Spielberg's new star Jeremy Irvine to Felicity Jones: The rising stars of the BAFTAs
By CHRIS HALL and ALEX GODFREY
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What’s Doctor Who’s assistant up to now? All is revealed as our brightest stars gather for Live’s unique celebration of British film
SPIELBERG'S NEW STAR
Jeremy Irvine
'My parents have been nothing but supportive of my acting,' said Jeremy Irvine
Born in Cambridgeshire in 1990, Irvine’s first film role was the lead in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse.
He stars in Mike Newell’s adaptation of Great Expectations (nominated for Best Costume Design) and the upcoming The Railway Man with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.
‘When I was a teenager I needed a challenge, something that would test me.
'I tried to join the Army, signed the papers, but got booted out because I lied about being diabetic.
'I’m glad things have gone the way they have – I was doing that purely as a rebellion.
'My parents have been nothing but supportive of my acting since then.
‘I couldn’t tell them I’d got the part in War Horse for two weeks because Steven Spielberg asked me not to. I’d been out of work for two years, and my dad was teaching me how to be a welder.
'He was saying, “There’s a position opened up at the factory – what do you think?” And I had to say, “Can we just wait, just a bit?” It could have been very different – I could very easily have been welding in a factory.
‘Since War Horse, I’ve been offered more money than I could ever even comprehend to do some big teen movies, and I’ve always said no.
'I’m very aware of the fast-paced turnover of celebrities in that area and how fickle this industry can be. The temptation and the pressure to take it are really high. They’re waving fame in your face, saying you could be the next big teen star.
‘I’d like some scenes to come with a disclaimer.
'Sometimes you would like there to be subtitles at the bottom that say, “This is the scene where Jeremy was feeling a bit sick because he’d had food poisoning.”
'Since War Horse, I've been offered more money than I could ever even comprehend to do some big teen movies, and I've always said no,' said Jeremy
‘I got trench foot filming War Horse. Spielberg didn’t want to use CGI, so I found myself running across no-man’s-land with real machine guns going off around me, huge explosions, holding a genuine World War I weapon, stuntmen flying through the air.
'You’ve been waist-deep in mud for a week, and there are real rats. But it’s all good, because you’re essentially being eight years old for a living, and getting paid well for it.’
BEST FILM ‘I should probably say The Master (four nominations) or something like that, but honestly, for entertainment value Frankenweenie (nominated for Best Animated Film) was the best.’
THE STARLET
'You realise sometimes, after a shoot, that you've been through a near-death experience,' said Felicity Jones
Felicity Jones
From 1999 to 2009 Felicity Jones played Emma Grundy in The Archers, but her film breakthrough came in Ricky Gervais’s 2010 comedy-drama Cemetery Junction.
This year, Jones, 29, is set to play the title role in The Invisible Woman, a biopic about Charles Dickens’s mistress Nelly Ternan.
‘I’d grown up listening to The Archers, so my family were very happy when I got the part. It was quite strange eating your cereal and hearing your voice come onto the radio in the kitchen. I really enjoyed doing it, and it’s really good experience as an actor to concentrate on your voice.
‘Working with Helen Mirren on The Tempest in 2010 was such an inspiration – although for the first day, I couldn’t stop thinking I should be curtsying; it’s impossible not to see her as the Queen! Once you’ve recovered from that idea, she’s very straightforward and not intimidating at all. She’s someone I’ve grown up watching, respected and admired.
‘You realise sometimes, after a shoot, that you’ve been through a near-death experience.
'Filming Cemetery Junction, I was with another actor, and we were running for a train in the scene. We had to run along the platform, then jump onto the moving carriage.
'We did this several times, and then I lost my footing. I was about to fall between the moving train and the platform when the actor next to me, Christian Cooke, swooped down and hauled me back up. The irony was, there was a poster in the station pointing out exactly this hazard!’
BEST FILM ‘Skyfall (eight Bafta nominations) was excellent, and Argo (seven nominations) was great too.’
