{"id":20264,"date":"2016-05-14T10:41:53","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T09:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=20264"},"modified":"2020-06-06T13:54:05","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T12:54:05","slug":"its-a-kind-of-magic-ep-talks-to-ali-cook-from-new-film-the-call-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2016\/05\/its-a-kind-of-magic-ep-talks-to-ali-cook-from-new-film-the-call-up\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s A Kind Of Magic: EP Talks To Ali Cook, From New Film, &#8216;The Call Up&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u2018<b>The Call Up&#8217;<\/b><\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> follows a group of elite online gamers when they each receive a mysterious invitation to trial a state-of-the-art virtual reality video game. It\u2019s a dream come true and impossible to resist.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Arriving at the test site, the group step into hi-tech gear and prepare for a revolutionary, next-level gaming experience that brings modern warfare to life with frightening realism. At first it\u2019s a unique and exhilarating experience, but what starts out like a dream encounter with cutting edge technology, quickly takes a turn for the sinister.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-YUn6n7oz1o?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>[space height=&#8221;10&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Lisa had the absolute pleasure to speak to Ali Cook, who plays Edward, a rich city boy, who uses gaming as a distraction from his busy life.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Thank you so much for speaking to us &#8211; You&#8217;re also a magician aren&#8217;t you &#8211; in my research I watched\u00a0your appearance on &#8216;The Slammer&#8217;, and you escaped from your version of Houdini&#8217;s Water Torture Cell [Ali laughs] and you were chained, and the tank was locked and strapped shut, and yet you managed to escape &#8211; and I&#8217;m not going to ask how it&#8217;s done of course, but it&#8217;s incredible isn&#8217;t it &#8211; is it an easy transition from magic to acting? Is it all about illusion, do you think?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_32047\"  width=\"640\" height=\"360\"  data-origwidth=\"640\" data-origheight=\"360\"  data-relstop=\"1\" data-facadesrc=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_nHa-sQutdI?enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/essentiallypop.com&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=1&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;color=red&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" data-epautoplay=\"1\" ><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-spai-excluded=\"true\" class=\"epyt-facade-poster skip-lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"The trick that killed Houdini\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/_nHa-sQutdI\/maxresdefault.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"  \/><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\" aria-label=\"Play\"><svg data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"100%\" version=\"1.1\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\" width=\"100%\"><path class=\"ytp-large-play-button-bg\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\" fill=\"#f00\"><\/path><path d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\" fill=\"#fff\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: That&#8217;s a good question! A very famous magician, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jean_Eug%C3%A8ne_Robert-Houdin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert-Houdin<\/a>\u00a0in the 19th century said, &#8220;A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician&#8221;. So I heard that when I first became a magician, then I began doing acting classes, and I was doing so many shows I didn&#8217;t have time to go to acting school &#8211; magic pays very well bizarrely, because there&#8217;s not many of us &#8211; so I used to do classes with a lady called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.deecannon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dee\u00a0Cannon<\/a> who was the head teacher at RADA, and I used to just cram in with her when I wasn&#8217;t doing gigs. But the original intention was just to be a better magician, and magic has been really good to me, I&#8217;ve had a great time being a magician, that was how it started. And then I was doing a show, and a guy who was studying under <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001241\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Frears<\/a> saw me at a comedy club, and he asked me to be in a short film, and that&#8217;s when I started acting.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Ah! I might have seen that short film &#8211; Is that &#8216;The Date&#8217;?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>AC: Noo! That was just a bit of fun!<\/p>\n<p><strong>EP: That was so sad!<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_99138\"  width=\"640\" height=\"360\"  data-origwidth=\"640\" data-origheight=\"360\"  data-relstop=\"1\" data-facadesrc=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CKD5STsaqqQ?enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/essentiallypop.com&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=1&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;color=red&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" data-epautoplay=\"1\" ><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-spai-excluded=\"true\" class=\"epyt-facade-poster skip-lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"The Date - Award winning short film about a magician on a first date\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/CKD5STsaqqQ\/maxresdefault.