Rupert Penry-Jones: 'It's nice not to be chasing a bad guy'
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Rupert Penry-Jones
very-warm — 16 years ago(November 29, 2009 01:35 PM)
Rupert Penry-Jones: 'It's nice not to be chasing a bad guy'
Rupert Penry-Jones is grateful to be TV's most famous spy, and with a play set to open, he isn't worried about being typecast
The Big Interview by Alice Jones
Friday, 13 November 2009, The Independent [UK]
Rupert Penry-Jones, alias Adam Carter, the unflappable spy from Spooks, alias Richard Hannay, the unflappable and bounderish spy from last Christmas's 39 Steps remake, alias Donald Maclean, the unflappable, bounderish and real-life spy from the BBC drama Cambridge Spies in short, television's most conspicuous undercover agent is sitting stiffly in the Royal Court's bar trying not to be seen or heard by the gaggle of female pensioners having a pre-matinee lunch on the next table. He looks uncharacteristically unheroic today, in an ou5b4tfit which subtly screams "rehearsing actor" floppy tracksuit bottoms, innumerable, indefinable woolly layers and one of those heated, lavender-scented neck warmers draped delicately around his shoulders. He's about to open in The Priory, his first play since landing the career-rocket of a role in Spooks seven years ago, and his back has gone. "It always happens," he sighs. I nod sympathetically. A tricky on-set stunt? A hardcore gym session? "Stress," he winces and turns, painfully, pitifully even, to ask what the soup of the day is. "But it's nice not to be carrying a gun and chasing a bad guy, you know?"
In The Priory, Penry-Jones will not be playing a spy, nor one of the closely affiliated roles of policeman, detective, RAF pilot or naval officer all of which he has also played, several times. Instead, in Michael Wynne's new comedy thriller about a group of thirty-somethings going to the country for New Year he plays Carl, an actor, which, while not exactly a casting curveball, makes a nice change. Still, you get the impression that if Carl had been a spy/policeman, Penry-Jones, who comes across as a fairly relaxed and unpretentious chap, would have been equally content. "Christ! If you're going to get typecast it's one of the best ones to get typecast as. It's great." The only niggle is the annoying speculation as to whether he might, one day, play 007. He's still smab68rting from a Radio Times cover last year with the headline, "The name's Jones. Penry-Jones. I want to be Bond." "It was just humiliating," he broods. "I mean, I know Dan Craig from when we did National Youth Theatre together"
On the whole, Penry-Jones is not really very precious about his career. You won't draw him on his method or the visceral joys of smelly greasepaint and roaring crowds. He's down to earth, albeit in quite a posh way. "Working hard as an actor means you're doing what you want to do," he says through a mouthful of cheese and pickle sandwich. "What I'm getting paid for this, I might as well be doing it for nothing. I pay our nanny more than I'm earning." He has the manners to blush when he realises that this sounds a touch vulgar. There was talk of him doing Hamlet this year, with Gail Edwards, who last directed him in Don Carlos at the RSC. "But at that point there were three others [Jude Law, David Tennant and Rory Kinnear] who were going to do it and they were all really good. I just thought, why put myself under that kind of pressure?"
Why, indeed. He likes playing spies and he's tailor-made for the job. Like the best (fictional) secret agents, Penry-Jones is dashing, smoothly inscrutable, with a whiff of arrogance and a silky public-school murmur of a voice. He has a taste for the finer things in life Ede and Ravenscroft bespoke suits, Panerai watches and days out at the polo and a thirst for adventure. His passions include downhill mountain biking and kite surfing. He has an eye for a beautiful woman, too, from a brief fling with Kylie in 1999 to his wife of two years, the Irish actress Dervla Kirwan. The 39 Steps was his favourite job to date, involving much swimming in lochs, wearing of tweed and being chased across the heather by bi-planes. "Just wonderful." Spooks, too, had its moments. "There were always a few days where you thought, 'bloody hell, this is amazing' going down the Thames on a speed-boat, flying a helicopter, filming in the Thames barrier"
Penry-Jones left the MI5 drama last year in, if not the most gruesome departure the grid has seen (that honour goes to Lisa Faulkner, plunged head-first into a deep-fat fryer), then certainly its most heroic. On discovering a ticking car bomb, Adam slid in behind the wheel and drove the car away from the crowds, dying in booming slow motion. It was a very good death. "You get that lovely montage of the other characters looking sad," he nods. "I Sky Plus-ed it and showed it to my kids. They've seen it 20 times now." Does he still watch? "No! Not now I'm not in it" Penry-Jones looks peeved. "I'm annoyed, actually. I wanted it to end when I left." He'd been told they were going to end the show and decided to see it through. Whenb68 they recommissioned it again, h -
speedo58 — 14 years ago(June 18, 2011 06:28 PM)
The reference to Audrey Hepburn as being an actress who prettied a movie up without adding gravitas is incorrect. Look at her list of achievements. To be compared to her is a compliment. Sure, Jones is a gorgeous man, but his performances have always moved me emotionally in whichever way called for by the storyline.
-
speedo58 — 14 years ago(June 18, 2011 06:31 PM)
It is a compliment to be compared to Audrey Hepburn. She had quite a list of accomplishments. Penry-Jones has never failed to live up to the demands of the storyline presented, and has always moved me emotionally.