For the part of Richard III, Spacey dons a hunchback to mimic the antihero’s crumpled physical appearance. PHOTO: FILE
After shaking a leg with Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone at the 2014 International Indian Film Academy Awards, Hollywood star Kevin Spacey is venturing on a new project. The two-time Oscar-winning actor and star of popular televisions series House of Cards, said that he is all set to prove a personal point despite his lofty status in the Hollywood fraternity.
With new documentary Now: In the Wings on a World Stage, Spacey will let his personal passion for theatre roar in a film. The movie introduces audiences to his second career on the stage as he tours the world with his own company’s production of William Shakespeare’s historical play Richard III.
Interestingly, his role of the ruthless politician Francis Underwood in House of Cards is coincidentally based on Richard III. Spacey credits his move back to the stage for helping him with the role. “I wouldn’t have been ready for House of Cards 10 years ago, but I was ready this time and that’s because of the theatre.”
Spacey, 54, who has been the artistic director at London’s The Old Vic theatre since 2003, said his choice to cut back on his Hollywood career and devote time to the stage, struck many as a self-defeating project.
“A lot of people looked at me like a dog that’s sort of a little puzzled,” the star said with a smile. “‘Like, why do you do theatre and why did you go off and run this theatre for 10 years? I don’t get. And isn’t theatre boring? Why don’t you just do movies and make a lot of money?’”
Sharing what drives him towards working on the stage, he said, “I think for the actor working in a film, you learn how to work in two to three-minute segments,” he said. “But in theatre, you have to be up there for three hours and you have to do it once. You can’t have a second take.”
Directed by first-time filmmaker Jeremy Whelehan, Now: In The Wings opens in New York on Friday and is available for online download on Friday, rolling out to Los Angeles movie theatres next week after playing limited runs in other cities in the United States. It opens in the United Kingdom on June 9.
Shakespeare’s 16th century play, based on England’s medieval King Richard III, dramatises Richard’s bloody advance to the throne, all with a black comedy turn. For the part of Richard, Spacey dons a hunchback and affects a club-footed gait to mimic the antihero’s crumpled physical appearance.
Front and centre in the film is Spacey’s love of theatre. He especially relishes the stage as the ultimate actor’s realm, whereas film and TV belong to directors, editors and producers. “I always try to remember that no matter how good I might be in a film or a television show, I’ll never be any better. It’s frozen,” Spacey said. “In the theatre, I can be better. I can be better tomorrow night than I was tonight.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 4th, 2014.
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I need theatre for my equilibrium, because in theatre the actors don't care so much about image, about celebrity - you are more independent. There is not the narcissism, maybe, that you find in cinema.
Clotilde HesmeTheatre is good. A field, a stage for self expression standing there for hours, audience staring at you on your acts and all your hardworking performances. the atmosphere is intense and electrifying, it surely does rip you off with exhaustion but it makes you water. Changing acts, moulding into characters with less effort yet elegantly you are able to adapt to any character with much greater enthusiasm on TV and Films as compared to actors who are just looking for chances, not all of them are bad but maestros like Sir Ian Mckellen, Al Pacino, Patrick stewart, Denzel washington make you love theatre and have real life, live experience. Pakistani theatre scene is also falling apart, sadly there are only few respectable people like Anwar maqsood, Zia mohiuddin and others have kept alive the sophisticated tradition of real acting. one should perform theatre to achieve greatness in films. Kevin Spacey has been an underdog of Hollywood no doubt about that and few like him, he's absolutely right testing the depth of your skills, theatre is a perfect gauge.