Matthew Macfadyen ('Howards End') chats playing 'a man of his time' who is 'blocked emotionally'

Matthew McFadden III I have to ask your when you I read that when you got the role when you were considering the role of Henry Wilcox on Howards End you were initially had some hesitation about taking it is that true and and what was what was causing that hesitation the thing that was causing the hesitation was was just a period during another period piece but the hesitation lasted for about three seconds well no it lasted I started reading it and then it was such an enticing wonderful read that ready any doubts I had one out of the window I just I dunno I done that quite a lot of period stuff and Victorian ed woody and gentleman and all the rest of it so I in my head if I was planning to do something different but this was so wonderful you know it was a no brainer and it's interesting because this is such a famous British novel by m4 here was it surprising to you that to have somebody like Kenneth Lonnegan adapted and and what do you think he brought to the script well no nori he's just a wonderful writer doesn't I don't think you need to you know it's it's literature so he's he's so clever and I think he brought a real I don't know it I sort of feel like he brought a lack of sentimentality towards it or a lack of reverence maybe he said he's quoted as saying that he would it's not his favorite novel and he was he had a few hesitations about before he embarked on that adaptation so that's probably quite a good thing it wasn't a sort of you know it wasn't overly reverential and he was able to and also he had you know we're shooting four hours of it so it was sort of a wonderful opportunity to really make the most of it you know put a lot back in that you couldn't say and I'm in in the film version for example yeah and and speaking of that version you know you you of course come from the theater and and this this particular film version you know so iconic with them Thompson and Anthony Hopkins yeah did that give you any pause about jumping into a part played by somebody else it probably shouldn't considering that you know in the theater you know you play parts that have been played by other people all the time so was it different approaching this as a longer series uh no I mean it was it's really just thrilling to be playing the parts that they played you know and being involved with her it's never it's a little daunting but not really sort of more exciting than daunting and that there's a long time as long gap and I think it was got over 20 years I saw I remember saying it just before I went to drama school so yeah it's great to sort of walk in their footsteps so to speak and also it's Barry it does feel doing having that time to to really explore the characters and tell the story in a full of ways exciting it's great how does how does this adaptation treat Henry Wilcox I mean he he's he's seen particularly in the original film yell he's very kind of stuffy upper crust but I felt like there was way more dimension to him in your Henry Wilcox is that just due to the length of time or is there something specific that that Kenneth Lonnegan touched on in the script and developing Henry I don't know I don't know I think I think he's I mean moderates got to find him attractive and she's got I mean he's he's he's not a bad he's not a bad man you know he's not he's not uh I found him very sympathetic in some ways I found him maddening in some ways as well but he thinks he's doing the right thing you know he he thinks he's doing the honorable thing and so I don't know it's probably a bit of me and a bit of what I've saw in him and a bit of the way I think MacDonald our director pushed me perhaps and yeah he's not a cold man Henry he's quite sort of blocked emotionally and but he's a man of his time you know he's yeah and you know some of those scenes and I think you know you said one of the most interesting things is that he he is a man of his time when there's so much around him that is changing and some of my favorite scenes were the scenes where you know you and and Hayley Atwell who played Margaret Schlegel are kind of you know courting in a sense and you know you go to that that specific restaurant where he just seems like a complete fish out of water and he knows it yeah are those types of scenes because you know those are the types of scenes we wouldn't have necessarily seen in the original film no is is this one of the benefits of being able to do this as a limited series and not just a two-hour film absolutely you get yeah because you yeah yeah inevitably it's just thrilling because you get to sort of you're just painting on a bigger canvas and so you can sort of fill in more than but I love that scene it I forget the name of the restaurant but the the vegetarian restaurant and he's really trying you know and that's a very attractive trait and Henry he really tries you know he really tries to open his mind and he's doing it for her as well he's being a gentleman you know it would be very easy to sort of prepare it and you know but he really you know he's manfully eating his lentil meat or whatever there are things the things we do for love he is such a changed character by the end yes and and it's very clear that Margaret has had an impact on him what do you think is the thing that she brings out in him the most I think he I think ultimately she she has this wonderful kind of Grace Margaret she's able to put herself in other people's shoes she's able to and she's able to sort of forgive him and understand him you know his behavior towards Helen and all the rest of it and she's able to really sympathize with him not being able to move forward you know not being able to see to understand how to be generous to her and so she I think he understands that too and he sort of accepted know even though his life really has seen new it is over you know when the very end use he wouldn't he would I mean it would have been the worst tabloid scandal imaginable that you know his his his wife's sister having him being pregnant with him and his son the manslaughter verdict to some murdering really is this fast so I think there is a so he finds a sort of peace and I think he he understands that and I find it very moving the end you know he's he's just there with the little boy and boy and Margaret at Howards End it's a yeah it's wonderful you know I've always been a huge fan of the book and and one of the things I always look at is that is that final scene where where he'll wear a Henry tells Margaret that oh yeah yeah my wife had originally left this play to you the whole time and and Henry asked in a very kind of interesting way yeah you know did I do did I do wrong and and I wondering if you and Haley Atwell had any conversations about cuz her answer is