Jeremy Irons
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Jeremy Irons is best known for starring in the David Cronenberg film, Dead Ringers.

But of course that was back in 1988, now Jeremy Irons is transporting us even farther back in time by starring in The Merchant of Venice which is directed by Michael Radford. Irons plays Antonio to Al Pacino’s Shylock.

Check out the website for The Merchant of Venice

Daniel Robert Epstein: Michael Radford has said that actors’ method process was frustrating for him during the rehearsals.

Jeremy Irons: Mike came from doing documentaries and he was great for this because he hadn’t done Shakespeare before and he approached it like he was a writer. He looked for the events to happen. For actors to get inside these characters and the writing, you have to do a little bit of work and you have to work together. We call that rehearsal and it’s something that Mike was a little frustrated by. He would pace around and not know what we were doing. But what it meant was that when it came time for the pressure to be turned on and we had short daylight hours, we knew what we were up to and could do it accurately and fast.

This was the chance to play Shakespeare on film which comes rarely. He’s not a character I would have interest in playing in the theater. He’s not there enough. I can play Shakespeare on film, which releases you enormously. You don’t have to bang it out to a big audience, you can just play it very subtly. It’s a great freedom. As a writer he has more depth and of course the chance to work with Al.

DRE: When you’re making the deal with Al Pacino in that scene, is that something you have to find together?

JI: Absolutely. I hope the language sounds colloquial and it doesn’t sound ancient. It should sound naturalistic speaking. It’s like a movie with subtitles. After the first five minutes you get used to it. If you’re practiced in Shakespeare, and I’ve done a lot on stage, then you know how to speak it. It’s like a foreign language. Once you know how to make it work for you…You hear some actors doing it and it sounds so odd, but it’s supposed to sound colloquial.

We just made our little choices – you have to when you’re creating any scene. But it’s very easy with Al because he’s one of the greats. The pleasure is enormous. Driving the best cars, eating in the best restaurants and working with the best actors – it’s great. It’s what we’ve all wanted to do. I was doing it with Al and it was a joy and very easy. The one thing about good actors is that they don’t have the bullshit. They just focus on the problem.

DRE: Had you been in Merchant of Venice on stage?

JI: No but I’ve seen it.

DRE: When you first saw the play did you realize that Antonio’s relationship with Bassanio was as close as the director wanted it to be?

JI: I think [Joseph Fiennes] surprised us all with the kiss. We talked about the nature of the relationship and the difficulty of today’s audience who think in terms of just straight or gay. The greatest relationship they could have at that time was with another man. That was valued more than the relationship between a man and a woman. It was platonic but very deep and emotional.

DRE: The Venetians still do that though.

JI: I suppose that’s true. Also when I was at school, one of the privileges was that you could walk arm-in-arm with another boy who was in the opposite class. That was leftover from that time I think. I remember saying to Joe, what would be the difference if I was your father? Very little is the answer. Two things: Firstly, he has to be a contender. Portia has to see that Antonio is a contender for Bassanio’s heart in order for it to kick on to the ring bit which is Shakespeare telling us through Portia that you can only really love one person.

DRE: This character has scenes of vulnerability and you have a lot of scenes of weeping and love. Was that another thing that drew you to this part?

JI: No, I am always happy if I’m not repeating myself too much from movie to movie. I’m easily bored and I try to make characters who are different from each other so I have a better time doing. Once I’m into doing it I don’t think I can’t, I just try to play what is needed to the best of my ability. It was just that this was Shakespeare and really there is nothing else for me to play in that play. Unless I played Shylock and I would never think of myself as a Shylock anyway.

DRE: Why not?

JI: I don’t know. I’ve never thought of that role. I might want to do Leer one day or Prospero. But I never felt like a Shylock.

DRE: What was your first Shakespearian role?

JI: In my first role I played a woodsman in As You Like It or maybe it was Satan in Macbeth. My line was “The Queen, My Lord, Is Dead” and someone came on and said, “The Lord, My Queen is dead.” And the actor said “Your Queen? What about my queen?”and the actor said “Your Queen is dead too!” [laughs]. Total confusion. It’s very difficult. I feel very sorry for actors that play little roles, they get so nervous. I did too.

DRE: Do you think Antonio is Anti Semitic or was it the society?

