Empire Australasia – July 2019

with his writing. I always had a sense that I could do comedy,

but the writing has to be right and the director has to be right.

I’m not someone who can just be fun. There are actors who

naturally have a thing — what’s the word — a spiel, a schtick.

I don’t feel any of that, but I can identify it in the situation. So

Gustave was wonderful. Wes [Anderson] is very particular, and

comedy and timing have to be right. And the Coen Brothers are

very skilful at guiding you. So if [my] comedy work is any good

it’s because I’ve had great scripts and directors, really.

Was Holmes & Watson very different on the page?

Um... [laughs], they [Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly] were very,

very funny on set, so I’m sad that — for whatever reason, and

I’ve not seen the film yet — it seems that that has not carried

into the finished film. But it was

entertaining to watch them do their stuff.

It seemed like it would be very funny.

So that’s a disappointment.

You’re on stage in Antony And

Cleopatra at the moment, playing another

monstrously complicated and flawed man.

Is it draining doing that kind of work on

stage, rather than on a movie set?

It’s exhausting in one sense. The way

we do the second half, particularly, is

pretty high-octane. You can shape all

the wonderful possibilities of film, but

you can’t really edit the experience

of being in a play. Someone sends you

a line and you have to catch it and send

it back. If there’s a mistake you have

to wrestle with it. It’s in front of you

like a changing sky, so it’s sort of

limitless, whereas film is a shaped thing.

As an actor in films I’ve come to see that

you offer up what you can do and it’s

shaped by someone else. But acting on

stage is closer to sport.

THE WHITE CROW IS IN CINEMAS FROM
GROOMING: CARLOS FERRAZ @ CAROL HAYES MANAGEMENT USING OXYGENETIX AND NEOSTRATA. STYLING: AMY NEILL. 18 JULY