Mark Gatiss says West End Role is His 'Best Part' to Date! Report by Mccallumj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hello Mark, nice to see you again. We need to stop meeting like this.
00:03 Yes.
00:03 Just every time.
00:04 All the time.
00:05 It's great to see you, congratulations.
00:08 Thanks pet.
00:08 You're a nominee, how does it feel?
00:10 Lovely, thanks, always lovely. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise.
00:13 What does it mean to you to be nominated for an Olivier? Don't be humble.
00:18 Does it make me humble?
00:20 No, don't be humble.
00:21 Okay. It should be called the Gielgud, that's all I'm saying. Big mistake.
00:25 It's really, I'm very proud of this show and everyone in it and the whole production has been really, honestly life changing.
00:35 I just, I've loved it. I think it's the best part I'll ever have and I don't know what I'm going to do next.
00:39 Really? Best part ever?
00:40 Yes, it's just got everything. So I'm very, very chuffed to be nominated, especially in such an amazing company.
00:46 So, that's, yeah, it's lovely.
00:49 And tell us a bit about the show for people that haven't seen it yet.
00:52 It's about, Gielgud directed Richard Burton in Hamlet on Broadway in 1964.
00:58 Burton hero worshipped him, but he sort of thought that Gielgud was going to be a bit of a pushover.
01:02 Gielgud had been the most famous Hamlet of his generation and he wasn't a pushover.
01:06 So the production was very, very fraught. It was a huge success, but it was a personal sort of disaster for both of them.
01:12 So the play is about that and then it's about themes of fathers and sons and the fragility of ego and also reputation.
01:21 And, you know, Gielgud was kind of washed up at that point and then he had a total rebirth on film and stuff.
01:28 So it's been really amazing. And Johnny Flynn as Burton, Tuppence Middleton as Liz Taylor.
01:35 We've had the best time. Brilliant company and couldn't ask for more, really.
01:38 And Sam, obviously.
01:40 And Sam Mendes, him, yes. He's been-
01:42 That old thing.
01:44 Yeah, but the funny thing is, I keep repeating this, I've got a lovely line in the play.
01:48 Gielgud talks about the Tonys and he says, "It's so hard, the whole matter of judging anything, vulgar."
01:55 So everyone's been texting me that all day.
01:58 So if you win tonight, is that going to be the speech? Have you given it away?
02:01 No, I've not.
02:03 If you do win, have you got a speech prepared?
02:06 A little something.
02:07 I think you should rehearse that line and say that. Please say that line now. Please do it.
02:12 Maybe, maybe. We'll see.
02:13 What's it like working with Sam in a theatre capacity?
02:15 Because obviously we've seen what he does on screen. What's it like working with him on stage?
02:19 Well, as I say, it was a lovely rehearsal. I was scared stiff, we all were.
02:24 It was such a vast thing, Jack Thorne play and such a big subject and such big famous people.
02:31 But we had a great time, I have to say. Sam was terrific.
02:34 And of course, he said a lot.
02:37 People in Hollywood sort of ask him why he keeps going back to theatre.
02:41 It's because it means so much to him. It's the absolute foundation of it.
02:46 Everything we do starts with going on stage, really.
02:50 So he keeps wanting to feed the monster.
02:54 Why do you keep going back to the theatre?
02:56 Same thing. I mean, it's like nothing else. It isn't.
02:59 I've been doing theatre almost exclusively for two years.
03:02 I directed my partner's play and Stephen Moffat's play.
03:05 And then I did Motive at the National and I've just finished in the West End.
03:09 I'm very ready to sit in the trailer and have someone wait on me under the foot.
03:13 But I'll be back.
03:14 You will be back. I'm sure there'll be no shortage of offers.
03:17 Nice to see you. I cannot wait to see if you win now, if you do that speech.
03:20 I'll be like, "He's done it for me!"