Jeremy Irons: "Acting Bores Me . . . "
by Pablo O. Shotz, Espectaculos Mar Del Plata
November 28, 1999
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He directed a TV movie and a rock video. As an actor, he says that sometimes he makes movies for the money.
While patiently rolling his tenth black cigarette, Jeremy Irons responds with a very British elegance that yes, it was a surprise that he was invited to the closing of this festival, "since I only found out just before I left. They have been inviting me for years, but I never had the free time. By the time I was sure I could actually make it, it was the end of the week."
This is his third trip to Argentina. Since the first -- he confided at the press conference before the Clarin reception -- he remembered three things: "A city as romantic as Paris, a puppet show I had fallen in love with, and an elevator I was in which dropped from the seventh floor."
He has a big bruise on his right arm. "It's not from the elevator. This happened thirty days later. I was fixing some pipes in my Irish castle. It is very old, I bought it and I'm restoring it."
--Why do you say you love South America? --Because there is such great variety. I have travelled to Galapagos, Colombia, Panama, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, I adore Bahia in Brazil, and when I travel I enjoy encountering danger. I find when I come here my feelings become very . . . sharpened. I would love to know more about Argentina. For thirty years I haven't had time, we go from one thing to another. Perhaps in the future. Life goes by so fast . . .
--Have you had the opportunity to get to know something of our culture? --Not much. Ah, yes. Mercedes Sosa. I was in Buenos Aires, I had a free night, and I discovered this magnificent singer, who was in this little place. It didn't have much space, just a tiny club, but I succeeded in getting in. Then I bought myself the album. I was 21 years old.
The Oscar winner for Reversal of Fortune says music "is what lets you enter the culture of a people. Tonight we are going to see Flamenco.
--I must tell you Flamenco is Spanish, not Argentine. --Ah - that's right -
The actor spends as much time as he can in the country. "When I go to the city, I love to immerse myself in movies. I see a lot on video, which is a pain, but I am happiest living in the country, horseback riding, I like to walk my dogs, go sailing, be far away from people. Because when I work I am around lots of people."
--Do you have anything going on with David Cronenberg? --No. But we are great friends, we get together when I go to Toronto, or he visits London, in Los Angeles, or wherever. He is my favorite director.
--To what do you attribute the decision to withdraw from movies for eighteen months? --I started to feel that my work was . . . acting was starting to get boring. and to continue to be boring. When you have done a good job, it is the most difficult to find good roles. I like to be available, so when they call me to do something no one has done before, new projects which will change me.
Irons has directed a film for television and a rock video with Carly Simon. "I enjoy directing. Acting is very easy. You can take two years to direct a single thing. The telefilm is about refugees, who are shown leaving their home and going to live in a completely different place where they are not welcome. It is a subject I undertook in the theater with my wife, Sinead Cusack, and then we wanted to do it on film, Mirad, A Boy From Bosnia."
"There are some movies which are done with the heart, and others for the pocketbook - I hope - . I just finished Dungeons and Dragons, in which I play a real demon. And, considering the bills I am paying in Ireland, I agreed to do it."