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"  \/><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\" aria-label=\"Play\"><svg data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"100%\" version=\"1.1\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\" width=\"100%\"><path class=\"ytp-large-play-button-bg\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\" fill=\"#f00\"><\/path><path d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\" fill=\"#fff\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: [laughs] No, this one was called &#8216;Stricklem&#8217; and it was directed by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.andrewsaundersfilms.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andrew Saunders<\/a>. And it was shot on film too, and Andrew Saunders really is a phenomenal director, and I&#8217;m sure people will be seeing more of him. He was at the National Film And Theatre School, the NFT School.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: So he&#8217;s a name to watch out for?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yes! I still think it&#8217;s the best thing I ever did, and it was the first thing I really did.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Is it on YouTube? Can I look it up later on?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: If you look on his <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/user2287900\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vimeo<\/a> it has a clip of it, and I&#8217;m basically bullying somebody\u00a0as we walk down a hill. It was a scene from a larger short film, and I still think it&#8217;s the best thing I&#8217;ve done, in terms of my acting.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/7666971\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: I&#8217;ve been reading your blog as well, and I really like your ideas regarding illusion. Do you think we actually do have the power to choose our own destiny? Or do you think it&#8217;s all about circumstances pulling together? Like the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Oh yes, well that&#8217;s the eternal question! It&#8217;s the Forrest Gump answer isn&#8217;t it! I think sometimes things seem to happen, and you&#8217;re like, &#8220;There&#8217;s NO WAY that could happen!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Like all the ducks line up and you think&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yeah! But unfortunately none of those happen enough for anybody&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: A lot of it&#8217;s down to in retrospect isn&#8217;t it, you go, &#8220;hang on&#8230;&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yes! The guy who wrote &#8216;Black Swans&#8217;, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nassim Taleb<\/a>, he said that, &#8220;Humans go looking for the answer retrospectively&#8221;: which is plausible, but I don&#8217;t know, I think we do have intuition, and I think occasionally, something seems to kick into place for everybody.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: It&#8217;s like the gut instinct isn&#8217;t, like gamblers and investors say they feel it, that this is a sure thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yeah! Whether that&#8217;s good or not, who knows, but there&#8217;s another famous quote from a magician, which is, &#8220;For those who believe, no explanation is necessary, for those who don&#8217;t, no explanation will suffice&#8221;. And I think that pretty much summarises the whole issue really, and it&#8217;s very hard to convince a person one way or the other, once they&#8217;ve made up their mind, people are essentially a believer in something, or they&#8217;re not.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: I&#8217;m going to go off-piste here, but, you would get that in your magic shows wouldn&#8217;t you? People who are utterly convinced that, &#8220;It&#8217;s all a trick&#8221; and then there&#8217;s the ones who are like&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yeah! It depends on the mind-set. I remember years ago when I first became a magician, I did a show and this girl &#8211; this is really weird &#8211; she&#8217;d come out of some religious cult, maybe six months ago &#8211; and I showed her a simple card trick, and ran out of the room, because she&#8217;d thought I was using the power of the devil. She&#8217;d had that indoctrinating as a child. People wouldn&#8217;t believe me, but it happened.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Bearing all that in mind &#8211; going back to my notes &#8211; in acting, if all of a sudden you were only offered roles set in war zones, for instance, what would you attribute that to? Because you&#8217;ve done &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/kajakimovie.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kajaki<\/a>&#8216;, and now you&#8217;re doing &#8216;The Call Up&#8217;, which is basically&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: A war film&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Yeah! Do you get thousands of war films in your inbox and you have to go through them all and choose one&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: [both laugh] I wish! I think at the current age I am, I look like somebody\u00a0who would\u00a0be a soldier, especially when my hair&#8217;s short. I think that&#8217;s what it comes down to. And also one of the big things in &#8216;Kajaki&#8217; was that everybody\u00a0had a regional accent, which was actually very tough in &#8216;The Call Up&#8217;, because I had to spend a lot of time eliminating my regional accent, which is easier said than done, and you have to practice every day and really work at it. I actually really like playing soldiers. I like war films. I used to entertain the troops out in Bosnia and Kosovo when I was younger. I&#8217;ve certainly seen that life, to an extent, when people are stuck out on a post, I&#8217;ve quite a bit of experience there. Also when we made &#8216;Kajaki&#8217;, we trained with the Paras as well, which was a fantastic