Interview 2: Scott Alexander Young, Script Writer, Actor

  • 23 Aug 2012 12:00 PM
Interview 2: Scott Alexander Young, Script Writer, Actor
1. What’s been happening at work and at home since your first Xpat Interview?

Read his first interview here
Zounds and strewth, it has been a while. To answer yr question, on the 'Work' career front Max’s Midnight Movies the half hour, 26 part series I created and scripted is playing across Central Europe on AXN SciFi.

They are also screening my animated adaptation Space Cadets. I have had a few lucky breaks as a character actor (such as A KGB spy in The Company, a medieval lawman in World Without End).

Other than that, I have travelled around and lived in Buenos Aires, Istanbul & Beirut in the last few years. A long-er story. But must have a thing for B cities, because I came back to Budapest. 'Home'? Wherever I lay my panama. No actually it's a lovely heirloomy sort of place near the radial axis of the Oktogon.

2. On a scale of 1 to 10 how happy are you with your life in Hungary, and why?
Weighing in at about 95 kilos, I would break most any scale of 1 to 10. But I'm happy here, writing and acting and growing old disgracefully.

3. What’s the best party you’ve been to while in Hungary, and why?
My own Halloween parties have been known to push the boat out.

4. What’s your favourite drink?
To quote Noel Coward when asked if he really drank Champagne at breakfast: "Doesn't everybody?"

5. What hidden talents do you have?
I draw caricatures and cartoons, something I seriously intend to take up again as a hobby.

6. What was the most interesting travel trip you have ever taken?
Being scared witless in Beirut for two months was certainly interesting; though that kind of interesting, I can probably do without.

7. If you were given a wish that could come true, what would you ask for?
More.

8. What’s the last book you read, and movie you watched?
A Psmith omnibus, by PG Wodehouse of course, and Woody Allen’s Love & Death.

9. If someone wrote a biography about you, what would the title be?
I actually have an autobiography in the works, that I will either call 'So Bad, it’s Good' or 'Lounger of the Empire'.

10. What is the perfect pizza toppings combination for you?
Give me a good bowl of pasta any day.

11. If you could trade places with any other person for a week, real or fictional, with whom would it be?
Whoever Marion Cotillard's love interest is these days.

12. On a scale of 1 to 10 how unusual are you, and why?
Eleven. I am a speed freak who doesn't drive, an effeminate macho man and socialite who never goes out, a Jet-Set Hobo even I sometimes hear them say, but that's just scratching the surface. The deeper you dig, the more "unusual" it gets.

13. What’s the best website you’ve ever visited, and why?
And the correct answer is, (drum rolls) the envelope please (audience gasps) Xpatloop dot com (lots of cheering).

14. Who do you admire the most, and why?
My heroes have always been cowboys. Actually, they're almost all dead writers, ranging from Lord Byron to Douglas Adams, Evelyn Waugh to Hunter Thompson.

15. What do you like best and least about living in Hungary?
I love Budapest to distraction. But I'm disturbed by the country's slide towards the extreme right and xenophobia. Not only the hateful spirit, but the lack of imagination astounds me.

16. What has made the biggest impact on your life so far, and why?
The conspicuous absence of a billionaire sponsor

17. If you won USD 30 million, what would you do with the money?
Take driving lessons.

18. If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
Let me be first to say it: My Way. The version with Sid Vicious.

19. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
In my head, and I'm already there.

20. In ten years from now what will you be doing?
Updating my Xpatloop questionnaire.

  • How does this interview make you feel?