27 February 2015
Newsdesk
Chris O'Dowd felt like One Direction's Niall Horan when he performed on Broadway - because he wasn't the main event.
The 35-year-old actor appeared in the production of Of Mice and Men alongside James Franco in New York City, and it was a dream come true. That said, he was under no illusion about who the most famous person on stage was.
"It was so exciting, Broadway feels like a real community. You go for a post-show glass of wine and the cast of Cabaret are there. And [James] Franco just brings masses of teenage girls, which is f**king bananas," he told British magazine Heat. "I was used to doing theatre in London, where the average age of the audience is 68. I felt like the Irish kid in One Direction - Niall - like, knowing they're all going to see Harry Styles. I knew they were all there to see Franco."
His turn treading the boards went down a storm, with Chris picking up a Tony Award nomination. Much as that was a great honour, it's not something the star spends a lot of his time pondering. Apart from anything he gets bored by the constant rumbling of ceremonies during awards season, something he believes many of his peers will sympathise with.
"It's good because it draws people to the show, but there's too much emphasis on awards. Like, I'm in L.A. now and the Oscars attention is incredible. The nominees doing the rounds of promotion must be bored out of their minds by now," he said.
"Don't get me wrong, once you're nominated for one, it's lovely! But they should have a week of awards shows, then we can just get on with our lives."
