We had cats growing up, yeah

I don't have a cat now, but I had a cat until I was 15 at home

Me and Bob got on really well, he came round to my house a few weeks before we started

filming

And then he'd be- we got on really well

And then in the dressing room in the day, I'd bring my guitar in, and he'd be sitting

in my guitar case, having a rest

We got on really well

James was brilliant at kind of-

It's quite hard to get a cat that knows you so well, to then be comfortable just nipping

onto somebody else's shoulders while they walk around a busy London street

But it was incredible

And you know, we'd have these little things, like I'd put Bob on my shoulders and we'd

go for a little walk up and down

And after we did that, Bob would then realise I was a safe person to stand on, and be comfortable

and sit on my shoulders

It was just funny little things like that

That's incredible – you can't even get a dog to do that and they're easily trained

Well yeah, Bob is just very receptive

I mean, he had his eye on the prize didn't he, he wanted to be on the poster

He was going to get involved in that film

He knew this was his shot

It was his shot, yeah

His make-or-break deal

Sometimes actors have to do a chemistry test with another actress or actor,

Did you have to do a chemistry test with Bob?

It wasn't meant to be Bob in the film even, it was meant to be four cats

Which also are in the film as well, there are other cats which were trained for things

like jumping on a bus, and the stunts, basically

And they were brilliant as well, with brilliant handlers that trained them

But then we found that Bob, having had the experience of being around so many people

in his life, was just very zen, very cool

And he could sit down whilst people were walking past on the pavement and not bat an eyelid

And that was amazing, so we ended up using him a lot

Wow, I just died when I saw him in the scarf

I almost cried in the screening just then

Did you on set?

He's a cutie isn't he, he's lovely, and he was just very cool

It was weird, because I didn't know the bit beforehand

Like some people are just massive, massive fans

And I remember thinking it's a bit like – I don't have kids – but I imagine it's a bit

like when people see a baby and they just don't even say hi to the mum or dad

They go straight for the baby like that

And walking around with Bob on your shoulders, it was this amazing beacon coming off you

And people were just blown away to see James and Bob walking around Covent Garden

You know, they're icons of Covent Garden now

So yeah, it was cool

Getting to know James, did that make the story hit home a bit more?

Well I was already very touched and moved, and felt like it must have been a very hard

journey that James had gone on, from reading the script and the book

And then, having- before I met him, before he came round to my house, I'd watched loads

of interviews with him and got this idea of who he was and what he might be like

But then for him to actually come round and for us to have- I think the first night, we

spent about five hours just talking and playing guitars, and just hanging out, basically

And he was just so open and up for sharing things and details about his life, maybe things

that weren't even in the book

Whatever it was that I felt might be helpful to know he was very kind to share, really

And he just wanted it to be right, for the story to be right

So I took all the information I could from James

I also went to drug clinics and addiction centres to speak to both patients and doctors

Because you have to build up all angles to really understand it, I think

Some people might be able to explain what it's like for them, from their point of view

But a doctor might be able to give you a scientific version of what it is, what's happening in

your blood stream at that point when you're coming off something

Things like that, which was really useful to get a handle on

You don't want to try and portray addiction or homelessness or anything like that, without

having a clear understanding of it

Otherwise, there's a danger of just generalising it.