SuperBob has been Goldstein’s biggest job to date, with him involved from the very start. “Jon and I went to school together in Sutton. He came to me with the pitch. The premise is that although this national saviour developed super-powers after being hit by a meteorite while working as a postman, he is pretty hapless off-duty.” He points out that there has never been a British superhero film.
Despite it being a light-hearted comedy they took their research seriously, even meeting the MoD to see what plans the ministry had in place should the UK really find itself with a superhero. Goldstein is a little cagey about what he was told but says that, amazingly, there is a genuine plan and that a real superhero would be put to use as a loan to other countries to secure international co-operation. SuperBob was filmed almost entirely in Peckham. “Jon lives there and he wanted to make a love letter to his neighbourhood,” says Goldstein, 34 and single, who is another south Londoner, from Balham.
The shoot was not without its problems. The crew was initially apprehensive about filming on the streets guerrilla-style but the director persuaded them. “Then, on the first day we had to shut down filming because a man with a knife was running up and down the street.”
After that, however, things went smoothly. The mockumentary format follows Bob Kenner as he prepares for his first date in six years, as spectacular disasters are happening all around him in the build-up to World War Three. “There’s a motorway pile-up sequence that looks like a Michael Bay film. We did it in three hours. I don’t know how.”
When not playing someone saving the planet, Goldstein, who studied acting in New York, is rapidly establishing himself as a familiar face on TV. He has just been in the E4 series Drifters and is due to appear again alongside Nick Helm in BBC3’s Uncle. Then there was his role as Tom, the boyfriend of nursing home manager Hannah in Derek. Teaming up with Tate has also had a positive spin-off: Goldstein co-wrote Tate’s Nan Christmas special last year and there may be further projects with her on the cards.
Meanwhile, he is to be found performing on the comedy circuit, doing four or five gigs a week. “I’ll always do stand-up. Even when I’m filming I do gigs. The greatest thing about stand-up is that it is the opposite of making a film. With movies you have to hold onto this idea for four years: it’s like building a city and it’s a miracle if it gets made. With stand-up I could think of something now and say it onstage tonight. It’s totally pure, I love it.”
Goldstein is well-cast as this unlikely big-screen saviour. He is handsome but, like SuperBob, quite nervous and shy. “He’s a great hero but sad and lonely too. A bit like me without the cynicism,” says Goldstein, who has also worked hard to get in shape for the film. Although there is, he confesses, he still needed some padding under the costume. If there was a downside to the project it was that costume. “I wouldn’t recommend wearing tight Spandex for hours. It don’t half chafe.”
SuperBob is released on October 16.
