FEATURE List
" * d - ‘7“‘1 I y rolcrice. .-\ western in Santa l~e was i
what was happening to these
. . . . l relationships. \ ou couldn ttell yvhat ’
was destroying what. \\ e were reaching a terrible situation. beyond all recovery. My wife went to (ilasgow and took the children. ’I‘hen I had to go through touching bottom with heroin: finally I got out of London‘.
There followed in (ilasgow an almost equally nightmare period of Mc(irath‘s life. as a registered addict in Glasgow. There. to his horror. but in a way that he found it difficult not to play up to. he was a celebrity. 'I discovered the consequences of what we had done. All these people coming round to my flat treating me like a hero. when l was so sick I could hardly keep my eyes open and had to use speed to keep myself awake. 'l'hen I would act it all otrt and shoot up in front ofthem. It was like what Trocchi was doing. btit I wasn‘t doing it with the same style because I was completely defeated. lcouldn‘t move out of the room but pretended to iiiyselfthat l was writing’.
(iradually'. Mc('irath came off heroin. llis marriage survived. He went to university in (ilasgow. He was vetted by two psychiatrists and given the job ofsetting up the fluid Eye Centre. Now he‘s a successful playw right and a leading literary figure and yet he won‘t turn his back on the Sixties completely or follow (iinsberg and Burroughs into a defeatist isolationism. "l‘her‘c eventually came a stage in the early Seventies when the Sixties became an anathema to me. btrt now I sometimes feel like marshalling the whole thing and taking the lawlessness of people like ’l‘rocchi and expressing it all again and saying this is where I come from [don't come from llugh McDairriiid . . .‘
lronically now. deep in the middle ofi'l‘hatcher's Britain. the Sixties' generation has become the nearest thing to a conscience that as a nation we have. In .‘ylc(irath's 'l'rr'i'r'u/ l’ursrty. a play which he stresses is a comedy to be laughed with. he will inevitably be nagging away at the pitfalls of [‘lighties' values front a position ofopen—minded understandingof his past.
‘I was very disillusioned at the end ofthc Sixties because I had thought I was going to make something different and then various things showed me I hadn‘t. But what the Eighties have done is make me say God Damn it. 1 still believe it. I don‘t think my approach to human nature was too idealistic. l was watching that Spalding (.iray' programme about (‘ambodia and he was talking about some primitive people who haven‘t retained enough contact with evil and he said. that had made them vulnerable. I was thinking about that and I thought I don't know ifl agree with him. I mean it‘s more vulnerable that to see their goodness as a weakness.‘
Do you still have your copies of I'I‘.’ I ask as the interview draws to a close. The answer. I‘m sure. must be symbolic —s "they got eaten by a mouse. Ate its way right through the middle.‘
Trivial Pursuits opens at Edinburgh Lyceum on () April. See Theatre.
Terence Stamp talks to Allan l lunter about workingon
ll"u//.S‘rreet. Oliver Stone‘s movie 2 bout megabucks.
last year ( )liy er Stone w on a brace of ( )scars for l’lu/oon. [his year he takes the moral highgr‘ound again. returning to the trenches with ll'uf/ Street a persuasive account of the corporate warfare in .\niei'ican big business In the film ambitious young broker Bud l-‘oy ((‘harlie Sheen) finds his conscience torn l‘Cl\VCL'll the c‘\lt'ctttcs til good and evil; the latter is seductiy ely personified by ( )sear w inner Michael Douglas as the reptilian robber baron (iot‘tlon ( iekko. the former comes in various shadings from Martin Sheen as Buds honest. hard-grafting lather. l lal l lolbiook as an old-fashioned broker in the mould of Stories real—life lather and from ’l‘crence Stamp as pugiiaeious British entrepreneur Sir I .aurencc \Vildnian. l'sing Sir .lanies (ioldsmith as a role model. Stariip creates the l'lipside of ( ickko; a tearaw ay tycoon w rtli a sense of concern for the liy es he manipulates.
\thn Stamp was offered the script for Hit/f Street he admits that the actor in him eyperienced a pang of envy over the viy id creature called (iekko that he was ineligible to portray . l low ever. professional iealousy' is not an emotion one could imagine him entertaining and he happily settled for the 'star cameo~ of Sir Laurence. ‘ the opportunity to work with ( )livcr Stone w ho's terrific and very hot. working with ltlp :‘ymerican actors on location in New York and Sag l larbour; it couldn‘t have been better. but these it ibs are Illy‘ I‘itfs‘ “HUN ()liy er has a kind of big masculine energy and lies an unusually good writer and because he has a vision of how it will look as well as knowing the dialogue he can construct the picture y ery quickly. because he\ very sure of w hat he's doing and has a close relationship with the cameraman Bob Richardson w ho also fit l’lutoon.‘
'l'hroughout his career. Stariip has worked with some of the greatest film makers ever to run celluloid through a camera. llis experiences with William \Vy'lcr‘. .ltisc‘plt lttsey. l’ellini and l’asolini. among others. have given him trriiqtre benchmarks against which to measure Stone‘s particular talents. ‘lt seems to me
me 60""
at.
that there are different
thuigsthat make a director great. \\ hcti you talk about someone like \Vy ler he had them all. 1 lc always riiade the rightchoiceonaneniotional leyel which is ter rifrc for an actor. particularly a young actor. I was 3-1 when I worked for him. and in one way it was wonderful but in another .\lthouchl don‘t tliirik yotr can compare l’asohni
yyay ll rtrrncd tire for life
as a filmmaker in the saint bieatli as l'cllirii because the subiect matter of his films is so heay \ they .rre sury ry ing the test of tune [here‘s a kind of trnielessness in the sttbtccfs that l’asolini attacked and ( )liyer Stone has that in keeping w ith l’asolinr;therearesabiectsyyhrch trouble him that he must confront and l think he understands the present day preoccupation with the more negative aspects of human nature llis w i'rting is great ; eyery lrric is a yyrrrner and you iicy er really need tochange anything. lloyyey er. liewilloftenconie uptoyouonthc day and say . "ls there anything you want to throw otrt .’ _\nything you want totighten'."
