Alan Cumming Recalls Sweet Way He Landed His Role inSpice World: 'We Laughed All Summer' (Exclusive)

Alan Cumming.Photo:Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

“The reason that they asked me to be in their film was that Geri, when she was at college, her class came to see me playingHamletjust a couple of days after her dad died. And, of course, Hamlet is a character whose dad has just died and was in grief for that,” Cumming, 59, tells PEOPLE of his role in the English Touring Theatre’s 1993 production.

“She really connected with me because of my Hamlet. And that was why they asked me to be in theSpice Girlsfilm.”

As a result, the Scottish star jokes, “I’ve always wanted to get a T-shirt made saying, ‘Ginger Spice saw my Hamlet.’ “

Cumming remembers theSpice Worldset “being a blast.”

“I learned theSpice Girls’ dance moves from the Spice Girls in between takes,” he continues. “I remember having this crash coach in the Spice Girls and just loving them and their spirit. We laughed all summer. I had a really great time and made really good friends.”

Alan Cumming and Geri Halliwell.Columbia/ Everett

Columbia/ Everett

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“I bump into them quite a lot and it’s always so lovely,” Cumming says. “I see Geri a lot.”

The four-time Emmy nominee feels fortunate to have worked with the Spice Girls at what he believes “was the pinnacle of their time.”

“It was like they were really delicious, ripe fruit,” he says. “And shortly after that they went a bit rotting. So I kind of caught them at their prime.”

Cumming calls the suggestion of using his connection to the Spice Girls to cast one of them onThe Traitorsseason 3 “a good idea.”

The Spice Girls at the 1998 Brit Awards.Dave Hogan/Getty

Dave Hogan/Getty

But he doesn’t want people sliding into his DMs trying to get on the Peacock competition show.

“There are proper channels to go through in these things,” the four-time Emmy nominee says. “When people try to contact me through DMs, I sort of think, ‘I don’t have to answer you because this is not the proper channels.’ I get it, I’m the host of the show. On my Instagram, I stopped looking because there was just so many random people. And I think, ‘That’s not my job.'"

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The actor loves that his career has included such a range of projects.

“I’ve gone back and forth between all sorts of mediums and genres all my career. And I think it’s one of the things that I enjoy most is this sort of eclecticism of that and the fact that each time you come to a new thing, you come to it fresh and excited to do it because you’ve been doing something else for a while,” he explains. “Each thing helps me be more interested in the other.”

AfterThe Traitorswraps on March 7, Cumming will star in one-man showAlan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age.

“If I had a gun to my head and I had to choose one [genre], I think I would choose live performance because the connection you get with an audience is so immediate and sort of primal,” the Tony winner says. “I have a little band and I do these concerts all over the world. I love doing that. I have found a life that I never thought I would.”

New episodes ofThe Traitorsdrop Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.

source: people.com