Richard's On-line Dark City Chat (part 2 of 3)

Interviewer- And what kind of work did you do on your character in developing this?

Richard- I found the best thing that worked for me, when I was- before I started to become kind of human, in my thinking, was to think about those people, and I'm sure all of us have this kind of memory, is that when we turn round, we say hello to somebody, and we smile. And we send a smile out and say "hello". And they turn round, they look at us, they look us straight in the eyes, they say nothing to us, their face doesn't change, they don't smile back, and they look us in the eyes, and then they turn away. And that complete kind of cold indifference hits us. And it may well be fueled by superiority, it may well be fueled by insecurity. It may well be fueled by many things- stupidity, deafness, it could be fueled by anything. But the feeling that we get when we send out that "Oh, Hello!" Yeah....and and we turn round and we smile at someone and say "hello" and they look at us, look straight in the eye, and they just turn away, and walk away. That cold feeling we get, that clammy feeling we get. It's an awful feeling, and that's what I took on board for the character, and that's all I can say.

Interviewer- That's wonderful. Can I put you on hold here for just one second? I have to conference this back to CNN. (back) Do you have any special goals for the future?

Richard- Um,

Interviewer- I know you've probably answered this three different ways already...

Richard- No I haven't, actually, because it keeps changing, and I think my goal in life is to become a more spiritual being. I don't want to sound too nonsensical, left-wing, or out there somewhere on the lunatic fringe, I would like to become more gentle and kind...that's my kind of goal. I've discovered, and as you get older, the only thing in life that's worth anything, is love, and I know it sounds pathetic, but that is it, and that's the truth. And that's all I'm after at the end of the day, truthfully. I give them my life, but hope that the smile you send out returns to you, and all that kind of jazz, I like it very much. It appeals to me, it's fulfilling, it makes sense of our journey, we're born and then we die, and the in-between, you know. And um, that's it, basically.

Interviewer- Oh that's interesting that you said when you're born. Someone asked the question of how you got your start. How old were you?

Richard- Well, I was, um...I was locked into adolescence for some time, still am, to some extent, my "start", I guess if people are looking at success, in a commercial way, uh, in my thirties. Success of course, is the end of the day, and I have to say it again, I know it's sounding pathetic, but, success IS being loved in this world. And if you don't have it, you've got nothing. So success really is getting through the day, and getting through your life, and having people around you that love you and appreciate you for what you're doing. And that's it. So success means alot of things. To some people, it means making a lot of money. Some people, it means being famous. To others, it's other things, but the truth of the matter is, it's having people around you that love you. So I'm successful, I guess, to that extent, because I do have people around me that love me. And I wouldn't, I can't put a time on that.

Interviewer-how did you get your start?

Richard- Um......what are we talking about here?

Interviewer- As far as acting or writing.

Richard- I started in 1965. In 1964 I came back to England from New Zealand. I was brought up in New Zealand.In 1965 I started riding horses in movies. I rode in 3 movies in 1965, and then they started a stunt register over here, and if I wanted to stay in that particular game, I would have had to have taken on several other disciplines, to become a stuntman, I didn't want to be a stuntman. I enjoyed riding horses, and I saw the people being treated a different way on the other side of the camera, and I wanted to make-believe. So I took myself off to a method school, like the actors' workshop, the actors' studio, I went from there, and worked like everybody else did. You know, "jobbing actor" getting in the gig when you can, and doing the best you could. So I suppose I was in my mid-twenties, basically.

Interviewer- Now there's a question regarding advice, a gentleman asked. David Rob asks, he says he's interested in acting, but moreso in Broadcast Journalism, he says he's a radio dj right now, and he's only 15 years old. He wants to know if he's on the right track.

Richard- There's a very good question to ask himself, which is Do you want to be famous?, or do you want to do your job the best you can? And once he's answered these questions to himself, and why he wants what he wants, then he will know the route he wants to take. Otherwise, it's a pointless journey.

Interviewer- Understood. Someone else has a question. How much control do you have in the direction of movies?

Richard- You have to realize that when you're making a movie, it's a conglomerate art form. And that you have a lot of people around you, good people, and you've got to trust. You've got to let go, and say "Yes, I've got this set designer, and yes, I'd like to have some kind of input, but I have employed this person with a great deal of expertise, I have employed this lighting and cameraman that has a great deal of expertise," And you know, you have to trust these people. So you don't ever want to be some kind of you've got to be part of the team. And if you're not part of the team, you may as well get out of it, because it's nonsense. I've never understood why actors get more cued off than at a lighting camera man. Without a good lighting camera man on a movie, you're stuffed. No metter how good you are. Without a good focus puller, without a good camera operator, you know, you're stuffed. You NEED good people around you. And you have to trust them, you have to work with them, and be part of the team. And if you ain't got that, you got nothing.

Interviewer- Um, David had a follow-up question about your reply. He said what's the difference between being famous and doing the best you can, can't I do the best AND be famous? Would you say being famous is a good thing?

Richard- Um, no. It's a hollow crown. It's worth nothing. Doing the best you can is worth everything. Being famous is icing on the cake. And it means nothing, truthfully. You can be as famous as you like, but if you ain't got the respect of your peers, if you haven't got the respect of the people around you that love you, you got nothing. What do you got? You got nothing.

Interviewer- Now, on this you worked with Alex Proyas, who directed the Crow. Have you seen the Crow?

Richard- I had, yeah.

Interviewer- Now, how is it working with Alex?

