Your Questions Answered: Part 2.
Actor Rupert Graves takes part in the second exclusive "question and answer" series, giving his replies to a host of queries put forward by his fans.
Keith Drummond from San Francisco asks:
I've never had the chance to ask this of someone who is not only a great film actor, but an exceptional stage actor as well: I've seen you on stage and know that you have tremendous spontaneity on stage, but, somehow, you also manage to get it on film.
My question: When you're filming, how do you maintain the life in a scene of which you've already done 20 or 30+ takes, or, similarly, in a scene where the camera is constantly switching POV, e.g., the "This most violent pain" episode in Joseph Lees? All the more so when you're working completely out of sequence with the story. How do you keep your work from becoming merely mechanical? Do you iron it out with the director and then "set" it and soldier on for however many takes it requires?
Or do you keep looking for similar but different emotional motivations within, a la the so-called "Method," to keep it lively? As an singer and occasional director of opera (which has NO spontaneity whatever), I am really interested in this from the standpoint of an experienced actor who, somehow, manages to keep it all, by whatever technique it is you're using, so transparent.
Rupert Graves: You normally do a maximum of 10 takes, but you might do it 30 or 40 of times because of the different angles. I suppose the technique is to save the greatest emotional energy for when the camera gets closest to you. If the camera's on your back you need to give enough to help your fellow actor, but it would be foolish to waste a limited amount of emotional energy when the camera can't really see what you're doing. But the idea really, as an actor, is to immerse yourself in what you're doing, as much as you can, at the time you're doing it - I think.. there's also a great book called "Lessons For A Professional Actor" by Michael Chekhov, which deals with imagination.
Karen from West London:
Which of the characters you have played is most like you ?
Rupert Graves: I have a belief that people have a very wide range of potential behaviour. They're shaped by culture, peer pressure, parents. We're all born with a specific nature, but we're shaped by these things. One of the interesting things for me about acting is I can explore my personal parameters. So I suppose my characters are all a part of my imagined self.
Sarah from South Wales:
Which of your roles would you LEAST like to be remembered for?
Rupert Graves: I'm not telling you. Actually there's one in a film called "The Sheltering Desert", but I can't even remember what my character was called. Not only would I like to be least remembered for it - I don't think anyone will remember it because it was so bad hardly anyone saw it.
Joanna Meyer asks:
What did you think of the character of Irene in the Forsyte Saga - vulnerable or devious and manipulative harlot?! The reason I'm asking this question, is that every female I have spoken to thinks she is instantly dislikable so I wondered how you felt from a male perspective, given that you played her second husband Jolyon?
Also - Apologies in advance for this silly question but I'm curious:
My sister is convinced that she once saw you in a Trade Union Health and
Safety video for the catering industry - is this true?
Rupert Graves: I think it's hard for us to understand the pressures that were put on women at the end of the 19th century. They had no chance of creating independent income and they often had to make pacts with their family and with themselves to enter marriages which would stifle them, or face poverty. The courtship was so formalised I think they wouldn't really know who they were marrying and if they could love the person they were marrying until it was too late. I think Irene is a woman who married the wrong man and felt imprisoned within the marriage. So therefore I see her as Jolyon sees her: as a victim.
In answer to your second question - your sister may be referring to a BBC production called "Union Matters".
Gary from Seattle, USA:
Rupert, not including the stage, where do you find the better quality writing these days? Films, or television? And, as an extension of that question, from which source are you personally offered in your opinion the best scripts?
Rupert Graves: I think the quality of writing for film is better generally, but this is impossible to answer as there is great writing for TV, but I tend to get offered better film than TV work.
Jack from The US:
Is there any film role that you have done that you would also like to play onstage - if the property was ever done as a play ?
Rupert Graves: I think films translate badly to stage and vice versa. Parts that I've enjoyed have probably been a mixture of me fitting into the character well, and the character existing in the right medium.
Davina from Chile:
Do you believe in God, or any religion ?
Rupert Graves: I believe in a creator. I believe in something bigger than me. I have a hard time in believing in religious dogma. If there is any religion I feel any sympathy towards it's Taoism. However, if people's belief in their chosen religion makes them genuinely happy and secure, then it must be a good thing.
From Laurie in Indianapolis:
What famous (or infamous) historical person would you most like to portray in either film or on stage? And what famous character from fiction would you most like to portray?
Rupert Graves: Caligula, because I've always wanted to.
Tom O'Loughlin from Bedminster, New Jersey:
Do you think your career was adversely affected by appearing in "Maurice" before you were an established actor? And, were you and James Wilby signed up to do "A Handful of Dust" when you agreed to do "Maurice"?
Rupert Graves: I think Maurice helped my career rather than harmed it, and no - they were different companies.
Dennis Moore, from South Kirkby, West Yorkshire:
Rupert are you married and if so to whom and for how long, and what is your favourite pass time?
Rupert Graves:Yes - I'm married to my wife.
My favourite pastimes are air hockey, table tennis, and playing my guitar.
Irene Lankry from New York:
Rupert, some quick questions for you: If you were in a time machine, what time, day, or year would you want to go back or forward to and why?
Rupert Graves: I want to have a specially constructed time bubble to sit in and watch the first big bang.
If you could be a fly on somebody's wall whose alive today, whose would it be ?
Rupert Graves: A fly on the inside of Uri Geller's cutlery drawer.
If there is such a thing as reincarnation, what would you want to come back as in the next life, and what do you think you might have been in a past life?
Rupert Graves: I'd like to come back as a Gibbon for arboreal arm speed. In my last life I think I was a cowboy.
If you had a conversation with God, what would be your first question to him?
Rupert Graves: Why ?
What are your top 3 favorite places in the world ?
Rupert Graves: Gunyangrinjani (Indonesia) My roof (UK) Siena (Italy) .
What are your top 5 favorite songs of all time?
Rupert Graves: Five are not enough, but here are five I like listening to:
Blackstar - Radiohead
Prettiest Star - David Bowie
Charming Man - The Smiths
I'm On A Plane - Nirvana
Hell Is Round The Corner - Tricky.
Part Three Continues Here. |
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