VIDEO Watch behind the scenes at the BAFTAs
THE RISING STARS
From left to right: Emun Elliott, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Joseph Mawke, Karen Gillan and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
Emun Elliott
Edinburgh-born Elliott, 29, is best known for playing John Moray in BBC1’s The Paradise. Last year he broke into Hollywood in Prometheus (nominated for Best Special Visual Effects).
This year, he can be seen in Filth, based on Irvine Welsh’s novel.
'The best acting advice I’ve come across was from Timothy Spall. He said that you’re defined more by what you choose not to do as opposed to what you do. It’s important to be invested in the material, to know you can commit to it, rather than taking everything that comes your way.
‘Filming Game of Thrones has been quite outlandish. I spent a month learning how to play a medieval instrument, locked in my room working on this 22-stringed harp. Then I got on set and they gave me a prop version, a non-working instrument!
'Later in the series I had my tongue cut out. My tastes in art lean towards the dark side, so that was just my cup of tea.’
BEST FILM ‘I loved The Girl and Hitchcock (with two Bafta nominations, including Best Leading Actress).’
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Mbatha-Raw, 29, starred in U.S. TV series Touch with Kiefer Sutherland and made her film debut in Tom Hanks’s Larry Crowne.
This year she takes centre stage in Brit film Belle, with an ensemble cast including Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson.
‘I’ve gone from being a London tour guide while I was at drama school to being in America and having to constantly pinch myself.
'I was on set for my first pilot, directed by JJ Abrams, and Steven Spielberg came to visit. I’d only been in LA for three weeks. I’d love to play Billie Holiday when I’m slightly older.’
BEST FILM ‘I wept from the beginning to the end of The Impossible. I’d just got back from Thailand, so it was very intense, emotional and powerful.’
Joseph Mawle
Critically acclaimed for his TV work – including the role of Jesus in HBO drama The Passion and a Bafta-nominated role in last year’s Birdsong – Mawle can this year be seen in art-house film Shell and opposite Thandie Newton in Half of a Yellow Sun.
‘It was wonderful to get nominated (for the Bafta), though I didn’t expect it. It meant a huge amount to me because it had come from my peers, although I wasn’t around for the ceremony, as I was away in Nigeria filming Half of a Yellow Sun.’
BEST FILM ‘Rust and Bone (two nominations). Jacques Audiard is magic, the way he captures art and realism and combines them, and his stories.’
Karen Gillan
Gillan made her name as Amy Pond, Doctor Who’s feisty sidekick.
The Inverness-born actress has moved straight into films on both sides of the Atlantic, including horror flick Oculus and romantic comedy Not Another Happy Ending.
‘Watching the new Doctor Who without me was strange. Initially I thought, “Ooh, I don’t know how I feel about this”, and then I just got into the episode, and I thought Jenna-Louise Coleman was excellent. I’d love to do an American comedy.
'I’ve already moved to West Hollywood. I didn’t even think it through until I actually got there and thought, “What have I done?”’
BEST FILM ‘The Skin I Live In, by Pedro Almodóvar, House of Tolerance, a French film about a brothel in Paris, and I Am Love, the Italian film with Tilda Swinton, who is my favourite actress of all time.’
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
Stewart-Jarrett shot to fame as one of the leads in E4 drama Misfits, appearing for four seasons.
This year he can be seen in C4 series Utopia and with Jude Law in Don Hemingway, about a notorious safe-cracker.
‘I was really nervous working with Jude Law on Don Hemingway. But he made me really comfortable on set when we were shooting scenes together.
'It does get to that point where it’s just about the work. It was really nice to be in his presence and just chill. But yeah, I’m awestruck all the time.’
BEST FILM ‘Electrick Children, a magical tale about the loss of innocence and a coming-of-age story. Beautifully shot.’
