Red / April 2011

Spoiler:

But what do I know and who am I to teach lessons? I prefer to throw in the towel. And here comes the f-word.

But that's the point of Macfadyen: he's all actor, and although he may be about to become a star, being dazzling off the stage and away from the screen is not his trade. 'The thing that is attractive about acting is that the curtain comes down,' he says, and as he talks he begins to light up.

'The point of being an actor,' he continues with great conviction, 'the whole idea of being an actor is that people don't know who you are.' He pauses and begins to become invisible again. 'If they know who you are you can't do it,' he says simply. 'You're f***ed.'

And although MacFadyen would have you believe that he can’t imagine why anyone would be interested in his life beyond the performances he gives on stage or screen, he then goes on to say something that suggests that even he is not immune to the fascination of actors. “I just loved the whole idea of being an actor. We were waiting by the coach to go back to school where I was, and I’d look at the stage door and think, these creatures — where do they live? Where are they going now? To the pub! Wow! What’s exciting is there’s a curtain that divides the audience from this other world. You want to see behind.”

"Sometimes you sound terribly pompous when you say things like this, but I don't want to see actors I really admire in Heat doing their shopping. You go and see a play and the curtain comes down, there's a line between actor and audience and I like that. If you've been on telly once, you can go to all the parties and that's fine, but it doesn't really matter what actors think about abortion or the war in Iraq."

During a peripatetic childhood in the Far East (his father worked for an oil company), he read actors' biographies "to a fairly obsessive degree. I think what I adored about these people - the Gielguds and the Oliviers - was that they would give these fantastic, life-changing performances and then the curtain would come down and the actor would disappear out the stage door and into the night. It's sad now, because actors are required to publicise their productions more and more, and that glamour has been lost. "I can't bear the endless magazine articles, the camera following you down the road. . . I still love that image of the curtain coming down and the actor being anonymous."

"Besides, the more you know about an actor the less interesting it is to watch them. As much as I want to know what Daniel Day Lewis has for breakfast, I kind of don't, because I want to watch him without any preconceived ideas."

Spoiler:

Balivernes. 'You're f***ed.'

Spoiler:

I'm just making desperate efforts to convince you not to throw in the towel.

Spoiler:

I can see but one way out. They need to be sent a strong message.

Spoiler:

The idea of a message is very good. You intend to do it? and where?
I could imagine that they get 'messages' from other sides too, for example from their relatives or friends.

Spoiler:

We ought to boycott that damned article [...] it's as simple as that and it is urgent. But, judging by the hypocrisy, or blindness, or stubbornness, which oozes in the latest comments there, I won't delude myself: I am preaching in the wilderness.

I think it was very nice of Matthew and Keeley to share and I'd like to say thank you for letting us fans share a few glimpses of your lives!!

Spoiler:

Mot de Cambronne.