene we ever shot was the ending of episode six, so we needed to get very bodily comfy round one another in a short time. I really suppose it helped. Me and Jamie spoke rather a lot about how beginning in that second threw us within the deep finish, and we needed to go on a journey collectively as actors when it comes to getting actually intimate with each other. He threw himself into every little thing. There's at all times a concern that an actor of his caliber comes over and is reluctant to do issues. They do not need to get within the mud, or they're cussed on notes or when it comes to suggestions, however he threw himself into every little thing. I felt an exceptional quantity of respect from him across the venture and what he needed to do, and we hit it off instantly. That helped us shortcut our approach to the center of the story.

This and Child Reindeer are each superb, critical and gut-wrenching. Do you simply need to do a comedy subsequent? One thing totally absurd, no crying?

I am going to do no matter takes me subsequent. I need to do no matter compels me. If it's a lighthearted comedy, then I assume that is what I am going to do. Proper now in my life, I do not really feel compelled to write down a office sitcom or no matter. It would not communicate to me. By no means say by no means, as a result of if one thing impressed me, if I walked down the road sooner or later and thought, "Oh, this can be a excellent thought for a rom-com," I might do it and take that threat. Proper now, my sensibilities are a little bit extra idiosyncratic. I do not actually know bottle Child Reindeer and Half Man into one bracket, however my sensibilities aren't on the stage the place I need to do this. I really like sitcoms, and I really like every kind of various artwork types. So if my life referred to as upon it, I would definitely do it.