THE MOVIE-MAKERS
From left to right: Mike Newell, David Nicholls and Paul Andrew Williams. 'The difficulty with my job is getting my own way. If the director doesn't get his own way, then what are we all doing?' said Mike
Mike Newell
A Bafta winner for Four Weddings and a Funeral, 70- year-old director Newell shot Great Expectations, starring Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter, in 2012.
Next he’ll direct Michael Douglas as Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik.
‘You have to listen to actors, but not let them sell you their goods.
'The danger in listening to them is that they sell you the goods that they have, not necessarily what you want. The difficulty with my job is getting my own way. If the director doesn’t get his own way, then what are we all doing?
'But getting your own way will quite often run you straight into butting heads with the stars, and finding your way through that is a challenge.
‘I manage it by being non-confrontational. I’ve had plenty of run-ins with writers, but I don’t have confrontations with the stars.
'Mostly you try to establish the circumstances in which you can get along and get your own way at the same time.
‘Sometimes you can’t get your way – which I hate. This happened to me last year. Ian McEwan had written an adaptation of his own novel On Chesil Beach. We had some wonderful young actors, but he couldn’t get enough money, it wasn’t made and I really regret it.’
BEST FILM ‘I like Argo (seven nominations), although I haven’t seen any of the recent great ones like Amour or The Master (both with four nominations).’
David Nicholls
In 2011, Nicholls’s novel One Day was turned into a Hollywood film. He’s currently working on an adaptation of Helen Fielding’s forthcoming novel Bridget Jones’s Baby.
‘I do write novels and scripts with actors in mind, but I keep it secret. Sometimes I’ve thought, “This is a kind of Jimmy Stewart moment”, or “This is a kind of Katharine Hepburn role”, or “This is a Woody Allen scene”. I find it strange seeing my words coming out of actors’ mouths.
'When I wrote the character of Ian, Emma’s boyfriend, in One Day, I did think of Rafe Spall.
‘Writing a script is less about art and more about money.
'Often the considerations are practical; it’s raining so you can’t shoot a scene outside, or it’ll cost too much to take the crew out of London.
'You have to work with casting, marketing, budgeting, all kinds of concerns – but it can be enjoyable to know you only have 120 pages, you only have however much money for the budget, that there are certain things you can’t do.
‘My next project is a two-part TV drama, a love story for grown-ups that isn’t twenty-somethings falling in and out of bars and into bed. It’s a mature heartbreaker, which we’ll be making for BBC1 in the spring.’
BEST FILM ‘I thought The Master as a really extraordinary piece of film-making.’
Paul Andrew Williams
London to Brighton, the 2006 film which he produced, wrote and directed, won Williams the New Directors Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Song for Marion, his latest film, stars Terence Stamp and Gemma Arterton.
‘I failed English at school – in fact, at both schools. So if you’re counting retakes, I failed English four times.
‘Films aren’t made the way you probably think they are. In the U.S., the film industry is controlled by agents. You might think someone is absolutely perfect for the role, but if sales agents and distributors around the world don’t think he’s worth the money, he isn’t going to get the part.
'Films are only going to be funded if they’re cast in a certain way. Then you need the agent to be on side. If they aren’t, or if the agent influences the actor or director or screenwriter, it can be very hard.
‘Something else people aren’t always aware of: subject matter wins awards. There are times when you think, “Actually, that performance wasn’t the best performance of the year, but the subject matter was incredibly important.” Then a massive snowball effect takes place.’
BEST FILM ‘I enjoyed Silver Linings Playbook for lots of reasons, but I could equally say Skyfall (eight nominations) or The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises (both nominated for Best Special Visual Effects). I like going to the cinema just to escape the nonsense of life.’
The EE Bafta Film Awards are next Sunday on BBC1.
For a full list of nominees go to bafta.org/film/awards.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2271412/Steven-Spielbergs-new-star-Jeremy-Irvine-Felicity-Jones-The-rising-stars-BAFTAs.html#ixzz2KM7H8zqr
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