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O Very Lucky Man!
In the first of an exclusive two-part interview, Sean McCarthy talks to acting legend Malcolm
McDowell. In this issue Malcolm talks about his Irish roots, Lindsay Anderson, and his recent acting
projects, including Red Roses and Petrol, Evilenko, and In Good Company.
Sean: There’s plenty of Irish in your blood
Malcolm…
Malcolm: There is! (breaks into a little ‘as
Gaeilge’ and laughs heartily!) My mother’s father
was Irish, and a McDowell. In fact, I reverted to my
mother’s maiden name because there was another
actor called Malcolm Taylor, which was ‘my’ name.
Tell me something about your family links to
Ireland.
Everyone was very proud of their Irish ancestry on
my mother’s side, and my father was rather pissed
o≠ when I told him I was changing my name. I said,
‘Well… Malcolm McDowell!’ And he said, ‘Ah fer
God’s sake! Why the hell would ya want that stupid
name?!’ I said, ‘Well that’s my mother’s “maiden”
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name…’ and he went ‘Arraagh ya don’t want to be
one of The McDowells!’ I said, ‘Yes, I really do! It’s
a great name.’ And he was a bit pissed o≠. He
always was! I remember when he came to premieres
and stu≠ he’d say, ‘I don’t know why ya’d change yer
name!’ and I ‘d say, ‘Dad, it’s too late now!’ And you
know, he was always a bit mi≠ed. But I’ve always
felt this great a∞nity to that side of my family, and
I’ve always loved it when I come to Ireland. I’d love
to come there and make another film actually.
The Irish story, Red Roses and Petrol, directed by
Tamar Ho≠s, is one of your recent films, based
on Joseph O’Connor’s play The Doyles of Dublin.
What was it about the story that first caught
your attention?
Well when I read the script I just loved it. It was
made on a shoestring; they made it with family
money. Tammy’s family paid for it. I mean, that’s
unheard of these days. So we all took no money
basically, and did it because we loved the story, and
the writing, and Joe O’Connor’s beautiful play. And
Tammy did a great job transferring Joe’s play to a
screenplay. Of course, it’s not an ‘epic’ film… it’s a
wonderful family drama with wonderfully
interesting characters. I love my character Enda
Doyle; I just loved him. There was a side of me that
I could see in that character, and I was thrilled to do
him. And I just enjoyed tremendously playing with
these young kids, especially Max Beesley. He’s a
fantastic actor, I think – a star. He will be, if he gets
the right part.
You have also recently been directed by Mary
McGuckian in the soon to be released Rag Tale.
I have, and a lovely and adorable woman she is!
With Tamar Ho≠s directing Red Roses and Petrol –
do you enjoy working with female directors?
Yes, I do actually.
Is it di≠erent in any way?
It doesn’t make any di≠erence to me whether they’re
a man or a woman, frankly. That’s the least of it. The
first thing is, ‘Do they know what they’re doing?’
and, ‘Are they talented?’ And honestly, Mary and
Tammy are very talented and they’re quite brilliant.
I mean it’s much more di∞cult for a woman of
course to be a director than it is for a man, let’s face
it. I think men just find it hard to invest, they find it
di∞cult to invest and put millions of dollars in the
hands of a woman director, which is absolutely
ridiculous, I think. Because the good ones are good
ones. I think it’s much more di∞cult for women to
get going, frankly, and I think that’s well known. I’m
sure it’s the same in Ireland too, but Mary
McGuckian is an amazing case. I don’t know how
she got the money for the film. I was amazed,
because the film is basically everybody’s adlibbing,
and improvising. And how she talked investors into
putting up the money for it I’ll just never know. I
think she’s absolutely brilliant.
In Rag Tale you play a media tycoon type of
character…
It’s sort of a Rupert Murdoch kind of thing, but not
really him. It’s basically all about one of those
newspapers in England like The Sun or The Mirror…
one of the tabloids, and I’m the owner of it. So
obviously, who owns all the tabloids? Rupert
Murdoch. But it’s not really… I didn’t do any
research trying to play him or anything like that.
But of course he’s a man of extreme confidence who
walks into his building and passes a huge oil
painting of himself in the foyer every day. So no
more really need to be said. He’s God, I suppose.
He’s God in that environment.
It was fun doing Rag Tale, because we sort of
played games for a couple of weeks, rehearsing and
making things up and all that. I’d never done that
before – not even for Robert Altman, and everything
that I did for Altman was sort of improvised. It’s
good to do something that’s not really scripted. The
sort of ‘action’ was scripted, the ‘construction’ of the
film, just not the dialogue. The dialogue was very
loose, and it was a lot of fun to just go out on a limb
and do it! Working with Jennifer Jason Leigh, and a
whole slew of absolutely brilliant actors that
Mary cast.
