Jeremy Irons Has a Dark Horse for your Oscar Pool
December 23, 2016
Awards season is in mid-stride, loping toward our eventual exhaustion with the same six movies. But one man with a mild, mellifluous voice says ânot so fast.â Jeremy Irons (whose shelf already holds one Oscar, one Tony, two Golden Globes, three Emmys, and a nomination from the Central Ohio Film Critics Association) feels a sense of urgency about a film released earlier this year, The Man Who Knew Infinityâand if it takes tongues-wagging about a possible best-supporting nod for himself to get people to notice this lower-budget film, then thatâs what itâs going to take.
The Man Who Knew Infinity stars Dev Patel as Srinivasa Ramanujan, a largely self-taught mathematical genius who emerged from India in the early 20th century. He eventually made his way to Englandâs Cambridge University by sending his theorems to professor G.H. Hardy (played by Irons), who originally thought they were a prank. The film is a celebration of learning, of friendship, of cultural exchange, and concludes with a title card explaining how Ramanujanâs âlost notebookâ is still being used to study black holesâa concept that didnât even exist when Ramanujan was still alive.
Vanity Fair was scheduled to speak to Mr. Irons for 20 or 30 minutes, but we ended up chatting for an hour. His voice is just so rich and lovely that you donât want to hang up.
Vanity Fair: You are a man with many projects, but I appreciate pumping the brakes to say, âWait, I made a film worth reflecting on.â Do you feel an obligation to do this sometimes?
Jeremy Irons: I do, and especially with this film. It has a great effect on people who see it. I find it a very interesting story, very emotionally told. Iâm always saddened because of the economics of the business. I have just been publicizing Assassinâs Creed, which has a great budget to make it and a great budget to sell it. So itâs going to be seen by millions, if not billions. These smaller films, itâs very hard to make them now. I feel justified in giving up time and talking about it again.
Do you have a relationship with mathematics?
I started it with this film. I mean, we all had a relationship at school, but I was pathetic. I wanted to be a veterinarian, and if I had a scientific mind I would have been one.
I read G.H. Hardyâs Mathematicianâs Apology, which is a slim volume. Itâs some of his letters, but also some of his thoughts about pure mathematics. And when I read it I thought, âAha!â What it is for him, itâs like what poetry is for me, like space exploration, like painting! He discusses how all these equations and theories are out there, waiting to be discovered!
An artist can comprehend this and get inside the head of this man that, one has to say, was probably fairly high on the Aspergerâs list. His social skills were appalling. He found it very difficult to look into someoneâs eyes, even his own. It is said that if he traveled, to do a lecture, he would hang towels over the mirrors of the hotel room. But heâd been a brilliant student since he was seven. Kids who are geniuses often have social inadequacies. Their minds work differently.
Perhaps thatâs why he wasnât hung up on race or class, and when he met Ramanujan, he just recognized him for his mathematical mind.
The heart of the story is how that admiration and wonder at Ramanujanâs intellect crept into his emotions. When the boy got ill, he was surprised how he felt about another human being, the grief he felt when he went back to India. Hardy writes, âIt was the only romantic episode of my life.â
The film makes you think that maybe there are more geniuses out there, and we maybe arenât developing their minds.
Itâs one of the problems of tick-box education. There isnât a lot of money in it. Geniuses come from all parts of society, some rich, some poor. I wish we had an education system that smelled out those people.
Did you ever have a great mentor?
I donât think he would have realized it, but Harold Pinter. One time we were having a conversation at lunch, early on in my career. Iâd been doing a couple of plays and a film he had written [Betrayal], and I said, âI think Iâm going to choose really carefully the work I do in my career, and not chase the money. Just do interesting projects.â
And he gave me a look that said, âJoin the club. Go for excellence.â And Iâve retained that look.
Youâve worked in some amazing locations. Whatâs been the most striking?
