Independent on Sunday (London)
August 12, 2001, Sunday
thanks, Rai
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 3
HEADLINE: LIFE ETC: THE INTERVIEW - RUFUS SEWELL
BYLINE: Tiffany Rose
What's the worst job you've ever had to do?
I had to wear a Mr Wimpy suit outside Wimpy in Chiswick and kids would shout "Piss
off!" and kick me in the shins. Another time, I had to dress up as a cartoon
character at a printing convention. There were about eight of us who had been recruited
from the Job Centre. We soon discovered that there was anbar, so we all took our
cartoon heads off and proceeded to get drunk in our bear suits.
Ever had a sudden bout of insecurity?
No, not sudden bouts. But I do get insecure about not getting the jobs I want. I think we
find it extraordinary that other people are insecure, because we think our own
insecurities are so special.
Who told you about the birds and the bees?
I told my brother when I was about five. Me and my mate Nicholas Wainwright worked it all
out when we were very young.
What do you when you're not working?
I can barely remember; it's been quite a while. If I've been away for a long time, I spend
my first week at home not telling anyone I'm there - otherwise my friends turn up with a
bottle of tequila. Usually I go out to pubs with my friends or we'll go to the local
tandoori. The same old stuff I have been doing all my life. I also have a passion for
photography that I can only explore when I am not working.
What's your greatest fear?
Well, I recently discovered I have a fear of heights, and I happen to be filming a movie
in Austria that involves climbing bloody high mountains. But what can you do?
Are you an actor who doesn't date fellow actresses?
It's not that I won't date actresses, because you never know who you're going to meet. I
just happen not to have done. Ideally, a relationship with a non -actor is best. I just
get so sick of the whole thespian thing. You want to be with someone who will say,
"Shut your bloody mouth!" when you get carried away with it all.
When did you last get drunk?
At the end of the day's filming on 'A Knight's Tale', in Prague. They have the best beer
over there, and there wasn't much to do except go on the piss with the other actors.
Did you enjoy playing a villain?
Very much. I always wanted to play one really good baddie and Count Adhemar was the one.
He reminds me of the evil squire in 'Robin Hood'.
How do you get motivated for a role? I read a story that you bang your head against a
wall.
Yeah, but that was out of frustration at being shit. It wasn't like "If I bang my
head, I'll become really good in this scene."; it was like "Wake up, you fucking
idiot!". And also, it helped me to get a little bit out of it. I don't bang my head
against the wall to get motivated unless I absolutely have to, because it really hurts
after a while.
What do you do to get into character?
Nothing really drastic. Most of the time just picturing yourself in the situation is
enough, imagination is all you need.
We always read about your misspent youth. Why do you think you were so restless?
I don't know that I was restless, and I was no wilder than anyone else I knew. It was just
an average Eighties youth really, wearing the black nail polish and stuff.
Did your mother allow you just to get on with it?
She didn't allow me to - she had no choice. I practically ruined her life. She gave me
hell. I gave her hell. I would bunk off school the whole time. I'd go off in my uniform
and say, "Bye mum, off to school, can't wait." And I'd meet my mates at the
local brewery and we'd go off to the park. The thing was you'd miss school for one day and
you'd realise that you didn't have an excuse, and so you'd miss another day and then you'd
think, "God, how do I explain two days off?" Then you'd take the whole week off.
Eventually my mum would find out and I'd get into terrible trouble and she would drag me
in to apologise to the teachers, and I'd have to promise to turn over a new leaf. Then, of
course, the next month it would happen all over again.
Have you ever read any Chaucer?
I used to avoid reading it in class, but it was just the school I didn't like, not the
author. Those days all I did was flick things at the girl I fancied sitting in front of
me. It is kind of ironic that I end up performing in the dramatisation of books that I did
my best to avoid in school. 'Middlemarch' - piss off! I'm going to the park! When we read
Chaucer in class, we would always fast forward to the dirty bits.
I take it now you have to read them.
Yeah, I'm not a truant anymore. I even look up the big words sometimes.
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