I’ve heard that you admire the work of Jennifer
Jason Leigh.
Yes, I do. Bob Altman did this film called Short Cuts
(1993) where Jennifer played one of these phonesex operators, where she’s got the baby there, you
know, and she did such a great job. I think she’s a
wonderful actress, actually. She’s really a wonderful
actress that does her own thing. She’s very
independent… and I like that.
I get bored with
going to movies
where I see the
same bloody
chases, the same
explosions, the
same blah blah
blah. It’s just
movie making for
twelve year-olds.
Opposite: Malcolm McDowell as Enda Doyle in Red Roses and Petrol. Above: Malcolm as seen through the camera lens of his wife,
the celebrated artist Kelley Kuhr.
Getting back to Red Roses and Petrol, there seems
to be a close bond between you and the rest of
the cast, almost as if family ties were forged
between you all. Was there a sense of ‘family’
during the shoot, and if so, how was that
fostered amongst you all?
We had a read through, and I just went along to
read the film. I wasn’t quite sure whether they were
going to make it or not, because you never really
know until you start! I’ve been involved in so many
projects where the money falls through at the last
minute or something. So we met at Tammy’s
apartment in la and we read it. It was obvious how
fabulous the whole atmosphere was and it was quite
extraordinary. Tammy’s a lovely person. She’s very
good at casting and bringing the people together,
and it’s a great talent doing that. And she really
wanted Max Beesley.
What prompted her about me actually was she
had seen me doing Gangster No. 1. God knows why
she cast me from Gangster No. 1 to this! They’re
diametrically opposed characters. But it doesn’t
really matter… there’s something about that Enda
Doyle that I absolutely loved. I used my father, I
suppose, in playing him – you use everything you
can. But I found him quite adorable, and I don’t
know why. Of course never wanted to play any
‘sentimentality’ at all, and I just think it’s very
moving at the end when he ‘finally’ gets the poem
out. It’s a wonderful piece.
You’re a strong family man yourself Malcolm,
with a beautiful wife (the artist Kelley Kuhr),
daughter Lilly, and two sons, Charlie, and baby
boy Beckett who is now just a little over one
year of age. How important is family to you?
More important than anything, I think. Your family
comes first obviously, I mean it ‘sounds’ like an
obvious thing, but we live a very charmed life really,
and you can get carried away. But at the end of the
day, there’s nothing like your partner and we’ve been
blessed with this child, late in my life so it’s great.
And he is such a delight. We are so lucky, and
blessed. I don’t want to curse it, but I’m going to
touch wood anyway (Malcolm taps on wood). I’m
very lucky, I’ve got a great family, and the two other
children, who are now 24 and 21, absolutely adore
their new brother. They get on very well. We’re all
friends, exes and all that. We’re all friends and it’s
one big extended family really.
Do you like doing independent films like Red
Roses and Petrol rather than big studio
productions?
Well the food’s not quite as good! But other than
that, yes. I mean of course it’s nice to do a Hollywood
film, I’m not saying I don’t do Hollywood films. Of
course I’d love to do them. The truth is the most
interesting, cutting sort of stories are usually
independent, because the studios won’t touch
anything that doesn’t have a ‘built-in guaranteed
audience’. Well we all know how brilliantly they’ve
done on that philosophy. But the truth is, is that all
the ‘odd’ stories, the stories with edge, are
independents. And they’re the ones that I’m drawn
to. Or maybe I’m odd, I don’t know, but… I get
bored with going to movies where I see the same
bloody chases, the same explosions, the same blah
blah blah. It’s just movie making for twelve yearolds. So when you get something that is for a
mature adult audience, it’s sort of a relief. I don’t
think that there is one movie in the five that are up
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Sideways is a
wonderful characterdriven film that’s up
for an Academy Award,
and it’s probably going
to win a couple of
awards.
Sideways
for Best Picture at the Academy Awards that’s not a
studio movie… and that really is quite shocking.
Warner Brothers wouldn’t even put up all the
money for Clint Eastwood, who’s been with them
forever. Thirty million, that’s all! We’re not talking
the hundred and fifty they spent on Troy and films
like that. They wouldn’t even back Clint Eastwood
for thirty million, which is a drop in the ocean…
they spend that on prints and advertising for a
medium budget film. So, I’m just lucky to be
working at all.
What do you think of the current state of
filmmaking in the United States, Ireland and in
the uk ? Does the industry look in good shape
to you right now?
much money on dvds now, and especially to
foreign territories. Foreign I think is sixty five
percent of a film’s gross now, the Far East, Europe…
big markets. So I guess they know their figures.
They’re accountants, really. Business!
How do you feel when you receive awards and
when you are honoured for your work, as you
have been at the recent Deauville American
Film Festival?
