‘Gary Oldman was going to Hollywood. He wanted this. ‘I didn’t’ – The Irish Times

Tim Roth He came to the fore as the pioneer of a socially conscious, fervently anti-social segment.Margaret Thatcher The wave of British cinema of the 1980s. Along with Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Daniel Day-Lewis, he was part of what the now-defunct Face magazine called the Brit Pack in 1986.

he won bafta He appeared as the most promising newcomer in the 1984 film The Hit, and received rave reviews for his portrayals of disaffected teenagers in Alan Clarke’s Made in Britain in 1982 and Mike Leigh’s Meantime a year later. Walter Goodman writing in the New York Times in 1986 expressed his admiration By the way, and for Roth’s “very well-acted, force-locked” performance.

The actor recalls that it was a great time to turn on television.

“A film like Boys from the Blackstuff could never be made today,” he says of the BBC’s groundbreaking drama series. “Or made in Britain. This was the first of four films made about the education system in Britain under Thatcher and all those monsters. It was an extraordinary thing. British television is so weird now, isn’t it? There’s a lot of reality TV and there’s always Coronation Street. But you don’t open it and see (Ken Loach’s) Kes.”

The 63-year-old actor is wary of the cool, macho roles that made him famous in Britain and Ireland: a 16-year-old skinhead in Made in Britain, a leader among the Brick Lane slum dwellers in King of the Ghetto and a drifter in England. Ray Davies’ musical Return to Waterloo.

“This was raw cinema, but it was also very masculine,” Roth says. “I remember talking about it clearly because we were all left-handed types. And behind what on the surface seemed like a very male-dominated world were all these incredible female producers. Margaret Matheson in particular was outstanding. He was the producer of the first thing I did – Made in Britain – and then ran Central Television for a while.

“He was a total boss. Alan always said there were a bunch of women at the BBC who didn’t know what to do from film to film. And they were the ones making all these decisions. They were guiding all the extraordinary political drama that was going on at the time. But not in the director’s chair. “This is too late for them.”

In recent years, the actor has worked with female talents such as the film’s producer, Ava DuVernay. SelmaMia Hansen-Løve, producer Bergman Islandand now first-time Dutch director Désirée Nosbusch in Poison, a sensitively translated version of Lot Vekemans’s play chronicling pain, Gif. In Poison, which opened in Ireland at the Galway Film Fleadh in July, Roth and Trine Dyrholm star as an estranged couple who meet years after the death of their son.

“He had a theatrical life that was neither here nor there, but the idea of ​​a conversation between two people who hadn’t seen each other in a long, long time was appealing,” Roth says. “Especially because the last time they saw each other was during a tragic and difficult event. From the first moments I thought this was a fascinating idea for a movie.

“The script was very strong when it came, although it still had a theatrical quality to it, and that’s what we were working on as we prepared. I was totally into it. My only concern was: who would I play with? Then I met Trine; he is one of the funniest people and tough as can be. He has such a spark. “It was a great experience.”

Roth had signed up for Nosbusch’s emotionally devastating feature debut in November 2021 when he learned of his son Cormac’s stage-three germ cell tumor diagnosis. Guitarist and composer Cormac Roth died on October 16, 2022, at the age of 25. The actor discussed the project with his son before leaving to shoot the film in a cemetery in Luxembourg.

“We discussed what the movie was about, what he thought about me doing it, all that,” Roth says. “We would talk sometimes while we were shooting. It was a short shoot that lasted about six or seven weeks. I went in and out to be with him. It was difficult sometimes. The subject was close to my heart. But I felt it was important. And at the time we were feeling real positivity about him getting through this phase. In a way, he helped me do that. And he wanted me to do it.”

Roth credits the mostly female crew, including cinematographer Judith Kaufmann, with helping her get through a particularly painful period.

“I was very, very lucky,” he says. “I don’t remember how far we got. I was caught up in the script. But when I looked up I noticed there were two women on camera. It was great. This meant everything was efficient. I’ve worked with women before, but never with this many department heads. We finished early. This never happens on a movie shoot. And this is a film by an actor who has transitioned to directing, and this is his first time directing.

“Those are all things that appeal to me. Everyone has to start somewhere. It doesn’t bother me at all if someone directs their first movie or they’re not on my radar. All I care about is whether they’re good or not. I worked with James Gray on his first movie. I worked with Quentin.”

Quentin is, of course, Quentin Tarantino, who has directed Roth in five of his nine feature films; However, the actor’s role was cut from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood because the producer had to shorten the first five hours of the cut. Roth was already having a moment when he landed a major role as an undercover cop in Tarantino’s feature debut, Reservoir Dogs.

“Twenty pages into Reservoir Dogs I knew he was a rare talent,” Roth says. “Twenty pages later I was reaching for the phone. The dialogue was phenomenal. He had done all your improvisations in the script for you. We didn’t know what would happen. Me and Quentin were counting the strikes in the cinemas. But the response was mind-blowing.”

Roth parlayed his later American roles into an Academy Award nomination for Rob Roy and a recurring role as the supervillain Abomination in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He worked with Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola And Michael Haneke (in the Austrian English version of the shocking Funny Games).

This is a strange development for an actor who had never considered going to Hollywood.

“I was making Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Gary (Old Man). He was going to Hollywood. He wanted this. I didn’t. I wanted to work with Ken Loach. I didn’t want to be a movie star and play the same kind of roles. I wanted to be a character actor because I wanted to do as many different things as I could.

“When I shot Vincent & Theo with Robert Altman, I couldn’t wait to get home. I had no interest in being there. But my manager took me around there for a while. And then Reservoir Dogs landed. Then I discovered that you can work on this game anywhere in the world.”

Harold Pinter wrote a version of King Lear specifically for the actor. Towards the end of his career, Roth maintains the screen presence that once inspired Pauline Kael to describe her acting as a kind of kinetic discharge.

He shrugs amiably.

“I never read reviews, good or bad,” he says. “When my involvement is over, the film belongs to someone else. I don’t even look at any photos. I don’t have social media. So I can concentrate on my work.”

Despite oddball franchises like Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk, and a list of former co-stars that includes Tupac Shakur, Roth has been rocking Julius Onah’s provocative Luce and his black comedy with The Guardian. remains committed to edgier independent films, including collaborations. directed by Michel Franco, Sundown.

“That still makes me laugh,” Roth says. “It’s quite extraordinary that I’m allowed to do this job. Considering that I have no qualifications as an actor. Apart from working in a supermarket! I’m pretty surprised this happened. I’m not comfortable at all. So, I’m comfortable doing the job. But I never take it for granted. “It never ceases to amaze me, and I hope it always does.”

Poison screening is being carried out Dinard British and Irish Film FestivalValid from Wednesday, October 2nd to Sunday, October 6th.