Alan Rickman 1 Hour Interview (Part 3/4) @ New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend January 2012

you know as a viewer and as someone who has read the books and seen the movies I found that scene to be particularly satisfying um do you playing it having played the character for all those years do you sort of em have those sort of emotional maybe even cathartic moments with with a role or is it feel like a scene that you're playing and we move on to the next scene uh well no I mean with the last film it was very cathartic because you were finally able to see who he was um and it was I suppose strange in a way to play stuff that was so emotional because a lot of the time you know you're working in two Dimensions not three it's a very clear outline that all of those characters have but satisfying Al on all sorts of levels um you know Rafe and I had a scene where you just thought well finally here's just a couple of actors talking to each other and no special effects uh just watching that scene you think well thank God for computer Graphics cuz Maggie and I are having real holding a wand is not the most threatening [Music] thing and pointing it at Dame Maggie Smith but you know you've grown up worshiping from the cheap seats at the National Theater yeah and she's pointing it at you she can Arch an eyebrow like nobody so thank God for the sheets of flame um no very cathartic on all sorts of love and seeing Dan and uh and rer and Emma and that's 10 years where you watched people go from 12 to 22 was there was there ever a point in the unfolding of the 8 movie series where you ever considered not continuing in the role of snate no I wasn't going to let anybody else finish that story you've also worked as a director yourself on screen on stage most recently in New York I believe with creditors uh at Brooklyn Academy of Music um what do you enjoy most about directing that perhaps might be different than what you enjoy about acting um well it's a very very different activity of course um and it goes back to what I was saying before about working out why I needed to go to art school when I did because it that part of my training and who I am um needs very much um part of the equipment that I need as a director and it's satisfying to be in control of the visual aspect as much as anything else um um I'm I'm passionate about storytelling and sometimes you want to tell a story as an actor and sometimes now um much more as a director uh it takes a long time I have to say to get to the point or it did for me where you thought I've actually got something to say um all these hopeful faces staring at you on the first day it's a bit challenging but um but but over the years you've leared that one of the greatest things a director can ever say to an actor that will make them immediately trust you is an actual ask a question the director will say I don't know and whenever you hear that from a director something in the actor relaxes my next question may be a little overthought but from your experience as a director and let's say with creditors is there anything that you learn from that experience that you have now brought to your latest Broadway role in seminar two very different plays but I wonder as a director if that helps you as an actor in this case uh absolutely and I think that working on film as an actor helps me work on stage as an act as an actor um everything is about distilling to me and trying to get simpler and truer um and that actually it's not about you which is something I remember from a one of the great teachers at drama school you know and when you think you fought kicked and screamed to get into this Academy and then uh a teacher says just as you're about to get up and do some piece of work just say and remember it's not about you but it's true um and so ultimately acting to me whether as an actor or a director and it's very certainly very relaxing as an actor to think about is f focus on the other person uh you have something to say to them and usually you're saying something to this other person because of what they just said to you so it's really just about accurate listening and uh and then answering so don't think about what you're saying think about what you just heard and what you say is automatic tell us a little bit about your character Leonard in seminar who is he for those those who've not seen the play um well the the story is of four Young Writers in New York who hire a mentor pay him $5,000 each uh for a 10we mentoring period and pretty early on are pretty resentful of the money they've given him um he's a truth teller relentlessly truth telling um and um Theresa's writing is so brilliantly observed and constructed that you kind of just get on his train and ride it but uh fortunately he's also a human being um you do wonder whether that's going to be the case but or whether he's just um a destroyer but um he's not there's a great deal of comedy in the show I in the play I loved it and there's also some real emotional heft I think for me that came from the scenes when you realize that they're not all just trying to undermine and undercut and destroy each other that's there's some real affection especially for talent and for the surprise that Talent can hold um I am curious a question that was emailed in from a fan of yours John Collins asked what do you think Leonard would think of Joe Rowling's writing [Music] you'd probably be very jealous of what she's achieved um I I'm sure he'd have to say it's is there a female version of the word masterly but anyway um uh storytelling you can't fault it really great are there any elements of your character Leonard that you have or that you can relate to personally well I guess other people would have to say that I don't think I'd be the person to say um I don't know I mean I I suppose as a director I think I'm gentler and more encouraging I I don't see the point in being destructive and I don't think ultimately he is he seems that way but uh but a director I absolutely don't see the point of insulting in your your actors or being destructive I think the job is to ENC courage as in fill with courage you know as an actor when you're standing backstage about to go on in whether it's leers on doas or private lives or this uh you do wonder what on Earth you said yes for at certain times I recently returned to seminar to prepare for this for a second time and just found myself really really enjoying some of the detailed touches that maybe I was playing paying too much attention to um in your performance just some of your pauses in dealing with uh Lily rabes character and um Jerry o connell's characters you were sizing them up and uh speaking truth and particularly just a moment that was very emotional satisfying where uh your character Leonard and heish linkletter's young novelist character you're reading his work that he's resisted sharing with you and there's a moment where you're reading it along pause on the stage uh and then your eyes just Dart up and you see him and it it's a moment where you feel like someone is seeing a person in a different way that is exciting I now that the has been running eight performances a week for about 2 and a half months do you find yourself changing up the performance in terms of pacing line delivery physical choices yeah I mean every night that's another thing one learns is to be free and available to the air around you every night and I'm on stage with four remarkable young actors and there's huge trust amongst us um and and listening you're not going to listen now in the same way that you did 24 hours ago so everything's in a way everything is the same and in a way everything is different is there an example you could remember recently of a moment in the play that a choice was just very maybe different than how it had been um that you were conscious of or maybe that you enjoyed um I don't really like nailing anything down um because in a way you destroy it by doing that uh I think we're all aware of different timings and finding a different word and stressing it in a different way or discovering a phrase that you hadn't really discovered before uh it's all cumulative and as time goes on different moments acquire a little Spotlight because of what you learned in the previous weeks so I would resist your desire for me to get out of hammer and nails to anything I ask you answer we're going to go to audience questions in just a couple of minutes there are microphones at the bottom of these two aisles if folks want to line up now uh feel free to um what do you enjoy in your your free time what do you enjoy doing for fun to unwind you actually I mean you while doing a play like this any you don't have free time I'm in prison um um well I um if young actors now say to me what advice do you want to give to a young actor I say to them don't think about acting you know you are you are the you're your own instrument we were talking about that before and and so I've learned that I have to bring a person to a script so if I have anything to pass on to young actors it's you know go read books go to art galleries uh know what's happening in the news have opinions yeah uh fill yourself out because you're going to script is going to come at you and who are you you can't just be an actor go travel

Channel: chocobuttons1

Views: 38,863

Keywords: Alan Rickman (Film Actor)

Id: BZXaufnmmJQ

Length: 13min 5sec (785 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 09 2012