I know, but I’ve never actually ‘won’ an award. I
think the last award I won was… ooh God, it was
years and years ago. As an actor, I’ve never been
nominated.
Is that a surprise to you?
Well I think we always say, ‘Oh it’s never been in
good shape’, you know. We always say ‘Oh yeah, the
early seventies… amazing films were being made’.
Which is partly true. And I think films like
A Clockwork Orange kind of opened the door for Easy
Rider and stu≠ like that… and all those films that
came out in that period were incredible. And
especially American films of that period… you never
ever see them done now, being made by studios. So
we have to go to the independent films, and you
have to applaud people that raise money and the
producers that find the money for independent
films. There’s a film call Sideways, I don’t know
whether you have it in Ireland yet, but it’s a
wonderful character-driven film that’s up for an
Academy Award, and it’s probably going to win a
couple of awards. It’s very charming, very small – I
think that it was made for ten or fifteen million, and
that’s shooting in California! If they’d made it in
Vancouver, where most of these films are made, it
would be probably ten million. I just think that
moviemaking in the ‘studio sense’ is so expensive,
you know; a hundred million dollars – nobody
takes a deep breath anymore, that seems to be more
the norm. Sixty, eighty, a hundred million-dollar
budgets… that is so staggering, and then thirty of
that is for the star, or something! That is just
ludicrous in my book. But if you can get it, hey, I
suppose, good Luck! But the problem at the end of
the day is where’s it going to stop? But they make so
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No… no it’s not actually.
Is there a Sir Malcolm McDowell on the way?
I said to Lindsay Anderson once, cause we used to
friendly-row a lot: ‘Oh yes Lynds! If they came
knocking on your door and gave you a Knighthood,
of course you’d swoon and take it!’ And he said,
‘Yes! Of course I would!’ I mean, even the
Anarchist! The original anarchist! It was hilarious!
But I mean, who cares! When you look around and
see who gets these awards, I mean, do you really
wanna be part of that?!
Recently you’ve played Oscar Wilde on stage in
The Importance of Being Wilde. Would you consider
playing Oscar Wilde on the big screen, and if
so, what would ‘Malcolm’s Wilde’ be like?
I would love to play Wilde, but of course I’m way
way too old. It was a wonderful piece actually, just
to relay his words. An amazing, amazing man, one
of the great men of his period. But I’m way too old,
you don’t get to play these parts when you’re sixty.
But I enjoyed it when I played it though. You can get
away with a lot more on stage than you can on film.
Have you directed in the past Malcolm? And if
not, would you like to direct?
No, I wouldn’t… I haven’t and I wouldn’t. There was
a moment I think, thirty years ago, when I though
I’d like to direct. But I never really found the right
subject that I wanted to do. And honestly now, I
really don’t want to live with a subject for two years
like directors have to. I like to flip from one thing to
the other, I don’t have the concentration to stay with
a film that long. Of course, I think I’d be quite a
good director, I’d know how to talk to the actors and
all that, but I’m very happy with what I do, and I
think ‘Why screw it up?’
Do you ever reflect upon the impact you have
made upon other professional actors?
You can’t reflect on that. You just do your thing. You
can’t go: ‘Ooh yes, I’m making a statement!’ or
something. Of course not, no. I know Gary Oldman
told me he became an actor because he saw me in
The Raging Moon. Bryan Forbes directed it, and it
starred Nanette Newman, Bryan’s wife. It was a
fabulous film, I did it in 1969, it was my third film.
And it’s really wonderful that you can inspire
someone, especially someone as talented as he is, to
go on and do it, and to give him something to shoot
at. Albert Finney was my hero as a young man, and
when I saw him in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
I just said, ‘Right! I know I can get out of the
North, and go to London, and become an actor! I
mean, Albert did it, and he’s from Salford, so I can
do it!’ I was from Liverpool, I was living in
Liverpool and I just thought ‘Right, that’s it. I’m
gonna be an actor. And I can do it’ And I think
that’s important. But do I reflect on it? No, of
course I don’t think about, ‘Oh look! I’m being so
clever’. You just do what you have to do. It’s very
nice that young actors know my work, and all that.
It’s very nice. I’ve been around a long time! So
obviously they’re going to bump into something
I’ve done at some point.
You turned 61 just last June, gq magazine has
voted you one of the Best Dressed British
Males of all time, you’re a remarkably fit man.
What are the things you do to keep in shape,
and how important is your appearance to you
nowadays?