JI: I think he is a man of his time. The Turks had their own area in Venice as well. It was a very international trading place. There were people of many different nationalities. I think Antonio was in his own time. I think there are two things he does which are very hard for a modern audience to accept. One is the spitting at Shylock. He’s quite a gentle man and I think he panicked at that riot. But he is a man of his own time and the Jewish race was a society apart. Many people now I think a lot of quite reasonable Englishmen might be nervous amongst Muslims now. The other thing is when he thinks Shylock should become Christian. He gives him his life, but he has to become Christian. I think for Antonio that means he’ll get the redemption he would have never gotten as a Jew.

DRE: Do you give any credence to the concept of forgiveness in the story?

JI: I think forgiveness is essential. Every religion breeds on that. If you don’t forgive, then you’re in trouble. I would say this is a place about Anti Semitism, it’s not an Anti Semitic play. It’s not a play that drives you into the street hating the Jewish race. It makes you think reasonableness is the only way. Fundamentalism is the only way. It’s extraordinary because it’s relevant to today. When we were shooting in Venice there was a news report in England that a Muslim father had lost his father to a local boy and he went out to kill him. It’s that madness that religion can do to you still exists. We still have people saying our way is right in America and in Baghdad it’s not.

DRE: Were you able to make the character relate to you personally or was it something you just got into?

JI: When I play a character I become him. You have to otherwise you don’t do them justice.

DRE: Venice doesn’t seem like the kind of place to make a movie with just permits. Did you find that to be the case?

JI: I think you have to grease the monkey and that’s just the nature of it. Venice is tough for production. But I loved Venice. I was there enough this year making two movies to really get inside the place and get to know people that live there and get to know there way of life. That’s one of the great privileges of working as an actor.

DRE: Are there still problems there like there were in the time of the play?

JI: I didn’t get into that. I think Venice has enormous problems in that it doesn’t quite know what it should be doing to pay for itself. It’s surviving on this tourists and cruise ships. I was saying there should be a great recording studio there and a great concert hall. It should have painters to come in and work on scholarship. You need to get the infrastructure better and its run by a council that just doesn’t think in those terms.

DRE: When you won your Oscar, one of the people you thanked was David Cronenberg. Do you think that will be the only time his name will ever be mentioned at the Oscars?

JI: He’s not very politically correct. He doesn’t make Oscar pictures.

DRE: He tried with M. Butterfly.

JI: Is that an Oscar picture? Even if we had done it well?

DRE: Would you work with Cronenberg again?

JI: Yes, we’ve been talking about. He sent me a script I hated but he likes it. He asked me to play the James Spader role in Crash and I regret not doing it. At that time I just thought it was too off the wall and crazy.

DRE: You’ve worked recently with many brilliant directors. What have you learned from them?

JI: You take different things from different directors because they have different things to offer. They’ve all been very pleasant. I’ve always sought out the best I could find to work with. The director is a very important part, not just the script. Like different friends they bring you different things. They have different strengths and weaknesses. I know what I need as an actor from a director. I usually find it. And if you don’t get what you need form a director, then you find ways of compensating.

DRE: Is there a clash of egos?

JI: Rarely but it has happened. I’m very forceful and I have lots of ideas. I’m happy with my ideas and I always put them forth. Some directors aren’t used to that. I insist on being part of the creative process. The director doesn’t have to use it, but it is better if everyone puts in their own ideas.

DRE: What ideas did you bring to this film?

JI: I can’t remember. It’s different to know where ideas come from when you finish. Every good director makes his actor think every idea was his own creation. But through discussion you can plot ideas, but you have to let them have their own creation. You’re affected by the set and other actors and it sort of evolves.

DRE: Was it hard to spit in Al Pacino’s face?

JI: I never actually did it. The way movies work – we had that bridge and we did it in different places but neither of us were there. In other words, someone else spat in his face, and I spat in someone else’s face [laughs].

DRE: What was the first film you remember seeing and the impression it left on you?

JI: I often think about this. I can’t remember. There was one movie. I remember the first X rated movie I saw, it was about torpedoes. But Lawrence of Arabia was the first one I saw and can remember the name. I remember being totally seduced by Peter O’Toole and thinking, I want to be able to do that. I discovered that you can do it if you’ve got blue eyes.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Jeremy+Irons/