A  Cineman Syndicate feature

RHYS IFANS: THE SHIPPING NEWS INTERVIEW

By Prairie Miller

 Rhys Ifans, the Welsh star who first caught audience
attention worldwide with Notting Hill, and not just for his
bare bottom, is trying to be a bit more serious these days.
He's starring in the Newfoundland wilderness yarn, The
Shipping News. Rhys described how turned on he was by the
raw, all natural filmmaking in Newfoundland, far from any
Hollywood studio set. The actor with an unusually sly and
devilish wit disappointingly doesn't get to kiss a girl in
The Shipping News like star Kevin Spacey - who gets to be
intimate with both Cate Blanchett and Julianne Moore - but
he did have a rather fishy story to tell about locking lips
with a cod. Rhys also gave a sneak peak at the upcoming
Sundance debut of his next movie, Human Nature.

RHYS IFANS: Morning, hello, hello.

*Hi! So tell me about your experience in The Shipping News.

RI: Um, just very memorable. And very warm memories, for a
plethora of reasons. One being a wonderful and careful
director. Another being an inspiring, generous cast. And a
stunningly beautiful place, with one of the warmest
welcomes I've ever had anywhere in the world. So...

*What was it like filming in Newfoundland?

RI: Just beautiful. You know, you're often stuck in an
asbestos ridden studio somewhere, imagining horizons. And
in this case, the horizon was right there, so distant and
penetrative, up there in the North Atlantic. So that makes
your job a lot easier, when the wind blows, and it actually
is cold. You know? And that just leaves more room for your
imagination to concentrate on other things. So the weather
and the landscape are inspiring.

*Exactly where were you located?

RI: About as far north as you can go, without hitting the
ice. Yeah.

*What was the strangest thing about Newfoundland?

RI: Well, all the deaths there are due to the weather and
accidents, in some sort of way. So it's almost like people
are taken, rather than dying naturally. It's almost like
Newfoundland takes them back, and they're like sacrificed.
And there are a lot of moose accidents, with cars hitting
and crushing them to death.

*Did the cold get to you?

RI: I kinda liked it. It could be like minus twenty or
thirty degrees at times. But it's not brutal in that sense,
because you're an actor. And people look after actors! You
know, they don't want us to get ill. So you've got those
thermals on, and the warm coat. So it's very pleasurable,
and actually quite cleansing. Sometimes that wind is strong
enough to take the makeup off your face, you know it's that
hard.

*What did you guys all do to pass the time up there in the
wilderness?

RI: Hmm....Walk, talk. You know, all those things. But
because the weather is so brutal there in St. Johns, there
are more bars there per head than any other city in the
world. And when it's snowing outside, you've just gotta
stay in that bar! But they're not sad bars. There's live
music, and the people there are just joyous all the time.
And because the elements there are so brutal, there's
always a sense that, you know, we're still here. Or, we're
winning. So it's like this cheeky defiance of God, if you
like.

*Do you have any usual bar stories to tell?

RI: Well, they have this right of passage in Newfoundland,
called 'screeching in.' And it's a great honor to be asked
to be...screeched in! They like have this rum which tastes
disgusting, but the overall effect is...beautiful! So you
drink a couple of them, and then they bring you a cod from
behind the bar. And you have to kiss the cod.

*You're telling me that you kissed a cod?

RI: Yeah, I kissed it.

*Was the cod alive?

RI: Yeah, a live cod. No, actually it was just out of the
ocean. But not stuffed or anything.

*How did the kiss, uh, measure up?

RI: It was kind of like a...drunken kiss. You know? I mean,
I can't say I woke up with a cod the next morning! But I
certainly may have toyed with putting my tongue in, I was
so...happy!

*What about this bar I've been hearing about from the rest
of the cast, Rocky's

RI: Yeah, Rocky's. It was the only bar in the village where
we filmed. But it's great, all these little communities
have to have like a defense mechanism. You know, in the
sense that when this whole Hollywood crew arrived in this
tiny village, there were almost as many of us as there were
them. So the first couple of days they were just looking at
you, and sort of measuring you up and down. You know,
trying to figure out all these Hollywood wimps. And then
after seven screeches or so, they embrace you with open
arms! So it goes from one extreme to the other. It's from
suspicion, to not wanting you to leave.

*What's your most lasting memory of Newfoundland?

RI: There's enough wind there to blow a mountain away!

*Do you want to go back there someday?

