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Press Archive 2008
Brideshead Revitalised – The Guardian – Alice Fisher – 21st September 2008
The much-loved original TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s epic novel was seen by many as the definitive production. No wonder Matthew Goode is fed up with being asked if he’s ‘channelling Jeremy Irons’ for the new film version. The actor talks to Alice Fisher about nerves, fashion disasters and skinny dipping
The Long Gallery in the Palladian west wing of Yorkshire’s Castle Howard was conceived by the third Earl of Carlisle in the mid-18th century as a display gallery. It’s home to a couple of Rubens, a Reynolds and two colossal da Tivoli landscapes. And today, in the book-lined octagon library that breaks its imposing 160ft length, it’s also home to Matthew Goode who is telling an amusing penis anecdote to a roomful of journalists at a press conference for his new film, Brideshead Revisited
‘It was cold – I think the crew will vouch for me on that,’ he says of the day they shot a skinny-dipping scene in Castle Howard’s Italianate fountain. His warm, Radio 4 voice fills the room and he folds his long, slim frame over the table in front of him, leaning closer to the avid journalists. ‘My teeth were chattering. But it’s liberating in a way, saying: “Hello everyone, this is my cock. I hope we can work with it for the next three hours.”‘Advertisement
The Long Gallery rumbles with laughter, and Goode smiles his very charming, very white smile.
It’s a bravura performance and, as such, typical of Goode. In his short film career – just five to date – the 30-year-old has made a habit of being better, smarter, funnier and just more memorable than the role requires. He’s probably best known as Tom Hewett – Scarlett Johansson’s character’s rich fiancé – in Woody Allen’s Match Point. But he was equally menacing and affecting as a low-life American bank robber in The Lookout (2007) with Jeff Daniels, adorably hurt as a deserted husband in Brit comedy Imagine Me And You (2005) and even shone in his 2004 debut Chasing Liberty with US pop star Mandy Moore.
But his time distracting attention from the lead actors is over. Goode’s next two roles are very big, both in adaptations of revered – if very different – books. Next year he plays Ozymandias in the long-awaited film of Alan Moore’s graphic novel Watchmen. But first up is his turn as Charles Ryder in Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Both are already being scrutinised by legions of fans. Internet messageboards are clogged with discussions of Watchmen, but I think the taxi driver who drove me home after I watched a screening of Brideshead Revisited summed up the Waugh conundrum best. ‘They’re making a film of that? Why bother? I remember when that was on telly – everyone watched it, the streets were empty when Brideshead was on. I’ve got the boxset at home, in fact. Jeremy Irons was great… and that Diana Quick -whoooar.’
Goode is horribly aware of the opinion that the definitive Brideshead adaptation has already been filmed and of the hold Waugh’s story has on the British generally – the 1945 novel and the 1981 TV series have become cultural shorthand for everything from the decline of the aristocracy to fashion trends. This year the new film’s been linked to the revival of the Tories, the return of the cricket jumper and even Tony Blair’s conversion to Catholicism. This has understandably put pressure on the production, which is directed by Julian Jarrold and stars Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon as Lord Brideshead and Lady Marchmain, with Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell as their children, Sebastian and Julia. Advertisement
‘It is odd,’ says Goode. ‘I keep being asked in interviews what I’ll be wearing this autumn. To be honest, jeans and a scruffy jumper like I always do. What would it prove if I said I was going to wear grey?’
It’s the morning before the press conference and Goode and I are aboard the Orient Express, reclining in armchairs in a first-class compartment of a Twenties British Pullman as a five-course breakfast is served. We’re travelling from London up to Castle Howard (which, as in the TV series, is used as Brideshead). The train is remarkable but noisy; and my armchair’s vintage suspension means I bounce like a washing machine on spin cycle when it picks up speed, which means I keep getting the giggles. The overall effect is farcical and would make for an odd day for anyone, but Goode has just landed from a 10-city, month-long tour of the US for Brideshead’s release there, followed by an appearance at California’s Comic-Con, the largest comic-book convention in the world, where he gave a Watchmen press conference in front of 7,000 people. He’s exhausted and thoroughly fed up of interviews , and is upset by some of the press he’s read. ‘It’s hard pretending you don’t care all the time,’ he says. To me he seems to care too much, he’s woefully hard on himself and his talent. At times it’s like interviewing Eeyore. Though he’s very handsome in a nice, old-fashioned way (it’s easy to see why his main TV roles were period – Marple, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Trollope’s He Knew He Was Right) right now bleary is the kindest word to describe him.
He admits he’s particularly tired of questions about Irons. ‘”Did you channel Jeremy Irons?” Um, no. “Did you copy Jeremy’s performance?” No.’ He sighs. ‘It’s to be expected, but I thought I’d be thicker skinned.’
Goode’s had to discuss the film’s plot ad nauseam during his interview tour of America, too. The script – by period drama supremo Andrew Davies and Jeremy Brock, who adapted the Oscar-winning The Last King of Scotland in 2006 – emphasises the love triangle between Ryder, Sebastian Flyte and his sister Julia. The chronology is squished, characters have vanished and there’s no voiceover, so the perspective of an older, wiser Ryder looking back at his life is lost – oh, and there’s also a kiss for Charles and Sebastian. All of which will appal some fans of the book and intrigue others. ‘It was hard without the voiceover,’ says Goode. ‘When you’re got no words, it’s difficult to be Mr Charm. I saw Charles Ryder as the loneliest person in the whole world. He had a loveless childhood growing up with no mother and a distant father – and who of us knows our father, anyway? Also, I’m no one, so just the fact that I was offered the part of Ryder is amazing.’
Brideshead’s producer, Robert Bernstein, says Goode won the role because of his wonderful stillness. ‘The sign of a truly great actor is not what he says but what he appears to say when the camera is on him, and Matthew has that.’ Goode seemed mesmerising on screen to me, but he is so sure of his performance’s shortcomings that nothing I say convinces him otherwise.
‘Some people will have a problem with making the film into a love triangle,’ he says. ‘But I think that’s just what happens when you adapt a book. I think the kiss [with Sebastian] is fine. I mean, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, really. Some will see it as a cop-out that we didn’t show more… all I can say is that it’s such a good story and we had so much fun making the film, it came from a really good place. We realise that people might absolutely hate it. But I’m with Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon and Ben Whishaw – at least if we go down in flames I’ll be in good company… God, I’ve got really defensive over the last month, haven’t I?’
The answer is yes, but he seems so sad that instead I point out the window and say, ‘Oh look, we’re at Alexandra Palace.’
‘Ally Pally – good Lord,’ says Goode, cheering up immediately once we’ve stopped talking about his work. We stare at the peaceful view over leafy north London as the Orient Express sets off slowly and Muswell Hill golf course rolls into view, already dotted with the pastels and brights of golfwear, though it’s not yet 10am.
‘I’d rather be doing that today,’ says Goode.
Golf? I confess I’ve never played.
‘You should take it up. Golf courses are beautiful, it’s good for the soul and it gets out the anger… well, if you don’t care about the score then you won’t have a heart attack.’
Oh, but I would care, I’m very competitive.
‘Yeah, me too,’ says Goode. ‘I talk the talk, but I’m the most competitive shit in the whole world.’
He played a lot of golf ‘in the pissing down rain’ in Vancouver when he was on the Watchmen set, which hits cinemas in 2009. Goode hadn’t read Alan Moore’s celebrated graphic novel before he auditioned for the part of Adrian Veidt, the cleverest man in the world, whose alter-ego is the costumed hero Ozymandias.
‘I felt lucky not knowing it because I’d have gotten nervous,’ he says. ‘I hadn’t even read the script, when I auditioned. There was nowhere to do it other than my hotel-room bathroom – I was still shooting Brideshead in Yorkshire – so I read for it sat on the toilet with a white bed-sheet behind me. I thought there was no way I’d get it.’
But he did. Tom Cruise and Jude Law were previously connected with the role, but Goode will bring it to the big screen.
‘Two days after I finished Brideshead, I was out in Vancouver. That was good: one minute you’re in white tie and tails, then in a vest and shorts practising kung fu.’Advertisement
Veidt’s acquired German ancestry for the Watchmen film – another deviation from a beloved text that Goode will have to talk about endlessly. ‘I’m not American… I’m the wrong age… there’ll be people who hate it,’ he says. ‘But I explained the German thing at Comic-Con – no better time than in front of the fan boys, after all – and they laughed, but they might have been thinking, “This idiot’s going to ruin it.” What can you do?’
He’s perversely insistent that his career is all down to luck rather than talent when I suggest that he’s done very well to land such big parts so quickly – his first film role was only in 2004. ‘I’ve been very lucky.’
