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Jeremy Irons attended a screening of his film Trashed, at the Tiffin Boys School in Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, UK, on Friday 18 October 2013. He participated in a Q&A session, after the film.
The screening was organised and hosted by Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston.
Jeremy Irons was in Dublin, Ireland at the Gate Theatre on Saturday 15 June 2013, to participate in the World Actors Forum. Trashed was screened at the WAF and, afterward, Jeremy was interviewed by Joseph O’Connor.
On the same day, Jeremy Irons was present at University College Dublin, to see Sinead Cusack receive an Honorary Doctorate Degree.
ROME — Italy’s Taormina Film Festival featured a mix of international blockbusters, smaller dramas and comedies in its famous Teatro Antico venue, with a list of Hollywood A-Listers on tap, as the 59-year-old festival continues its return to good health after a “near-death” experience last year.
The festival ran from June 15-22 in Taormina, Italy.
Trashed was screened on Wednesday, June 19 at 10:00 in the Convention Center – Hall A. Jeremy Irons was part of a Tao Class held on Wednesday, June 19 at 11.45 at the Hall A of the Convention Center.
Jeremy Irons was a recipient of the Taormina Arte Award. Here’s what the festival’s website has to say about Jeremy and the award (translated from Italian):
“Taormina Arte Award – Jeremy Irons
It ‘an interpreter of natural elegance, often also enjoys coloring and embellishing the prestigious cinematic tradition of British actors who wear the clothes of the “bad” with a pronounced English accent (even in a western like Appaloosa) or return to the origins of its training at the Old Vic appearing in reductions to Shakespeare as The Merchant of Venice. And ‘the most respected performers in English, starring theatrical films (like Callas Forever, Australia, The House of the Spirits), but also original and insightful studies of the author (Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers, Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty, The French Lieutenant’s Woman of Reisz), but it will be in Taormina not only to speak of himself, of his excellent filmography, his acting style that blends technical and introspective fragility, authority and underground emotional outbursts, but mostly as a writer, producer and observer Trashed of Candida Brady, a film that takes in hand the risks to the food chain and the environment caused by pollution of air, land and sea. Looking at most of the planet, from Iceland to Indonesia, we discover surprising truth about imminent threats that surround us and our health, like the microplastic: plastic remnants infinitely small that fill the seas and, consequently, the fish, including those that end up on our tables. In Trashed, the actor takes us on a fascinating and disturbing to discover the devastating impact of human waste, more and more toxic than in the past. Also for his commitment, as well as the extraordinary career, the Festival pays homage to him with the Taormina Arte Award. ”
Jeremy Irons attended a press conference in Firenze (Florence), Italy, ahead of the Festival of Writers, where he read from Machiavelli’s The Prince and some works of Vladimir Nabokov, including Lolita.
He also introduced a screening of Trashed in Florence, Italy at the Odeon Cinema and participated in a panel discussion of the issues discussed in the film.
Jeremy Irons is featured in the 7 June 2013 issue of Corriere della Sera Magazine from Italy.
Here is a translation of the article:
(Thank you to Barbara Danisi for the translation!)
Jeremy Irons arrives in Italy to read Machiavelli’s The Prince together with Laura Morante.
He says that the only real Prince left is the Pope. He’s the only one who has the power to change the world and make it better. He has already begun changing the Vatican: Jeremy was very impressed seeing the Pope washing people’s feet, that’s what the Church needs. Then he compares Pope Bergoglio with the character he played in the movie Mission, Father Gabriel, they’re both of the Jesuit order.
The game of power has remained the same for years. ‘’ Whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse’’ Machiavelli wrote.
Human nature hasn’t changed, and so haven’t the means to control people. Industries only care about their business, politicians in Bruxelles decide for our lives. It’s the game of power. Those who cheat will always find those who let themselves be cheated.
Jeremy has never thought of becoming a politician. To be a politician you must have great ideals, know society, without accepting compromises, which is the most difficult thing to do.
‘’I’ve always tried to organize my life, and I’ve always said to my sons that the most important thing is to find happiness in life. Even when I choose my roles I choose characters who are far away from politics.’’
In theatre he played Richard II, a man who didn’t want to rule, but found himself on the throne, as opposite to Macbeth and his lust for power and dangers. Jeremy says that in politics there have been some good men, such as Nelson Mandela or Churchill. But every politician is disappointing in the end, leading a nation is a hard task.
Bruxelles has power over almost every European nation. Last year in Italy the prime minister was not voted by people, but imposed and charged to put order in the Italian economics, but having an economist as the head of the government is not a good thing.
Ironically there was a politician in the Irons family: one of his ancestors broke into Westminster parliament riding a donkey to make a petition for democracy.
There is one man that Jeremy admires, and he is Pope Francis. Jeremy likes going to church with his Catholic wife Sinead. ‘’When I was in Colombia shooting The Mission I chose to be barefoot all the time because the Indians didn’t wear any shoes and I wanted to feel like them, feel what they felt, a strong bond with nature and the ground under their feet. You can follow the word of Christ without being influenced by the Church of Rome. Actually the Church has always been far away from people , but I think Pope Francis can change this. It will be hard but he can make it’’.
Very different from Pope Francis is Rodrigo Borgia, a dissolute libertine. ‘’I read a lot about him to play this character. He was more of a king than a pope, he wanted to be rich and powerful but in the end he stained the name of his family forever. Rodrigo is often seen as a negative man, but playing a negative character is very charming! Playing the role of someone who goes against the rule of society is very interesting! There’s this constant fight between the good and the evil inside of us’’.