lltl//.hfl't't'fl\.tll course. an American production, Since his pri/e-winningperfoiiiianceasthe philosophical mark in //re //f!. Stamphasyyorkedalmost eyeltrsiyefy abroad: in \ew \ or k for /.egr1/ [pug/es w rtli Redford and Debra \\ ingcr. to l'tttopc for \lichacl('iriirrio‘srll fated Hie Stet/rim of w hrch he is a staunch supporter. ‘ I here aren‘t any nioy res being made here at the moment to speak of. .\ot that l nirnd going to .-\merica btrt I am ltritrsh and the parts are less interesting because I'm not .r\mer'ican; I would iiey er hay e been offered ( ickko. .'\llltttttg'lt ll ar'i’ Srreetisabout what'shappening there. it would hay e been terrific ll it could haye ltccf‘r \c‘l lte‘t’c.~
Slttftt}t\lttle\l film rofeshayeonte again iiiyoly ed crossing the .\tlantic; in ()rrIer/leut he plays a heavily disguised alien whilst )‘ormg ( {any is an authentic Hrat l’ack version of the Billy the Kid story in which he plays the pioneeringlnglishman whohad actedasasurrogate fatherto Hilly andother iuyeniledelinquents before hisassassrnatronan.l their consequent vengeful ranipageot
irresistible. l he second one in my career. w hrch is incredible luck for "l ess happy yy ere the sey en weeks he spent
an l'astl ridl ondoner
encased uiclaboiate niakcvupfoi' ()r'r’lt’t' Near. a kind of '/’:"uirt'rof t/re .lpr'y mark 3‘ ‘ l he script \\.l\ wonderful. a really wonder ful science fantasy action genre piece btrt fl was my most miserable e\per tenet ; a lot of us were haying neryousbreakdownsand I often usedtobuist iritoteais'.ylieri they took my nrake upoft
()ne ady antage of accepting supporting roles ffl bigger productions has been the free tuiic permitting.
new found yy l rtuig y at eei
taiiiptop'usuehis lltslit'sl volume of airtolirotuapliy Stir/rip .lr"'rrtiryyillsrmribe followedliy (onrr/re.tr'r2at rsotsy eoyeiuighrs tlc‘clSIt‘lllt‘l‘c‘cttllly .rfl retortouring e\petrericesandtheirriiuptohrs ()scar nonuri ited. urip 'ct in li’rr'r’y liar/r." ‘l was hoping tr i at corirodate allot the Srsrte s .tftrl mi 1 of firrrsh it tf'. the second onef he explains ‘ltutl
sublios; tiry rte fl‘r’.l\l li.:\c"y‘s'll
'itetty dense itwrr. why It l was l to
yylienlwasfl ltuiyr i‘. rl‘eaying
horn; and 't .llSli‘fllflli‘ 'i'.selt trout
\yorlanu lll an office to
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actaall'. “t touring .ai actor which
was .r psycliolot'r. fl protess for me. It sall llll.‘fe“lffl‘,‘ flfs‘e it's howl liltilll‘v'
influence lit liadozi ruy lift
got to meet \l ket aroe.
l\‘,.ts going up to \l Sw lli's this morning tone
willie y: L't‘lrffldll
haggrs flltl w n‘ ‘he lsinxi's. which was The fus' 'ht atic where \lrke and I play. d in ifi tour of /»'.'t /.I"l'.".t',‘.'tfl rl'l" / chit" if l’ir't' \flt‘”, Stanip had. preyrottsl‘. yyrrttcii tricluduizilorr ./o?§:ti.'yyrtli\lichaelt arne.
lll\r‘lle .fl
unmade sci eeripiay s l/{Hf Ill,"
but seems as striprrs 'l
the warm acclaim with \\ hrch his
literary clfotl~ fr\t' l‘cctt yycltonred, ‘I regard fi as a kind ot phenomenon because I liayeritconsciously absorbcdthetr it! o‘ yyrrirncsoif‘s always istonrsliuis'iwuiethat if flows. ( )n the ift‘-i l‘or it y‘..1s as if the grief of losing ttt'y tar“. prisedsoirrethuiz'opt-r:inire wrote flta? it all: as fraud»? Illltf1' to l'sy‘c‘ltll‘re it‘t'y'illc'l 1‘- fl rifslrootrn: /f
had to get fipeyeiy rlay'
riirddle
with l-‘ioli and It; ia whit li wasrr7 \\lulst Idori"_:!i:.1"li min:
tt.rl'sratherliaidorir1.
emotionally lti‘iea.
ofriiyselfasay'.rrter' StanipretirinedtrottiSarrtmle
infilrwrrv
about a :iioii'h
definite acting pl iii» rapt
hrnisel' for the prop :p:~iri«~tioriof hrsl‘ooks ‘l‘rf re rlf‘. Iike lquliooks todowelll‘ecauscI’\yorrlti‘a'really wonderful for the r. leorrltiwrite is wellasact lherel;..yealwaysiieeii long periodsof nix e il qt i when l ye \o' that l ii:itid.l
beeriotrt of work findthriigstwtlo. r'r'vu buttrte if there was \rtflfcilllftt' el‘c ereatiyel k-Kllllyl\l\l.-
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