Who is James Payton? The simple answer is that James Payton is a jobbing actor. You’ve probably seen him in something. His two claims to some kind of fame are blink-and-you’ll-miss-em parts in a couple of franchises: Neville Longbottom’s dad in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Hitler in the first Captain America movie. Payton’s other credits include “geography lecturer” in The Crown and “wasted guy” in a terrible Jonathan Pryce thriller from 2005. The two franchises, however, have opened the door to a nice little side hustle: regional fan conventions where Payton sells signed photos of himself for £10.
The film follows him around the “cons”, where franchise fans queue to get a selfie with Harry Potter’s mate’s dad. Payton wonders how his life got to this? “There was me thinking that one day I’d get nominated for a Bafta for some TV detective thing.” It would be easy to take the mickey. And to be fair, sometimes this documentary comes over like a cross between The Office and The Trip, with a bit of Withnail and I thrown in. (There’s a brilliant moment where a small kid heckles the world’s most half-arsed wrestlers.) But Payton has a very dry sense of humour and he sees the funny side of staying in budget motorway hotels or twiddling his thumbs in an empty community hall.