experience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Well that&#8217;s sort of answered my next question, which was, &#8216;The Call Up&#8217; is about illusion\u00a0really\u00a0isn&#8217;t it, on a grand scale it&#8217;s about a Virtual Reality game that ends up being more than just virtual &#8211; but with &#8216;Kajaki&#8217;, you&#8217;re actually in a war situation, but it&#8217;s pretend war situation&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: The commentary in &#8216;Kajaki&#8217; is, &#8220;Look what we as a country sweep under the carpet, and look what&#8217;s really going on with these 19 year olds, in a country we don&#8217;t try to mention much in the news&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: It&#8217;s kind of like the\u00a0modern Vietnam, isn&#8217;t it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: And what was so powerful about &#8216;Kajaki&#8217; was that it wasn&#8217;t about, &#8220;should we be there or not&#8221;, because it was people trapped in a land mine area, land mines had been laid by the Russians, and that&#8217;s why it was such a powerful film, and that was absolutely, legitimately, &#8220;You&#8217;re a real soldier, and this is how real soldiers are&#8221; whereas, the commentary in &#8216;The Call Up&#8217;, is the other way around, people pretending to be soldiers, if suddenly presented with the reality &#8211; they would HATE it! [laughs] And so it also shows you the gruesome reality, and it&#8217;s awful. If you were really no longer an armchair soldier, and thrown into a real battle, how would you really fare? Everyone would hate it!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: And would you do it for only $100,000 US!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Would I do it??<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: I wouldn&#8217;t! $100K? No way! What&#8217;s that in pounds? It&#8217;s not that much at all!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[both laugh]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Well they don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s coming to them, really, they&#8217;re lured in there, it&#8217;s a trap.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: So when you&#8217;re faced with this film, and you put on your Virtual Reality suits&#8230;were they actually Virtual Reality suits?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: No it&#8217;s like Spandex, but they were made by the guy who made the outfits for &#8216;The Martian&#8217;, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.raprops.com\/home\/splash01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rob Allsopp<\/a>, and he&#8217;s a fantastic costume designer, but they&#8217;re not designed for comfort. One of the ideas of the suit was that they&#8217;re an equaliser, so that even the pretty girl looks the same as everyone else, in a grey suit. And then the other thing is that the concept is that these suits work in a way where they can simulate you into a virtual world. Which sounds crazy, but apparently that technology is only about 10 years away.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Yes! I was going to ask that later &#8211; can you see a time when games like this are actually reality?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: I&#8217;m not an expert, but that&#8217;s according to our director Charles Barker,\u00a0who&#8217;s obsessed with this research. You know the danger is when you watch films like &#8216;The Matrix&#8217;, that seems so ridiculous &#8211; but you watch films like this, and it seems ridiculous but it&#8217;s not actually that far away.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Well exactly! I&#8217;m going to date myself here, but I remember going to the cinema and seeing\u00a0the original &#8216;TRON&#8217;, and thinking, &#8220;that&#8217;s way distant in the future&#8221;, but that&#8217;s the kind of stuff that can be done now &#8211; like Quasar &#8211; my son is going to a Quasar party next week &#8211; it&#8217;s not much of a leap to go from Quasar to what you&#8217;ve got going on in &#8216;The Call Up&#8217;.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_58744\"  width=\"640\" height=\"480\"  data-origwidth=\"640\" data-origheight=\"480\"  data-relstop=\"1\" data-facadesrc=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3efV2wqEjEY?enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/essentiallypop.com&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=1&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;color=red&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" data-epautoplay=\"1\" ><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-spai-excluded=\"true\" class=\"epyt-facade-poster skip-lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"1982 - Tron - Trailer\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/3efV2wqEjEY\/maxresdefault.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"  \/><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\" aria-label=\"Play\"><svg data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"100%\" version=\"1.1\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\" width=\"100%\"><path class=\"ytp-large-play-button-bg\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\" fill=\"#f00\"><\/path><path d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\" fill=\"#fff\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Well&#8230;it&#8217;s still a leap, but it&#8217;s not a million miles away, it&#8217;s not a pipe dream, put it that way.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: So would you be able to do it? You in real life?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: NO WAYYYY!! [both laugh] I&#8217;m a terrible wuss! I&#8217;d hate it! I would absolutely hate it! No chance!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: So what about the character you play, Edward?