It can’t purely be luck. Your performances must be of a certain calibre, otherwise you wouldn’t keep being cast.
‘Well, I don’t want to think about it. I get so horrifically nervous every time I work, and I’m in a general state of fear the entire way – which just gets worse and worse as times goes by. That’s where I am now.’
He started acting as a child growing up in the Devon village of Clyst St Mary – his mother was director for the local amateur dramatic society – but gave up until his late teens because he went red on stage.
You’re a blusher?
‘I am,’ he says, going red on cue and putting his hands up to hide his face.
Though he’s technically the youngest of five, there’s an 11-year gap between him and his brother James and the other three, who are half-siblings (his mother married twice; she’s a nurse, his father, who died five years ago, was a geologist). He attended Exeter School and he appeared in The Plough and the Stars and Richard III, aged 17. Brideshead co-star Michael Gambon was also a big influence on his decision to act. Goode saw him in a theatre revival of Volpone in 1995 which, combined with growing up watching TV reruns of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective, made him think Gambon was God. He decided to study drama, at Birmingham University.
‘My parents didn’t necessarily have the greatest relationship and that meant I wasn’t great with girls at school. I didn’t see them as friends; I’d try and kiss them, but as I thought swearing was the way to be attractive, that didn’t really work. At university I got more comfortable in my own skin. Then at drama school in London I met people who were cool. I had flatmates who wouldn’t let me go out in chinos and check shirts, which is no bad thing.’
Now he’s blissfully settled with girlfriend Sophie Dymoke – ‘she works in the business side of fashion. I still don’t really know what she does; she’s given up explaining it’ – who has moved back to the UK from New York, where she worked for cashmere brand Vince, so she can be with him. His brilliant smile when he talks about her means Sophie’s definitely made the right decision. Though he says he’s going to have to try to be more interesting now she’s here. ‘Sadly, she doesn’t want to watch 38 episodes of The West Wing in a row.’
His quest to fascinate won’t involve celebrity parties or red carpets, though. ‘I don’t rage against the dying of the light. I like a few pints, but that’s it. I’ve never understood why people go to award ceremonies and premieres unless it’s for a good friend or because you’re nominated yourself. I mean, people can do what they want, but I’d feel like a charlatan.’
What he really wants is to work out what to do next. He’s had a year off from acting a couple of times already. ‘I’m so lucky, my agent Simon Beresford lent me money for my rent. He’s an extraordinary man and I sit here solely because of him. After my father died, he’s become like a father, though he doesn’t give me quite as many dressing-downs.’
Goode thinks he’d like to go back to theatre.
‘I want to learn again and the only place I’ll do that is the theatre. I want to get more confidence – if I’d don’t find it in the theatre I’m stuffed.’
Hours later, back at the press conference in Castle Howard’s Long Gallery, the room has finally quietened down after Goode’s flirty penis story. The floor is opened for the next question and a suited journalist on the front row raises his hand.
‘Could I ask…’ he starts.
‘No, I’m not getting my cock out for you,’ says Goode, his charming smile widening to a grin.
The room roars with laughter. There must be only one person here who lacks confidence in Goode’s charisma and talent for performing, and that’s Goode himself.
Billy Crudup and Matthew Goode Interview – WATCHMEN – Collider 10th August 2008 [Extracts]
BY STEVE WEINTRAUB
Just to be clear…the interview below was done backstage at Comic-Con in roundtable form. Also, it was done right after they showed the “Watchmen” footage to 7,000 screaming fans…so needless to say…everyone was in great spirits. And with that, enjoy the interview….
Q: So Zach said that they put nipples on your suit as an homage to Joel Schumacher?
Matthew Goode: Yeah. Well you know what’s funny, is I never even noticed them. I swear to god. Maybe that’s my attention to detail showing up right there, but I never really noticed it I think. Possibly because I was always putting the fucking thing on like that and getting the thing on, it’s very hard to look down. So whatever Zack says is I’m sure absolutely bang on the money.
…
Q: Here’s a typical ComicC-on question…were you told there’d be 7000 people in the room? Talk about what it was like behind the scenes, were you nervous, what was it like watching footage for the first time?
Matthew Goode: There’s a growing sense back stage, because you come in behind this sort of, behind the curtained off area, and you can just hear this wall of noise. You know–
Billy Crudup: 7000 people murmuring
Matthew Goode: 7000 people murmuring, and then 7000 people cheering, and you’re like oh my god. And, of course, there’s a huge sense of nervousness, cuz there’s also, you’re also, certainly for me, those horrible feelings of intellectual inferiority, when placed in front of 7000 people who know the fucking thing a lot better than you do. It’s true. And then it’s all dispelled when you see that clip. I don’t know. We’ve seen as little as you. And so I was watching just going–I mean what do you think? I thought it looked pretty fucking incredible. It made me start thinking this could, and probably will be, a seminal piece of work. And maybe that’s putting it a little too much, but I think it should be like the book itself. I think it could be that fucking good. I think he’s a new Ridley Scott. I think he’s brilliant.
Q: How is it as actors then to see that footage and think I’m going to be in something like this?
Matthew Goode: Well it’s a first time for me. I’m going to be in a movie that’s quite good. Um, no, amazing experience. but again, if I’m being cynical, which is what I always generally am, I think that there’s a difference between–obviously we’re ahead of the game here talking about what it’s like cutting together a trailer, which is effectively, although I do disservice to what we’ve just seen, really by just saying that, but we haven’t seen the scenes yet. We haven’t seen how people interact, we haven’t seen the full flesh of their characters. And obviously we saw them on set, cuz of the interaction that we had, but I want to see that world, I want to see if it all totally makes sense. Because sometimes things can get a little left flat. So let’s not start sucking each other off just yet.
Q: With what Adrian does at the end of the story, did you find yourself still liking who he was or did you not have to in order to play–
Matthew Goode: No, I do, I think he’s much–I mean you could say he’s much maligned. Everyone has their own arguments to point to about it, and quite rightly because there’re only grey areas, nothing is black and white with Adrian. And it’s like, one of the things I’ve always loved is the idea that public persona and a private persona and actually, the intense isolation that he has around him, I mean there’s only one real friend for him and that’s Dr. M, but he’s still, that’s someone he doesn’t really think twice about killing. Um, and that’s how he is. He’s just a very, very practical man. And there’s no great plan coming from anyone else about how we’re going to save the world, you know? And it’s cold and it’s real, and it’s an equation. It’s quite mathematic, you know? It’s millions to save billions. It’s black and white, in that sense, and that’s the only thing that’s black and white in his mind.
Matthew Goode Interview – BRIDESHEAD REVISITED – Collider – 8th August 2008
BY STEVE WEINTRAUB
With “Brideshead Revisited” finally playing on 350 screens nationwide, I figured it’s time to finally post the interviews I recently did with Matthew Goode and Hayley Atwell.
If the name “Brideshead Revisited” sounds familiar, it’s because Evelyn Waugh’s acclaimed novel was made into a very successful mini series in the early 80’s and it starred Jeremy Irons in one of his first roles.
Anyway, the material has now been adapted into a movie and it stars Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell and Emma Thompson. Here’s the synopsis:
A heartbreaking romantic epic, “Brideshead Revisited” tells an evocative story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence set in the pre-WWII era. In the film, Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) becomes entranced with the noble Marchmain family, first through the charming and provocative Sebastian Marchmain (Ben Whishaw), and then his sophisticated sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell). The rise and fall of Charles’ infatuations reflect the decline of a decadent era in England between the wars. Emma Thompson co-stars as Lady Marchmain.
While this is the kind of film that usually arrives in theaters at the end of the year, Miramax is launching it in the summer season in an attempt to get early buzz going. Also, with multiplexes filled with explosions and superheroes, a film like “Brideshead” will have time to breathe and get noticed…
So to help promote the film, I interviewed Matthew Goode – who plays Charles Ryder. During our extended roundtable interview we talked about making the film and a lot of the behind the scenes stories. It’s a great interview with the very talented actor.
Q: So how was it to play a pagan?
Matthew Goode:I played him well. Where do you stand on this? It was an absolute pleasure. No, it was hugely fun, probably the most challenging thing I’ve had to do even just as far as stamina let alone the densely thematic novel that “Brideshead” is, so yeah total pleasure.
And you didn’t miss out on the Catholic guilt that everybody else had to share in?
Matthew: Oh I missed out on that completely. It was completely over my head. I know a little bit about Catholicism but I didn’t feel the need to necessarily go into, “oh I should really look up more about that.” But I know that Ben and Hayley and Felicity and Ed really benefited from going to a service or two particularly with Emma, so they had a real family unit thing going on before they started filming. All I had to do was go and get chicken supper and that was fine for me.
The last time a lot of us spoke to you was for “The Lookout”.
