Channeling Oscar Wilde: Rupert Everett on 'The Happy Prince'
Full disclosure: I was obsessed with Rupert Everett when I was a teen. There was something glorious about this gorgeous creature I first saw onscreen in 1984 that had me spellbound. The film was "Another Country," and Everett played Guy Bennett, whose story was based on Guy Burgess, an openly gay man who was bullied at school in the 1930s and would go on to become a spy for the Soviets. He was stunning, but also a riveting actor. I was not fully aware of my sexuality yet, but I knew that this man had me feeling some odd but exhilarating things.
A year later his splendor engulfed the big screen once again in "Dance With a Stranger," where he played the sociopathic lover of then newcomer Miranda Richardson. I would follow his erratic career over the next decade and marvel at the fact that this beautiful thespian seemed to actually be openly gay (or certainly bisexual, as he would sometimes say in interviews) at a time when it was verboten to admit your queerness.
Rupert Everett (Associated Press)
It became increasingly obvious, though, that this promising actor did not work enough. He delivered impressive turns in films like "The Comfort of Strangers," "The Madness of King George" and the unfairly maligned "Pr�t-�-porter (Ready to Wear)," but it wasn't until "My Best Friend's Wedding," in 1997, that he finally had a role that would bring him the prominence he so richly deserved. There was Oscar talk, but he was overlooked. He was, however, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated.
Yet, as much as the Julia Roberts starrer should have made him the next "it" actor, he was not offered many notable roles. He would often muse about how his being out had limited the parts he would be considered for. He continued to work on the big screen and on TV in mostly smallish roles. An exception was his Golden Globe nominated turn in the screen adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play, "An Ideal Husband." Everett would then play Wilde for the first time onstage in "The Judas Kiss," on the West End in the UK before touring in Ireland, Canada and at BAM in NYC.
It took ten years for Everett to make his prize project,
And as writer-director he captures the brilliantly witty, sexually brazen man at the lowest point in his life, after everyone who lauded him in success turns against him, flashing back to great moments in Wilde" s="" past="" and="" then="" punctuating="" them="" with="" his="" current="" state="" of="" misery="" (and="" occasional="" debauchery).
The multi-faceted artist has also assembled a most impressive cast that includes Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Colin Morgan, Edwin Thomas and Tom Wilkinson.
EDGE sat down with the dapper and youthful Everett while in NYC on a mad promo tour for "The Happy Prince." They say be careful when meeting your heroes, but Everett could not have been more charming, inspiring, humble and bracingly honest.
We started the conversation speaking a bit about the precarious situation for gays in Russia. (I am the author of "Lured," a play about Russian gay persecution opening in November in NYC.)
Rupert Everett in "The Happy Prince."
EDGE: You chose to focus on the end of Wilde's life and how those that revered him all contributed towards destroying him. It's heartbreaking. The film took ten years to make, but the end result is something to be so proud of.
Rupert Everett: That's amazing to hear. Thank you very much. The ten years was worth it. And the end result – it's so amazing since it's going to the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in St. Petersburg (in Russia) on the first of November, because after the 10th (of November) those festivals have been banned... So for me it's such a thrill to be able to be part of that... I've been to Russia a lot over the last years and as you know the situation there is so terrible. And this story of Oscar Wilde – the Oscar Wilde experience is only really halfway across the spectrum of today's global gay experience which makes it into a story that's really quite shocking and, I think, has a fantastic resonance for us.
EDGE: Was directing yourself tricky?
Rupert Everett: Not really. This ten year period in the wilderness, so to speak, was a great training for me in many respects because first of all it forced me into doing the play "The Judas Kiss," which was the most amazing preparation for playing this role, because I played Oscar Wilde for a couple of years on and off so I really knew him well. Plus, living with the script for 10 years, every time it collapsed, really wondering whether it was worth it. And always deciding eventually that it still was. That was immensely strengthening. So by the time I got to make the movie, I really knew what I was doing and what I wanted to achieve in terms of the direction.
Colin Firth, Rupert Everett and Edwin Thomas in "The Happy Prince."
EDGE: You had assembled this incredible cast. Emily Watson is one of the most underrated actors alive.
Rupert Everett: Yeah. She's the best actress of her generation. She's just magical. And she does it without lifting her finger. She's the best of all of them. She's got more sympathy, compassion, everything inside of her, than any of the others of her generation.
All of the actors, I was very, very lucky to have them... They all came with their performances ready, and for me it was very easy to have them around. They supported me so much.
EDGE: So you weren't hands on?
Rupert Everett: I think actors hate hands-on directors. In my experience they want to be left alone. Every film I've ever been on with a micromanaging director all the actors have hated them... They just make people feel nervous. An actor is at his best when he's doing it on his own and feels like he's finding things on his own rather then being micromanaged.