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Well he&#8217;s the other way around to me! He loves it. He&#8217;s in it for the thrill of the game as well. It&#8217;s a good mixture of characters, some of them are there purely to win\u00a0the prize money. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm6077056\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Morfydd<\/a> (Shelly) and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm2666746\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max&#8217;s<\/a> (Carl) characters, they&#8217;re purely there for the cash, this is a way to get money&#8230;whereas Edward, it&#8217;s assumed he&#8217;s a very wealthy, highly educated city boy, and like these city boys do, he&#8217;ll do anything for a bit of adventure, escapism.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: So it wasn&#8217;t really much of a leap for you to play that character!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: [laughs] Well he&#8217;s nothing like me! [both laugh]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: So how did you turn yourself into him? It&#8217;s your acting skills, isn&#8217;t it, but was it difficult to become him? I mean, first you&#8217;re becoming this completely different person, then you&#8217;re becoming this completely different person *in* a movie which is all about illusion&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yeah! I always think in a film that&#8217;s incredibly high concept, that the less you have to perform. The acting was very naturalistic, because the concept itself is so fantastical. So it&#8217;s a bit like, &#8220;Imagine a lawyer in a crazy computer game&#8221;. So you don&#8217;t have to overdo it or anything. Everyone&#8217;s got their own way of doing it. Physically, I lost a bit of weight, I shortened my hair, I got a tan, because he looked like the sort of guy who&#8217;s always on holiday, all over the world. And I was always wearing chinos and a blue shirt. This is a guy who would be at the polo match, if he wasn&#8217;t doing this. It&#8217;s the Alpha thing. I obviously also changed my voice. And then I had a friend who was a lawyer in the city, and I loosely based it on him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: So you&#8217;re a method actor then, perhaps?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: [laughs] I&#8217;m a &#8220;just whatever the director likes actor&#8221; [laughs]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: That&#8217;s probably more the way to go! So what does the future hold for you? Do you have more magic up your sleeve? More films? More TV? All of the above?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: All of the above! I&#8217;m working on two films that will go into filming later this year, one&#8217;s another sci-fi film, and one&#8217;s a period drama gangster film.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Wow! So is it difficult? You seem to be doing an awful lot! Do you compartmentalise it all? &#8220;This side over here is the magic side&#8221; &#8220;This side is the acting side&#8221; &#8220;this side is whatever&#8230;writing my blog&#8221;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: I find when when one goes quiet for a while, and then the other one comes up for a while, they&#8217;re both precarious jobs at the best of times, so yeah, I just take it as it comes, really. And try to do exciting things. And a lot of the time it doesn&#8217;t happen, of course, you know, 9 out of 10 projects I&#8217;m involved in don&#8217;t happen, it&#8217;s that one out of 10 that might actually go somewhere.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: And that&#8217;s what keeps life interesting anyway, isn&#8217;t it!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: It is!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: If you don&#8217;t put your hand in, you&#8217;ll never find out!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Exactly!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Where can we see &#8216;The Call Up&#8217;?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: It&#8217;s on general release on the 20th of May, and then it goes on instant download and DVD on the 23rd of May.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: It&#8217;s just been the closing film for SciFi London Film Festival too wasn&#8217;t it! Did you go?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yes I did! It was very cool!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: And where can we see you performing next? Do you have any shows coming up?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yes! I&#8217;m always performing, usually comedy clubs around London, particularly Lee Hurst&#8217;s\u00a0comedy club\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/backyardbar.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Backyard Comedy Club<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.99clubcomedy.com\/home.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The 99 Club<\/a> &#8211; those are the two that I frequently do 2-3 times a month.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: So all your details are on your website?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Yes &#8211; big shows go on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alicook.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: I&#8217;ve got a couple of quick fire questions for you: you&#8217;ve already answered my favourite character one.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Who would you like to meet, living or dead?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Oh! That&#8217;s a good question! I think, there&#8217;s a guy called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0256831\/bio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cy\u00a0Endfield<\/a>, who directed the film, &#8216;Zulu&#8217;, and a very little known fact, he wrote one of the best card trick books of all time! It&#8217;s called &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Endfields-Entertaining-Card-Magic-Parts\/dp\/B001AHNKUY?