Matthew: Yes, sir. It’s a little different this one here.
Exactly, and I think I remember at that junket you were talking about how you weren’t sure what your next project was and you were debating things and all of a sudden you got attached to 2 other interesting projects. What was it about this script and this project that made you want to take the challenge or play this role?
Matthew: Well, I knew the novel because I read it first when I was about 12 and I always thought it was…I don’t think I understood it as it was expected of a 12 and then I’d seen the series previously about 5 years before we actually started filming. My agent gave it to me as a gift. I think more to say this is what you should be trying to make, if possible.So it was quite prophetic in a way. And I knew that Emma Thompson and Michael Gamble were going to be doing it and it was, I suppose in some ways, ostensibly my first lead, but it’s never like well…I chose to do it and I still had to go through the auditioning process and in some ways considering I went up for the other part first, which is amazing because Julian said, “I never really wanted you to play that part anyway. I don’t know why you were in for it.” I was like, ah-ha. Well why didn’t you see it. Then I went back and I was asked to come in for Charles and I re-read the script and I was like I just don’t get him. I’m not sure…it was only when…which seems funny actually because it seems so obvious that he’s such a lonely character and once you peel back those deconstructive psychology of like this guy who didn’t know where he was meant to be in life. And without a mother and the thoughts on religion and all that kind of thing, it’s just such a dense project and as much as it’s been done before, it was such a great opportunity because I think they are 2 different beasts—television and film—so there’s a worry about truncating the story but the opportunity to work with Emma Thompson far overrides anything.
I’m curious if in the audition process they made you try out a bunch of different wine or did you really research that aspect of the character by just trying them out?
Matthew: I’ve been researching that for 20 years. No, it was unfortunate we didn’t get to really go to town with it only because we wouldn’t be able to afford the cellar that they had at that time. I would liked to have sat around and drank some 1958 Chateau Briand or even further back obviously. But no, not too much research done on that.
Is it hard to be in every scene in that film? Is that hard on you as an actor to have to carry it to that extent?
Matthew: You know, I think it’s hard stamina wise because of the constraints of filming that we had to do 6 days weeks and it being every scene means it’s a 16-17 hour day every day, which is fine. That’s what we’re here to do is work and it’s a pleasure, but I think considering the novel, you know, Charles’ voice is so prominent because he’s the narrator of the story. It felt like you had to convey a huge amount more without having a voice-over as they did in the original and so, yeah, I did feel a huge pressure and I think particularly if you don’t film it narratively you’re jumping around all over and so suddenly in one day you’ll be doing all 3 areas and you’re like I must remain…it’s not as obvious just to say….to play older I drop my semitone 2 semitones, because most of the time I’m 2 or 3 semitones up from where I am as just a small technical thing, so you just have to…it gets exhausting to remember where you are in the story and to say to flip around era wise and that’s where a really good director comes in and keeps you honest and keeps you…and occasionally he would say, “that’s a little too 18 year old” and I’m like “all right. Sorry. Down a bit. Okay.”
Having read the novel and seen the mini-series, how do you feel the actual script adaptation was for this film?
Matthew: I thought it was really good actually. I was slightly worried about Julia being brought…obviously which we had to do…but her character as the book is, you know, she doesn’t really enter the fray until Book 2, chapter 2. So by bringing her further forward and suddenly having this love triangle thing going on. Does that make Charles look more ambitious than he actually was at that period in his life? And that was a concern, but, I think, it actually made it really super interesting for all those things… the looks between us and also just adding yet another ambiguity into the script, not that it needed any more, but it got one. So yeah, it’s hard.
In preparing for the role, did you draw on any real life experiences, in other words in the movie you were kind of an observer, kind of the every-man?
Matthew: Yeah, well I mean, you’ve only got yourself to use so I mean you bring every life experience you’ve ever had into it but also, for me being an actor is the power of imagination and not blocking your instincts if you have, particularly if you’re working with a class of actor, I mean each job I do it seems that I’m doing something with celebrated and people who are at the top of their game and you either sort of sink or swim really. And part of that is a bit of a self-belief and obviously you wouldn’t be there….you have to keep remembering that I wouldn’t be here unless they thought I was good enough to be doing it. So there’s a sort of…it’s so disarming. My confidence is always up and down but I think particularly during this it was challenged and I think it came out through on the other side and it was because of people like Emma, who really encourage and really encourage and give so much when the camera turns around and it’s not on them. I think…and I don’t think it really is a rare thing, but sometimes some actors don’t really want to give you everything. They want to be the better part themselves and they want to give a better performance as sort of competition and Emma is the utter opposite of that. She gives more. I don’t have enough superlatives for her….she’s become a really good friend and I think will be a very good modern mentor for me in the future.
You had a lot of good scenes with Ben Whishaw. I don’t know if I pronounced is last name…
Matthew: No, you’re bang on. You’re bang on.
Okay. You had a lot of good scenes with him and what did you guys do to prepare for that or did you just sort of that’s just what actors do?
Matthew: There’s a certain amount of hanging out but I kind of knew…I was such fan of Ben’s work anyway from the little I’d seen but everything I’d heard from other actors who’d worked with him, and obviously I was slightly daunted by working with Ben as he’s given the best performance of Hamlet in 40 years, so suddenly he’s opposite me and I’m like oh fuck, I’ve got to bring my A game. So when we went in for the kind of final audition I knew that Ben already had the role and so there is a certain worry and I thought we immediately he’s….Ben’s a bit different to me but he’s quite sort of twitchy and uncomfortable and when he starts acting it’s like there’s this totally different person then. He’s extraordinary and I have to say working with people that like they really give you everything you need. You know, all you have to do it sit there and just listen and respond and it takes it down to its basic components of acting really and it felt at times effortless and I think also we were helped by having hanging out a little bit beforehand. Not rehearsing too much. Talking, chatting. Chatting through all the thematics in this is hugely important and chatting also about the relationship that Ben and I wanted to have as far as our characters and where that was going to be set. And me saying that I don’t think you can definitively say that Charles hasn’t entertained the idea of having had feelings for Sebastian and being confused about things, but we are both fairly straight away. He’s not gay and that Sebastian is….so it feeds to the epic doom of…it’s very, very sad. It really is.
What do you think audiences should take away from the film in your opinion?
Matthew: That’s a good question really. I mean, you certainly can’t say they should take away this. I mean, when I watch it I think it’s a…that we’ve upheld the integrity of the novel. I honestly don’t know how to answer that question and I hope that doesn’t sound like a cop out. I don’t know what to take away from it. I think the themes in it are very strong.
There’s so many different themes.
Matthew: There’s so many. There’s so much. It’s not religion, it’s bad parenting combined with religion that can be the downfall of somebody.
So now aren’t you happy that Charles grew up without a mother? As there was only one bad parent to ruin his life.
Matthew: (Laughing) Yeah, you spend half these interviews going it’s the mother that provides the love and it’s the father that provides the disciplining and actually maybe that does feed into it after he left she suddenly took upon this role that…and went overboard with it. I don’t know.
Those are some great scenes though with your dad—the actor playing your father.
Matthew: Patrick Malahide, I know. He’s wonderful.
We were discussing those scenes got really good laughs in the theatre. When you were filming them did you realize they were going to come across that funny?
Matthew: I think when I first heard him laugh I knew it was going to be fairly amusing. But also touching as well. When he says your mother was always so good about….you kind of go “oooh”. You know? It’s a tough relationship when he doesn’t have that much time. We only have these tiny few little segments that come in here and there and it could be non-believable very easily and luckily with everyone kind of…I can’t talk about myself but I think we nailed it. I think we did all right. I think considering the time constraints and all of the constraints that were part of trying to tell an epic story with so many, as you say, thematically rich I think we did a pretty good job.
Speaking of all the different elements of the film, I’m curious if, because we don’t get to talk to Julian today, I’m curious about the…was there stuff that you shot that didn’t make it into the movie?
Matthew: Yeah, of course. As any movie you ever do there’s always stuff that doesn’t get in there.
I was curious because sometimes there are movies that are missing a ton of stuff and sometimes there’s movies that are missing one scene. Were there any like…were there a lot of scenes….I’m always curious about what might on the DVD.
Matthew: I don’t necessarily know if there’s…I mean some people don’t like putting stuff that hasn’t made it into the film because then immediately people think well, certainly have arguments well that should have been in the film. Why does this person think that it wasn’t very good and we’ll open up a can of worms occasionally. There were some things I was surprised and I know they fought about such as at the end of the fountain scene where I think Charles says to Julia “no God that’s good could ever do such a thing to you” or something like that and she starts striking Charles. They took that out because they didn’t…they had some sort of feeling it would be showing you the impending doom between the relationship between Charles and Julia and I was like it’s a shame because people might be slightly more sympathetic towards Charles at that point. So obviously there’s some stuff left on the cutting room floor but nothing that really upset me.