Then Jeremy goes on talking about Trashed. Films, movies (Jeremy’s favourite movie is L’amour by Michael Haneke) cannot change people but can make us aware of the problems we need to solve.
Jeremy Irons says he wants to stay away from politics, but Trashed is a political film.
‘’We are sinking into trash. We are producing too much trash and it pollutes everything, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the sea. But many industries make a lot of money out of trash, so there’s little interest in facing the issue. It would be easy, starting with recycling and reducing packaging. Incinerators are very dangerous, because all goes into the air and can cause damages to people’s brain. Governments should do something about it but they don’t, they’re not interested. ‘’
In the end Jeremy talks about internet and facebook. They should be places for dialogue, instead every word you say is turned around and given the wrong meaning, as it happened recently when Irons stated his views on gay marriage.
‘’Everyone sees what they want to see, few really listen to what you say and understand what you really are’’ Machiavelli wrote 500 years ago. And so we wait for Jeremy in Florence to explain all of this.
Jeremy Irons read Four Quartets by TS Eliot on Saturday 1 June. He introduced a screening of Trashed and also was a part of the Poetry of the Great War readings on Sunday 2 June.
Click HERE for audio of Jeremy Irons, Sinead Cusack and Rupert Evans reading The Poetry of the Great War. The actors read Josephine Hart’s programme featuring the work of Owen, Yeats, Sassoon and many others. Introduced by Francine Stock.
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In the 1995 movie “Die Hard: With a Vengeance,” Jeremy Irons was pure evil as an urbane and elegant bad guy.
As Simon Gruber, he terrorized pre-9/11 New York City, practically in the shadow of the still-intact World Trade Center towers.
Scary stuff . . . but it’s nothing compared to Jeremy Irons’ latest film.
In the new documentary “Trashed,” Irons shows us the terrifying possibility of a future world buried in its own garbage.
“After doing the documentary, how conscious are you, when you walk down the street, of trash?” asked Smith.
“Well, I mean, this part of New York is wonderful, there’s no trash in sight,” Irons said. “And I think it’s a case of out of sight, out of mind.”
“We throw it away and it’s gone?”
“That’s right. It’s clean, it’s lovely, it’s not something we have to worry about. But where does it go?”
Where, indeed? In Indonesia, garbage goes in the nearest river, and eventually out to sea. Worldwide, according to the film, Americans could recycle 90 percent of the waste we generate, but right now we only recycle a third of that — and some of our trash eventually finds its way back into us — such as plastics leeching into our food supply.
It’s weird to see an Oscar-winning actor rooting through trash cans in New York City’s nicest neighborhood, but for Irons, garbage has become, well, personal.
He pulled out one object: “Now this is recyclable, this is great, but it’s half full, so it’s wasted food. Coconut water: Fantastic for you, 100% pure, and it’s thrown away half-full. We waste a huge amount of the food we buy.”
“You have no hesitation to just pick through the trash, Jeremy?” Smith asked.
“No, it’s rubbish. That’s all it is. It’s just dirt. A bit of dirt before you die is good.”
“Celebrities get asked to be involved in a lot of different causes; what was it about trash that made you say, ‘I have to do something’?” asked Smith.
“I wanted to make a documentary about something which I thought was important and which was curable,” he said. “It’s not rocket science. It takes a little effort, it takes a little thought. It takes a little education. I think most people want to do what is right. But they need a bit of organization.
“We make everybody wear seatbelts now. That was a bore, wasn’t it? But we do it, and we don’t think about it anymore. Very simple to do the same with how we deal with our garbage.”
It might not be easy to picture Jeremy Irons as a garbage activist: From his breakout role in 1981’s “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” he has been in more than 40 movies, at least as many plays, and has won just about every acting award there is.
“I’ve been very lucky,” he said.
“You have a slew of awards that would say you got some talent,” Smith suggested.
“Yeah, if awards mean that. Yeah. Yeah.”
“You don’t think they mean much?”
“I do. I do. And I really don’t want to denigrate them. I think awards are fantastic. I don’t let them go to my head. I always, when I start a new piece of work, I still feel like a plumber, but I don’t know how to do it. I just sort of feel out of my depths — I’m not very good at plumbing!”
Well, he’s good at something. Born in England in 1948, Jeremy John Irons trained as a stage actor before breaking into film.
He’s been married to actress Sinead Cusack since 1978, with whom he has two sons. But on-screen he hasn’t always been such a devoted husband.
In 1990’s “Reversal of Fortune,” Irons was cast as socialite Claus von Bulow, accused of trying to kill his rich wife by giving her an overdose of insulin.
“Did you love getting in Claus von Bulow’s head?” Smith asked.
“I was slightly embarrassed,” Irons said, “and in fact fought off playing him for a while, because he was alive and I thought there was something tasteless about pretending to be someone who was still alive. And so I fought against it. Finally it was Glenn Close who persuaded me. She said, ‘If you don’t play him someone else will play him. You know, come on. Have a crack at it. It’s interesting.'”
Glenn Close was right: the performance earned him the Oscar for Best Actor.
Irons’ Claus von Bulow is a saint compared with his current role in the Showtime series, “The Borgias.” Irons is Pope Alexander VI, a man of many passions.
Off-screen, you might say Irons has become the unofficial pope of recycling — and, in what may be his most important role yet, an elegant and refined voice of caution.
Are we doomed?, Smith asked “I don’t believe we’re doomed because I believe that human nature is extraordinary,” Irons said. ” I think we will be brought to our senses eventually. I think things may have to get worse. I think, I hope we will be brought to our senses. We’re on a highway to a very expensive and unhealthy future if we do nothing.”
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