Jeremy Irons – Savannah Unplugged http://www.billdawers.com Mon, 04 Nov 2013 21:49:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 18778551 The time Jeremy Irons met Claus von Bulow . . . http://www.billdawers.com/2013/10/29/the-time-jeremy-irons-met-claus-von-bulow/ Tue, 29 Oct 2013 23:54:11 +0000 http://www.billdawers.com/?p=6328 Read more →

]]> After a screening of Adrian Lyne’s 1997 Lolita on Monday afternoon at the Savannah Film Festival, Jeremy Irons took the stage of the Lucas Theatre for about half an hour of fascinating questions and answers. SCAD prof Chris Auer moderated the session.

Let me first say that I was quite disappointed that there was no mention of Brideshead Revisited, the 1981 mini-series that marked many Americans’ introduction to Irons’ work.

But the session was still enlightening and entertaining in ways that I did not expect.

Irons began by talking about Lolita, which he thought should have been marketed “as a tragedy.” He noted the blowback he got from organizations that support victims of child sexual abuse — they thought that he should have played Humbert Humbert as a monster.

But Irons said that his philosophy of acting involves simply playing the characters as they are — and that most of those characters see themselves as the heroes of their own lives.

Irons also provocatively alluded to the taboos of the story and noted the particular cultural resonance in our time — a resonance that would obviously not have been found throughout much of Western history.

Irons was reluctant to take the role of Humbert, however. He noted his belief that a series of choices collectively create the “aroma” of an actor’s career: “If I add this to the pot, there’s a danger I might become unemployable.”

And then Irons noted that he was in part convinced to star in Lolita because of a call from Glenn Close, who had worked under Lyne on Fatal Attraction. She told him that playing the best characters under the best directors is what actors dream about.

Irons also noted that he met Claus von Bulow two or three years after playing him in 1990’s Reversal of Fortune. Irons won an Oscar for the role. (Again, Glenn Close encouraged him to take the part, Irons told the audience in Savannah.)

Irons had gone from his house in England to the nearby Getty estate (Wormsley, I assume) to get a footballer’s signature for his son. And Claus von Bulow was in the library, and eventually spoke to Irons.

That day on the Getty estate, von Bulow asked if Irons were aware that defense attorney Alan Dershowitz had recently picked up both Mike Tyson and Leona Helmsley as clients. Irons said that he did know about that.

And then, in the distinctive voice of von Bulow: “You haven’t been asked to play either of them?”

At another point, Irons said that he was not the top choice for David Cronenberg’s 1988 Dead Ringers, in which he played twin gynecologists. DeNiro would only do the part, according to Irons, if the characters could be lawyers. William Hurt turned it down by saying that he had enough trouble playing one part.

Irons also expressed his disillusionment with Damage director Louis Malle. In advance of filming, Irons emphasized that he thought the sex scenes should emphasize only tight shots. Sex is about immediacy and intimacy; we don’t see ourselves having sex from a distance. If the camera goes too wide, it becomes a voyeur.

Irons thought that Malle agreed with that plan, but then he “went wide.”

“Live life as deeply and richly as you can,” Irons advised the audience near the end of the session. Those words echoed advice shared with students at other presentations he gave while in Savannah.

Presented with an honorary award on Monday evening at Trustees Theater, Irons gave one of the most articulate and powerful testimonials for SCAD that I have ever heard. He praised the college for its extreme diversity, for its global reach, and for its emphasis on technical training.

Here’s the video that SCAD has posted:

I took some photos of the Q&A with Irons and Auer on Monday:

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]]> 6328 A few tweets from the Savannah Film Festival – pics of Jeremy Irons, Norman Reedus, Miles Teller http://www.billdawers.com/2013/10/28/a-few-tweets-from-the-savannah-film-festival-pics-of-jeremy-irons-norman-reedus-miles-teller/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:30:13 +0000 http://www.billdawers.com/?p=6324 Read more →

]]> In my City Talk column coming out tomorrow (Tuesday), I write a little about the increasing role of social media in terms of PR and publicity for the Savannah Film Festival.

Here’s just a very small sampling of tweets from various quarters after less than 48 hours. Most of these appear under a search of the #SavFF hashtag, but there are many more to be found by searching other terms.

]]> 6324 Jeremy Irons will join Terence Stamp, Alec Baldwin, Bruce Dern, Alexander Payne, others at Savannah Film Festival http://www.billdawers.com/2013/10/10/jeremy-irons-will-join-terence-stamp-alec-baldwin-bruce-dern-alexander-payne-others-at-savannah-film-festival/ Thu, 10 Oct 2013 22:26:48 +0000 http://www.billdawers.com/?p=6277 Read more →

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Savannahians who pay attention to the Savannah Film Festival have gotten spoiled over the years by the sheer number and caliber of the stars that the SCAD-sponsored event has brought to town.

So there was a little bit of a muted reaction to the first news of this year’s honorees and special guests, a list that includes Terrence Stamp (a true actor’s actor), director Alexander Payne, Natalie Dormer, Alec Baldwin, and Bruce Dern.

I know some of the folks behind the scenes at the filmfest, but I never asked anyone if there were other plans still in the works. I didn’t need to ask — it seemed obvious that they would have something else waiting for final confirmation.

So today came the announcement that Jeremy Irons will be honored at the Savannah Film Festival.

The news has been widely covered, including by The Hollywood Reporter:

Jeremy Irons will be honored at the 16th Savannah Film Festival, sponsored by Georgia’s Savannah College of Art & Design, held Oct. 26 to Nov. 2.

Irons, whose movies have grossed about $1 billion, shot to fame in 1981’s Brideshead Revisited, the highbrow Downton Abbey of its day. He held his own playing opposite Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant’s Woman and opposite himself as malevolent identical-twin gynecologists in Dead Ringers. Irons has won an Oscar (as Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune); two Emmys; SAG, Cesar and Tony Awards; and half a dozen Golden Globe nominations, most recently as the elegantly thuggish Pope in Showtime’s The Borgias. Irons will do a Q&A after a screening of Adrian Lyne’s Lolita.

I haven’t seen The Borgias, but all those other projects would be at the top of my Jeremy Irons picks (I guess I’d Damage to the list). I was in high school when Brideshead Revisited (based on the Evelyn Waugh novel) was on American TV. I was just riveted — but not really by Irons. The character Charles Ryder just seemed so, well, blah compared to the flashier, wealthier, and more transgressive Sebastian Flyte played by Anthony Andrews.

But Irons’ Ryder now stands out to me as one of fiction’s great outsiders — the man who never quite dares to live fully. He’s a literarty cousin of Nick from The Great Gatsby.

So when I think about Brideshead 30 years after seeing the mini-series, it’s Ryder who comes first to mind.

In almost all of his great roles, Irons establishes a more subdued tone for the character than most other actors would ever dare. And it works.

Good Great to see him added to the impressive list of this year’s guests.

Click here for more information at SavannahNow, or just explore the offerings via the Savannah Film Festival site.

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