As an actor how weird is it that first time you see the movie to see what the director has chosen for the takes that they’re going to use in the movie? Is there like a nervousness?
Matthew: Always. My God, yeah. There is and occasionally you’re like didn’t I do one better than that? You’re never a judge of your own work and generally I hate seeing….I hate it. When you’re playing a character that’s American or something like that, then I’m all right then watching it because it’s not you up there really. I know that sounds bizarre but that’s the thing about playing English parts and particularly something as subtle as this. Obviously it’s slightly mannered and whatever but it is an extension of seeing ones own self, so it’s…I don’t know…it’s very odd, but I was all right with it. I was very happy with it.
Now with this film because of the whole British styling and the period piece scenes are very, very deliberate. Actions, mannerisms. How did that play into the number of takes and with the production? Or with the rehearsal time to minimize the number of takes?
Matthew: Rehearsal time wasn’t really rehearsing which the way we did it I really like. It’s more like this, sitting around talking about it. Talking about it extensively, so you’ve really got your homework done. You’ve nailed it down and you’re not going to be suddenly get to set and go shit, I really liked leaning on the television in the hotel room and we haven’t got television now obviously, you know, so rehearsals were good and most of one’s own homework, you take yourself to a national gallery. No one needs to….when you’re doing a project like this if you haven’t got any inspirations get off your ass and do something and work around and half of it’s in your imagination in your mind’s eye and half of it happens on the day. That’s the difference between theatre, you rehearse so much for theatre and you try to get out of that rehearsal thing in a way, and with this it keeps you on your toes because you haven’t done anything.So you’re shitting yourself most of the time.
What was your favorite scene?
Matthew: One of the favorites just from an acting point of view, I mean anything with Ben is just a joy, and I like doing the long 1 take scene which is when Ben in the bath and he gets out and we sort of follow through and he does his thing and it was a bit looser because you can be off-screen and talking and something that a lot of directors don’t use and it’s really nice. There was a fluidity to it that I liked for some reason and also I got to watch Ben do his thing and he’s such a pleasure. He’s such a marvelous actor.
Did you find some scenes hard to do? I mean there’s some actors…
Matthew: Sex scenes are never easy to do, you know? Hello everyone, this is my cock. You know? That’s always tricky when you’re got half naked people standing around and you’re just trying to cover up her as much as possible because she’s uncomfortable as you would be. So that’s a long day, otherwise I got to go to Venice again. Going to Morocco, going to Morocco I found a little hard because there was the language barrier and things took longer and we didn’t have any time there at all really and that may be the reason a couple of scenes from Morocco were cut. I think that was more just down to time. But yeah, so that anything that was ever hard about this job is just the energy level when you’re 8 weeks in it’s like, I’m exhausted and I think I’ve drunk too much coffee.So no, just a pleasure really.
I was going to ask you about filming on location. Do you enjoy that aspect of it?Is it exciting at the beginning and then all of a sudden people watching you becomes old? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Matthew: I think we were lucky like the first time I filmed in Venice, for example, we were doing it in modern dress so they didn’t stop the crowds and that becomes arduous because honestly people look at the camera. It’s like a blue light to a fly. You explain in 7 different languages please don’t. So that gets old pretty quickly because it’s nothing to do with your take being bad, it’s just that everyone in the background is fucking up. I’ve never really done a huge amount in the studio. I mean, “Watchmen” is my first experience really of doing a huge amount in the studio, so I always been on location and I love it because it’s kind of like everyone’s away from home, you know, you have dinner every night and you have a glass of wine before you go to bed so that really helps with certainly like having a family situation and with…it just helps. Most of the time you finish and then everyone goes off home if you’re filming in London and so you feel like you lose out a little and I don’t know I think that’s one of the reasons that the relationships seem quite strong in this is that it gave people time to go over the fact….well actually Emma dispels all that straight away but by the end it’s not oh my God it’s Emma Thompson. It’ s like it’s you. I’ve already made 10 drinks—your turn to buy at the bar. So I don’t know. I love location shoots, yeah. I don’t worry about it.
Now you’ve got probably 3 of your most signature roles would be Ben Calder, Gary Spargo and now Charles Ryder. All 3 totally different but you balance each one like walking on a tightrope and you do it beautifully. What qualities do you look for in a role considering the diversity of the parts that you choose?
Matthew: Well, I’ve been lucky enough…I hope it doesn’t sound arrogant but I think it makes it…I’ve been very lucky to be involved with all those….even like Chasing Liberty one would hardly say it’s the world’s greatest piece of work, but it was still a good script and it was working with good people and it’s also a really good confidence builder in something…which is however how many millions of dollars have gone into it and you’re a bit of a star and gives you the perfect example of learning to forget about that and get on with your craft.
And you got to be on location for that one, too.
Matthew: And again on location in some amazing places.
I just watched it for the 30th time the other night, so.
Matthew: Bless your heart. You’re the one.
I’m the one.
Matthew: But no, I wouldn’t say I choose projects and I wouldn’t be as wanky as to say they choose me but for some reason the directors have …it’s their vision and they decided I fit into it so I do think there is something very fortunate about having had these year breaks or year and a half breaks in between when I haven’t been suited to anything and haven’t wanted to be. Some of the scripts you see are so generic and whatever so I mean for example the last 2 jobs I ended up doing the top 100 novels of all time, so that’s a joy and it doesn’t get any better than that because when your source material is that good and when you have such beautiful pros explaining stuff like Charles’ nature and then it gives you some comfort into hoping that more particularly people who have read the novel will see a lot of the subtleties in your work and feel like…because some people will see it and it’s like he’s a bit dull and he underplayed it and you’re like trying to find a balance and somebody will have read the novel which comes back to what you were saying about what they will take away. I hope they take away that we fine tuned it to an area that we’ve only given that amount of time to go to that place. I don’t know. I hope they’ll probably be another adaptation in 20 years.
So what did you take away from the film?
Matthew: Very nice ash tray from the York Hotel and a really great set of friends. I don’t know. I’ve watched it once so I have to watch it again in New York and probably at London and then it’ll get put to bed as all these things do because you can only…you’ve got to move forward. But a bit of confidence and Ben Whishaw, Emma Thompson, Haley Atwell on speed dial.
Can you talk about what you have coming up next?
Matthew: “Watchmen” is coming up so I have the pleasure of going to Comic-Con. I’m literally throwing myself to the lions. So that’s next and apart from that who knows at the moment. Just reading and fishing and waiting for the next thing to come along whatever that may be.
I was going to say so I’m assuming that this quasi-SAG strike/not strike is affecting you just like everybody else?
Matthew: Well, I’m not a member of SAG.
You’re not?
Matthew: So, but at the same time you have to be very wary about work because you can suddenly become someone’s worst enemy and not just someone, a whole group of people as worst enemies. So I think if a job comes up in London that’s outside of it then fine and if not then I’m used to waiting around to work so I’ll just be sitting at home watching re-runs of “West Wing”.
Filmdom’s latest flame – LA Times – 25th July 2008
By Michael Ordona
FIRST Matthew Goode confounded all the early comparisons to Hugh Grant by playing an American sociopath in 2007’s “The Lookout.” Now the handsome, lanky English actor takes on perhaps his most morally complex role in the film version of a literary classic listed among Time magazine’s top 100 novels since 1923.
But more on the graphic novel-to-big screen “Watchmen” later.
Right now, Goode is in another adaptation: Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” (which also made Time’s list) as the reserved, working-class Charles Ryder. A role Goode almost didn’t accept.
“I found him quite cold; I didn’t understand him,” said Goode between bites of Cobb salad. “And obviously with the [famed 1981 Jeremy Irons] miniseries, which was perfection. . . . It’s not a flashy character; you can’t suddenly — ‘Charles is a mambo dancer!’
“But then, I knew that Emma Thompson was going to be in it, and Michael Gambon and Ben Whishaw. If they’d signed off on the idea of this, then how could I not?”
The polite, charming Goode, who occasionally articulates with the mouth of a sailor, grew up in Devon, England, and moved to Birmingham at 18 to study acting, then on to London, where he has lived since. But to say this was his calling might be a stretch.
“It was never a burning ambition,” he says. “I think it came from laziness; I’m not very good in an office.”
Goode’s American breakthrough, “Chasing Liberty” opposite Mandy Moore, started the comparisons with Grant. His nice-guy persona was polished in “Imagine Me & You” and “Match Point” before he bashed it in the face in the dark crime drama “The Lookout.”
