Jeremy Irons' Night in S. F. ; Actor and director Wayne Wang close S.F. Film Festival
by G. Allen Johnson, The San Francisco Examiner
May 8, 1998
JEREMY IRONS has been doing a lot of press lately, for three different movies, so it would be easy to assume he'll be tired when he walks off the airplane, especially after enduring an hour delay thanks to fog-shrouded SFO.
Instead, the Oscar-winner, in casual attire with a sport coat and sunglasses, walks briskly through the terminal, insisting on carrying his own overnight bag. It's only when he settles into the back seat of the spacious black Lincoln Town Car that he breathes a sigh, and asks if he can smoke.
It's rough dealing with California smoking laws.
"I cope," he says, smiling through his distinctive British drawl. "Well, I smoke sort of "pretend' cigarettes. I sometimes think I should smoke stronger cigarettes so I don't smoke so many."
Then he laughs: "I shouldn't smoke at all, really."
Irons says he's here because he wants to be here. He believes in San Francisco director Wayne Wang and their new film, "Chinese Box," which closed the San Francisco International Film Festival Thursday night at the Castro.
As the car weaves through the SFO construction, Irons gleefully points in the direction of a loud pounding sound.
"That's like what's in the film," Irons says with a surprised chuckle, referring to a similar scene in the opening credits. "A pile driver."
Irons' subtle and moving performance as John, a dying British journalist in the final months before Britain's handover of Hong Kong to China, is among his best, just a notch under his work in "Dead Ringers" and "Reversal of Fortune," for which he won his best actor Oscar. John's love for Vivian (Gong Li, in her English-language debut) and his fascination with a street hustler (Maggie Cheung) cause him to question his life.
It's a meaty, weary, emotionally spent role Irons really took to, saying he felt liberated by Wang's improvisational style.
"One of the reasons I wanted to do the movie was for that," Irons says. "When Wayne first approached me to do the movie, he didn't have a script. Although we improvised some scenes, some scenes were scripted, although scripted very much at the last moment. But you often need a bit more work through improvisation to get a true ring."
Irons, who resides on a farm outside London with his wife, actress Sinead Cusack, and their two sons, normally toils in carefully planned films such as "The French Lieutenant's Woman" or "Damage." He found the experience on "Chinese Box" to be so congenial he says he'd work with Wang again.
"He's very open, very free," says the 49-year-old actor. "Someone said to me the other day, "There's more of you in this film,' because I was in a way the lens through which the audience saw Hong Kong. . . . I always like suddenly learning something about a character that hasn't been set up at all."
Irons and Wang introduce the film at the Castro Theatre, and after speeding off for a quick dinner at Tin Pan restaurant, come back to deftly handle a Q & A session.
Wang calls Irons almost a co-creator of the film, noting the actor was "in the trenches with me every day, trying to make sense of it."
Irons, who had never been to Hong Kong before, says he found the night of the handover, when he strolled the press center tailed by Wang's camera crew, moving.
"I weep at bands," Irons says with a smile. "When the flag came down and the band played, I was pretty choked up."
Thursday night's success is a long way from where Irons sat in September. At that time, his film version of Nabokov's "Lolita" was stuck on the shelf, its depiction of a pedophile deemed too risque in these politically correct times. And "Chinese Box," also without a distributor, received a disappointing reception at the Toronto and Venice film festivals.
Trimark picked up "Chinese Box," and Wang tightened the film by 10 minutes, adding Irons' voice-over and making the film more of a character study of John. Meanwhile, Irons waged a personal campaign through the media to get "Lolita" released, it's been picked up internationally and in America has been sold to Showtime. To add icing to the cake, his turn as one of the Three Musketeers in support of Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Man in the Iron Mask" was a box office hit.
After the Q & A, Irons and Wang stop by the premiere party, held at what will be an AMC multiplex at 1000 Van Ness Ave. The exquisite edifice is dressed up to look like the lobby of Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel, but they take umbrage at the VIP party upstairs.
Irons stays just a little while before going back to his suite at the Prescott for a little shut-eye before his morning flight to L.A.
For him, his night in San Francisco is a mission accomplished.
"I like to support movies, especially movies that are really good and need support, such as "Lolita,' such as "Chinese Box', so I'm very happy to do my share," he says.