VIVA Mag (Holland) Interview

June 20, 2000

VIVA (VNU Publishing co.)- issue no. 25;
Interview by Carmen Neilstein. Translation by Janine.

"I'M NOT AN EASY PERSON TO LIVE WITH"
"In fact I don't like interviews. All those questions from complete strangers. And I'm supposed to have an answer to every question. Whenever one of you journalists comes along I get this feeling as if I'm on a psychiatrist's couch." What a nice way to start a conversation. He seems a lot different in real life than in his films. He has a beautiful face, but I can hardly find him attractive. It seems he only comes truly alive on the screen. In The End of the Affair he is a great actor - the ardent and jealous lover of a married woman."

Just how ardent and jealous are you?

"Hmm... ardent yes, jealous.. not really. I'm not a real romantic either, but I love romantic poetry. Byron is my favourite poet. Very romantic with a hint of cynicism - I really appreciate that. And of course I have been jealous at times. It's only human. I try not to get too much involved in feelings of that kind. Whenever I develop jealous inclinations, I seek some distraction: I'll start reading a book or go to the cinema. Usually the feeling gradually disappears then. Jealousy is a blind road and I don't consider it worth it to waste my time on it."

The character you're playing in "TEOTA" acts by instinct. How about yourself?

"I would really love to be instinctive, but in reality I am a person who rationalizes and analyzes everything before he starts doing something. And that's what I hate about myself. I would love to be open and spontaneous. That's why acting is so good for me. A lot of the time you have to act spontaneously to the actor opposite you. Unfortunately it hasn't penetrated into my private life. At least, not yet. I'm too much of a thinker and brooder."

Do you believe in love at first sight?

"No, but I do when it comes to a sudden desire for someone. For instance, you meet someone with whom you have 'rapport' instantly and with whom you could go to bed the next moment. And that such a thing can change into love, yes I believe so. I have lived through that feeling once or twice, but I have not always succumbed. With whom? Cm'on, of course I won't tell. "

< snip >

.." I find it a lot more important to impersonate a character than worrying whether or not I have love handles and if they show on the screen. I don't worry about such matters."

So what does worry you?

(glum smile) "It's that I do a screentest, together with my little brother Joe, for the same part, and that they choose him. Let's be honest: he looks a lot better than I. And he's a lot younger, ha ha, "

< snip > [about his parents & siblings]
< snip > [most precious memories of his parents, God, etc.]

"These days I sometimes walk into a church. Not to pray though. But I love the atmosphere and the smell. "

How would you describe yourself?

"Someone who is not easy to live with. A serious person - definitely no party animal. But also someone you can rely on. Thank God my wife and I can still move through one door together. The rest is of secondary importance. "