“I shaved all my hair off so they could see I looked like I needed to,” he said. “But it wasn’t one audition; I had seven or eight. Maybe I just bored them into giving it to me.”
Despite positive buzz, Goode didn’t take another role until “Brideshead.” He rattles off the obstacles of the adaptation, such as the loss of Charles’ narration, with the clarity of a practiced literary analyst.
“Brideshead” director Julian Jarrold, speaking by phone from London, was impressed right away with Goode’s cerebral approach: “His comments were very intelligent. He studied the book carefully, and there are great differences.
“We had to find somebody to take you into this exotic, alluring world of Brideshead, so you have to be able to identify with him. Charles is an observer, communicates a lot without saying much, which Matthew does brilliantly.”
Also key to Charles is his interaction with the scions of the aristocratic Flyte family, with whom he becomes entangled. When Goode came to the project, Whishaw (“Perfume”) was already cast as the dazzling Sebastian Flyte.
“With Ben, you never know what’s going to happen. And he had just given the best ‘Hamlet’ in 40 years,” at the Old Vic, said Goode, following up his salad with a series of cigarettes. “If we hadn’t had our chemistry going on, it would have been someone else playing my part.”
For love interest Julia Flyte, he said rising star Hayley Atwell (“Cassandra’s Dream”) “literally knocked my . . . socks off” at the audition: “In the scene, she’s meant to smash Charles about the face a few times. I was expecting her to stop, but she went straight into it and started slapping me. I was like, ‘Oh, my God! They should really give her the part. She’s the best!’ ”
Goode recovered from the thrashing sufficiently to don the breastplate of super-genius Ozymandias in Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Watchmen.”
“As far as superhero films, it’s the ‘Citizen Kane’ of that world,” the actor said of the 12-issue comic series. So how did he land such a coveted role in one of 2009’s most highly anticipated movies?
He went to the bathroom.
The casting director “came up on the train on Sunday to York, where I was filming ‘Brideshead.’ ” Goode performed a reading for him on a makeshift stage in his hotel bathroom. “Hung a sheet behind the loo and just read it. I didn’t know the story. I never expected to hear back.” But he thinks Snyder saw “The Lookout,” “and that comes back to why that was so important for me.
“I’ve seen some of ‘Watchmen,’ a tiny little bit of me and [genetically engineered lynx] Bubastis, and it looks . . . awesome!” He seems less worried about academic purists who might scoff at “Brideshead” than Comic-Con purists who might riot over “Watchmen.”
“Apparently, it’s crazy down there,” he said with a broad smile. “I’m going to re-read ‘Watchmen’ again before I go because they’ll know every single thing about it, and I’m going to stand there looking like a complete loser.”
Goode life is tough to find – Boston Herald – 25th July 2008
Matthew Goode stars in ’Brideshead Revisited.’
By TENLEY WOODMAN |
PUBLISHED: July 25, 2008
Matthew Goode has a tough act to follow. Although the 30-year-old actor has played an undercover British agent in “Chasing Liberty,” a hard-boiled American grifter in “The Lookout” and a posh Londoner in Woody Allen’s “Match Point,” he’s tackling a role made famous by Jeremy Irons.
Goode stars as lonely, middle-class Oxford student Charles Ryder in the big-screen adaptation of “Brideshead Revisited.” Irons played Ryder in the 1981 miniseries, opposite Anthony Andrews as privileged classmate Lord Sebastian Flyte.
The film is based on Evelyn Waugh’s epic 1920s-set novel. Goode said playing an iconic role in a period piece such as this is a rite of passage as an actor.
“I haven’t done very many, and some of the stuff I have done you get cast to play an extension of yourself,” said the classically trained actor. “It’s all very … almost two-dimensional. With this, the source material is just so wonderful. To some extent, it is more theatrical doing period.
“There are few contemporary scripts that have the level and depth (that this does) thematically. It is taken from one of the best novels from the 20th century,” he said.
As for Goode, his sparse IMDB.com biography tells it all. He respects privacy. “There are levels of ambition in today’s society and celebrity,” Goode said. “I like the work, and I feel if this is the means to get a nice house in the country with a big vegetable patch in the back (I’m for it).”
And where exactly would he like that country house? “Somewhere in England,” he said without elaborating.
As for pubbing and clubbing, he doesn’t talk about that much either.
Matthew Goode Exclusive Interview – WATCHMEN – Collider – 22 July 2008
BY STEVE WEINTRAUB
Of all the days I could land an interview with Matthew Goode…the day it happened couldn’t have been more perfect. The reason was…the day I interviewed him was the first time I could write about my set visit for “Watchmen,” and it was also the day a description leaked about the first trailer for the film. In fact, I got an email about the trailer right as I walked into the interview room, so we talked about it.
But before we go any further…the reason I got to interview Matthew was the movie “Brideshead Revisited.” [See article in Press Archive for this year] In the article you can read a synopsis and watch a trailer and some movie clips. Also, in the next day or two I’ll be posting another interview with Matthew Goode and it’ll just be on “Brideshead.” During that interview (which was done in roundtable form) we talked all about his career decisions, making “Brideshead” and a lot more.
However, with Matthew playing Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias in Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Watchmen” movie, I also managed to land a separate one on one interview and since we had already talked so much about “Brideshead,” I asked him if he wouldn’t mind talking “Watchmen” and he couldn’t have been more excited to oblige my request.
So…posted below is a great interview on his work just in “Watchmen.” We talked about how he got the part, how he didn’t know the comic and hadn’t read it before arriving in Vancouver, wearing the costume, how he gave Adrian Veidt a very interesting accent…and a lot more. Seriously…it’s a great interview. But you can judge that for yourself….Finally, I’m not going to give any intro on what “Watchmen” is about…this interview is for people who know the graphic novel and cannot wait for the movies release.
…
Collider: I was going to say I’d like to actually focus a little bit on what we call the Zack Snyder onslaught of March 2009.
Matthew Goode:Let’s do it.
Collider: So here’s what’s funny. Of all the days to interview you, today we were allowed to write our preview pieces of the Watchmen set visit today.
Matthew Goode:Oh wow.
Collider: As in I posted it last night at midnight, which was the first time I could write a word telling my audience that I’d been to the set.
Matthew Goode:Oh fuck, that’s bizarre.
Collider: Because they don’t want to build up too much buzz.
Matthew Goode:Oh okay. Fair enough.
Collider: So today is the day we’re allowed to write about it.
Matthew:I thought you posted it a midnight…the moment you could.
Every online site that was there. So let’s talk…I can’t run what I interviewed you until later and you’ll be at Comic-Con…so looking back now, it’s been a number of months, what was the experience like making this movie and what was it compared to what you went in? Can you talk just a little bit about it?
Matthew:Of course. For me, actually, it came at a really tough time as in fact I’d been away from home for almost 3 months filming “Brideshead” and I found that an exhausting process. Not oh poor me, but as in 6 day weeks, 17 hours a day. Just really tough mentally to go from doing that and being really in it and then suddenly 2 days later after finishing in Morocco, I’m in Vancouver. I don’t even know which will sound really sacrilegious but I’m sure people will get it, if you haven’t read Watchmen, and it is the Citizen Kane of the graphic novel world. There’s no question about it. So my ignorance was enormous and I suppose it really helped because by being a fan I would have fucked the audition up.I wouldn’t …because its’ such an amazing….it’s the one you want to do.If you want to be in a graphic novel, that’s the one you want to do.
Let me interrupt you for one second. When you went into the audition, had you read the comic?
Matthew:No, all I knew about it was the fact that the other actors were involved and that was a pressure, but I had one scene at the end where it was like saying I killed millions of people and then one tiny scene at the beginning where I’ve got a big cat. So I’m like this is such an odd character and it was only when I got to Vancouver, and obviously I’d spoken to Zack on the phone. He was a real part of the convincer because post audition he was like…my fears were and this might sound awful…that it was going to be a kind of Fantastic 4 thing and he was like “let me fucking tell you, if my movie ends up being anything like that then I’ve not done my job properly.” And I don’t mean that to be totally against that film but as in just for me he really put my mind at rest and he got on and he told me what his vision was going to be for it and I was like, wow.And I don’t want to be doing something that’s going to piss people off because he told me how beloved it was and I was like oh God. That’s a real pressure. He got what director it deserves.
Oh I believe.
Matthew:You’ve been to the set.
Yeah, let’s talk about Dr. Manhattan’s lab or the shit that was built. It’s insane.
Matthew:It is absolutely off the charts. Did you get to see the stuff at the ice palace as well?
I did not see the ice palace but…we saw the storyboards of the ice palace. So what was it like in person?