Well… I haven’t had any surgery, so there’s none of
that! I’ve always been very keen on sport. I was a
tennis player… when I came to California I took up
tennis, because what else do you do? Beautiful
weather, you take up tennis, or surfing. My son’s a
surfer, but I love tennis. But then the old knees
started to go a bit. But I live in a very beautiful town
here in California that has a great golf course… and
so the next thing was I ended up playing golf. And
I’m really happy that I did, because it’s a fabulous
game and good for somebody like me. You know I’m
not the most patient man in the world, and if you’re
not patient on the golf course you pay dearly. So it’s
really good for me, temperamentally, to play golf. It
forces me to calm down, take it easy, and take every
shot at a time and forget the bad ones – which of
course there are many. And even Bobby Jones said
that ‘Golf is a game of recovery’. In my case… that’s
doubly true!
You’ve been doing eight or nine films, like
clockwork (excuse the pun) every year now…
which is a hectic schedule. What can we see of
Malcolm McDowell this coming year?
Well there’s Mary’s film Rag Tale, and Evilenko about
this serial killer (Andrei Cikatilo) in the old Soviet
Union, which I think is an extraordinary film. Very
di∞cult subject-wise, but an absolutely riveting
film. And then I did a sort of Bollywood film, Exitz.
I worked with this wonderful Bollywood actress
Perizaad Zorabian, and she was fantastic. We had
fun and we shot it in London and in Goa, Bombay.
I love that film, it’s very interesting, and it’s
something you can look out for. I’m in a film that’s a
sort of hit here in America now; it’s called In Good
Company, and it stars Dennis Quaid, Scarlett
Johansson, and this young actor called Topher Grace
who’s absolutely wonderful… he’s in a television
show called That ‘70s Show. It’s a wonderful film.
Paul Weitz, who’s a colleague of mine, called me and
asked me to do a scene in it. I only have one scene,
but it’s a fabulous scene! I don’t even take credit for
the film, so you won’t see my name on it, but there
it is Bang!’ And it’s a fabulous film actually, I think
one of the best films I’ve seen this year.
there was a memorial for him at the Royal Court
Theatre in London. Low and behold, out of the blue,
he flew back from South Africa where he’d been
shooting a film. He flew in, and it was Richard. He
came for Lindsay’s memorial, and I was so thrilled
that he did that. And that was the kind of man he
was, you know. I didn’t even know he was going to
appear, and he just said, ‘Well, it’s all been said…
everything I would say has been said by everybody
else’. God bless him… and that was it. He was
adorable, and he was an extraordinary actor,
of course.
When you look back on your extensive body of
work to date, what one film do you cherish the
most, and why?
It would have to be O Lucky Man!, because I started
the whole process by writing the original idea. And
working with Lindsay Anderson, David Sherwin,
and actually seeing the whole thing come together,
getting the money for it, and making it and all that.
Of course it wasn’t very successful at the time, but I
think it has become a sort of classic now; I really
love it, even though it’s flawed. The music by Alan
Price is fantastic too. I’m very proud of it, it’s like a
‘bastard son’. Not many people really know about it
or have seen it because it’s not on dvd. I’m trying
to get Warner Brothers to issue it; they say they’re
going to in 2006, so that’s good news. I
championed the film, and I love it. It’s one of my
favourites for that reason.
If you weren’t acting these past 40 years, what
do you think you would have been doing in life?
Oh my God, I can’t even think. I know at one point
I wanted to go into the Merchant Navy. But thank
God that was knocked out of me. I don’t know why I
wanted to do that, because when I go on a boat now
I get sick! I don’t know whether I’d have done that…
I can’t even think! And I’ve been so lucky. Here I am
sitting in a beautiful valley in California far from the
North West of England… the dark satanic mills of
Liverpool… here I am here, and it has been a great
journey and an extraordinary life really. I’ve been
very very lucky.
In the concluding part of this interview next
issue Malcolm talks about the early part of his
career, including If…, O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork
Orange, and Caligula.
What are your fondest memories of the late
Richard Harris?
Richard was an extraordinary man, and a wonderful
actor, and great raconteur. I remember once, I was
invited to go to Wimbledon. I was there, by chance,
and so was Richard. We were invited into the bbc
Radio commentary box to talk. I don’t know, maybe
there was a rain delay or something. But I had a
wonderful hour, talking, with Richard on the radio.
And it was fabulous, and I remember that, very
distinctly. Of course, Richard had a very ‘explosive’
relationship with Lindsay Anderson. And, in fact,
when Lindsay wanted to rebuke me, he’d say, ‘Be
careful Malcolm, you’re becoming like Richard
Harris’. Which I think, was a compliment. Richard
was a man who lived life to the full, every minute of
it, and you have to admire that. I loved him actually,
he had a great ‘heart’, he really did. He was a softy,
really. I remember, and I don’t think he had seen
Lindsay for years and years. When Lindsay died
Above: Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace in Paul Weitz’s independent feature In Good Company (top). Malcolm McDowell in Lindsay
Anderson’s milestone feature O Lucky Man! (bottom).
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