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Father Bernard
Could you describe your
character for us?
My character is a very strange Dominican Priest called Father Bernard who might or might not be implicated in the fearful, rather supernatural, goings on here.
This is a mixture of modern horror and ancient mythology and monsters and pagan gods with names like Asmodius.
The other thing is that the man I'm playing is blind, but does seem to have
supernatural sensitivity to what's happening around him. Quite up my street
playing demented, strange, improbable monks.
Playing the
part
What's it like playing a blind character?
It's terribly interesting because quite often I can't bear the sight of the people around me, so it's quite helpful, and other times it's quite difficult because it makes you realise how important your eyes are for decoding what other people are saying. It isn't always a tone of voice when people are talking to you, but seeing a twinkle in an eye, or a wink or whatever.
Did you do any practising at home?
No, I don't need to do any practising at home because in the next scene my eyes will be made up horrifically, and then, I will be blind so I won't be able to move very well, but one closes one's eyes.
Are there any special techniques to playing blind?
I was trying to remember the way David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, who is
blind, doesn't always look straight at the source of a sound. It's interesting
that, the way he moves his head slightly, and so I copied that. That's all I
did, and a bit of practice with my stick, and I did try to learn the geography
of the set.
Habit forming
How does it
feel to be playing a monk?
I've played monks before. I started my film career playing a mad monk. I played Rasputin, the Pope and I played a very lecherous old priest called Father Fergusson in The Life and Loves of a She Devil. So it's quite interesting being cast as these people who are feeling guilty about their passions.
There's a very nice bit in this when I'm obviously pretty occupied about
anticipating tasting a chocolate biscuit, that kind of pettiness sums up the
appetite. You know here's a man with a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience,
which presumably he may be observing, but what really is tempting him is the
thought of a chocolate biscuit. Not a lot, just one chocolate biscuit. It's fun
that.
Keeping the faith
Which of the
three vows would you find it hardest to keep?
I think all of them because I'm very anti-poverty, I can't abide the thought of being poor. I certainly don't like being told what to do, so bang goes the obedience - and as for chastity, phew, what's that for? I mean who wants to be chaste? Everybody wants to be chased.
All vows are a bad thing?
No, no, no, no, some vows are good things, a vow of loyalty is beautiful. But
I think vows are dangerous things because human nature being what it is, we are
inclined to break vows.
Tailor made
Andrew Marshall said he wrote the part very much with you in
mind.
Gosh, did he really! I'd never met Andrew before but he writes this stuff which is very wry and mixed and wonderful little laughs and flashes which I like.
I still like playing these improbable parts. You know I couldn't be in The
Bill or things like that, it doesn't engage me but stick a frock on me...
Future plans
So will you be doing more
Strange or Randall and Hopkirk?
Well, no more Randall and Hopkirk because of the boys. I've become quite friendly with the boys, particularly Vic Reeves. There's talk about doing a one-off.
What engages me is strangeness. I see comedy in everything but that's because
I'm in the twilight of life and when you're in the twilight lots of things seem
bitterly funny.
All-weather acting
What's the worst thing about filming in conditions like this?
It's a very beautiful house but it's very cold, and all filming is annihilatingly boring.
It's an extraordinary thing, you can't be an actor, especially a film actor, unless you can put up with the annihilating boredom of standing around in terrible conditions, although people are very kind and give you a lot of attention.
What is boring is the waiting around and then the endless doing it and the doing it again and again, because there are so many factors in filming which are outside the actors' hands.
So you've got to be able to put up with all that boredom and still stay in good humour, because you can't act if you're angry because it will get in the way. It will be all right if you're acting anger, that's fine. But normally you've got to be wry and on top of it because things change all the time, and you catch the director's eye and he makes a little sign and wants it shorter or quicker and then you do it and it's fine, but you've got to stay in great good humour.
Most of the time I find that quite easy really because I get on quite well with people and I do like laughing and I'm used to being contradicted and rejected.
That's another thing about an actor, you've got to be able to put up with
rejection, but then I think actors, like Jehovah's Witnesses, are half in love
with rejection.
Regret Nothing
What's
the biggest rejection you've ever suffered?
I remember being quite shocked after auditioning for Lord of the Rings that I was rejected for that. That really surprised me. But it isn't big rejections for very big films necessarily, it's often small rejections you know, or rejections of ideas.
Because I got so, not conceited, but I got self-confident over Doctor Who, I thought that would rock on for ever. It's now twenty-three years ago since I gave it up.
It was the most wonderful part I ever did, and I thought life would go on
like that, but it wasn't like that. It's been very up and down, and often I have
ideas that people don't like. Usually they think I have bad taste.
Feel the fear
In real life what is your
greatest fear?
Dying. Dying is my greatest fear, because apparently when you die you've actually got to be there, there's no way of avoiding it - and I'm not consoled either by the fact that nobody gets out alive.
I happen to be very happy. I've been happy for many years now, and rather selfishly I don't want it to stop. Soon I'll be 70 so something terrible could happen at any moment. I hope that when disintegration or heart attacks or whatever thing happens - I think about this a lot - I hope that I'll be brave, and maybe witty as well.
Do you ever practice your final last words?
I've got my own gravestone ready. Lots of people have got pictures of my
gravestone and I think I might have written 'I'd like a second opinion' but
that's only to cheer people up a little bit. Otherwise I think I;d have to say,
if I was to go tonight, which is very likely in this temperature, I feel like
Captain Oates, "I wouldn't have missed it for anything".
Time
Lord advice
Richard Coyle is playing a hero, you were
Doctor Who, have you got any advice for him?
Oh no - I've got no advice for anyone really, I never give anyone advice, no - I would not dream of giving him any advice.
He's a different generation, he's only about twenty-one or something like that. I've no idea what young people are on about now, I just look at them and think that they're sacred, they're sacred because they have everything before them, whereas me, I have everything behind me.
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