All hail king Eric
These days he might be considered a bit
of a Hollywood heartthrob, but actor Eric Bana is still the down-to-earth-
Aussie boy he always was. He's never embraced the Hollywood lifestyle,
instead he continues to live in Melbourne with his wife and two
kids It hasn't affected his film career though; directors want
him no matter where he lives and to prove it he has a string of
projects coming up. There's The Time Traveller's Wife
out later this year and he's currently shooting the next Star
Trek flick in which he plays Nero the villain. But first up is
The Other Boleyn Girl. Based upon the novel by Philippa
Gregory, and adapted for the screen by Peter Morgan (The Queen),
it's the story of the Boleyn girls, Anne (Natalie Portman) and
her sister Mary (Scarlet Johansson) who lose their head and heart
respectively to the young king (Eric Bana) and cause a merry old
ruckus in ye olde England along the way. Gaynor Flynn caught up
with the actor at the recent Berlin Film Festival.
Henry
VIII is usually portrayed as a monster, given that he seemed to
go around lopping people's heads off. You don't play him as a
monster though. Why is that?
I think monsters are just less interesting for
the audience. Monsters are less challenging because you just tick
a box and go okay I already know how I feel about that person
and I've already got them figured out. So I think in some genres
and in some movies that is necessary but generally I feel it's
much more interesting not to be a monster, particularly in this
case. I wanted for myself to find a more interesting side of Henry.
I didn't want him to be loveable or liked by the audience, I just
wanted his motivations to seem very human so it would be more
challenging for the audience. Even if only momentarily. If you
just get glimpses of why he's doing something, it just makes it
more interesting I think.
What if anything, did you identify with?
Probably nothing. I think when you're on a press
junket and you're flying around and its such an unusual part of
your life to the rest of your year when you're working or not
working that's about the only time you feel kingly you know. So
I think when I'm on a press junket it's about the only time I
can relate to a kind of court. On a day to day basis there's not
much to draw on there. But I always approached Henry as just a
very passionate man, a juvenile man and I try to relate to those
juvenile feelings you have as a kid when you fall in love with
a girl that doesn't know you exist. I think we've all done crazy
things over love and I always saw Henry in that sense. So I could
relate to him in that way but that's about all.
Do you think his blindness when it came to
Anne is due to his youth?
I do think it was. And I do think he was a serial
faller- in-lover if you want to call it that.
A womaniser in other words?
Yeah, but I think it goes beyond that particularly
the Henry in our story. I wanted to portray a version that I hope
was somewhat believable in the sense that its mad and egotistical
and masochistic but at the same time I wanted there to be some
belief that he's actually really falling for these women. Because
I think it's the only way you can base what he's doing in any
kind of logic because otherwise it becomes illogical and we weren't
dealing with the logical part of his life if we did that.
Henry had many sides to him, the public person,
the private person. Can you relate to that at all, given your
job?
I think it's the same with anybody's jobs. I don't
think its limited to acting and Hollywood. I think most people
have a duality when it comes to their work or the public face
that they have. I met a lot of people in life that have a kind
of.you know when you get to know somebody really well and you
see the life they put on for everyone else and a kind of bravado.
Is this person the life of the party or he is really the depressed
guy having a glass of wine in the corner when there's no one around.
So it's hard to tell and I think it goes for anyone.
Isn't the difference between public and private
more noticeable for someone like you though?
I don't know. I don't suffer from the same problems
that a lot of my contemporaries do by that I mean I don't have
a spotlight on my private life because its incredibly boring by
tabloid standards so I never felt like I had to have a different
mask that I need to put on. Yeah.
I know in the past you've said that you don't
like attention. Is it a bit of a struggle for you as an actor
then, particularly as your profile continues to grow?
It is confusing there's no doubt about it because
you know I get the irony in that a lot of people say oh I don't
like it, then they continue to do big films which is completely
hypocritical at the same time. But the reality is if you want
to work in film, and you're sent really good scripts, by really
good directors, that have really good actors in them, and that's
what you want to do, and that's your profession, the other side
is just going to come with it, and you can't control it. I wouldn't
give it up because of that but as I said it's not too bad for
me. I've got nothing to complain about and I certainly would never
change my job or what I want to do because of that.