Landing in Cartagena [for The Mission] when I was 36 or so, knowing I was going to work with indigenous Indians and the great film star Robert De Niro, and taking my shoes off on the plane. I knew that the Indians werenât going to be wearing shoes and since I was going to be playing their friendâa Jesuit priestâI took my shoes off and I didnât put them back on again for five months.
I have a big bit of Boy Scout in me. There was a scene where my character climbed up the Iguazu Falls. [Director Roland JoffĂ© wanted] to do it with stunts, insurance, and all of that. I said, âWhere is our producer?,â knowing that David Puttnam had flown to London the day before. I said, âThere we are, he wonât know.â So I climbed up the extraordinary waterfall, of course supported by climbers well out of sight. I was very proud of that.
Jesuits are hot in Hollywood right now! Have you seen Silence?
I have not seen Silence yet, but Iâve read a bit about it. But the Jesuitsâthe thorn in the side of the Pope, is how they are described. The Jesuits are extraordinary people.
My mentor on The Mission was the late Daniel Berrigan. He described his job as âinflating a leaky balloon with faith.â I was the leaky balloon. If I had a difficult scene coming up, I would fast the day before. It really clears the mind.
And I would have a direct communication with God. I would talk to him just like Iâm talking with you. I remember before one scene I said to him, âYouâve got to help me, because if I fuck up it will reflect very badly on you!â
Clearly you do a lot of research, but that isnât always available for some films.
You talk to people. When I played Claus von Bulow [in 1990âs Reversal of Fortune], I talked to experts, read round it, tried to get to the truth of it. I mean, I donât think Iâm particularly Aspergic, but I think all men are, actually, all men have a level of that over women. My wife is always complaining. She says, âWhen you go to work the rest of the world could disappear as far as you are concerned.â Sheâs referring to the fact that I donât call home every day.
You think men are more into that level of research as actors than women are?
No I donât think as actors, I think men as a breed, as a sex, tend to have the ability to focus in on their work. I mean, after all, traditionally, weâd leave the house at 7 in the morning and get back at 5 or 6 doing something completely different from the family. Whereas women, you know, if they go to work they are forever on the phone to their children, theyâre forever on the phone to work out what they are going to eat. They are able to multitask in a way that men canât. So I think we may be very low on the level, but weâre there.
So you are an actor who prepares, but some donât do anything. They show up, say their lines, and leave. Does this annoy you?
Not at all. I judge people by results. If they get there, thatâs great. The only actors who get up my nose are the ones who donât realize how high the bar is, how good it would be possible to make a particular scene. And there are many who donât, and I just want to kick them up the bum and say, âGo off and do something else.â
So how do these people end up sharing a scene with you?
Oh, maybe they look right, maybe the person that casting wanted wasnât available. Maybe they have a notoriety which is helpful to the film. It doesnât often happen, but sometimes itâs someone with a great name but not a lot of experience.
There was a stretch in the 1990s where if a movie featured frank depictions of unorthodox sexuality, the role would go to you. Did you ever ask yourself why?
I donât know. I donât know. Damage? [Playwright] Josephine [Hart] wanted me to do it. Lolita? [Director] Adrian [Lyne] said he wouldnât make it without me. David Cronenberg? I guess he thought I could do the twins [1991âs Dead Ringers], and then we got on so well we went on to do the Chinese film [1993âs M. Butterfly] with John Lone.
I think the portrayal of the sexual life was as important as any other life. Our sexual lives are surely 70 percent of what makes us what we are. I remember [making Damage], Louis Malle saying, âHow are we going to do this?,â and I said, âWe have to do it as accurately as we can as Josephine wrote it.â So . . . Iâll do anything.
I just finished a comedy called An Actor Prepares, where I have to walk out of a shower stark naked and play a scene with my son (Jack Huston) waving my family jewels around. They said, âHow will we do that?,â and I said, âWeâre gonna do it, thatâs the scene!â Itâs about a man who doesnât give a monkey about anything. âFor Christâs sake, Iâll just be naked.â
Iâm going to name someone youâve worked with, and you are going to tell me the first thing that pops in your head that I donât know about them. First, since we mentioned him already: David Cronenberg [director of Dead Ringers and M. Butterfly].
