Actor Jeremy Irons Discusses His Role In 'The Man In the Iron Mask'
by Katie Couric, co-host, The Today Show
March 12, 1998
KATIE COURIC: Shakespearian training along with roles in "Brideshead Revisited," "Kafka" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" have made academy-award winner Jeremy Irons comfortable in just about any kind of period role. His latest puts him in 17th century France, in "The Man in the Iron Mask."
(Footage from "The Man in the Iron Mask")
COURIC: Jeremy Irons, nice to see you.
Mr. JEREMY IRONS ("The Man in the Iron Mask): Good morning.
COURIC: I just realized--Irons, iron mask, kind of a coincidence, right?
Mr. IRONS: That's right.
COURIC: We were talking earlier about the fact that this is a period piece. But it's sort of reminiscent of a bygone era in Hollywood, because it's not simply a period piece, it is a big period piece, wouldn't you say?
Mr. IRONS: Yeah, it's a big swashbuckling tale with--with a lot of--a lot of big actors in it, which is nice. I mean, present company excluded.
COURIC: Oh, come on.
Mr. IRONS: And a great adventure tale--very straight, which we haven't had for a while, which is, I think, why the--why there seems to be an appetite for it.
COURIC: What--what appealed to you about your role as Aramis?
Mr. IRONS: Well, it was to be part of that story. To--to--to be able to get onto the screen and do the swash and buckle, which I'm not known for. You know, I normally do the interior landscape. And to work with a bunch of actors, people like Gerard Depardieu, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Malkovich, Gabriel Byrne, people who I admired, who I knew slightly, but who you never get a chance as an actor to work with, because we all do our own films. And so to all be together and--in an adventure story, was a--riding horses, sword fighting. A lot of fun.
COURIC: Did you--did you know these guys before you starred in this movie?
Mr. IRONS: I never met Leo, but I knew the other guys. I knew the older guys.
COURIC: And what did you think of Leonardo DiCaprio, the--the current heartthrob of the world?
Mr. IRONS: Well, you know, he's--it's very difficult when you're getting a little older to accept this new talent coming up so, you know, so good-looking, so talented. But he's a--he's a wonderful guy. He's--I'm sure you'll get to know this--I mean, great humility, very ordinary guy, doesn't seem to be affected by all the hype that's surrounding him and--and a really good actor.
COURIC: Did you give him some pointers, having said that? Did he ask for any?
Mr. IRONS: We talked a little bit about twinning, because I had made a film called "Dead Ringers."
(Footage from "Dead Ringers")
COURIC: I remember that. What a creepy movie.
Mr. IRONS: That's right.
COURIC: Ugh.
Mr. IRONS: David Cronenburg. And I played identical twins. And Leo in this film, in "The Man In The Iron Mask," plays identical twins.
(Footage from "The Man in the Iron Mask")
Mr. IRONS: And we talked a little bit at the beginning and he said, you know, Any tips?' And I'm not really into giving advice. But--he doesn't need it. In fact, I could learn as much from him as anybody. But I did say, Try to make them the same; don't try and make them different.' Because normally when an actor plays two twins, you know, I have to make one like this and one like that. And I made that mistake on "Dead Ringers" for the first week and then looked at the rushes and said, But they're totally different.' Identical twins are supposed to be identical. So I said, Try and make them the same.'
COURIC: Tell us a little bit about this movie, what it's all about. I know it's a remake of the 1939 version, there have been several versions...
Mr. IRONS: Yeah.
COURIC: ...of this story. So tell us briefly what it's about.
Mr. IRONS: Well, it's a French writer, and the characters are the king--King Louis XIV of France, about 1700, and his old bodyguard, the four Musketeers. D'Artagnan is still working for him, and the three others have retired. And France is beginning to fall apart because Louis's a bad king. And Aramis, the character I play, who's not only an old Musketeer, but is also a Jesuit priest, realizes that in order to save France, to pull it away from an impending revolution, we must find a way of replacing the king. And Aramis has a secret. He knows that there is a twin who's been imprisoned in an iron mask. And he sets about replacing one with the other.
(Footage from "The Man in the Iron Mask")
COURIC: Let me ask you about the other movie you were recently in that was never released in this country, and that is "Lolita."
Mr. IRONS: "Lolita" has not been released yet. And whether it ever gets theatrical distribution here, I don't know. It will be seen here, I have no doubt about that. Negotiations, I think, are happening at the moment. It's a wonderful film, directed by Adrian Lyne, but on a very difficult subject, and so distributors have fought shy from it, I think, sadly, because I believe it's a morality tale. It's a tale about what happens if you transgress that line and--and the tragedy that befalls you.
COURIC: Because the movie's been made before.
Mr. IRONS: It has, indeed. Yes, Stanley Kubrick had a shot at it. Not a film that he was very happy with, not one that Nabokov, the author of "Lolita"...
COURIC: Right.
Mr. IRONS: ...was happy with but--a film of the '60's. Adrian, I think, felt that the film was still there to be made. And it is one of the classic novels of this century. And he's done a tremendous job.
COURIC: Well, I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing it one day. It's so nice to see you again.
Mr. IRONS: Thank you.
COURIC: Thanks for coming in.
Mr. IRONS: Very nice to see you, Katie.
COURIC: And we'll be back in a moment. This is TODAY on NBC.