What was it like having Scarlett Johansson
on one side and Natalie Portman on the other? Can't be too hard
a day at the office.
[laughs] I don't think it needs an answer does
it? You just answered it for me.
We know who Henry chose, who would you choose?
Well, Kristin Scott Thomas perhaps. No it was great
and not only because they are great actors and fantastic at what
they do but I think the three of us have a similar approach to
work. They're very professional but at the same time they don't
leave their sense of humour in the trailer, they brought it to
the set so we complimented each other and they were very supportive,
and a lot of fun. And I get lot of ribbing from my friends but
I've been very fortunate, I've been surrounded by wonderful, beautiful
co-stars in a lot of films, so I'm getting use to it now.
How
does your wife feel about you going to work and then having to
do love scenes with these young gorgeous actresses?
In this case Natalie was already attached and then
Scarlet came on board but I knew the chances were it was going
to be some great actress who was beautiful who was going to play
the other part. I'm very fortunate because my wife is a voracious
reader and chews through a couple of books a week and this was
one of her favourites so I think that was always going to outweigh
a couple of bedroom scenes. She's a big fan of Phillipa [the author]
and has seen the film and loves it and so she's able to remove
herself from that. But yeah I'm a happily married man I mean its
always a slightly awkward scenario whether your married or single
to do these love scenes but we're all grown ups.
Were you worried about working with a first
time director at all?
I can't speak for the girls but I'd seen Bleak
House the series that he did for the BBC and I thought he'd done
some really interesting work in there and I love working with
very experienced directors and I love working with first time
directors as well. Its always exciting to be part of a fresh vision
especially with a story like this, its our generation's chance
to tell the story from their point of view. So I was very lucky
because I was actually making a film in Australia at the time
and I couldn't leave so Justin came to Melbourne on my one day
off and we sat down and spoke and then he turned around and hopped
on a plane back to England. So I said I owe you one and we hit
it off immediately and we had very similar ideas on the script
on how Henry should be portrayed and played. I was very lucky.
Was it difficult to get use to the ornate costumes?
No I think it's helpful, I think its part of the
coat of armour for an actor even if it's very, very subtle. It's
amazing you know. Luckily we were all on the project pretty on
in terms of pre production and rehearsals so we had a lot of fittings,
so by the time we came to shooting you were very use to the costumes
and the weight of them, but you certainly wouldn't want to get
to set the day before shooting having never worn a costume like
that before because you kind of would be working it out on camera
when you want it to feel like a second skin.
Did it limit the way you moved on set?
Yeah absolutely and it changes some of the camera
angels. I mean for me because I'm so much taller than the girls
and then you throw the costume on top it was like Spongebob Squarepants,
I was constantly having to turn shoulders so the camera could
get an angle on the girls and stuff.
How do you feel about watching yourself on
screen?
I usually only do it once and then after that it's
excruciating. I'm pretty good at being an audience member and
not being over critical of myself and just watching the film and
then I either love the film or I don't. And then I start thinking
about what I've done and if I really want to torture myself I'll
watch it as second time to critique but first time is usually
okay. I mean its very nerve wracking but the actual experience
of once you're in there and watching it, I'm usually good at forgetting
myself and enjoying the film. I do the analysing afterwards.
Do you think we can understand historic stories
better today if we look at the women behind the men?
Absolutely but I think that goes for me and women.
I think we have powerful figures that are figureheads but it's
often the people around them that are the real power or the real
influence or the real intellect so I think that's one of the interesting
parts of this story. We get to see what was around Henry and how
he responded to that. He didn't really have anyone to keep him
in check. And I liked the fact that the only person who really,
really challenges him in the film was Catherine, his first wife
who was historically a very amazing, very strong woman and in
this case played by Ana Torrent. I loved the scenes with Ana in
this film where she's really speaking her mind both to Anne and
Mary and to Henry, she's one tough lady.
Any plans to do comedy again?
