Back in 1999 Film director Sir Ridley Scott announced production on a Roman epic he planned to shoot partially in the UK. This was the first film Toby took part in having attended an open casting for the crowd sequences that were eventually filmed near Farnham in Surrey. It just so happened that a fortuitous visit to a friend who lived very near the location led to a short, but exciting career working on some of the best known films and TV shows of that era, including: Angela’s Ashes, Sleepy Hollow, The Visitors, Casualty and The Bill. One of the key roles he developed was acting as a stand-in for various actors including Christopher Lambert (Highlander 4 – Endgame) which led to his appointment as utility stand-in for ‘Band of Brothers’ – The award winning WW2 drama series co-production between the BBC and Steven Spielberg’s company Dreamwork’s SKG. On this production Toby worked directly with actors including Damian Lewis, Michael Fassbender, Ron Livingstone, Dexter Fletcher, Donnie Wahlberg and Michael Cudlitz, as well as being an assistant to Tom Hanks for the episode he directed plus working as an assistant on the camera team as a video assist operator.

 

“It was an extraordinary experience and not unlike the music business in as much as it is possessed of the same drive and collaborative effort needed to pull off the art…I think this is why I fitted in so well and because of my life long love of story telling through music I recognised the parallels immediately once I met and talked to so many great people…I have always been a cinephile and would have ended up making films as a kid if music hadn’t happened first I think”, remarks Toby.

 

 

As a side note, Toby and Dave Kemp began working on a children’s musical fantasy film called ‘Nevermore’ as song and score composers at the beginning of 2020. The film itself is due to go before the cameras at the end of the year.