Richard- He's a delightful human being, and a very good director, and what I like about film directors that understand editing is um, is that you know that it's going to be cut together very well. It generally works, truthfully, when people are coming out of advertising, and as Alex did, shooting videos, You have to be very careful about what you cut together. (Names of people that came from advertising. ???) There's a lot of great directors that came out of advertising. I think the truth of the matter is, you have to have a good director who understands film editing. Truth is, at the end of the day, you've got a lot of film, but the film is made in the editing room. If you have a director that knows that end of it, actors know their scenes may be cut, but if it means it being a better movie, that doesn't matter, because you'll be part of that better movie.I think he's a fine director. George (?) Actually, Australia, funnily enough has sprung quite a few good directors. Probably because they cut their teeth on advertising, actually.

Interviewer-Yes.

Richard- There's nothing wrong with that.

Interviewer-No, I....there's a question that's slightly off track here...what do you do in London for Halloween?

Richard- well, its...

Interview- You know it's Halloween here, right now, in the United States.

Richard- Well, it's Halloween here, too. I'm having a very quiet evening here, because my children are on half-term, and I just moved into this new house in London,and I've got my middle boy, Joshua, he's up with me, and uh, it's a very quiet Halloween. I was just saying tonight that this is the quietest Halloween I've had for years, because people invite me out, cause they'd like me to be there.It's like having Vincent Price or someone else at their Halloween. And I get invited out to Halloween. But this Halloween, it's been very quiet. Very strange.

Interviewer- What are your favorite films? Do you gravitate toward a specific genre?

Richard- I love entertainment. I like to feel slightly uplifted at the end of a movie, I don't like Tarantino AT ALL, I think it's reprehensible in fact. I think having your cake and eating it...I don't like violence and dismemberment offered up in some sort of quasi idea of ricocheting into what society is like. Like having your cake and eating it. I don't like it at all. It offends me. I don't find that at all interesting. I LOVE the old black and white movies, of yesteryear, the 40's and the 50's I love entertainment in a movie. That's what I like. And I like to feel slightly uplifted.

Interviewer- And someone wanted to know, how old is Joshua?

Richard- Joshua's 14, I have three children. Linus is 25, Joshua is 14, and Amelia is 8.

Interviewer- Back to the questions, you worked with William Hurt on this film. Did you have any interaction with him?

Richard- Yeah, Bill and I talked to each other. We're both kind of journeyors, I can see. Both kind of spiritual Journeyors. We're both heading down the highway and trying to find enlightenment somewhere down the road. And I think we probably agree to disagree and um, yes. (Laughter) That's about it, really.

Interviewer- all right, someone else asked, what movies or TV shows have you been in, Richard?

Richard- Well I had my own TV show over here in England for four years, I did a thing called the Crystal Maze, a groups of six disparate people who wound up, or desperate, maybe, and getting them around a maze and getting them to solve problems in under three minutes. Some problems, they got two minutes, and if they couldn't solve them, I'd lock them into the cell, where they were solving the problem. And um, that was kind of interesting. I've course I've television here, I've written for television in England, but I've also acted for television in England.

Interviewer- Someone wants to know, have you ever met Stephen King?

Richard- No, I never have, no.

Interviewer- But what is your opinion of his material?

Richard- I think he's wonderful. What I like about Stephen King is that he writes his horror in naturalistic terms. It starts out as a naturalistic journey, and we find ourselves caught up with real people,normal people, and caught up in this journey, and I find that fascinating. And then it all starts to turn sour and strange. I don't know how he writes it. The Stand, for instance. I mean how thick is it? It's like 400 pages! (sounds as though he's packing cigarettes here) You know, if you or I had written this one book in our lives, we'd be rather pleased with it, wouldn't we? You know, this is just one of his canon of work, it's just nonsense. I don't know how he does it, quite frankly.

Interviewer-Yes. Actually, one of the people at home just mentioned that they're having difficulty hearing you, could you speak up a bit or move the phone closer?

Richard- I can't really.

Interviewer- Oh! That's wonderful.

Richard- Is that better?

Interviewer- Yes.

Richard- Oh dear. I must be drunk.

Interviewer- (laughter)

Richard- It's very possible.

Interviewer- Can you tell us what it was like for you filming in Australia?

Richard-Well, it was very nice, because I was staying out there for five months, and I was staying in this hotel, which was a rock-and-roll hotel, and all the rock-and-roll acts used to come out and visit there. But I was there for five months. So I used to go down to the bar every night, you know, as one would, about 6 o'clock in the evening, and I used to watch the sun come up in the morning, through my room. My room was a magnet for ne'er do-wells and no-hopers. And the entire population of Sydney, I think, came up to my room, night after night. It was divine, I loved it.

Interviewer- (laughter) That's great. Someone on your comment about Stephen King, Do you feel books in general don't translate well to film?

Richard- Well, yes. Generally speaking, that has to be said, because there's so much that you can write into a novel that you can't translate down under two hours in a movie. Subtext gets lost many times. It's a very difficult journey translating a very good rich novel into a movie. Because you have to take the cuts and move them to a different kind of medium. It was extraordinary for me that Silence of the Lambs, when I read that novel, I thought, "Oh God, this would make a great movie, but who could make it and how could they make it" and then this movie came out and it was fabulous. And such a great screenplay. I thought that was wonderful. 90% of the time, it's very difficult. You have to cut your cloth. And sometimes the subtleties, the subplots get lost in the screenplays.