Posted by Mr. Beaks

This is Part Deux of an interview that begins over at Ain't It Cool News.  Read that part first, then click over here for the thrilling finish.)

It’s interesting that you talk about shadings.  I just call it understatement, which is so difficult for actors.  I mean, it’s good for actors to be big, because then you can pare away and find the nuances, but you seem to thrive on the nuances. 

Yeah.  I learned a lot from working with István, I feel.  And from Anthony.  I loved working with Anthony Minghella and István Szabó because they are people who know the power of the close-up is about the tiniest thing.  It doesn’t have to be absurdly tiny, but, again, as I was saying, if you watch people in life, they’re not showing everything.  And then they can have moments where suddenly something extraordinary erupts; like there’s a scene in Sunshine where Istvan wanted my character – well, Ignatz, the first one – to be provoked by his wife.  It was sort of a fury of justification, and I wouldn’t call that moment understated for me.  It builds into a sort of (a controlled explosion, as Ralph begins pounding the table) rage, and “CAN’T YOU SEE WHAT I’M DOING!” (subsiding on a dime), which I’ve seen in my parents.  And a lot of that comes from direction, too.

Well, that roiling, occasionally erupting undercurrent is also very present in The End of the Affair.  There are stunning crescendos; although, I think that character…

He’s very locked down.  He is.  Bendrix is really full of something sort of eating away at him inside.

He’s a Graham Greene protagonist.

Yeah.  He is.  I mean, it’s a totally internal part, that.  The book isn’t.  As you know, it’s in the first person from Bendrix; there’s a whole monologue going on.  The film has a voiceover, I think.

Shooting on location in Africa, it had to impact your performance being witness to at least some of the misery in Kenya.

I don’t know if it affected Justin particularly.  It affected me.  The thing is, the film punches hard with these images – in Kibera particularly.  When you’re there, and you’re seeing a lot of other aspects of Nairobi, that’s just one – there is also an ex-pat community, a business community and whole other areas of Nairobi that are fine.  But some of it’s very run down; it’s a big city.  In my head, as Justin, he only went to Kibera once or twice.  He goes with visiting people who want to [see it].  Because Kibera is a place to go to.  It’s full of vibrancy and life and unpleasant smells and smiling faces and dust and dirt; it’s lively, and it just sort of hits you. 

As a visitor myself, I’m just affected by the complexity of it.  I find talking about this very hard – the Kenya/Africa thing – because Africa seems massive and complex.  And being a white European with all the historical baggage that brings, I’m hesitant; I still don’t know quite what I’m feeling except that it’s affected me a great deal and I want to go back.  And I’ve been there before, anyway, a few times.  I think Justin would’ve gone, but there’s something about the argument in the car with Tessa when she wants to stop.  I think that sort of shows his feelings:  there are people taking care of all this, and we can’t take it onboard.  There are people whose job it is to look after people, and not everyone can to it.  And there’s sort of a truth to that – not everyone can be a savior.  People have to do what they do.  But certainly I want to go back.

The producer, Simon [Channing Williams], has created a charity in conjunction with the film.

I know he feels deeply about the need to help particularly inspired by Loiyangalani, which is the location at the end.  A lot of things need support there.

It’s a remarkable location.

Well, it’s an extraordinary achievement to have filmed up there because it’s two days by road, and a three hour flight from Nairobi.  He had to build that landing strip where the Buffalo lands.  I think it’s the minimum length for that particular aircraft; you actually see in the film that it bounces.  In order to land on that length of land, I think it needs to do a technique that’s like a helicopter; it comes in very steeply and bounces.  (Mimics this by slamming his hand on the table.)  It can’t come in slowly.  It was a buzz just to watch that. 

But Simon Channing Williams, he is responsible for setting up The Constant Gardener Trust, and it’s in its baby stages; it’s not fully up and running.  I think the thing that impressed me about him is not only did he make a film in Kenya, but his determination to stay in touch and not to just come in and fuck off again – to really be in it for the long term, which is really impressive.

You know, I’ll get hanged, given our readers and their interests, if I don’t broach the subject of “He Who Must Not Be Named”.

Yes.

The challenge of tackling a character whose grand entrance has been built up over three books, and, now, three movies must be daunting. 

Either it’s a blessing or it’s a curse, but I wasn’t aware it was that huge.  I was aware of the phenomenon, I just wasn’t aware of the story and the buildup.  I don’t have that.  I think it would probably have been pretty intimidating if I was an official Harry Potter fan.  I’m a friend.  But it doesn’t consume my every waking minute.  It’s a wonderful part.  In this film, it’s just one big scene, and I loved it.  I don’t know how the Harry Potter fans will take it; I hope they like me. 

You’re going to be very busy.  You’re doing a Brian Friel play, and you just worked with all of the Redgrave women in James Ivory’s The White Countess.

Yeah, The White Countess… I loved the screenplay by [Kazuo] Ishiguro.  It’s an original screenplay.  I think people assume because he’s a novelist that it’s an adaptation, but it’s not.  Mostly, my scenes are with Natasha [Richardson]. 

And the Brian Friel?

[Faith Healer] is a play that’s been very successfully performed in Ireland and London.  It had a very limited outing in New York in 1979, I believe with James Mason.  Brian is keen that it has another life on Broadway.  It’s a wonderful piece for three actors.

Sounds like I’ll be making a trip to New York City next spring.  Until then, you’re advised to check out The Constant Gardener, which opens nationwide on Wednesday, August 31^st.