Interview: Stephen Rea

Marcello Paolillo met with helmer Neil Jordan and actors Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea in New York.

Q: If I’m not wrong, you have done 9 films with Neil Jordan [Angel, Butcher Boy, The Company of Wolves, The Crying Game, The End of the Affair, In Dreams, Interview with the Vampire, Michael Collins and now Breakfast on Pluto]. How would you describe your relationship?

A: After so many years, our relationship is very particular. In certain occasions, Neil comes up to me and says: “You know, I think you should be in this movie, but I’m not sure what you should do”. It happened for Michael Collins, and also for The Butcher Boy, when he had the idea of having me play both the father and the voice of the son when he gets older. Also in this case, he told me: “I want you in the film. Read the script and tell me if you like Bertie.” It’s a very small part, but for the moment that he is in the movie, he is the heart of it, and that intrigued me. In the book, he doesn’t even exist. There’s only one line, I believe, that says “Uncle Bertie who did magic tricks”. I love working with Neil. There’s really little improvisation with him. He is a writer before he is anything else. So, if I feel that the character should say something more, or different, I would always ask Neil to provide me with that.

Q: How do you see Bertie the Magician? And how did you get into it?

A: I went to talk with several magicians. They were very interesting. They told me: “You can always bring the audience to do what you want them to do. You can always make them take the card that you want them to take.” It’s all about control. I had a lot of fun with Bertie, even though he is quite far away from me. At least I hope. He is very manipulative. If you think that Bertie can really bring salvation to Kitten, you are in trouble. His only redeeming quality is that he loves the guy, he really loves Patrick/Kitten for who he is. Not a boy, or a girl, but a girl who is a boy. After all he believes in magic! But what can he offer to him?

Q: What do you think about Cillian Murphy?

A: He’s an actor, a real one. He wants to get the scene right. And getting a scene right means everybody being right, not just him. You are asking me this question because he is now in his imminent stardom, and this is what I think. He is an actor, really interested in his profession and not just in himself, and this is why I think he will have a long and beautiful career.

Q: You worked with some of the main British and Irish directors, from Stephen Frears (Early Struggles) to Richard Eyre (Lose Connection and Comedians), from Mike Leigh (Four Days in July), to Mike Figgis (The House). How would you describe the current situation of British cinema?

A: It’s a question of individuals, that’s the problem. You can identify an Irish cinema only through the personalities of people like Neil, Jim Sheridan, and so on… but there is not a real industry. As for British cinema, I am not thrilled by the current situation. Mike Figgis and Stephen Frears have done pretty well in America. I have to say, I love Frears. I think that Dirty Pretty Things is one of the best movies of the last few years. These are the kind of films that we should be doing, instead of the usual tongue and cheek movies we keep producing. But don’t let me say what I really think about our cinema…

Q: Can you give us an anticipation of V for Vendetta?

A: It’s a futuristic political paranoia written by the Wachowski brothers [The Matrix trilogy]. I play a nice policeman. I guess there’s a moment in life in which you stop playing rebels and start playing policemen, stop playing madmen and start playing shrinks. But it’s a very interesting character, he is right in between the government and the terrorists. He fights the terrorists and is paid by the government, yet at the same time, he is very critical towards the dictatorship that his government represents. It’s set in Britain, but it’s really about Bush’s America.

Sony Pictures Classics’ Breakfast on Pluto opens exclusively in New York on the Wednesday the 16th and will open wider in the weeks to come.

You can also read Marcello’s interviews with director Neil Jordan & actor Cillian Murphy.