Windy City Times talks with Brideshead Revisited's Matthew Goode
You've seen British actor Matthew Goode before. Sometimes mistaken for fellow countryman Hugh Grant, Goode has played quiet, self-effacing roles in Match Point, Imagine Me & You and Copying Beethoven, but in The Lookout he was menacing as that movie's seductive villain. Now in the big screen adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, he takes on his first starring role as Charles Ryder, a young innocent who falls under the spell of the wealthy, powerful and deeply Catholic Marchmain family—especially the gay Sebastian and his troubled sister, Julia. The novel, which spans 20 years, was first made into a 1981 14-hour miniseries that starred Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. In person, Goode is tall ( 6'3' ) , laughs easily and was excited to talk with Windy City Times about his first starring role and the prospect of being a gay heartthrob.
Windy City Times: Charles Ryder kisses Sebastian and Julia once each and changes both of their worlds forever. With one kiss. Did you ever think about that why you were filming?
Matthew Goode: Well, it's funny because I look upon it as that Sebastian kissed Charles and, the first time, Julia kissed him as well. So they both made the move, rather than [ Charles ] sort of imposing himself. There's a huge love—platonically, I think, from Charles, although there may have been some … you know when you haven't experienced love before and you are that lonely I think he would have been confused about his feelings.
WCT: It makes me wonder if Julia hadn't been around, things would have gone even further. As a gay man, I read that that is what would have happened and, perhaps down the road, when he met someone else—a woman...
MG: It would have [ gotten ] even messier. Exactly. But I think what was really interesting about the book is that it does say that these two people ( Sebastian and Julia ) are very alike in the way they look and in their manner and sort of in the dark, you couldn't tell one [ from ] the other [ lowers his voice conspiratorially ] unless you've got your hand down their pants. [ Laughs ]
WCT: I love at the outset of the movie, where the cousin warns Charles—when he sees Sebastian and his friends—'Stay away from those sodomites.'
MG: Sodomites—stay well clear!
WCT: Yes. You know immediately he's going to be drawn to this group. They're so colorful and fabulous and enticing to someone who is yearning to break out.
MG: I love Ben Whishaw's performance; I really do, and the character is gay for sure, and that's partly because now it's 1980 and the world is still not where it should be, but it's certainly much more comfortable with how male love is put on the screen.
WCT: Actually, what was brave of him was to play such a queenie-nelly stereotype. Now you're going to get flak for that.
MG: Yes, but he's bang-on believable and I think he fucking well owned it; I really do. The 'sodomite' line isn't in the original adaptation—it couldn't have been.
WCT: I read that you originally wanted to play Sebastian but 'I wasn't pretty enough. They gave it to Ben because when the camera settles on him, you gasp at his beauty. I mean I have a girlfriend and all but still … ' [ Laughs ]
MG: I think I also mentioned his extraordinary talent as well and that seems to have been cut out for some reason!
WCT: Speaking of amazing actors, Emma Thompson ... hold me back.
MG: [ Laughs ] Hold me back! Pin her down!
WCT: She's only in five scenes, and every time you see her in the movie she's more imperious.
MG: She is the nicest woman in the entire world, and she could come in with her Oscars and her talent and the fact that she's a national treasure and that could loom over you. But the fact is that she loves to goof around. Everybody who's successful should be as nice as her. In print, people will be going, 'Oh God, that's so actor-y. They always say nice things about each other,' but she is the real deal and the moment she acts some sort of magic happens.
WCT: Were there scenes that more explicitly dealt with the physical relationship between Sebastian and Charles? Remember, I'm writing for a gay paper and details are appreciated.
MG: Were there scenes where I held his cock?
WCT: [ Laughs ] Yes, were there scenes like that—please!
MG: Tell me, 'Did you put his cock in your mouth?' [ Laughs ]
WCT: You dirty little …
MG: [ Laughs ] You dirty little so and so! No. I think it's not that we would have been afraid to have done that if it had been in the original novel, [ but in ] trying to uphold the ambiguity and integrity of their relationship, it would have been in slightly poor taste to have suddenly had a sex scene with them.
WCT: [ Laughs hard ] Yes, actually I do know exactly what you mean. It's an idea I'm very familiar with. This is certainly going to put you on the map. Are you ready to be a heartthrob? A gay heartthrob?
MG: [ Delighted ] It would be thrilling. I lead a pretty quiet life. I'm 30 now. I can turn up to a premiere with my girlfriend on my arm and not be told by a publicist, 'You can't bring them; the audience won't like you.'
WCT: Well, it's starting already. There you are on the cover of Entertainment Weekly for The Watchmen—your first comic-book mega blockbuster coming out next spring, in which you play Ozymandias.
MG: Yes! And he's homosexual, isn't he as well? By the look of things, that suit he wears as well. I can tell you, it's still ambiguous. Right now, I think, it's running [ at ] about three hours and it's kind of an art-house film and it's very much the graphic novel. I haven't seen it yet but I'm hearing really amazing things about it. I haven't seen any of it. There's a lot of big, muscle-y costumes and, you know, oooooooh [ Laughs ] and manly men and there's a rape scene in there.
WCT: Well, good luck with that. It's been nice to talk with you about your first real starring role. I hope you're happy about it.
MG: I am. I was exhausted at the time. It was intense work but that's what we're here for, isn't it?
Read the entire interview at www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com .