RI: Absolutely, yeah

*We're more used to seeing you play a wacko character, and
in The Shipping News you're a more serious guy. Are you
excited about that change for you?

*RI: Yeah, very excited. Really, that's something I have
been wanting to do. So I'm just...reeling in a little bit!
But no, I want to just do something else now. That's the
job of acting, you know?

*They seem to have put you in a box with Notting Hill.

RI: Oh yeah.

*So are you finding it harder to get more serious roles?

RI: Well, it's not really hard. That's something that if
you want to, you can either capitalize on that box, or you
can make strides and decisions that, you know, let you
leave it. And I guess The Shipping News is one of them. But
I didn't choose to take this part because I'm worried about
any pigeonhole. That's not my concern. I think that
generally what I find, is that people like you are far more
concerned about Notting Hill, than I am! I'm just looking
to address my needs as an actor. And my needs as an actor
right now are ones of poetry, as opposed to comedy.

*How do you feel about the journey of The Shipping News
from a novel to the screen?

RI: Every time I hear that a film is being made out of a
book I love, I sort of freeze up. Because you think God, in
the wrong hands this could be ruined. You know, books have
been raped in the past by Hollywood. But I thought that if
there is a director on this planet who can serve the story,
and that place and landscape, Lasse Hallström is the one.
In all his films, the elements and the landscape are never
just simply a backdrop for the actors. They're an integral
emotional strand in the narrative, and they reflect the
emotions of the actors. And the actors are in turn
reflected in it.

*What about the novelist, E. Annie Proulx?

RI: She was there in spirit, certainly. She wasn't there on
the set, but I guess she was there every time the wind
blew. But like any good author, she was able to cut the
umbilical cord, and allow the film to be its own entity.
You know, she didn't try to project herself or her novel on
to the movie. So she's very proud of it.

*What was it like co-starring with Kevin Spacey?

RI: Just the easiest thing in the world. He's such a
generous actor, and not just to me but to the whole
ensemble. You know, when you're a star like Kevin and your
role is so central to a film, you have to make a choice.
Like do I just build an island around myself and
concentrate in some strange method acting way on my
character, or do I choose to include the ensemble? He chose
to include the ensemble in everything. And that's a noble
choice for an actor of his stature to make. And then for
me, it always shows on the screen. You get a sense of the
camaraderie, the little subtleties of the camaraderie, that
wouldn't really be there unless everyone engaged in that
ensemble. And both Kevin and Lasse were the foothills of
that ensemble, if you like.

*What's the opposite experience like, when the star doesn't
share?

RI: Well, sometimes the demands of filmmaking are such,
that you can work in a bubble and still giving an insisting
or engaging performance. But the very essence of acting is
one of sharing and collaboration, and the greatness comes
from seeing that.

*Have you thought about relocating to LA?

RI: No, I have no plans to. I don't mind working in LA, but
I like to be in London.

*I hear we'll be seeing you next in Human Nature.

RI: Yeah, it's going to be released in April, and it's
being screened at Sundance. Human Nature is a Charlie
Kaufman script, he wrote Being John Malkovich. The director
is Michel Gondry, who's a French genius director. It stars
Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette, Miranda Otto and myself.
And the film is very Kaufmanesque. I play a man, who as a
child is taken into the wilderness by my father. He does
this after Kennedy is shot, because he's disillusioned and
heartbroken by humanity and civilization. So I'm brought up
in the wilderness. And then years later at the age of
thirty, I'm discovered by a behavioral scientist, played by
Tim Robbins, and a novelist, played by Patricia Arquette.
She suffers from hirsutism, which is a disease where you're
covered head to toe in hair. So I'm discovered wandering
naked in the wilderness, and they decide to take me back to
a laboratory and civilize me. You know, help me appreciate
culture, and all those nice things. But I also learn to
lie. I gradually learn hypocrisy, I learn deceit. So Human
Nature is a satire on manners, and what society really does
to us.

*What's The 51st State all about?

RI: That's out in England right now, I don't know when it's
coming out here. It's like an action comedy set in
Liverpool, with Samuel L. Jackson. It's kind of nutty!

*Busy man. Is there anything else on your plate?

RI: I'm about to do a film in New York next year, called
Polyester Day. It's a thriller with Peter Fonda. I play a
New York cop. So I'm taking some weird turns in my career.
I don't have a plan, really. I might even be pole dancing
this time next year, you never know. Whatever takes my
fancy. But I'm putting the funnies to one side for a bit!

Copyright 2002 by Prairie Miller

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