Yeah this is my first broad comedy. No, I don't
have any plans. I don't get sent a lot of comedies really. Why
would they send me comedies you know? In Australia people know
that side of me but internationally people haven't seen any of
it and that's okay. I don't have any burning desire to do a comedy.
It would be very hard for me also because I wrote all my own material
for years and it's always harder for a comedian to perform other
people's material. So for me to do something I would have to take
a year or two off from this kind of work to want and go and write
something with someone and I don't' have that desire at the moment.
You
recently shot The Time Traveller's Wife, what was the appeal on
that film?
It's a very traditional kind of love story and
the attraction was the nature of the love story and the interesting
themes that come up in the film which I can't really go into.
But it was very interesting.
Do you read reviews?
It's a tricky one because I think every actor is
there own harshest critic, which is why a lot of actors don't
read reviews because we don't need to. We're the worst possible
critics of ourselves, so it is a fine line because at the same
time you have to realise that on the day you did absolutely everything
that you could and or wanted to do with the scene so sometimes
it is quite shocking when you see things back because it might
be different to how you envisaged it in your mind's eye. And then
depending on which take the editor chose or the director chose
and then depending on how they constructed the scene and so on.
I'm the sort of actor I don't like to give a performance on set
that's within a safe range, I like to throw it around so that's
why screenings are very nerve wracking for me because I feel if
they wanted to editors could choose three different versions of
my characters and I never know which one they're going to go with
so it is very hard. But that's how I like to work and that's why
I do what I do and if I was going to do the same thing every take,
I'd rather be at home.
Do you see yourself as a creator in the filmmaking
process or a tool for the director?
Oh no I don't like being a tool.[laughs] I've tried
it before and it doesn't work, for me as long as I get an opportunity
to play on set I'm happy. I've always trusted my directors. I
don't think I've worked with a director who I haven't trusted.
I don't think I could so one of the reasons I like to give varying
performances is because a) its more interesting on the day and
b) I really trust the director and c) its better than doing re-shoots.
I'm a firm believer that you never really know exactly what you
need until you get into the edit and if you're cutting a film
and you get to this point in this scene and everyone's played
it the exact same way because that's really how it should be played,
well you know what, it may not be the way it should be played.
and if you can do a version which turns it completely on its head
or that's completely different and may feel ridiculous on the
day but suddenly you get in the edit suit and suddenly its the
one they want. It might save you having to fly to the other side
of the world for a week and put the clothes back on.
So you're a creator.
No I like to look at it as a collaborative process.
Everyone should ideally be rowing in the same direction and wanting
to achieve the same outcome.
How do you prepare for your roles?
I think It's different for every character, but
I just work really hard in the pre-production process because
I'm a firm believer in working it out with the director before
we get to the set. It's too late then. I feel you have to arrive
with a pretty well prepared sense of who you are and who you're
going to be and then the dialogue with the director becomes about
how does this fit in with what you're doing. Where does this piece
need to go? But I think it's the same for every film in the sense
that you do everything you can and you inevitably feel like you're
never prepared enough or you'd like more time, but that's human
nature.
With a contemporary role you can usually go
and do the research you need to do. For example if you have to
play a prisoner, you can spend some time in jail, but with something
like this you can't. How did you prepare to become the Kind of
England? Do you just start acting like you're entitled to everything?
[laughs] You can but then people tell you to pull
your head in. No look I'm a firm believer in imagination and a
lot of preparation comes out of just giving a percent of your
brain away to your character 24 hours a day. And yes you can read
books and watch documentaries and you can talk to experts and
do all those things but I've always found that in the end the
most valuable discoveries have been just thinking as that person
day in and day out for months on end before you start filming
it. And that's when things happen but obviously physical things
are a bonus when you have to learn horse riding, or holding a
sword or how to shoot a gun, but those are things anyone can learn.
That's not really how one is defined as an actor. You could learn
those things, but that's just one of the tools for the character
it's not how your performance is going to be judged.
Can you tell us anything about the next Star
Trek movie?
I can't say much other than I haven't started on
it yet, but it's a really great script. I couldn't say no and
I think it's going to be a lot of fun. That's about all I can
say other than I play Nero, the villain.
Gaynor Flynn