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Entertaining Card Magic<\/a>&#8216; &#8211; he was a director and a magician!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"20268\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2016\/05\/its-a-kind-of-magic-ep-talks-to-ali-cook-from-new-film-the-call-up\/cy-endfields-entertaining-card-magic-1-1024x1024\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cy-endfields-entertaining-card-magic-1-1024x1024.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1024,1024\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"cy-endfields-entertaining-card-magic-1-1024&amp;#215;1024\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cy-endfields-entertaining-card-magic-1-1024x1024.jpg?fit=640%2C640&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20268\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cy-endfields-entertaining-card-magic-1-1024x1024.jpg?resize=640%2C640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"cy-endfields-entertaining-card-magic-1-1024x1024\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: It&#8217;s interesting how that works! People have these side projects&#8230;okay &#8211; so what&#8217;s your favourite book then? I&#8217;m just going to chuck that in! Is that your favourite book?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: Probably &#8211; this is a technical magic book &#8211; it&#8217;s called &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.alakazam.co.uk\/product-Five-Points-In-Magic-by-Juan-Tamariz---Book.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Five Points In Magic<\/a>&#8216; by a magician called Juan Tamariz.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"20269\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2016\/05\/its-a-kind-of-magic-ep-talks-to-ali-cook-from-new-film-the-call-up\/the-five-points-in-magic\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Five-Points-In-Magic.jpg?fit=289%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"289,400\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"The Five Points In Magic\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Five-Points-In-Magic.jpg?fit=289%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20269\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Five-Points-In-Magic.jpg?resize=289%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The Five Points In Magic\" width=\"289\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: What&#8217;s so special about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: That&#8217;s a book about how to perform magic, and how to deceive people using body language.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: Cool! Last one! What question do you wish that someone would ask you in an interview, but nobody ever does?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: [both laugh] Would you like a cup of tea?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EP: How do you have it? \u00a0<\/strong><strong>Thank you so much Ali for talking to us! Have a lovely day!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">AC: No worries! You too!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span lang=\"EN-GB\">&#8216;The Call Up&#8217;<\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> is the debut feature film from director <b>Charles Barker<\/b>. His previous credits include award-winning campaigns for international brands such as Vodafone, Nokia and Wella as well as FX short, (&#8216;Indecision&#8217;), which was accepted into more than 60 film festivals all over the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">He is also an award-winning\u00a0genre screenwriter, specialising in action, science fiction and horror. &#8216;<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The Call Up&#8217;<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\">, topped the Brit List (British Black List) in 2011 as the best un-produced screenplay of that year, as voted for by industry peers. As a writer in the gaming industry, he recently had the opportunity of developing a new game for the Playstation 4.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Written and Directed by <b>Charles Barker<\/b>, <strong>&#8216;<\/strong><b>The Call Up&#8217;<\/b> is produced by <b>Matthew James Wilkinson <\/b>(&#8216;Gateway 6&#8217;, &#8216;SLR&#8217;, &#8216;Kaleidoscope&#8217;) of<b> Stigma Films<\/b>, <b>John Giwa-Amu <\/b>(&#8216;The Machine&#8217;, &#8216;The Silent Storm&#8217;, &#8216;Little White Lies&#8217;) <b>of Red &amp; Black Films\u00a0<\/b>and executive produced by<b> Alan Martin <\/b>(&#8216;The Machine&#8217;, &#8216;Stone of Destiny&#8217;, &#8216;Darklands&#8217;). <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><b>Max Deacon<\/b> (&#8216;Into the Storm&#8217;, &#8216;Hatfields &amp; McCoys&#8217;) leads an ensemble cast, joined by exciting up-and-coming talent, including <b>Morfydd Clark<\/b> (&#8216;Love &amp; Friendship&#8217;, &#8216;Madame Bovary&#8217;, &#8216;A Poet in New York&#8217;),<b> Ali Cook<\/b> (&#8216;Kajaki&#8217;, &#8216;The Anomaly&#8217;, &#8216;The Messenger&#8217;), <b>Parker Sawyers<\/b> (&#8216;Zero Dark Thirty&#8217;, &#8216;Parkside With You&#8217;, &#8216;Monsters: Dark Continent&#8217;), <b>Tom Benedict Knight<\/b> (&#8216;Dracula Untold&#8217;, &#8216;Houdini&#8217;), <b>Boris Ler<\/b> (&#8216;Death in Sarajevo&#8217;, &#8216;In the Land of Blood and Honey&#8217;), and newcomers\u00a0<b>Douggie McMeekin<\/b> and <b>Adriana Randall<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Other executive producers include<b> Richard Holmes <\/b>(&#8216;Eden Lake&#8217;), and <b>Marzipan Productions.<\/b>\u00a0<b>Isabelle Georgeaux\u00a0<\/b>(&#8216;Resistance&#8217;, &#8216;Jadoo&#8217;, and &#8216;Keeping Rosy&#8217;), of <b>Pont Neuf Productions<\/b>,\u00a0acts as Co-Producer. Part-funding is\u00a0through\u00a0<b>Creative England<\/b>\u2019s West Midlands Production Fund.