 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
 |
|
"I anguish over every role I'm offered now because I don't want to waste time any more," he says. "I want to sharpen my work in film and learn how to project myself in front of the camera. But, as yet, I am nowhere near the level I want to be. That's the pressure I want to put on myself."
Schindler's List put the world at Ralph's feet last year when the 31-year-old actor gave a chilling performance as Amon Goeth, the SS camp commandant. It floored critics and earned him an Oscar nomination and BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor. The only terrible dark shadow around that time was the tragic death of his mother from breast cancer.
Ralph is weary of his sudden ascent, although Robert Redford's new film Quiz Show, in which he has a starring role, has catapulted him into being an object of intense media adulation in North America. In the past few months his face has appeared on the covers of GQ and Premiere magazines. Even the people who haven't seen Schindler's List are flocking to see the slightly built actor with the commanding gaze in an equally impressive role.
Directed by Robert Redford, Quiz Show is a study in the power of television to manipulate the masses. The film recounts the rise and fall of Charles Van Doren, a waspish, fraudulent game-show contestant who soared to national celebrity in the late Fifties. Ralph's portrayal runs the gamut, from hope and ambition to greed and fear. The British-trained actor depicts the character brilliantly.
How did you find working with Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg as directors?
"Redford is low-key and reserved in his approach to actors and how he runs the set. Steven Spielberg is rather nervous and animated and very fast and anxious to shoot. Steven is more demanding in order to get the best performance. Redford prefers to discuss everything in advance. He gives his actors a lot of latitude and was very considerate to me at the beginning of the shoot when I was still trying to find the character."
You only had three weeks to get ready for Quiz Show after Schindler's List completed filming. That must have been tough for you after an exhausting shoot in Kracow, Poland?
"It wasn't so much the exhaustion from Schindler's List that was the problem, it was losing the 30 lb I had put on to play Goeth. I was frantic. The studio hired a personal trainer who helped me lose about 20 lb. I was put on a strict diet and that took a toll on my stamina, which made it all the more stressful to get inside Van Doren's head."
How difficult has it been for you to make the transition from being a Shakespearean performer on the London stage to being a movie star?
"To be honest, I feel slightly embarrassed by all the attention. Part of me is flattered, but a larger part of me feels it's rather unreal. The most difficult thing for me is to avoid sounding miserable because I've never been the sociable type."
So you're including yourself in the long line of moody and temperamental actors who take themselves too seriously?
"I do have a bad temper. There are still too many neurotic fragments of my past that I haven't learned to deal with effectively. I am still in the process of civilising myself and learning to deal with the media."
It has been said that you stick to a very small circle of friends. Do you consider yourself a bit of a loner?
"Somewhat. I mean, I know I'm not an easy person to get along with, and I'm sure my wife Alex will testify to that even though we've been together for almost ten years. But the irritation people might sense in me is inner-directed, that much I can tell you. If I'm preparing for a role, I torture myself with the fear that I've failed to grasp the essence of my character but after Quiz Show, I gained a lot of confidence about working in front of the camera.
You must be receiving your fair share of attention from a lot of Californian women now?
"I wish you wouldn't ask that, because if my wife reads about this type of thing she's going to jump to all sorts of conclusions! I have been thrown off guard a bit by a lot of American actresses who seem ready to rip their clothes off with alarmingly little warning, so I've been compelled to steel myself against temptation."
Are you finding it stressful living away from your London home and your wife?
"Alex and I have made our adjustments and we know that I'll be back in London to do Hamlet this winter. Every actor-actress couple has to go through this type of separation. Hollywood is a necessary exile, but it's not a permanent one, so we'll work through it."
What is your philosophy about acting? You've spent years honing an impeccable technique but it is also evident that you rely on gut instinct.
"I don't know if I would draw a line between where technique ends and instinct takes over. I think my attitude towards acting is that the performer should be like a skilled and dominating lover. You try to put yourself in the frame of mind where you can exercise fingertip control over what you're doing without losing the essential rush that comes with acting. The stage gave me the chance to see how audiences respond to a lot of tinkering with my work from one night to the next. Now, when I'm acting in front of the camera, I think I know how to adjust my own work to within a few degrees of where I want it."
