Interview and photos from 2009 Art Film Fest

In June 2009, Jeremy Irons was in Czechoslovakia to attend the Art Film Ffest in Trencianske Teplice and to accept the Actor’s Mission Award.

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Here’s an article from iDNEZ.cz (awkwardly translated from Czech by Google): Source

July 26, 2009 8:12

“People prefer their dark side hidden,” says British actor Jeremy Irons.  But apparently his work has always enjoyed the most.  In late June he came to Slovakia and the Art Film Fest in Trenčianske Teplice took the actor prize mission.

Charismatic British actor Jeremy Irons made his debut in 1980 in the film Russian ballet dancer Nijinsky.  The film combines, in which he starred with Robert De Niro, his six years later earned a Golden Globe nomination.  Yet appeared last year in continuation of the Pink Panther.

In London the Duke of Yorks Theatre, you played the game of Christopher Hampton  and passion based on the novel written by Sándor Márai. Did you know that Marai was born in Slovakia?
But died in America. You probably would not return before you will be democracy, right?  It’s a beautiful book.  I read it several years before I performed in that game. The character should be played by older players, but has so many monologues, that they would probably have problems.

Marai wrote this novel, that every great passion is hopeless, otherwise it was just a barter lukewarm interest.
Some truth to it will be.  People looking for an impossible dream. It is very hard to maintain passion when it is permitted.

Often you receive characters deceivers, but also gay.
It’s more coincidence.  As an actor, doing characters that we offer.

Jeremy Irons

. Have performed even mysterious, to the horror genre. Do you own the dark side?
We all have sites that are trying to hide from others.  Now you as an actor but I always attract, positive characters interest me.  Still, I believe that movies, where I worked, the results are positive. I try to live fully, to explore the lives of most.

When you’re in the movie Mission climbed a waterfall, it looked rather dangerous. It was so in reality?
I think it was, even though the corner waiting for rock climbers, who would catch me when I slipped.  As an actor and director, I love looking for a job that attracts me and tested.

The biopic of American painter Georgia O’Keeffe play her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. He allegedly said that a photograph is not art and that artists can be a shoemaker.
It is not, as even the image is automatically art. Umělecké dílo musí komunikovat. Artwork must communicate.  They are painters and artists.  Indeed, most collectors of contemporary art is more about investing.

And the film is still business.
Sure.  I do not know if I ever make a movie that is a work of art.  Can be an art book, or music?  I’m not sure.

You play the harmonica and the violin, what music means to you?
I think it has magical powers. I recently saw Leonard Cohen.  Created an atmosphere at the concert, which hardly reach any other way.  Music will touch you, reminding you to some long-forgotten feeling.

How do you work with your voice?
Not realize it, it’s just a sound, which I try to speak.  If you want to reproduce the feeling of acting, you have to concentrate on ideas, not to vote.  Good players are trying to get into the heads of Mozart.  Bad players play only the notes.

Often you occupy the roles of people from high society.
Yet I am not an aristocrat, I am middle class like you, I was tall and good to me sits dress. That is all.

How did you get to work on the film Power of the Powerless, which tells the story of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia?
Often they want me to record comments on the various documents.  I worked briefly in Prague, I have several Czech friends who had emigrated after 1968, but with Czech dissidents was.  He called me from a purely professional reasons and I took it like that.  I think this movie is well done and that it seeks to address the issue honestly.

British perceptions of Central Europe still a bit Kafkaesque?
Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes - The Merchant of Venice I like that I do not see Europe, but the tourism industry is to many Eastern European countries similarly open. Behind the Iron Curtain, we saw only a black space where there is poverty and where they do not travel.  When I was filming in Romania, I saw the beautiful buildings that remained there from the 19th století. century.  Although today most of them devastated, I believe that there once life returns.

I know about you that we support a free Tibet …
It seems that nobody wants Tibet to do anything. All Western countries want to trade with China.  And the Chinese do the same thing, what did the Russians – they make about their country’s security buffers.

You have also donated money to the charity that promotes yoga in prison. Why?
It’s simple. . Everywhere in the world, an increasing number of people who are leaving the prison worse than when they went into it.  In prison he spends a lot of time with yourself, yoga and meditation can help them physically and mentally stronger, overcome anger.  But in many prisons, he thinks that yoga is the last thing we need to prisoners. Similarly, some governments believe that art is the last thing you need
myslet. think.

Practicing yoga and yourself?
No, but I have meditated for many years.

What do you mean admiration by women? Even at a festival in Teplice Trenčianske you gave a lot of signatures.
This signing was a little bored, but I’m flattered.  I think people are not interested either way I do, but rather my characters, which are to be aligned.  If I went somewhere and nobody would have cared about me, it would mean that I’m doing my job well.