always the most interesting to me about whether or not she forgives him or rather she just lets it go whether she loves it in her brain she just she forgives him and she just it's not important actually that's what I mean about her grace and emotional and imaginative intelligence that she's able to you know I mean I think he genuinely this is sort of feeling of I I thought there was a feeling of panic and you know when he asks did I do wrong you know he takes it away from him and says no it's because actually everything's worked out everything's happened so yeah it's interesting it's so nuanced it's so you can sort of project so much onto it actually and what's interesting what's interesting with with period pieces like this is that you know you don't obviously often see like the man get a breakdown scene and Henry just has that that magnificent breakdown scene talk of talk us through what that what filming that scene was like how many how much was that seemed really key for you to prepare for I don't really prepare I mean I just learned the lines and we rehearse a little bit but you can't you can't prepare you just sort of play it and do your best in the playing of it right there and we shot that quite early on very early on like in the third week or something if my memory serves me right so that was quite tricky but when you're working with someone like Haley and and her team and Donald our director and the script is wonderful and it all sort of came together and if it just sort of felt right you know it was lovely and Hetty allow a lot of its to do with the director allowing a space to find the scene in the moment you know and you you of course have worked with Neely several times and this is your third time working together does it does that knowing particularly that your characters are going to be so intertwined in this journey does that relationship help you in in playing those types of scenes immensely yeah this is because we've there's a shorthand because we're pals and we share a sense of humor and so there's a sort of you get rid of a lot of it there's a shorthand and the closeness was working together and you can sort of anticipate happens a lot it's like working with them you know I've been doing this HBO show and working with people over ten episodes is wonderfully rewarding because you get to know their idiosyncrasies in there and watch them building their character and and so it's it's just all feeds into it it's great and I want to talk about that show momentarily but one of the things about Howards End is that even though I mean it's it is a piece of a period there is it felt to me at least that there's something particularly relevant about what it's saying particularly now not just in the terms of you know the plight of women in a man's world also with the issues of class and and you know discussions like that that we're having in this country do you do you feel that that this is a perfect time for for Howards End to have a new production yeah why not yeah I mean it's always a perfect time because the themes are eternally relevant I'd say but especially now and especially when you know society is thinking very deeply about men and women and how women are treated in and in society and at work and all the rest of it yeah and it's a yeah it's a it's a wonderful time for today so let's talk about your you know succession on HBO comes out on I believe June the 3rd yeah and what what has been that experience I don't know what you can say about it if anything who do you play what's but what's been that working at HBO been like lovely really good it's a yeah we shot in Manhattan and a bit in New Mexico and a bit in the UK which is very nice - Meeks where I live and it's about a media family it's about a big huge media conglomerate and I play the boyfriend of the daughter of the patriarch of the firm so I am and it's good fun it's it was really lovely shoot I haven't seen it yet I'm gonna watch the pilot again - a distant memory but I'm gonna watch that again tonight is a premiere and yeah fingers crossed I think it's I think it's good fun it's funny and dark and I play this man who's he's a bit of a dipstick really and that's interesting you know because when you look at the characters that you've played up into this point yeah you said you'd you know playing another buttoned up on Howards End you know you also laid the role on on on Ripper Street which is which was an absolutely terrific show I hope that comes back but yeah there's a lot of sort of repressed the Englishman you know in three-piece suits and and I now I play a guy from Minnesota who can't stop talking rubbish is that is that are those parts you know when you what do you look for now when you look when you look at scripts and you're considering roles what what do you look for what what gets you going uh it's always something different it's always something this succession the HBO show sort of ticked all the boxes cuz it was it was different in every way it was you know I hadn't done a TV show in the States before and shooting in New York was exciting and playing an American was new I haven't nobody done that on stage so there were also new things and so I never I don't have a plan I don't know many actors who do there are lots of Acts who say they do but usually you kind of making it up you know where guns for hire and you kind of hoping for the best and it's a it's a big sort of rollercoaster ride if you're lucky enough to to be on the coast that you know so I think I just try and I try and pick things which are going to be exciting and challenging and you know and I've been very lucky so yeah I think the the used I start worrying if I'm doing the same thing not worrying but you start feeling him I start feeling a bit stolid and a bit kind of I get of myself and probably lots of other people do too so at this point in your career you used do you still like to balance doing film and TV work with going back to the stage do you prefer one over the other I don't have a preference know I usually it's no I I'm feeling a bit itchy to do a play now actually I kind of it's been a three or four years about four or five years ago so I feel that I'd like maybe to do one soon but I don't know what it would be you well so we'll see well Matthew McFadden thank you so much congratulations on Howards End it's it's just a Q ler spectacular piece and thank you so much for taking time for me it'd have been all the very best

Channel: GoldDerby / Gold Derby

Views: 53,438

Keywords: film, television, news, entertainment, movies, music, Oscars, Academy Awards, predictions, Emmy, Grammy, Hollywood, reality tv, matthew macfadyen, howards end, henry wilcox, starz, hayley atwell, kenneth lonergan, syndication

Id: hviAeSH3Xc4

Length: 16min 31sec (991 seconds)

Published: Thu May 24 2018