Monday, November 10, 1997
Actor falls for Venice in latest movie
FILM: Actor talks about his experience filming ‘The Wings of the
Dove’
By Stephanie Sheh
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Contrasting with the usual high-collared formal attire that he
wears in his films ("Priest" and "The Wings of the Dove"), Linus
Roache is clad in a bright orange shirt, jacket and black jeans.
With his hands in his pockets, Roache stands around his pristine
suite in the Four Seasons Hotel exuding casualness. He offers water
before sitting down for an easy-going chat with The Bruin about
childhood memories and filming in Venice.
How’d you start acting?
Actually my parents were actors so it was in my family. I was
around it, I grew up with it and kind of decided quite early on
that I wanted to do it.
Did they encourage you?
They kind of discouraged me from doing it as a kid, but were
encouraging. They’d say it’s a dangerous life, can be a lot of
upset, all of that, but I mean, I’ve just found I’ve been blessed,
really very fortunate. So their worries are not necessary.
If you weren’t acting what would you be doing?
I think I’d still be working in something artistic. I might have
gone for writing. And if it was still this business, I might have
been interested in directing. Or I might have even gone for
something completely radically different. You know, like … I
wanted at one time as a kid to be a euphologist.
What’s a –?
Maybe it’s a term I invented, but it was somebody who studies –
you know …
Happiness?
UFOs.
Had all you guys been to Venice before?
I never had. Helena had. And I don’t think Allison had.
What was your impression of it?
First impression was yuck. Awful. Horrible. What the hell is the
big deal about this place? I don’t get it. It’s rotting. It’s
decaying. I don’t understand, but like in three days I completely
changed and I fell in love with it. I still love it now. I mean it
was just magic. It weaves a spell over you. Have you been?
No. I’ve been to eastern, like Estonia, parts of Russia and
Denmark.
Well, Venice is quite unique. I mean it stands on its own.
Hardly anybody lives there, all these palatzos, you can feel the
past. You can feel the decadence of the past. Sort of like the
ghosts of the past all around there and you got the canals and the
sounds of water and there’s no cars and I completely turned around
from what I originally thought. I found myself just sort of drawn
into this kind of sweet almost melancholia about it. I feel like
it’s the fourth character in the film. You got your three main
characters and your fourth one’s Venice.
Did you shoot this film really out of sequence?
Sometimes. I mean there was one scene that … what worked out
was shot on five different places or times. That’s one scene that
lasts about two minutes. It just worked out that way that we ended
up shooting bits here and bits there. You piece it all together, it
all looks like you’re all in one place and you did it one day, and
it only took three minutes but actually it was strung out over
three months. Weird.
Okay, one last question. What would you say is your strength as
an actor?
I don’t think it’s for me to say, but I know what I’d like my
strength to be. I’d like – and I’m still pursuing this in the work
I do – to find true vulnerability. By vulnerability, I don’t mean
weakness. I don’t mean necessarily sensitivity in the way it is
often perceived. True vulnerability is strength and it’s about
trust and openness and allowing an audience or allowing people in
to you when you perform, so you’re not pretending.
FILM: "The Wings of the Dove" is currently playing in
theaters.
Miramax Films
Alison Elliott (left), Linus Roache and Helena Bonham Carter
star in "The Wings of the Dove."