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lisa had the absolute pleasure to speak to Ali Cook, who plays Edward, in Charles Barker&#8217;s first feature film, &#8216;The Call Up&#8217;, out May 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5200,5201],"tags":[790,5539,5549,5540,5544,5436,792,5541,5546,407,5550,5543,5547,5548,5523,5545,5542],"class_list":["post-20264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-films","category-interviews-films","tag-acting","tag-ali-cook","tag-andrew-saunders","tag-charles-barker","tag-cy-endfield","tag-feature-film","tag-film","tag-gaming","tag-houdini","tag-interview","tag-kajaki","tag-magic","tag-robert-houdin","tag-stricklem","tag-the-call-up","tag-the-slammer","tag-virtual-reality"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5yMhl-5gQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20410,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2016\/05\/level-up-exclusive-clip-from-the-call-up-film\/","url_meta":{"origin":20264,"position":0},"title":"&#8216;Level Up&#8217; &#8211; **EXCLUSIVE CLIP** From &#8216;The Call Up&#8217; Film!","author":"Essentially Pop","date":"21\/05\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out this great clip we can bring to you exclusively from 'The Call Up' film, which is in UK cinemas right now and on DVD & Digital 23rd May!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Films&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Films","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/films\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Call-Up-Movie-poster.jpg?fit=796%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Call-Up-Movie-poster.jpg?fit=796%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Call-Up-Movie-poster.jpg?fit=796%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Call-Up-Movie-poster.jpg?fit=796%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20316,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2016\/05\/competition-win-the-call-up-dvd-and-google-cardboard\/","url_meta":{"origin":20264,"position":1},"title":"Competition: Win &#8216;The Call Up&#8217; DVD And Google Cardboard!","author":"Essentially Pop","date":"17\/05\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Win a DVD copy of 'The Call Up', plus a special 'The Call Up' branded Google Cardboard!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Archived Competitions&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Archived Competitions","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/archived-categories\/archived-competitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Competition-for-The-Call-Up.jpeg?fit=680%2C351&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Competition-for-The-Call-Up.jpeg?fit=680%2C351&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Competition-for-The-Call-Up.jpeg?fit=680%2C351&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39385,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2018\/08\/ali-jacko-the-working-mans-musician\/","url_meta":{"origin":20264,"position":2},"title":"Ali Jacko: The Working Man\u2019s Musician","author":"Essentially Pop","date":"14\/08\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"After becoming the first Asian to win British, European, Intercontinental and The World Full-Contact Kickboxing championships, British-born Ali Jacko woke up one morning and became a rock star sensation. \"I had never even sung, even in the bathroom before. My own family cannot believe I can sing. I don't blame\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/music\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/NIKON-D3X36748.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/NIKON-D3X36748.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/NIKON-D3X36748.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/NIKON-D3X36748.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89692,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2025\/01\/q-ali-bey-crafts-an-anthem-of-resilience-in-never-judge-a-book\/","url_meta":{"origin":20264,"position":3},"title":"Q. 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Ali Bey urges his community to speak loud and stand tall in new single, 'Never Judge A Book'.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Q.Ali-Bey.jpg?fit=729%2C635&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Q.Ali-Bey.jpg?fit=729%2C635&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Q.Ali-Bey.jpg?fit=729%2C635&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Q.Ali-Bey.jpg?fit=729%2C635&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":91597,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2025\/07\/mississippis-finest-rosita-p-u-r-p-featuring-akeem-ali-step-forward-with-a-bold-debut-collaboration-jody\/","url_meta":{"origin":20264,"position":4},"title":"Mississippi&#8217;s Finest, Rosita &amp; P.U.R.P, Featuring Akeem Ali Step Forward With A Bold Debut Collaboration, &#8216;Jody&#8217;","author":"Lisa Hafey","date":"02\/07\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"With a seamless fusion of R&B, soul, and funk, Rosita and P.U.R.P come together in their debut single, 'Jody', featuring standout artist, Akeem Ali. 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Yet its mastermind, Italian legend Ennio Morricone, who passed away at 91 in Rome, didn\u2019t set foot in the United States until 2007. That\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Films&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Films","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/films\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ennio-Morricone.jpg?fit=1189%2C665&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ennio-Morricone.jpg?fit=1189%2C665&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ennio-Morricone.jpg?fit=1189%2C665&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ennio-Morricone.jpg?fit=1189%2C665&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ennio-Morricone.jpg?fit=1189%2C665&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/2239EDEA-BCA0-476D-8700-21FF7C935237.jpeg?fit=1350%2C1983&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}