Meet Andrew Scott, the ‘Hot Priest’ from ‘Fleabag’

Two weeks later in May, and Andrew Scott might not have been safe venturing out in public. The second season of ‘Fleabag’, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s irreverent dive into grief, alcohol and fornication, had debuted in March in Britain — and turned Scott into a pulse-quickening, knee-weakening sensation who became known among fans as the Hot Priest. As in: “The priest is quite hot,” says Fleabag’s sister. “So hot,” replies Fleabag. As in: Fleabag’s latest crush. But earlier this month, before the final round of ‘Fleabag’ had landed on US shores, Scott — despite villainous turns as Moriarty opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘Sherlock’ and opposite Daniel Craig in ‘Spectre’ — walked through New York virtually unrecognised. Give it time. In season two of “Fleabag,” now on Amazon, Scott plays a G-and-T-swilling, expletive-spewing, utterly divine man of the cloth about to perform the second wedding of Fleabag’s father. And Fleabag, true to form, can’t help but be drawn to someone so wildly inappropriate. It’s a role Waller-Bridge has said could have only been played by Scott, whom she met in a theatrical production a decade earlier. “Andrew has the charisma of 10 people rolled into one,” she told The Guardian in February. She first broached it in what Scott recalled as a magical sit-down with Waller-Bridge in a Quaker meeting house in London, where they mused on the portrayal of religious people on television and what kind of love they wanted to create. Scott, who grew up gay and Catholic in Dublin, has firsthand knowledge of sexuality and the church — an experience he found damaging. Leaving Ireland in his early 20s, he took root in London, gathering laurels including an Olivier nomination for best actor in Robert Icke’s acclaimed 2017 production of ‘Hamlet’. Americans fancied him too: He earned a Drama League nomination for his 2006 Broadway debut in ‘The Vertical Hour’, directed by Sam Mendes, who is reuniting Scott and Cumberbatch in his coming World War I drama, ‘1917’. Just hours before his flight home to begin rehearsals for Noel Coward’s ‘Present Laughter’ at the Old Vic, Scott, 42, ducked into an Upper West Side restaurant. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation. Q: People are saying you’re the best thing to happen to Catholicism lately. A: [Laughing] It’s such a strange thing. I certainly think ‘Fleabag’ has got people talking about sexuality and religion and how those two things can marry each other and coexist. The statistics that have come out since the show began, they’re mind-blowing about what people are looking up on the internet — I saw something the other day that religious pornography has increased by 125 per cent while the show is on. I mean, maybe something else is going on but I definitely think the show just does it for people. .Q: Much has been made of your chemistry with Phoebe — though some viewers have been surprised that a straight woman and a gay man could combust like that. A: I just find it just sort of shocking ... I’m hesitant to say insulting but, I mean, it’s not what chemistry is about. The reason that chemistry is such a fun word to say is because that is about more than sex and it’s about more than brains. It’s about fun and connection. And at the stage door when I do a play, the fans that come and see me are mostly female. For years I’ve always thought, Well, this isn’t based on my sexuality. So who is creating this myth? Q: In 2017, your ‘Hamlet’ earned raves for making the language more accessible. A; I was obsessed with the idea that 350 books have been written about Shakespeare — how you say it, who said it before, what’s not right, what is right. There’s academia surrounding Shakespeare like no other writer has ever been burdened with. And the reason it’s a burden is because it means that it’s for a certain type of rarefied person and nobody else. I started [performing Shakespeare] when I was about 13 and I didn’t really understand him. So when it came to ‘Hamlet’, I wanted them to be able to understand absolutely everything that I said, still adhering to the rhythm of it but just not being really Shakespeare-y with it. Rob Icke, our director, says this brilliant thing, which is it shouldn’t be like eating your greens. It was very important to me and to Rob that we got a young audience. And they came and they understood it and they loved it. ‘Hamlet’ is a thriller about a young man with mental health issues. That’s something that people want to watch on Netflix. Q: You’ve warned against only LGBT actors playing LGBT roles. Why? A: We absolutely adore when our parents are reading us a story when we’re 3 years old and they put on the voice of the wolf. Transformation is very important for actors. It’s something that the audience and the actor want. And I think the question should be about who gets to transform into what. For a long time, gay people haven’t been allowed to transform into straight people. But making straight people not be allowed to transform into gay people doesn’t seem to me to be the answer. I really do believe that we contain multitudes, and more than just our sexuality. We can have great empathy with people who don’t come from the same social background, the same sexuality, even the same race. I often ask gay people, If someone was to play you in a film of your life, would you want just gay actors? And the answer is always very varied. Q: And you? A: No, I wouldn’t just want ... because I have other attributes. Q: Who would you want, then? A: [Laughs] Uh, I’d have to go with Streep..___.Don’t miss it!.Fleabag is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.