EDGE: Much is being discussed lately about how LGBTQ stories should be told by LGBTQ artists. You proudly do. Where are your thoughts? For example, "Boy Erased" is a film about a gay teen directed by a straight man...
Rupert Everett: Didn't he [Joel Edgerton] want to direct that movie?
EDGE: Yes, he adapted the screenplay as well.
Rupert Everett: Well then, that's great, isn't it?... I feel, though, with the Disney film ["Jungle Cruise"] where they cast a straight actor in the big gay role, that's very frustrating for the gay actors in our country who are actually of a higher status, in terms of the business, than the actor that was cast... One gets the feeling that once upon a time we could play the gay roles, then the straights came along, took all the gay roles, and got awarded for it. Now, we can't even play the gay roles. And that would be fine if we were getting the straight roles... I think we should be playing the straight roles. Maybe not someone like me who – I've been so identified with being gay, it's kind of gotten bigger than me as an actor. But... I think I should be playing the straight roles, too, to be honest.
Rupert Everett in "The Happy Prince."
EDGE: You should.
Rupert Everett: If one is talking about phobia in our business, it's the boy's club mindset that seems to think it's perfectly all right that we should all accept that any straight actor can emotionally encompass everything to do with being gay but no gay actor, really, has the ability of encompassing what it means to be straight. I encountered this really early on in my career in "Dance With a Stranger." I felt that, in the rehearsal process, there was nothing I could do to prove that it was going to be fine. The mindset was so heavily against me being able to do it. It's a kind of insanity. That is what I hope will break.
On the other hand, I personally feel it was a mistake, in the transgender community, to abolish the Scarlett Johansson film. First of all, we've got to understand the business. There is no transgender performer of the status of Scarlett Johansson that is going to facilitate the making of an $80 million movie. The second thing is that it's obvious the Scarlett Johansson film is going to be immensely positive about the transgender community, and would have employed at least three or four other transgender actors in the movie. It's cutting off your nose to spite your face. And I think it was a mistake. For me, seeing Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in "Behind the Candelabra" was incredibly moving and empowering. To see them make such a concerted effort to be correct and right in their acting and really go for it. I wouldn't have missed those performances for anything.
It needs to be seen on a case-by-case basis. I don't think we should just go out on strike when a straight man is making a film about a gay issue. I think it's wonderful that a straight man is making a film about a gay issue. It means he's fascinated and concerned and well-disposed towards the situation. And it's a great film, apparently.
Colin Morgan and Rupert Everett in "The Happy Prince."
EDGE: You're very much a hero to many gay men. For me, it was amazing to have you as a role model when I was grappling with my own sexuality. You were (and still are) gorgeous, an excellent actor and OUT – it was mind-blowing. It was helpful to have that.
Rupert Everett: That's amazing. That's great for me to hear because sometimes, from my point of view, it felt quite lonely... I felt as a young man – I do believe this especially now that I'm a director – I think I had a lot of potential. But I never managed to get somebody to take me up and be my Marty Scorsese and put me in things. I was quite an extraordinary young person in many ways. And my career was so difficult to keep going. So in some respects, it was quite an isolating business being out. Even for journalists, I mean, everybody knows it's not easy. Otherwise there would be tons of gay movie stars. But every time the subject comes up, you're made to feel slightly defensive about it, because people say, "You claim it's been difficult for you being gay in show business." So you're immediately on the defensive, because it's like you're being accused. And that's why I have real sympathy with the , because there's a way that things have turned around against one to make one feel as if one is complaining out of turn about stuff. And in one sense, it's quite an isolating process.
EDGE: It was quite courageous to be out. Were you aware of that...?
Rupert Everett: No, not really. Because I was just having fun going out. And I was drunk on all that. And that drunkenness made me feel that I didn't really care. And that was good. That was correct. I loved being part of the gay scene. And being myself was as important as anything else in terms of being any kind of artist. If actors are artists, one of the things that must be important is to have a kind of integrity. And for me the notion of lying about oneself wasn't really an option. I don't criticize anyone for whom it is an option, but for me it wasn't. And I think the payoff for that is making this film because finally, now, I don't necessarily feel like an activist, but I do feel that maybe I'm an artist and I've made a work of art – because everything in my life is somehow in this film as well.
EDGE: You're an author as well as film and theatre artist. Do you enjoy all of it?
Rupert Everett: I do enjoy all of it. I'm in the middle of a third memoir now, about making my film. And I've written another script that I'm trying to make. I think the main thing is one has to just keep going. But what I would love is to find some really good producer who loved me and would kill for me. (Wide smile) That's what I need next. (Laughs)
"The Happy Prince" is now playing in theaters in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It opens in additional cities on Friday, October 19. For more information about the film, including where it will be playing, .
Watch the trailer to "The Happy Prince":
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