FILMSPECIAL
Innocent, plotter, maniac or queen? Rupert Everett claims to be all of the above but Kaleem Aftab finds the actor in sanguine form
12 me LIST 19 Jul —2 Aug 2007
upert liverett just gets better and better.
The actor and now producer of St
'li'inian's. the most anticipated British film of the year. is having a blockbuster 2007. Before the lesson in misbehaviour that is St 'I'rt'nian's. we're going to be seeing liverett in the spectacular Stardust. Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Neil (iaiman‘s novel. alongside Robert De Niro. (‘laire Danes. Michelle Plieffer and Sienna Miller.
‘I play one of the princes of this kind of parallel universe and he‘s killed by one of his brothers in the first scene and then appears as a ghost in the rest of the film. He falls 2().()()()ft and smashes to the ground when he dies and you see a kind of smashed ghost for the rest of the film.‘ says liverett of Stardust.
He describes his St Trinian's role with as much relish. ‘lt's something that I wanted to do. I'm playing quite an old bag.‘
The 48-year-old actor recently returned for the third time as the voice of Prince Charming in S/HI’k the Third. With typical forthrightness. he says of the gig: ‘lt‘s the best job you can really have in show business. The films are fantastic. Work is fairly minimal. The pay is good. If you are into promotion. you can go promote yourself around the world. If you're not. well. you’ll just have to do it.~
It‘s the acerbic wit and no-nonsense attitude that anyone who has flicked through his hilarious autobiography Red ('arpvts and Other Banana Skins would expect. The book has just been released in paperback and offers a candid insight into the world of celebrity that liverett has inhabited for the last three decades. What really struck the actor when he was writing the book was how much the world has changed in that time.
‘So many things. cell phones. Walkmans. telephone answer machines. have all been invented since I turned l8. Being an actor is a different thing now. Back when I started it was a vocational job and a serious undertaking to be an actor. liven in a political sense. the Communists thought that they were going to find the new revolutionaries in the theatre. Because of the old Labour thing. writing in the theatre was very political. It was really a reflection of what was going on in society. Now. post-'I‘hatcher and New Labour. looks and ambition are what counts. not talents or ideas or putting a mirror to society.‘
As well as his acting career. liverett has enjoyed success as a model and has written two novels. His autobiography contains dozens of photos of liverett mingling with fellow celebrities — suggesting the star could easily have worked with Piers Morgan if acting hadn‘t worked out. In a moment of self- analysis. liverett says he has gone through four stages in his life before now: “innocence. plotting. maniacal and queen'.
Since he finished writing his biography he must have been going through another phase because. in the London hotel where we meet. he doesn‘t look or act remotely like a queen. He has a five o‘clock shadow and his high cheekbones look slightly saggy. These. though. are the only minor llaws in his appearance.
If there is a surprise. it is that liverett seems remarkably sanguine. He is not at all like the frivolous. flamboyant characters he has recently made a habit of playing. nor does he give any hint of the curmudgeonly behaviour other interviewers have noted in the past.