How Timothy Spall's 18st son got in shape to be a star like his dad... and being cast as an 'extremely fat boy' spurred him on too!

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Living in the shadow of a famous parent is never easy, especially if you are trying to make your own way in the same game. 

That’s not the case for Rafe Spall - he’s grateful to his dad, veteran actor Timothy Spall, for smoothing the path for him.

‘Who wouldn’t want to see Timothy Spall’s son coming to an audition?’ he asks. ‘It opens doors. Children of famous actors who profess anything else are naive.

Like father, like son: 2007's A Room With A View, in which Rafe and Timothy Spall acted together for the first time

‘You need all the breaks you can get and it’s wonderful to have the advice of one of our great actors at the end of the phone.

‘It gave me real confidence having him as a dad because I saw acting was possible — my dad is an actor, so why can’t I be?’

Rafe is 31, tall, with plaintive eyes and a CV ranging from his movie break in Shaun Of The Dead ten years ago to acting on Broadway last year in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal.

Now he’s the star of Christmas film Get Santa, about a boy’s belief in his jailbird father.

Rafe’s father’s long list of credits range from TV’s Auf Wiedersehen Pet and the Harry Potter movies to the star role in Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner, for which he has been tipped for an Oscar.

‘I’m not worried if people perceive me as being in my father’s shadow,’ says Rafe.

‘I never feel the weight of expectancy, though some children of actors get touchy about it. They are all trying to carve their own way and they’re scared.

‘I had a normal upbringing in an unfashionable part of South-East London. But amazing people would drop round for Sunday lunch.’

He went to a comprehensive, but there was no chance to act there, so he felt he didn’t quite fit and ended up mixing with the wrong crowd.

‘I fell through the gap. I was disruptive and the school jarred with me. I didn’t find myself in the group I would have liked to have been in, the arty kids. I hung out with the naughty ones.

‘I wasn’t interested in fighting. I was interested in listening to Kate Bush because my dad was a huge fan and still is.’

Along with his mother Shane and siblings Pascale, 38, and Mercedes, 29, the Spalls are an incredibly tightly knit family. 

Shane has written a book about how they handled Tim’s illness — acute myelogenous leukaemia — which nearly killed him.

‘My mother is a force of nature. A fiercely protective woman, like a lioness who has been protecting my dad and her children my whole life,’ says Rafe.

His parents’ marriage is strong and intense. ‘It showed me that true love exists and that a happy marriage is possible.’

Rafe is married to Elize du Toit, a South African-born actress best known for her role as Izzy Davies in Hollyoaks. ‘She’s the only person I’ve met whose exact expression the moment I saw her I can always remember,’ he says.

‘We got married two years later and have been together nearly seven years. She is the woman of my dreams.’

They have two children, Lena, three — a honeymoon baby — and Rex, two.

Rafe poses alongside Jim Broadbent (left), , Kit Connor (front left), Jodie Whittaker (right) and Warwick Davis (front right) at the premier of his new film Get Santa

‘I was there for my children’s births. My dad has always talked about what a special thing it is being there for your children being born. 

'My advice to any man about being in the room where your partner or wife is giving birth is just don’t say anything.

‘Even if you’re not the strong and silent type, for those hours be strong and silent. I’ve never had any more respect for anyone in my life than seeing Elize give birth.’

It’s hard to imagine this charismatic and handsome man was 18½ stone when he was 20. 

Did he slim down so he could play leading men, or is it true he was offered a part described as ‘extremely fat boy’ and that shocked him into going on a diet?

‘Both are true. I did the film I Give It A Year, where they wanted me to whittle myself down to the best possible looking version of myself, which involved a long period of abstinence and all that nonsense.

‘I had the support network of a personal trainer and people telling me the right things to eat. The pressure of getting my shirt off was an incentive.’

He had to be believable as a man that the lovely Rose Byrne [from TV’s Damages] would fall for.

‘What I will say is I think it’s unrealistic. It raises questions about what we find attractive and about who that’s for. Most people — including my wife, thank God — don’t find the really whittled version as attractive.

‘When I was in really good shape she couldn’t have cared less. She would much rather I eat lasagne with her. That’s sexy, eating a meal together. Is there anything less sexy than a man saying “I won’t have the potatoes with that, thank you”?

‘Food is a sharing experience, it’s sensual. This aesthetic of the male body is a modern thing. When you look at pictures of Sean Connery with his top off when he was James Bond he wasn’t all ripped; he was just a bloke. And that’s what I am: a normal bloke.

Despite losing a lot of weight, Rafe says his wife Elize preferred to sit down and have a meal with him, rather than have him be ripped

‘For me to have a defined body I would have to dedicate my life to it. Everything I would do would be centred on training and what I was eating and not eating. That’s the opposite of sex.

‘There is only one thing less attractive than vanity, and that’s male vanity. Being self-conscious is the antithesis of creativity and abandon.

‘Of course, we want to look nice when we take our clothes off for someone, but you are responding to something that is inexplicable. It’s an alchemy — it’s not about the way you look.’

Did he put on weight through stress eating when his father was ill? ‘I don’t know. I’ve not been to therapy to talk about that.

‘I think I just loved toast and didn’t know what the boundaries were. You learn that when you feel full that’s when you stop eating. You don’t just carry on because it tastes great.

‘It could have been that I was unhappy, but I feel as if that would be passing responsibility.

‘You just can’t indulge yourself with everything all of the time or you’ll be a wobbly person physically and mentally and it’s just not healthy.’

He believes that over-eating is an addiction.

‘I am addicted to the news. I don’t want to go into psychobabble, but it stops you being present. It’s a big distraction.

‘I am emotional. I cry at The X Factor. I cry at films and adverts. I usually wake up happy, but I have times of insecurity.

‘I’ve always been lucky and have work coming up and have a positive attitude towards it.’

But his father is never far from his thoughts — especially now he is getting praise for Mr Turner.

‘My family and so many other people feel there is an outpouring

of love and generosity from this performance and from a whole body of work.

‘He is a great Englishman, someone that everyone loves. I think that constitutes a national treasure. From the man on the street to Hollywood movie stars, everyone adores him.’

Rafe’s new film, Get Santa is a charming story about father-son bonding. When six-year-old Tom (Kit Connor) claims he’s found Santa in the shed, his dad Steve (Rafe Spall), just released from prison after a failed jewel theft, refuses to believe him.

But it is the real Santa (Jim Broadbent) — and he’s in trouble. He’s crashed his sleigh in a London park, his reindeer are on the loose and then he ends up in jail.

Steve and Tom agree to help find Rudolph and befriend the elves so the children of the world will get their presents.

What’s next for Rafe? He’s waiting to hear if he’s landed a part in an American TV series.

‘It would mean living in Los Angeles. It’s a nice place to bring up children, but Britain will always be our home.’

He opens his wallet to show me pictures of his mother and wife.

‘See what people did before mobile phones. There’s a poem written on a piece of confetti, a leaf from Harold Pinter’s grave and this from a Chinese fortune cookie: “Your positive attitude will result in success,” ’ he says.

‘All things are possible. Expect it to happen. Your wildest dreams can come true. It seems as if they already have.’

Get Santa is in cinemas from today.

Happily married: Rafe with his wife Elize Du Toit at the UK premiere of Get Santa last weekend