He looks forward to the end of the day when he drives home from the studio in a very tasty sports car, a Morgan or a Ferrari, often with me, and we have a hell of a drive back home, and we love that.
Toby Jones [co-star in The Man Who Knew Infinity].
Ahhhh, Toby. Toby is like meâheâs a wonderful actor, but spends the last half hour before the shoot panicking that he doesnât know what heâs supposed to be saying. Iâm glad to work with another actor like that because Iâm always in a froth. Then the camera turns on and, of course, itâs magical.
Bernardo Bertolucci [director of Stealing Beauty].
Bernardo, the master of the developing shot. We would rehearse them for half a day and then perform them with the cameraman, like a ballet. I was just talking to his wife the other night. Iâm not sure heâll make another film.
Meryl Streep [co-star in The French Lieutenantâs Woman and The House of the Spirits]
She explained to me that the people driving you to work and being kind to you and making sure you have a nice hotel . . . thatâs all designed so when the camera turns, you will be A-plus. And you should not be sidelined into thinking it has anything to do with your importance as a person.
Sir Laurence Olivier [co-star in Brideshead Revisited].
He never gave me any advice. Blokes are funny like that. But I remember sitting by the bed when weâre waiting for him to die, and for him to cross himself to show that heâs still a Catholic, which was a very important scene. I remember him lying there, and looking at me to see what I was going to be doing. And I saw the look in his eyes. And I thought, âYep! It NEVER leaves you! You may be a knight. You may have run the National Theater. You may be our greatest living actor. But inside . . .you are still a lion! And you are looking to make sure this young buck is not going to do anything that will steal the scene from you!!â
Speaking of young bucks: Alden Ehrenreich, whom you worked with in Beautiful Creatures, is on the up right now.
I know, heâs in the Howard Hughes movie!
Heâs also going to be young Han Solo.
Well, well, well. I think thatâs fantastic. I was really very impressed with Alden. I wasnât very impressed with the movie, but impressed with Alden. An easy talent. He is primed to have an interesting career. God bless him.
Tom Hiddleston [co-star in High-Rise and The Hollow Crown].
I think he has a fine career ahead of him. A tremendously nice guy with a lot physically going for him. The longer he lives life, the deeper heâll become as an actor. Heâs had quite an easy life âtil now, and as life hits him with its stones and arrows, heâll deepen as an actor.
Why do you say heâs had an easy life?
Well . . . he went to a great school, and success hit him quite young.
How do you do a scene with him? Donât you just fall into his eyes?
The thing about working with good actors that the camera likes is that itâs very easy. Working with bad actors is difficult, to stay in the belief system of the scene, when you see someone making wrong decisions. With Tom, itâs a joy.
Lastly, Glenn Close [co-star in Reversal of Fortune, House of the Spirits and the Tony Awardâwinning play The Real Thing].
Ohhhhhhh. Glenn is a pioneer, a real descendant of those brave people who got into boats and wagons and traveled across the country. A real American woman of the best sort. I love her. I love her toughness, but also her softness. My son just finished two films with her, actually, here in England, so Iâve seen a lot of her lately. And she gets no worse.
When I mentioned Beautiful Creatures, you said you werenât too impressed with that movie. Actors never say that!
To my detriment, I am too honest about the movies I make. People have a lot of money invested, and you want to be helpful. And my opinions may not be valid. What doesnât work for me may work for others. I donât really seek out reviews, but I read them if I come across them. But more than reviews I feel the atmosphere. Assassinâs Creed, which I saw the other day, I think is a fantastic film.
I remember going on about Damage, how it wasnât the film that I would have made. I love honesty. I am surrounded by people who say, âThat was great,â but it wasnât always great. It was all right.