Robert Redford has been quoted as saying that he saw a nervous and edgy interior in you that attracted him immediately to your work. What sort of childhood did you have?
"My father was a photographer, but as he often found it difficult to earn enough money he would renovate and build houses in exchange for the rent. I have marvelous memories of watching my father work in the darkroom developing his photos. Even though we didn't talk much, it made me feel very close to him when we were able to spend that quiet time together."
You were the eldest of six children. What was your relationship like with your brothers and sisters?
"I always thought of my brothers and sisters as individuals. I was more of a loner than they were and I think my brothers and sisters respected that and never felt that I was trying to distance myself from them in a selfish way.
"When I was growing up, one of my favourite hobbies was to put on puppet shows for all my brothers and sisters. My parents had bought me this magnificent toy theatre and that's where I put all my energies. I would perform these marathon plays like Treasure Island or Great Expectations for them - which I'm sure not all my siblings appreciated at times."
You've been quoted as saying that you were a typical disaffected, brooding teenager. Is that right?
"I went through a rather stupid and angry punk phase for a few years. I had my hair cut razor-sharp and I wore the usual collection of army-surplus clothes. My mother was a great help because she could see that I was going through the sort of identity crisis that many adolescents experience."
Is it true that your mother was the major influence in your life in terms of your love of art and literature?
"Yes. My mother was so beautifully in touch with what was real in the world. I learned to appreciate art and love and poetry through her - what a gift to leave to a son."
Did your mother have any influence on your decision to go to art school and what effect did that have on you?
"My mother supported me very much and so did my father. Art school opened me up psychologically because I met so many people like myself who were anxious to do something creative with their lives. But then, suddenly, I thought I would be happier concentrating on becoming an actor, and so I went to RADA. I think it was the right decision. God only knows what sort of painter I would have become."
And it was at RADA that you met Alex, wasn't it?
"We were both looking for some emotional security in the middle of a very rigorous programme, so we sort of hung on to each other for dear life. But it was a good feeling and there was no stress in our relationship. It was all quite natural."
What was working in the theatre like for you? How did it change you?
"You're totally vulnerable to the process because there's nowhere for an actor to hide during months of rehearsals and nightly performances. You have to be committed, you have to be focused.
"Acting is essentially a therapeutic experience. You're reaching into your own psyche and exposing your entire range of emotions in front of others. It's total release. I think acting was the only chance I had to mature and open up my personality. Otherwise, I think I would have remained a very introverted and lonely person - not that I'm so much fun to be around now!"
Your first film role came when BBC director Chris Menaul saw you perform in Troilus with the RSC and later gave you the role of TE Lawrence in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia, the award-winning 1991 Anglian TV production.
"David Lean's classic film painted Lawrence in broad strokes and Peter O'Toole's performance in it is unmatchable. I saw the opportunity to pump out as much of the darker and twisted elements in Lawrence's psyche as I could find for A Dangerous Man. Those are the types of characters that I want to keep playing. Robert Redford said I should just keep looking for good work and not worry about what other people say."
What are your thoughts about Schindler's List? Do you want to bury that role psychologically so that it doesn't obscure the rest of your work?
"There's some truth in what you say, because I want to build up my film repertoire so people won't think I'm a one-role actor for the rest of my life. I remember that, at the Oscar ceremonies, after I'd lost to Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive, Liam Neeson told me that it was the best thing that could have happened to me, as I wouldn't have to bear the cross of Schindler's List for the rest of my career.
"Longing for the future and nostalgia for the past are the two great enemies of a rewarding life. Right now I want to find as many interesting and different film roles as I can manage."
You've just finishing shooting Strange Days for Kathryn Bigelow, in which you play an LA detective. What was that like?
"I liked the dark psychological currents - that probably says a lot about me but I hope it doesn't sound as if I go home at night and I slam my fists at the walls. I don't. The only anxiety I have these days is worrying about which restaurant I should go to."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© EL STEPHO
Added to the RF Reading Room on April 21, 1999
EL STEPHO