Ian Dempsey: Alan Rickman has joined us in studio. He’s got a new movie coming out called A Little Chaos. It’s out next Friday in cinemas nationwide, and I saw it there recently and enjoyed it immensely. It wouldn’t be my kind of thing normally to go to because it’s kind of period drama. Alan, isn’t it?
Alan Rickman: What’s wrong with that?
ID: No, there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m just saying, normally I wouldn’t be going for that kind of thing. But I really enjoyed it. Why wouldn’t you? Because I just find I like to. I like to go to movies that I could be in myself. And I feel that maybe I couldn’t have been part of the Palace of Versailles and Louis the 14th.
AR: I’m a working class lad from from London with an Irish grandmother that I never knew. So there I am, playing Louis the 14th. So anything’s possible.
ID: And you’re also directing A Little chaos. So that’s not something you do all the time. I think there was one other movie you directed many years ago. So is that logistically, is it is it difficult to to kind of stand, you know, behind the camera in front of the camera and direct things?
AR: And there’s a lot of it going on at the moment, and I’m not quite sure how some of the, some of the actors who take huge leads that go right the way through the movie, do it. I don’t know how they pull that one off. It’s tough because it’s very schizophrenic, right? But the good thing about Louis the 14th, you discover what made it a little more possible is he doesn’t move anywhere.
ID: He’s not a fixed point.
AR: And everybody has to come to him. So it makes it easier for the DP to know where you are.
ID: He does a bit of dancing though, doesn’t he?
AR: Well, he in, you know, he was the beginning of ballet. Louis the 14th. This is our film takes a lot of license with history because in fact, the truth of the matter is that at that time, at the time of the movie, he had long stopped dancing. He was. He was actually in a wheelchair by then. Oh, but that’s where I would go back to what you were saying about history of movies in the past would put you off normally. It’s really a backdrop to a film that’s actually about a relationship that’s, I think, completely modern between Kate and Matthias. Yeah.
ID: And Kate Winslet. So basically, she is the woman who gets the job to design or design the the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. So it’s a kind of a garden of them? Yeah. Oh, yes. One of them, yes, but it’s a real showpiece of a garden. And but it’s it’s it was unusual at the time for a woman, first of all.
AR: And it was complete. It’s complete nonsense. Yes. There is a Versailles. Yes, there’s a Louis the 14th. Yes. Le Notre designed the gardens of Versailles. No, he was not 35. We’ve wiped 35 years off his age because he would have been 70 about this time. And there could never have been a woman a with a job. Never at all. Never mind in a garden designer.
ID: And well, of course, this was written by this story was written by a woman, an Irish woman.
AR: Very Irish Irishwoman, Alison Deegan. Yeah, it was born and bred in Wicklow, right.
ID: And she is married to Sebastian Barry. She is. And Joan Bergin then did the costumes. So she’s another Irish woman. And Joan has been involved for many years theatrically here and on big stage productions and obviously here too. And they’re magnificent costumes, because that is one thing I do like about that. That kind of drama is the costumes are magnificent, aren’t they?
AR: They’re amazing. Yeah. They pose challenges when you want to go to the bathroom, but which you do on the film. But I’ve worked with Joan a few times now, and in fact, I did a play here at the Abbey about three years ago, and she designed the clothes for that. And also great Irish actress, Cathy.
ID: Cathy Belton, she’s she’s in one of my favorite TV soaps at the moment here in Ireland called Red Rock. She plays a vicious mother and she’s, she’s she’s one of.
AR: The nicest people.
ID: I know. She’s lovely. Yeah, yeah. So and just, you know, when you’re chatting away there, I’m kind of half hearing what you’re saying, but I’m also then listening to this magnificent voice of yours. What? I mean, did you were you always aware of it? I mean, when did you start saying, oh, my God, you know, I sound great.
AR: Never. Because we should rewind to the days when I was at drama school, when it was a huge problem and I was surrounded by nothing but insults from the voice teachers. Really?
ID: Why was that?
AR: I don’t know, because I think the weird thing about voices is that you don’t. I don’t hear what you hear. You know, whenever I hear my voice on a film or or on TV or in an interview or something, I just say, who the hell is that?
ID: Yeah.
AR: So but we.
ID: Have become a bit more used to our voices now, haven’t we? With. With all the technology and the.
AR: Will you have. Because. Yeah. Because it’s it’s what you do, isn’t it? I’m not particularly.
