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WILLEM DAFOE stars as Carson Clay in
Mr. Bean’s
Holiday.
ACTOR
Willem Dafoe is an unexpected fellow traveler
in Mr. Bean’s Holiday, a movie based on the
much-loved character from Rowan Atkinson. Dafoe plays
Carson Clay, a self-absorbed actor and director whose
plans for glory at the Cannes Film Festival are foiled
by his spectacular lack of talent and Mr. Bean’s
spectacular talent for mayhem.
What
appeals to you about the character of Mr. Bean?
He’s
childlike, he’s innocent—his impulses, his psychology
are very basic. Rowan is showing his psychology through
physical action, so obviously it’s free of a certain
cultural orientation that binds some comedies when they
go abroad. It’s fairly common wisdom that comedies don’t
travel because they are so bound to the specific sense
of humor of where they come from. I can only guess that
because this is not language-based and the character is
so universal, his impulses and his needs, that people
respond to him.
What is
it about
Carson Clay that
attracted you?
You
don’t usually know who the character is until you get
there. But you have some impression of how he has to
function in the story. You know what, at least, the
intent of the film appears to be from the screenplay and
talking to the director. I also liked the idea of
shooting the film, poking fun at the film industry. I
liked the idea that we were shooting at Cannes. I’ve
been there many times, so it was fun to flesh out the
fiction.
What was
the response of
Cannes to your
filming there?
Well, I
felt quite guilty because we sort of crashed the red
carpet with Cannes’s blessing. It did feel very strange
mounting those red-carpet stairs as I’ve done many times
in the guise of a character, finding the satire and
playing with the seriousness in the pretensions of some
filmmakers.
In
Mr. Bean’s Holiday, you play a fairly arrogant
egotistical actor and director. Was this based on anyone
or is it more of a comment on
Hollywood
generally?
It
wasn’t specific, just a combination of good
old-fashioned pretending and working with people who’ve
behaved like this and being one yourself in moments.
[Laughs]
Have you
ever worked with people that difficult, and what do you
do when you encounter these kinds of people?
What
this character does in the movie, all he’s doing is
protecting his baby, so I feel sympathetic to the fact
that it’s easy to lose perspective when you’re working.
It becomes like fighting a war. You’re making a world
and the real world drops away and it’s very easy to
become seduced into a live-or-die perspective on these
things. All the guy is trying to do is keep it together
and make something. So he’s only a fool for not being
able to step outside of himself, but I perfectly
understand about being a perfectionist and being upset
when things don’t go your way.
Mr.
Bean’s Holiday
is released by United International Pictures and
distributed through Solar Entertainment Corp. It is now
playing in local theaters. |
