Transcripts For WHUT Charlie Rose 20111227

grow in me. this... morbid curiosity, desire to get behind the other side of the camera. i found it a mixture of scary and thrilling. >> rose: jude law and ralph fiennes coming up. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: jude law is here. he is a two-time academy award nominated actor. he trained in the theater before making a name for himselfs in films like "the talented mr. ripley," "cold mountain," and "closer." here's his look. >> you're telling me, penny pinching and middle-class all you can think about is your bank balance. >> this is intolerable! >> no gentleman has the slightest id what his bank balance is! you're absurd, telling everyone how they ought to live! you're vulgar. >> you can't quit on me now! i put too much into this. >> what do you want know do? wheel in there and finish the job myself? >> they are going to find me. you still don't understand, do you? when they look at you, they don't see you anymore, they only see me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> if youould see the inside of whatever you want to name it most, the spirit, that'swhat i'll be. i thin i'm ruined. they kept trying to put me in the ground. i wasn't ready. i myself subscribe more to the european philosophy of life. my priority of leaning towards wine, women... well, actually, that's about it. wine and women. tell me you're not in love with me. >> i'm not in love with you. >> you just lied. i'm the stranger. i don't know how to be honest. that's why i like metaphors because what i want to say is that there's a circle and i'm not in it. and that's just to justify because there's a part of me so dark that sees that circle as a ca. i cry all the time. >> you do not! >> yeah, i do. more than any woman you've ever met. >> you don't have to be this nice! >> it happens to be the truth. a good book, great film, a birthday card, i weep. >> (laughs) >> i'm a major weeper. on day one there were two people with it andhen there were four and then it was 16 and you think you've got in the front of you. but next it's 256 and then it's 65,000 and it's behind you and above you and all around you. in 30 steps it's a billion. >> rose: his new movie is called "sherlock holmes: a game of shadows." it's the secret to "sherlock holmes" which opened in 2009. here is the trailer. >> what do you see? >> everything. that is my curse. oh, how i've missed you, holmes. >> have you? i've barely noticed your absence >> this is the most important case of my career. >> what are we up against here? >> the most formidable criminal mind in europe. professor james moriarty. >> it should prevent the collse of western civilization no pressure. >> who are you two? >> concerned citizens. >> mr. holmes? i have a feeling you're in danger. >> are you sure you want to play this game? i'm afraid you'd lose. >> oh, dear. >> i agree, it's not my best disguise. >> you kw my methods. shall we go to work? >> your clock is ticking. >> do you trust he? >> no. >> that's my wife! >> i timed it perfectly! >> just follow my lead. >> make it count! >> i'd say that counts. >> you do seem excited, manic... >> i am. >> verging on psychotic. you should have brought you a sedative. >> rose: i am pleased to have jude law back at this table. welcome. >> hello. >> rose: hello. >> good to be backed. >> rose: so when you looked at that, all those roles, where are they in your consciousness? >> it's very unusual watching something like that back because i'm not one to... i've seen my work, i do watch my work once it mes out, but then it's very much a part of the past and it's not forgotten but the experience or the lessons and... that i've learned from it, you know, they're more a part of me than the actual... the film itself. so watching i quite amusin especially like that one after the other because it's work i haven't seen for many years. u know, i always say, it's interesting. i look at that stuff and term experience of king it. i don't necessaly judge the film. i remember what it was like working with robin wright or in italy with mat damon. those are the memories that were regurgitated. >> rose: why do you have on a hat? >> i have a hat... >> rose: a beard? >> because i am making a film in london of anna kerr ren that and i'm playing karenna... i'm playing karenn. if. >> rose: that's the role to play. >> i thought they'd ask know play bronsky but then i found i'm 20 years older. so they took my hairline and brought it back here. >> rose: so that's for the movie only? >> it is. >> rose: what brought yo to play the role? a director? >> joe right, the director, had a fantastic vision of how to take a well-known and much loved and to put a really... i don't want to give too much awa. rticular and stiltized and elegant take on it. he cast a wonderful cast and it had a phenomenal adaptation by tom stoppard. >> rose: oh, wow! set in the same time? >> set in the sa time and in russia. but we've not left a studio in london yet. that's all i can say. >> rose: "sherlock holmes." how do you see dr. watn? >> well, it's been an interesting experience because, of course, i think like eryone elsehen theypproached me three years ago i saw dr. watson... i didn't know the books, i have to be honest. i'd seen a couple of the t.v. shows. i always saw dr. watson as the bumbling slightly foolish sidekick and certainly the elder sidekick and the concept always was well, go back to the books and we think there's a misinterpretation. that, in fact, they're missing the energy of watson and, indeed of holmes. the physicality of watson. they're forgetting he had just served in the army, that he was a decorated soldier, they was a man of action and also a worthy sidekick rather than a fool to make holmes look smarter and sharper and better than he already is. that was the idea and so i went away and read the books and actually, like any good piece of writing that interpretation allowed, that's why i think conan doyle work has stood the test of time. fantastic relationship, beautiful characters, but also there's space they want to interpret and read it in any way one wants and, indeed, wattson, you realize he's younger than perhaps he's often been portrayed. he's cerinly more physical and much more involved. 