ID: Yeah. And I mean, have you been approached by advertisers because I would imagine, you know, big corporations would love to hear you saying I was.
AR: Fired so quickly because.
ID: I don’t.
AR: Believe I think you have to. You have to sound like you mean it. And something in my water would say, yeah, I would be death to any product.
ID: I’m afraid now of your long term partner, Rima. Am I pronouncing Rima’s name correctly?
AR: You are? Yes. What question?
ID: I’m just going to say. And you can say, I don’t want to talk about this. You had one stage. You said she’s tolerant, incredibly tolerant, unbelievably tolerant, possibly a candidate for sainthood. So how tolerant is she? I mean, how tolerant does she need to be? Are you. Are you a wild boy?
AR: No. I mean, anybody who shares a life with an actor has a lot to put up with. I think we’ll leave it at that. Okay. She’s also remarkably intelligent rather than just tolerant.
ID: All right. Okay. And and what about the. Have you ever done. You’ve done some some cartoon animation sort of stuff? Do you do you enjoy doing that or. I mean, I was just thinking, you know, stage huge success screen. Then do it using your voice with with other people’s images. Is that something that that you do? Would you like to do more of that? Because that’s quite popular too, isn’t it?
AR: Yeah, it’s it’s very freeing actually. You know, if the script is something that you can attach yourself to. I’ve just finished being the caterpillar again in Alise. Was Alice Through the Looking Glass now? Yeah. That’s fun because the first time round it was working with Tim Burton, and, you know, that’s that that’s the treat, really is the people you. And it’s like a lot of acting is like being a child again and hanging on to your childhood.
ID: And is it do they do the voice first and then the pictures, or do you work to the pictures or.
AR: Or is it different each time we recruit it first and then they go and make the pictures. Yeah.
ID: And what about a thing that fascinates me when I watch people, particularly on stage. Like, I know it’s with films, you can do it in bits, but if you have to go out on stage and you’re there and you have to remember everything, I’m always asking actors like, how do you do you have a technique? Do you have a secret? Do you have a a way of remembering your lines? Basically.
AR: You take the script.
ID: And you learn it all by learn it.
AR: You have a piece of card with me. It’s pathetically primitive. You know, there’s a hopefully. Yeah. Look, here’s the thing. If it’s very, very well written and you have a kind of intelligent rehearsal process, after a while, what you say becomes sort of automatic because the writing is so good. But yeah, there are some times when you have to it’s just labour and you have to have a piece of paper over the script and learn it one line at a time. Right.
ID: And I suppose if the script is good, you can be triggered by what one of your fellow actors is saying. So when you hear a cue, it’s kind of it’s almost natural to say it.
AR: If ever I find myself, which I do because I work a lot with Rada Royal Academy in London, I’ve now kind of narrowed it down to say that acting is equals accurate listening. So if you’re listening properly, what you say should be automatic because of what you’ve just heard right now.
ID: One final question for you, Sharleen Spiteri. How did she manage to get you to appear not once, but twice in her music videos? Is she a friend of yours? Is she? Well, she is now.
AR: She is. She just picked up the phone and said, Will you dance the tango with me in a pop video? She had it had been kind of brokered by the late Michael Kamen, who’s a great mutual friend, and I. Well, why wouldn’t you? Yeah.
ID: And and then you also did. You did the video that was you acting, but then you did a duet, basically, didn’t you, on was it Start a family? Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good one. Actually.
AR: I haven’t seen it.
ID: No, but your performance in it. It’s the voice thing again as well. So you recorded that.
AR: So I’m happy to play second fiddle to her. You know, that’s one of the great voices of our time.
ID: Would you like the people of Ireland to hear that? That performance.
AR: Sounds like I have no choice.
ID: Well, listen, it’s lovely to see you. The movie is highly recommended. Kate Winslet and Stanley Tucci, and you directed it. And it’s the story of this woman building a portion, a section. She builds a.
AR: Fountain at Versailles, which actually, anybody who goes to Paris, to Versailles, the thing that gets built in the film actually exists. It’s there.
ID: So you can go visit it. And there’s some fantastic. Did you direct the big aerial shots at the end that that is really beautiful. It’s really well done.
AR: I stood over the soldier of the shoulder of a CGI, the genius.
ID: Oh. Did you? Okay, it’s a press. Press X okay. Right now. Alan, lovely to meet you. Thank you very much. And welcome back to Ireland.
AR: Thank you very much.