Matthew:Oh my God it’s just the biggest set you’ve ever seen and again the joy of doing it was like…there was also a slight worry about how much green screen and what that can do to your acting and having not been doing a lot of green screen before, so I was like fuck, it’s so nice to have everything that was required. Apart from a 100 foot Manhattan so that was a bit tricky. In that one you have to use your imagination a little bit but no, to have such a scope of a story and to have all these sets around and to be wearing these costumes and not feel a complete dick because they just make sense. Everything just made sense around Zack Snyder.
We were on set the day the costumes arrived.
Matthew:Oh, brilliant.
And the next day was that group photo shoot with everyone in costume. So could you talk a little bit about…we didn’t get to ask you this…but what was it like for the first time you put on that costume and what was it like being in that scene and just all that?
Matthew:It’s extraordinary. And also because I didn’t have a rough deal.I think the person who had the roughest deal was Jeffrey Dean Morgan, he literally had to be put into a completely different skin. He’d have 7 hours in makeup before we even started shooting and he has a hairy chest so these glued on things were ripping at his chest. He was uncomfortable the whole time. But yeah, amazing and it was kind of nice when we had that group shot because I have very little interaction until right at the end with anybody else. I’m sort of not…I don’t really have much with the other actors or the other main characters until the Ice Palace at the end, so or Carnac I should really call it, but so yeah, it was a particularly nice day for me because I just got to see just how awkward everyone else was putting their costumes on—well not everyone obviously because I wasn’t there when Malin was putting on her stuff.
We saw her fighting in the jail sequence.
Matthew:Oh you saw the fighting in that? Yeah, it’s quite a get-up that she’s got on. It’s a little revealing.
It is. It was quite nice to watch it being filmed.
Matthew:I’m not surprised. Completely pert nipples and everything.Exactly.
It was good times.
Matthew:And Carla as well. She looks…great little sex kitten in everything she does really.
She’s attractive.
Matthew:Yes, she is.
Just a little bit.
Matthew:Just a little bit.
Just a touch.
Matthew:And after this film comes out there’s going to be an even wider audience of people who feel that way I think.
Yeah, I guess I’m curious about….well let’s talk a little bit about Comic-Con because that’s coming up next week. Are you….they’re doing a presentation in the room that holds 7,000.
Matthew:Yeah.
So are you prepared to be on stage with Zack and other people talking about this in front of the absolute Fanboys?
Matthew:No, because I’m really not. I get scared talking about “Brideshead” in front of 7 people because thematically it’s very complicated. So you take “Watchmen,” which is equally if not more thematically complicated and remember that the audience is far more intergent that you are, so I’m really worried that at this stage it might compound some people’s ideas that I’ve been miscast because I’m not…
No. I’ll defend you on-record. I see you in the part. I really do. Definitely.
Matthew:I hope so.
No, no I’m really confident and I really believe in Zack and if Zack believes in you then I’m sold.
Matthew:Well, I’m slightly worried about the…because we’d come up with this idea that again, its…I assume I can talk about it…. it’s the fact that I wanted to do something a little bit different with it and so we decided to sort of embellish upon what given certain circumstances of Adrien Veidt’s past are in the novel. So it’s like well, was he born in America? I don’t know. It seems to me there’s a possibility that maybe he grew up a little bit in Germany and maybe that’s the reason he gave away his parents wealth is because….it’s stuff that’s not going to be known by audiences. It’s not talked about but just for the actor. Well, isn’t it more interesting if he gave his parents money away because they were Nazi’s, which is kind of in keeping with a sort of graphic novel form or a comic book, you know there’s sort of values to the superhero or you know what makes them rise above the normal person. And it was also a really interesting idea as far as the American dream and propagating a public persona that’s very American but in private he has a slight German accent with the American. I don’t know, it seems very interesting.
Were you able to work that into the actual film?
Matthew:Yeah, it’s in. It’s in. It was in pretty early on because after the first scene which is all done American, it was only after we shot that that I thought wouldn’t that be interesting and Zack was like, you fucking bet.Go for it. And because it’s not mentioned to anyone then some people might be a bit thrown of like…I think they’ll get it as in the public/private thing, and I just hope they buy into it and like it rather that it being a hindrance.
I don’t see people…I think that any movie has to be a movie. And it can’t just be a movie of the book. There has a be, you know, the director has to put the ….you know what I mean, they have to change things to make it a movie.
Matthew:Yeah, it’s entertainment as well. That’s what you can never get away from and I think sometimes things take themselves far too seriously and they forget that and that’s why I think Zack has brought such….because he’s remained so faithful to the book and obviously the Black Freighter was a big option and I don’t know what he’s going to do with that and I think that will be something brilliant for the fans to get which I think will come on.
He talked about putting it as an animated thing on the DVD.
Matthew:Yeah, exactly, because otherwise there’s just no way. The budget would spiral to try to get some of that stuff in there. It’s frightening.
The rumor is that he has a 3 hour cut of the film right now.
Matthew:Yeah, he does. I spoke to him about that the other day. They wanted to go down a bit lower and he’s like, I just don’t think I can.
I heard 2:45 is going to be their goal of release.
Matthew:Yeah? So he’s got to trim another 15 minutes of it.
That’s what I heard.
Matthew:Yeah. That’s tough.
It’s a big fucking book.
Matthew:It’s a huge fucking book. I spoke to him and he’s like everyone’s going to be expecting this actiony thing and I’ve made a 3 hour art house film. If you can release that statement right now you’ve made even more thousands of people happy. I think that’s people want and I think he’s got the perfect balance of entertainment and integrity for the original…for the seminal piece of work that it is.
Well, the big question for a lot of fans is the movie going to go follow the structure of the book where you get a little bit of modern stuff, you get past. Is it going to be linear…there’s so many things that the fans don’t know.
Matthew:You’ve got to set up this sort of parallel 1980’s universe as well with Nixon still President, so I don’t think that’s speaking out of turn by just saying that in the initial credit sequence—the opening credit sequence—there’s the stuff that isn’t in the book. For example, myself shaking hands with David Bowie and Mick Jagger, you know. So setting up these ideas of celebrity and also stuff to do with the Keene Act. So it’s so multi-layered and until I see it myself, which I haven’t, I’m never going to know. All I know is the level of commitment that everyone put into it and it was of the highest ilk. Everyone who was working on the project wanted desperately to be working on “Watchmen”.
What’s funny is I wrote that last night.
Matthew:That’s why I felt like such an outsider until I got there and read the book and I was like oh my God, I’m on-board.
I want to know your reaction when you’re sitting there in Vancouver and you finally read the book and you’re like…are you like holy shit, I’m involved with this fucking movie or…?
Matthew:Abso-fucking-loutly. I mean it’s just like holy shit. I’ve always wanted to work with Billy Crudup and now I get to see him in pajamas with dots all over his face and Patrick’s brilliant and I think he cast it really interestingly and obviously….back in the day it was meant to be Jude Law and whoever. That would have been a brilliant fucking movie but a very expensive one because there are expensive people you’re utilizing in that thing and I think it’s kind of brave of him and I think it also fits the bill a little easier for us to be more interesting as well if it isn’t Tom Hanks and Kevin Costner. I think that might have…where they’d be brilliant acting it might have put off from the believability factor of it. It might have taken us away from the story and that’s what happens when you get big movie stars in there.
I actually completely agree and that’s one of the reasons I think that…
Matthew:Well, Tom Cruise as Ozymandias might have worked, you don’t know. You don’t know. You’ll never know.
I don’t think it would have worked now. Tom is a whole thing right now with a lot of people, you know? I think the casting is really good. I really do. But I was curious what was it like working with Billy as Dr. Manhattan and that stuff at the end?
Matthew:It takes a while to get used to looking at him without laughing because obviously he is covered in dots, but by the time that I say this that was the last stuff I filmed so by the time we got there we were….it was crucial to get the stuff at Carnac and to find the right levels of performance. There was one stunt scene where I told my meniscus so my knee was fucking agony and doing these long sorts of stunts and blah, blah, blah, it was hard but so rewarding, ultimately. And hopefully the stuff in the film will look good and we had a lot of amazing stuntmen so maybe they’ll just use their stuff instead of mine because I’m sure it looks better.
I remember when we were talking on-set, you mentioned that there were many days that you weren’t filming and there were days you were filming a lot. Can you talk a little bit about what you do in Vancouver when you’re …?
Matthew:Yeah, the down time. I played a lot of golf on my own. A lot of the American actors, you know, they got to come for 2 weeks and go away and I was in weather cover quite a bit and also it gets very expensive to fly back to England a lot so I had some…I think I filmed for like 40 days or something and the whole shoot was 6 months so that’s lot of hanging around to do. But the power of the DVD—I watched a lot of stuff on the box and it rains a huge amount in Vancouver but I go out and play some golf in the rain and it’s a question of how many units of the day can you just find something to do because I’m not great at spending time on my own, but they had cinemas there so I watched everything that was out.
