AICN Interview with Martin Freeman (talks a bit about Nightwatching)

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34095 for the full article.

C: The one regret I have about not going to the Toronto Film Festival this year is not getting to see NIGHTWATCHING, because I’m such a huge Peter Greenaway fan. I don’t think I’ve ever had a chance to actually ask somebody about working with him. I’ve met him a couple of times, and he’s so knowledgeable about so many things that’s almost intimidating. Was it easy to work with him, or was it a difficult experience in a good or bad way?

MF: Well, it wasn’t intimidating, but it wasn’t easy either. I don’t think there’s anything about him that is easy, to be honest. Not that he’s a difficult man. I never found that he was weird or difficult with me, but his films aren’t easy, obviously, and his films are always pretty challenging. The process that he puts you through is fairly challenging, because as an actor, obviously, you’re used to waiting for the lighting, but you’re not used to waiting THAT LONG for the lighting, you know. You’re not used to waiting, like, half the day for the scene to be lit, but that’s, of course, what gives his films their look. That’s why his films are unique, because they look the way they do.

I’m playing Rembrandt at the heart of this film, and there has to be a sort of human, beating heart at the core of the movie the rest of the film can sort of exist around. And, he’s a very hands-off director, you know. He leaves you alone. I rang Michael Gambon actually [who is also in THE GOOD NIGHT]. Michael, you probably remember, was in THE COOK THE THIEF HIS WIFE & HER LOVER, opposite Helen Mirren, and Michael said, “He leaves you alone. He sort of lets you act. He presumes that you can act. He’s not going to presume to tell you how to act,” which is certainly true. He sort of directs from a distance, but he’s particular. He’s really, really particular about what he wants, but less so with the acting. Do you know what I mean? He’s less hands-on with you than he is with the art department and with the DOP, you know. That’s where he kind of acts out his complete, exacting sort of methods, you know, where is the glass on the table, because an inch over there is going to make all the difference in the shot, an inch over here is going to ruin it, you know?

But, it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, you know. Peter Greenaway says, “Would you like to play Rembrandt in my film about Rembrandt?” and you say, “Yes.” That’s how that conversation goes.



C: I really don’t know much about the story, but is it structured like many of Greenaway's other films, where it’s almost about a process and a certain, very deliberate, rigorous structure?

MF: Well, I hope it’s a bit of a return to a beginning, middle, and an end. It’s slightly more narrative than some of his other films certainly. And, the films that I respond to of his do have a story. The ones that I respond to less are the ones that are a bit more like an art installation, whereas NIGHTWATCHING is set over a couple of years of Rembrandt’s life in his 30s when he’s commissioned to paint one of his most famous paintings, known as "The Night Watch," which is of a Dutch militia, which hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It covers that period in which his wife, Saskia, dies and the mother of his son, Titus, dies. He begins a disastrous, self-destructive relationship with his housekeeper, and then he has a slightly better relationship with another member of his household, who’s 20 years his junior. So, there’s a lot of *beep* stuff to play. And, that’s certainly not a comic role, although Peter wanted me because I’ve got some comic chops, but it’s by no means an out-and-out comedy. And, I’m certainly not the loveable guy in it. I’m doing some pretty 3-D, all-around nastiness and jealousness and humor as well. That’s a great departure for me.



C: Have you seen the film yet?

MF: I have, yeah. I’ve seen it a couple of times. I saw it at Venice and Toronto.



C: Is there any idea about when it’s going to be released?

MF: The official release, I think, is going to be in Paris by the end of the year, yeah. Then it will just open at different times throughout the world.