Sometimes call the former partners or film, how to?
I do not do it often, but when I was in New York, I met with Meryl Streep and Glenn Close.  When I was last in Italy, we have seen with Ornela Mutti, France is trying to find Fanny Ardant and Juliette Binoche.

They’re just a professional relationship?
No, it is often the friendship.

And something more?
If so, would I say? (Laughs)

Authors:

  • Zuzana Uličianska, , editor of the daily SME

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Exclusive! – Fan account of Jeremy’s appearance in Rome

Italian fan Ambra Corti has contributed this first-hand account of Jeremy Irons’s appearance at the Viaggio nel Cinema Americano, sponsored by the Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma.

[Translated from Ambra Corti’s original Italian]

The event in Rome was wonderful! I never thought my emotions could be so great and overwhelming. Jeremy Irons is a wonderful actor and a very fine man, calm and charming and is one of the few actors capable of doing major showbiz productions and supporting charities beyond all expectations, a more extraordinary person there never was!

With his English manner, in the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, he was beloved by everyone, including me,with the power of his warm and seductive voice.

During the evening, we were shown some of the scenes from his films such as The Mission, Lolita, The House of the Spirits, Reversal of Fortune, M. Butterfly, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Stealing Beauty, Kingdom of Heaven, Dungeons and Dragons, of course, accompanied with comments.

Of The Mission, speaking of the relationship he had with DeNiro, he said:
“At the time, filming went really slowly and DeNiro asked for a lot of takes. When I arrived on the set I was dissatisfied with the choice, I would not accept having to work with an actor who was not trained as I was. With every passing day our antagonism grew until it burst into a furious argument, but it subsided thanks to our producer. Since then we have become great friends.”

Of Lolita he said: “Many found it crazy that I could be like a villain, but I think there are people in the world capable of committing terrible acts and still be humorous, and if I’m not mistaken, here in Italy you have a Prime Minister …” he said with a grin. He did not say the name, but everyone in the room who knew all related, and all burst out laughing!  He went on to say: “I did not want to do Lolita because I was convinced that this film would cause me many problems with the passage of time. Adrian Lyne asked me to make this film for 2 years in a row, saying that if I had not accepted the part, he would not have made the film. Glenn Close was to convince me that it was a classic story and had all the right elements for a good movie and a good job.”

I remember that the presenters did ask a question about the Labour Party, who Jeremy once supported. Eventually, there were 4 or 5 questions from the audience (including me).

I remember one in particular, even though it was more of a statement than a question.
A lady, who was from Ischia, pointed out some events took place many, many, many years ago.
At the time, Jeremy was 17 years old and the lady was as well. She said that they had a [brief relationship or a date] and he played the guitar and she was fascinated.

Immediately after this lady, I made my application (Jeremy was directed to me when I raised my hand to speak) and I think I started in the worst and most embarrassing of ways. I said: “Carramba, what a surprise!” referring to the situation the first lady spoke of, and I do not think that he took that very well, but that may just be my impression.

When I asked the question I was very nervous! I wasn’t standing when I asked the question; I was sitting, because even if I was standing I would have fainted! I do not even know how I had the courage to do it, my heart was bursting, I surprised myself!

The real question that I did was: “You have not yet spoken of The Lion King! I want to know how do you dub a cartoon?”

He explained the various technical things that he had to do before moving on to comment directly on Scar. Of Scar he said: “It’s the ugliest animal! Because, unlike Mufasa (played by James Earl Jones) Scar is dry, skeletal, has a bad mane and tail hair has not, however Mufasa is strong, beautiful, strong with the bushy tail!”

Jeremy did not speak Italian at all and the woman sitting next to him on stage acted as his translator. At the conclusion, I and about twenty people went up to the stage in hopes of an autograph, but he was gone. It was a wonderful and unforgettable evening!

Art Film Fest to Welcome Romantic Lover and Sad Intellectual Jeremy Irons!

10 June 2009
Press Release

from artfilmfest.sk

He considered a career as a veterinarian, but failed the entrance exams. He cleaned houses and maintained streetside plants. And finally, he became one of the world’s best-known actors, awarded with the most prestigious prizes.

The illustrious Jeremy Irons has accepted our invitation to Art Film Fest, and on Saturday, 20 June, he will personally accept the Actor’s Mission Award and fix a brass plaque bearing his name to the Bridge of Fame in Trenčianske Teplice.

Through the years of his prolific acting career, this star of films such as Lolita, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, The Man in the Iron Mask, and Damage has performed alongside such renowned performers as Meryl Streep, Ben Kingsley, Liv Tyler, Juliette Binoche, Glenn Close, Melanie Griffith and Rachel Weisz. Irons has portrayed romantic lovers, torn intellectuals and even psychopaths.

In the film Lolita (1997) he flawlessly portrays Professor Humbert, who smoulders with devastating desire for his very young stepdaughter. This film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel of the same name was directed by romantic drama specialist Adrian Lyne, who has films such as Fatal Attraction and 9 1/2 Weeks under his belt. Today, many readers of Lolita cannot imagine the mad, miserably enamoured professor as anyone other than Irons.