So what do you think—jumping back to Comic-Con for a second—you were there last year. Where you there on the stage?
Matthew:No it was just Malin, Zack and Jackie.
Oh that’s right.
Matthew:They are used to it.
So this is your first time going?
Matthew:I’ve never been. First time going so I really don’t know what to expect yet. I’ve had people sort of jokingly say it’s 80,000 people wandering around in Batman costumes, but it sounds like it’ll be fun.
It’s 130,000 people and it’s basically all sold-out now and not everyone is in costume.
Matthew:Okay.
So you don’t have to stress about that, but I will say that a lot of people are talking… “Watchmen” is the big gun of Comic-Con. It’s like just…FYI.
Matthew:That’s fucking amazing, because also the repercussions of making even as I say just half of that crowd, if you can feed some of the anticipation and also not upset them with anything they do see, then we’re winning a battle because they talk and they want to promote something that they like.
Exactly. Zack told me that he’s showing 3 to 4 minutes of footage from the movie, maybe 5, I don’t know what the number is.
Matthew:Isn’t that great. I haven’t seen any.
So is he going to show it to you before you go or do you have to watch it on the screen with everyone else?
Matthew:I’m on this press tour…I will be seeing it for the first time with you guys. I mean, I don’t even know…when does “Dark Knight” come out because the trailer goes out with that.
Someone just reviewed the trailer. I just got sent an email. The trailer’s on Thursday night. It’s in theatres.
Matthew:Oh wow, and what did they say about the trailer?
I literally just clicked on the article. We can…hold on…you ready…
Matthew:Yeah.
Hold on.
Matthew:Are you kidding me? Yes.
I just saw the trailer for “Watchmen” in 15 seconds….I can tell you right now I enjoyed it a lot. You get to see plenty of Dr. Manhattan. Rorschach looks fantastic as does Night Owl’s ship as it emerges from the water—blah, blah, blah. I’m wondering if we’ll see the full-frontal Doctor…the final shot of the trailer…well, let’s just say crystal palace on Mars is do-able.
Matthew:Fucking great. Oh my God.
So there you go.
Matthew:So that sounds good. That’s just a little teaser trailer, isn’t it?
It’s Zack’s special trailer for “Dark Knight”, so whatever it is. So jumping off “Watchmen” for a second because I’m sure they’re going to be real pissy if I spend 20 minutes doing this. What was it…as an actor you went from…you got a lot of good mentions in “The Lookout” and now you’ve done “Brideshead” which you’re obviously you’re really good in it and “Watchmen”. As for your career, are you sort of amazed at the way it’s been twisting and turning?
Matthew:Oh, constantly because as you know, we’ve talked about it before, everyone’s under the assumption that you get to choose and it’s like as a person I choose what I’m interested in or it chooses me, you read it and you go that’s good. I’d like to be involved in it and then you go through the audition process and I’ve been fucking lucky. And let’s be honest. I’ve been so fucking lucky and in a way I don’t know…I don’t know what the hell’s next. I have no idea what’s going to be next, but it’s not from me going okay, now I need to do something completely different again. You know, sort of I think I’ve got good taste and it’s taste and luck really and I think I’m probably going to get back on the stage next. To take away from having to worry about getting something and new again now but as an actor you want to continually do…you want to show a little bit of range, for sure, but mainly it’s just if you read something and if it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up then you want to do it.
A lot of people talk about how TV right now is so good with the characters that are on the different networks. Right now you’re on this great run with movies, but could you ever see yourself doing a character on TV and playing that for years?
Matthew:In some ways as long it’s sort of…I don’t know…I have a problem with being away from home a lot because of missing friends and family and having a girlfriend who just got back from New York now to be with me, so that’s not good otherwise being away. But there would be something quite comforting about playing the same role, I think, day in and day out for awhile. I think I would quite like that but at the same time it’s nice to try on other clothes. Do you know what I mean? If you had the keys to the best wardrobe of suits, you don’t want to wear just one. So, I don’t know. It depends. It could be the world’s greatest TV series and you wouldn’t be able to say no. If something like “West Wing” came up.
You mention “West Wing” a lot. Are you like an addict of this?
Matthew:Yeah, I am. I love it. I don’t know what it is about it. I just think it’s so intelligent and the level of the acting and obviously when the music comes in (music sounds) you’re like pathos crazy. But, at the same time, I just think that Bradley Whitford and Rich Schiff, the whole entire cast are just perfect and happens from day one. The very first opening scene you’re like all the relationships are set and it just sort of pulls you in.
So you’re saying that Aaron Sorkin could….
Matthew:Allison fucking Janney is amazing.
So you’re saying Aaron Sorkin could pull you to TV possibly?
Matthew:If there was anyone who’s going to do it, it would be Aaron Sorkin.
English Translation follows. Thank you to coolpaperbiscuittree on tumblr for the translation. –
Vanity Fair Italia Interview – June 2008 English Translation –
Where do I find the rent money?
“It wasn’t my plan to be a fashion ambassador and, at the beginning, posing as a model embarrassed me. Although it may seem that there are similarities with an actor’s work, in reality they are two different things and … achoo! Sorry, I have a cold and a fever.”
Even though it’s not cold, Matthew Goode has a woollen hat on his head. Recently thirty – Goode, an English actor with a very British accent and appearance – was the cute boy along the way who won the daughter of the president of the United States, namely Mandy Moore in Chasing Liberty, the rich fiancé (betrayed) of Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allen’s Match Point and more recently, in 2007, the very bad bank robber in The Lookout.
Matthew Goode is in London. For two reasons: posing for the photo shoot you see in these pages, where he wears clothes – also very British – by Hackett, the brand he is an ambassador of, but above all moving to a new home with his girlfriend Sophie.
In addition to the cap, Matthew Goode is wearing a sweater and a pair of torn jeans which, he says, “are fine to mix with some more elegant pieces”. Like the ones he will wear shortly, transforming himself from a boy ready to carry furniture on his shoulders to an English gentleman.
I read that you are always short of money. Is that why you agreed to do the modelling?
I am pleased and honored that they asked me, but it is also true that it helps pay the rent.
I have read that over the years it has often fallen to your sister to pay for you.
I am not particularly proud of it, but it’s true. My family helped me with the expenses. Now, however, things are a little better.
Your new film, Brideshead Revisited, will be released in the fall, based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh, very famous in Britain for a television series a few years ago.
I had read it at school and had also seen the show. My character, Charles, who was portrayed in the television version by Jeremy Irons, and a student who, at Oxford University, gets to know Sebastian, the son of a wealthy, aristocratic family. During a stay at his friend’s house, he is involved in a sort of love triangle with Sebastian and his sister, Julia
A rather different family, if I am not mistaken, from your own.
My mother was a nurse and is now retired. My father was a geologist, and unfortunately died five years ago. A very close family (composed of a brother, born – like him – from his mother’s second marriage, and from two other brothers and a sister with her previous husband. Matthew is the youngest)
This is a so-called extended family
It’s funny, but my extended family is rather small. I’ve never met my grandparents, and both my mother and father are only children. As a child I spent most of my time alone. Perhaps that’s also why I became an actor.
When did you decide?
I’m really not sure I’ve ever made a final decision. I really like cinema, but it is an absolutely crazy world.
How do you mean?
You’re always away and this is the most tiring part for me. It weighs on me not being able to be with my family and friends. I recently went to Canada for six months without being able to go home even once. I felt an enormous sense of loneliness. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. If I think of those who have to go to an office every day, the (work) of an actor, I can’t even consider it a real job.
So far they have called you “the new Brad Pitt” “the new Hugh Grant”. After Brideshead Revisited, they’ll say you’re “the new Jeremy Irons”. Who do you prefer to be compared to?
Unfortunately I don’t look like Brad Pitt at all. I don’t know what to say, all these comparisons are pleasant, but they’re not the kind of things to which I dedicate attention. What really interests me is doing a good job and one day being able to go and live in the country.
Excuse me?
I’d like a house outside the city, to stay away from any intrusion (mimics the gesture of taking pictures) cultivate my vegetables in the garden, have children.
A dream or a project?
I hope to have a child within the next two years, but it depends on how the work will go. It is true that having a family and working in the cinema is complicated above all for a woman, but also for a man its not easy if you want to be a present father. As I said, cinema is a crazy world and the competition is very hard.
Give me an example.
Getting the part in The Lookout was a struggle. I had to pass eight auditions. I understand them: I am an English actor not particularly well known in the United States
But you had already made Chasing Liberty, an American film, although perhaps not a masterpiece.
