Deadline
  • 5 months ago
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Fun
Transcript
00:00What film lit your fuse as a young man and made you have to tell stories on screen?
00:18So I was about 15 or 16 and already had a healthy love of cinema and film and a mother who took me to a lot of art house, my father who took me to a lot of blockbuster type films.
00:39So I was being taken to La Drida Bicicletta by my mum and Rocky 2 by my dad, getting a good balance of the potential of cinema and a film came out in the UK called My Beautiful Laundrette which I think was Daniel Day Lewis's first lead.
01:00And I'd never seen a film that took part in the London that I was growing up in and had characters in it of all nationalities that I was growing up around. I grew up in South East London so there were all sorts of nationalities and ethnic backgrounds in that community.
01:20And here was a film about people I knew and recognised and it was done so plausibly and it chimed with me because I suddenly realised that cinematic storytelling could also be something on your doorstep as opposed to something other, something beyond your dreams or something out there.
01:44And obviously Daniel Day Lewis's performance, he managed to bring out the threat of this disaffected, borderline fascist kind of thug and then the intimacy of this gay relationship that he has with his school friend who is of Indian nationality and so he's sort of crossing the line of loyalties.
02:06It just really struck me at quite a formative age and made me realise that perhaps I could work in film as an actor. Prior to that, theatre really was my focus.
02:18Well now, what movie or series, and it might come down to a performance, did you watch that was so good it made you question, man can I ever rise to this level?
02:28Coming up in the 80s and 90s, the careers of Day Lewis who I mentioned, Sean Penn, Gary Oldman were hugely influential on me. These were guys making films, changing shape, changing voices, changing types, challenging themselves, appearing sometimes in smaller roles.
02:55Sean Penn and Gary Oldman in particular were really great at popping up in films that were not necessarily, they weren't the leads in but had some, you know, had seen something in a role they wanted to try out.
03:10And all of them seemed to always do something that took you away from trying to really realise who they were and realise the potential of losing yourself in a part. Therefore, there was a confidence and a technique that at the time I remember thinking, you know, I have to work harder. I have to work harder and be braver.
03:29Was there a go-to performance movie by Gary Oldman and Sean Penn that really was a North Star for you?
03:36Sean Penn was probably Dead Man Walking. Gary Oldman is really hard. Oh, he did a film I remember with Sean, didn't he?
03:44State of Grace, right?
03:46State of Grace. I remember seeing that and being blown away because I hadn't seen him with an American accent before.
03:52Well now, maybe it was a success of something you did or approval from someone whose opinion really mattered to you. What first gave you the feeling that in fact you should be doing this and you could belong?
04:07I really think that came from my relationship with Anthony Minghella. Prior to working on The Talented Mr. Ripley, I had made a few films. I felt like I was still really learning how to swim in that pool.
04:22I had a certain amount of confidence in what I was capable of but didn't feel like I'd necessarily been seen for who I was.
04:33And Anthony really nurtured my sense of self on film, the required amount of responsibility it takes to be a lead in a film.
04:47And by the time we were doing our third film together, it just gave me this incredible belief in myself because the variety of parts he cast me in and the emotional demands in all three were such that I suddenly felt like I was his leading man and therefore worthy of a certain amount of self-belief.
05:14And what was the most helpful advice he gave you as you developed this unusual relationship with Matt Damon's character in that film Ripley?
05:24I remember something he used to say to me quite frequently was you're enough. I think what he meant by that was he believed in preparation and the hard work that goes in prior to production.
05:37But when you're there and when you're rolling a camera, at some point you have to let go and you have to also sort of step in. And again, a lot of that is to do with self-belief.
05:47And I think his advice was always that you're ready and you're here and you're enough.
05:53And what would you say was the biggest obstacle that you had to overcome to allow you to turn these performances that influenced you to your own language as an actor?
06:05I think it always comes down to self-belief. I know I've used that phrase before, but to me it's getting to a point or it was getting to a point where the people I was working with were of a status that finally gave me the confidence to listen to my own intuition.
06:22I think working with the people that I was fortunate enough to work with, also demonstrating how hard they work and the levels, the extent they'd go to to get something right, was a learning curve for me to reflect on and for me to find the self-confidence to go to those ends to really try and push one's boundaries and push oneself as an artist, try new things.
06:50So it was a dialogue with myself, I suppose, in following my gut, following my curiosity and really feeling like I had something to offer.
07:03Maybe there was a specific movie where you felt like, all right, I got this.
07:09I mean, in truth, I don't know that that ever happens. I mean, I think it's getting easier. The last couple of years, I felt much more confident in my approach and what I need to put myself through or get myself what I need to do to get ready.
07:24It's like you do a 360 degree check of the past, the present, the sort of physical, external, the internal of a character.
07:35And unless you've got that checkpoint done, unless I have got that checkpoint down, I can't really move on or I'm not ready.
07:42That's become easier. It's become more familiar. Maybe I'm used to it.
07:46It doesn't mean that playing the parts gets any easier, but the preparation is now more like a process.
07:52But I still wouldn't say there's one that I've walked away from and I've gone past it.
07:59I definitely say in the last couple of years, working on Firebrand was a real turning point.
08:04Working on The Order with Justin Kersel, that comes out later this year, that was a real turning point.
08:09And indeed Eden, which I did with Ron Howard this year. So it's just been in the last couple of years. Maybe it's turning 50. I don't know.
08:16Tell me what burned in you about the way Firebrand was framed that made you have to tell this story?
08:24We think we know or have seen in different versions, chapters of Henry's life leading up to this.
08:31I don't know that anyone's done a film about this very last page.
08:36But I love the challenge. I really saw in front of me the challenge of trying to hint at all those other Henry's.
08:43The young, dashing Henry, the musical Henry, the sporting Henry, the humorous Henry, the terrifying Henry.
08:50And really try and carry the weight of all of those on the shoulders of this dying, rotting man.
08:58And the bitterness and the disappointment he has really with himself.
09:02And he's looking desperately to blame someone and ultimately, you know, he's really only blaming himself.
09:08And I love that if I could ground that, if I could give you a sense of understanding of what that might have been like emotionally, physically, spiritually for him.
09:17You really then understood what this extraordinary woman was up against.
09:22And I mean, you know, she had no choice in marrying him. She was instructed to marry him.
09:26You know, the other thing is now, so you say you turn 50 and some of the best parts of your performance display an absolute lack of vanity.
09:37Was there a moment where you just said, I'm going to let go?
09:41Absolutely. It was that way. It was clear from the get go, whether it was getting the physical look right or really trying to find the truth in his behavior.
09:52And in finding the truth in his discomfort to try and explain, not apologize for, but explain his behavior.
10:02All of that meant you had to just dive in and commit, which I always enjoy doing anyway.
10:07I just never been given an opportunity to do it to such a degree.
10:11Yeah. Well, it's going to be very interesting to watch your career over the next 20 years, I would say.
10:16Thank you. Thanks so much.