Jeremy Irons was born on 19 September, 1948 in the small town of Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, Great Britain. He received his acting education at Bristol’s Old Vic School, and after graduating he accepted an engagement with their travelling theatre troupe. His first step towards a stable acting career was performing in serials such as The Pallisers (1975) and Love for Lydia (1977). His breakthrough role could be considered the biographical film of the renowned dancer Nijinsky (1981), where Irons played famed choreographer Mikhail Fokine.

He drew considerable attention with his second film, The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), where he acted alongside Meryl Streep. Here he portrays two spiritually connected people – an intellectual and a lover, who fall in love with a mysterious woman. These roles were perfectly suited to Irons’ temperament, and he was their ideal performer, thanks in part to his elegant, even patrician features and striking eyes.

Irons also lent his mournful face to other roles of fated lovers. On the silver screen he has succumbed to the love of numerous ladies: Patricia Hodge in Betrayal (1982), Ornella Muti in Swann in Love (1984) and Juliette Binoche in Damage (1992).

The first significant acknowledgement of Irons’ work came in 1984. For his role in the Broadway production The Real Thing, where he performed with Glenn Close, he was granted the prestigious theatrical prize the Tony Award. Four years later, he received a Best Actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle Award for his double role as twin-brother gynaecologists in the picture Dead Ringers.
In 1990, he earned the most prestigious film award, an Oscar, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in the film Reversal of Fortune, based on true events, where he played an aristocrat accused of twice attempting to murder his wife.

Irons excelled in the picture The Mission (1986) with Robert De Niro, where he took the role of a Jesuit missionary who attempts to spread Christianity among Amazonian natives and puts stake in their defence.

Irons has also visited Prague, thanks to the filming of Kafka (1991), the fictitious picture inspired by the writer Franz Kafka, a Prague native. The film was directed by the famed Steven Soderbergh, who entrusted Irons with the lead role as Jewish bureaucrat Kafka. During his stay in Prague, Irons also acted in the film version of Václav Havel’s The Beggar’s Opera, shot by Jiří Menzel.
Irons remembers meeting Jiří Menzel for dinner and asking him if he could act in Menzel’s film. Menzel invited Irons to do so, so he came, and they dressed him and made him up. They filmed the scene in two hours and Irons was paid twenty-five dollars. It was a fantastic collaboration according to Irons, who recounted it during his 2005 stay in Bratislava, when he was a guest of the TOM 2004 awards ceremony. He also visited Bratislava in 1991, on his way from the Prague filming to Berlin. He spent one day in Slovakia, buying an accordion and pictures.

Irons’ wife is actress Sinéad Cusack. They acted together in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty (1995), which was also the final film of popular French actor Jean Marais.
Irons’ name is also connected with Hollywood. He played the main villain, craving money and revenge, in Die Hard: With a Vengeance, alongside Bruce Willis. In The Man in the Iron Mask he portrayed Aramis, whose undergoes a religious conversion. His co-actors in that film included John Malkovich and Gérard Depardieu. In Ridley Scott’s epic Kingdom Heaven, he is reincarnated as Commander Tiberias. And he took the role of an evil wizard in the film adaptation of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.

Irons’ hobbies include riding horses and motorcycles, skiing and gardening.

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Organizers: ART FILM, n.o., FORZA Production House Co-Organizers: the Town of Trenčianske Teplice, the Town of Trenčín, Health Spa Trenčianske Teplice
The Festival is made possible through the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.

General Sponsors: AquaCity Poprad, zdravotná poisťovňa Dôvera
Main Sponsors: Omnia Holding, Tatra banka, Tauris, the Central European Foundation, Slovnaft Official Transport Provider: Lancia Logistics Sponsor: DHL Sponsors: Provimi Pet Food, Dr. Max, Enagro, Hotel Baske, AVI Studio Official Suppliers: Hubert, Parkhotel na Baračke, GS design, Segafredo Zanetti SR, Philips, Via France Slovak cinema is brought to you by Zlatý Bažant

Main Media Sponsors: Slovenská televízia, Pravda, Zoznam.sk, Boomerang, Žurnál Media Sponsors: televízia Markíza, FilmBox, Televízia Central, Rádio Okey, Rádio Hit FM, Markíza, Pardon, Cinemax, Kam do mesta, port.sk, kedykam.sk, superobed.sk, ISPA, SITA, Q-EX, Trenčianske Echo Partners: Hotel Praha, Hotel Flóra, Hotel Tatra, Slovak Film Institute, Italian Cultural Institute Bratislava, CzechTourism, Intersonic, Tatrafilm, Slovak Film and Television Academy, Esterle & Esterle, lampART, Celtima