Yes. Today I could say: “ah, that stuff for teenagers”, but the truth is that without that film today I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t have had other better parts. Moreover, it was fun, we shot in Prague and Venice
Based on what criteria do you choose to propose for a film, or to accept a part?
The criteria changes over time. At the beginning you can’t choose. Is the movie being made? Good. And is it shit? Be patient.
Returning to your private life, waiting to take care of the vegetable garden, what do you do with your free time?
I see friends at home, or in some pubs
Speaking of pubs, is it true that when you found out you got the part in Match Point you got so drunk that you went home without shoes?
I only lost one, which is even worse. Every time I get a part I like to celebrate with friends: a nice dinner and some beer. In the case of Match Point, I was so happy that I overdid it. But it happened only that time: to celebrate the Brideshead Revisited we had a nice dinner with friends, my girlfriend … and then I panicked.
Why?
I didn’t really understand Charles’s character. Fortunately we started shooting more than a month later. I am like this: I need time to read and reread the scene, talk to the director and, when possible, with the other actors. It makes me feel calmer. Unfortunately it is always more difficult: cinema is a big industry where time is money. In Brideshead Revisited – I am practically in every scene – I worked continuously for three months, sixteen hours a day. It was gruesome.
And how was working with Woody Allen?
Relaxing and fast. He is very sweet, calm. Sits with the newspaper “okay … action” (mime the gesture of one who flips through the pages and occasionally peeks from above)
Sophie, your girlfriend, does she help you in any way?
Sometimes, to memorize the lines. But above all she gives me moral support. Thank God she’s not an actress: I couldn’t stand it
In addition to wanting to have children, do you also intend to get married?
I have a friend who got married early and divorced just as quickly. Sophie and I believe in marriage, but why force things? For now we are going to live together
Is this the first time?
Sophie is English but lived in New York. So far our relationship has been partly by distance, I went to her and she came to me. Now we have rented an apartment in central London, we are relocating. We bought some furniture, but we are still looking for the wardrobe. You need a huge one: it’s incredible how many clothes a woman can have.
How did you get to know each other?
I first met her on the steps of my house. My neighbor was her friend. I immediately thought she was wonderful.
Love at first sight?
Quite. But I certainly couldn’t say: “Hey you, come away with me” Fortunately, thanks to our common friend, we met again.
Your immediate plans once the move is over?
In the coming months, stay as long as possible with her. We have planned a vacation in Italy, a couple of weeks between Florence and the Amalfi coast. I said no to two big movies so I could stay close to her. She gave up her job and her life in New York to come and live with me, how could I tell her: “They offered me a good part, see you in a few months, bye”? Yet many do not understand. They ask me, “Why aren’t you more ambitious, why aren’t you more career-oriented?”
British actor and new star Matthew Goode is eminently importable
BY CANDICE RAINEY
I wanted to meet Matthew Goode at a wine bar. I remembered from an earlier encounter with the 30-year-old British actor that the guy is partial to the grape—not in a let’s swirl and sniff while we muse on “the legs” way, but he knew his way around a wine list, confidently pronounced appellations, and is a believer in drinking glasses of it daily, because, you know, it’s heart-healthy.
His publicist, however, isn’t on board. He has a meeting with a director right after. Can I choose a coffee spot? I pick a small Italian joint on New York’s Lower East Side where they serve espresso, too.
When Goode slips out of the black sedan that’s chauffeuring him around on this Monday afternoon and bounds through the door, he spots me, kisses me on both cheeks, and takes a seat at our small table nuzzled up against a floor-to-ceiling window.
“Right,” he says, grinning. “Let’s order some wine! And some bread and olives.”
What about the thing with the director? Goode flashes me a look: Never mind that.
“Two glasses,” He says to the waiter, who’s holding a bottle of Pinot Nero, about to pour me one. “And we’ll do a bottle of that.”
If every woman in America could share a bottle of Italian red and a plate of olives with Goode, he’d be bigger than Clooney. Scratch that—bigger than Brad. He’s wearing a wrinkled T-shirt, a black knit beanie, and faded Levis that hang just right off his hip bones. He smokes Marlboros. He quotes Cary Grant and the British columnist Jeffrey Bernard freely but so aptly that it doesn’t come off as jerky, just incredibly…cool. “`None of my party drinks singles, they do have some style, you know.’ That’s one of my favorite lines in that play. I fucking love him,” Goode says in his plummy English accent, referring to Keith Waterhouse and his play Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell.
He tells me I have olive bits stuck in my teeth, and to make me feel like less of an idiot he pulls his cheek open with a hooked finger and shows me a jagged bottom molar that’s half missing. “I have horrible teeth. I’ve been walking around like that for two years, and I still haven’t gone to see a dentist about it.”
He pops off funny, self-deprecating stories, like the time Emma Thompson told him he had a large Roman nose just like Peter O’Toole’s before he got his done, that underline just how normal he is, despite the fact that his 6’2″ frame and sea green eyes catapult him into that other plane of existence known as Ridiculously Good-Looking. To call him charming is kind of like saying Heidi Klum has a nice smile.
Of course, because he can’t clone himself a million times over and steal wives and girlfriends away for a liquid lunch, the reality is that most women, and moviegoers in general, still don’t know who the hell Matthew Goode is—mostly because we’ve only seen him in a handful of films, some of them uneven oddballs (Imagine Me & You and Copying Beethoven) that haven’t exactly sent his career trajectory skyrocketing.
Nonetheless, his rarefied magnetism, that room-owning presence, has managed to seep through all of his work, snapping critics and directors to attention—even as a teen-dream heartthrob in 2004’s Chasing Liberty, in which he played a Secret Service agent ordered to protect Mandy Moore, the president’s daughter, as she jaunts around Europe. Though not exactly the kind of soul-stirring material for which Goode studied drama at the University of Birmingham (“It is what it is, but without it I wouldn’t have been here”), it did lead to a supporting yet crucial role in Woody Allen’s Match Point as Scarlett Johansson’s fiancé, in which he nearly upstaged his costars.
Last year, Goode made himself unrecognizable in The Lookout, Scott Frank’s twisted take on the heist-movie genre. He nailed the character, a diabolical American ex-con who preys upon a brain-injured janitor.
“The Lookout was what made me think, Yeah, he can do it,” says 300director Zack Snyder, who cast Goode as a not-so-straight-ahead villain in his comic-book geek-out Watchmen, due in 2009. “He’s really interested in doing the work of acting.”
Goode, who lives in London, is in town to promote this month’s Brideshead Revisited, based on the 1945 novel by Evelyn Waugh, in which he stars as Charles Ryder, a reserved Englishman who forms an intense bond with an unhinged aristocratic Catholic family. Brideshead is a very British, very layered text, exactly the kind of material that’s nearly impossible to jam into a two-hour film. That, compounded by the fact that it was made into a beloved UK miniseries starring Jeremy Irons 27 years ago, makes this production a potential suicide mission.
“I watched Brideshead Revisited,” I tell Goode. “That’s a complicated film. I’m not sure what my question is.”
“What’s it about?” Goode smiles and crinkles his brow. “Right.”
“It reminds me of…”
“Gay porn?”
We should probably get to that. In the book, Ryder forms a close relationship with his schoolmate Sebastian Flyte (the son in the unhinged Catholic family), and it’s unclear whether they are simply tight pals or Waugh meant to imply that they have a physical relationship. In the film, that question is answered—subtly, but answered.
Goode requests that we move outside so we can smoke. I ask him if he’s nervous about how the film will be received.
“Every job you do is nerve-racking,” he says, taking a drag off his cigarette.
But it feels like he’s particularly skittish about this role.
“I’m not very well-known in England, so it’s quite interesting that this is a job that will make me a little more known, perhaps. And it can make me more known for not a good reason—as in, they should have never fucking remade it. And that’s nerve-racking.”
Though he’s the kind of actor who pores over script and dialogue (he could write the CliffsNotes for Brideshead at this point), Goode loathes describing his “process.” “There’s no way you can possibly explain it. And the more you do it, the more you sound like a dick. I don’t want to hear, `I bled for you.’ It’s like, Fuck off.”
He’d much rather talk about his girlfriend, Sophie, who lives in New York City but has agreed to move into a flat with Goode in London. He pulls out a billfold wallet with scrap-book-size 4″ x 5″‘s—Sophie bearing two Big Gulp-size margaritas in Mexico, Sophie satirically striking a voguing pose—all creased and worn around the edges.
Goode has to meet the director soon. We have one last cigarette, finish off our follow-up carafe, and he’s off. I get a text five minutes later: “Fuck. I left without putting anything down for the bill. Sorry, even if it’s ELLE, I should have got the tip. I’ll get the wine in London. Love Goodey.” Ladies, meet the next leading man.