's recountg the stories, at the forefront of a lot ofhem with holmes disappearing in disguise and coming in and out and so i now... to answer your question finally, i see him as a wonderful completion of... he's like one half of a hole. holmes is the eccentric, he needs watson to ground him. holmes is the genius he needs watson to remind him of responsibity. holmes is the sort of... he's also the storyteller and therefore you could ceci the audience. >> rose: when you decided you were going to do this the first time and then the second time did you look at everything and see these other interpretations or did you say "i won't do that at all?" >> no, i read the books. that was a conscious decision. like i said, i've seen some of the basil rathbone as a kid. i've seen the jeremy brett t.v. series. in fact, i appeared in one when i was about 14 years old. but i decided to read the books and use them as the source material. and they are so rich. and also incredibly enjoyable to read and addictive. you get in one and some of them, as i'm sure youknow, are very short so you can read two or three in a night. >> rose: he you and downey come out of this with a friendship? >>ery much so. yeah. i mean, i've been very fortunate so far in my life in that i've worked with a lot of people who have been pleasant, enjoyae work companions and downey and i really hit it off and we've continued a friendship outside of work where possible. he lives in los angeles, i live in london. but i love working with him. i really enjoy the experience. he's incredibly imaginative and demanding. he loves changing. he loves playing and we are very much a due know who that this so that raises my game, i feel. >> rose: how does watson see sherlock? >> he... watson, i suppose, sees him as the friend one can't resist but knows one should resist. he's the temptation. but he's also theey to a side ofimself that is... the adnture he can't put to bed, the adventure he can't ignore. in himself. i think he's also in awe of him. he's in awe of this alternative way of living. >> rose: with genius? >> his genius. his process. his viewf humanity. >> rose: and guy richie? >> guy w... guy is the most extrrdinary gent on set. >> rose: (laughs) why am i not surprised? >> he's so collaborative but you sit around thinking he's like a conductor. any idea if anyone goes if it's a good idea and he's great at encouraging other people todo their job well. he runs a very happy set. >> rose: all of this is a sign of confidence. >> yes, it is, i guess. great confidence and he's smart, you know? he knows when to let robert just riff and to let me and robert play and he also knows when to cut back and be dad and say "right, no more, remember we have to do this, we have to hit this." but it's been a very exciting evolution of a writing process. we take what's written, we look at what we have to do, we'll break it down, rip it apart, we'll add... we carry what we call the bible with us where we've been through the tome of work by conan doyle and we pick out conversations that we like or little descriptive sentences that we like. we save those and we'll dip in and out of that and use that in the script then hone it down and that will usual be the scene we shoot for the day. >> rose: when you finished the first one, did you guys say "wouldn't it be nice to do this again?" >> i thi we were saying that while we were filming the first one. >> rose: we're on to something here? >> i think it wasn't that we knew we were on to something but we enjoyed it very much and we felt confident that we h found a new and we felt refreshing and respectful and entertaing ultimately, very entertaining interpretation of this famous story or famous couple. famous man, adventurer. and as robert rather wonderfully said "if everyone else likes it, we'll do another one." and fortunately it was a great success and we ran into the second one really sort of... as soon as our feet hit the ground. >> rose: was it easier to do it the second time because you've already got the character? if you've honed in to who he is... >> it's certainly easier for me. for the actors it's easier because, like you say, you've gotten the character inside you and there are little tweaks that you can... little characteristics you can slop straight into. i think the challenge is not being overconfident with the... you can see sequels come out that are a sort of saggier version. we wanted to really raise the game. we wanted to embrace what worked and encourage what worked and look at what worked but also make it better, sharper, funnier faster. and we were fortunate in that the idea was to carry onhere the first one left off which led us straight into what is a slightly more accurate conan doyle story. it it's a littleloser to any of the books than the first one. it's an amalgamation but mostly leaned on "the final problem" which is the hunt formoriarty. so we had a very substantial story which really helped. >> rose: do you think you will do another one? are we on to the third? >> i would like that do another one. again, to coin robert's phrase, if people wanted us to do another one i uld happily. i think there's... well, you know, you look at this incredible collection of work with conan doyle's. there's lots of meat in there for watson and holmes to think sync their teeth into. >> rose: how is noomi? >> she had a challenge, bless her. not only was she walking into a kind of very old boy's experience, she was walking into an old boy's experience who had done it before. >> rose: and done it well and succesully. >> and she had also just learned english. d she came and s's a fantastic... >> rose: just learned english. >> yeah, she'd been speaking it for like 18 months. she's got a great spirit, noomi, she was very feisty. she was constantly reminding us that, you know, her character rightly had to be really real and she became a really important part of the trip tick and a real emotional core to the adventure and she's fearless. she's ry bold and very physical, too, which is important because it was a physical experience. the job was physical. >> rose: is this the first thing she's done since... >> i think it was the first after "the girl with the dragon tattoo" trio. >> ros the swedish... >> but she's just played the lead in the new ridley scott. so she's a great talent. >> rose: very good. here's a scene. take a look. >> your hedge needs trimming. >> where am any >> i don't care where you are. i'm not goin to play the game. i have to catch the last... train. oh, that's you, i'm afraid. i lose. game over. still don't see me. (laughs) >> i'm not going out with you dressed like that. >> would you prefer i joined you in a military dress with that heinous hand made scarf. >> oh, ho i've missed you, holmes. >> have you? i barely noticed your absence. then again, i'm knee deep in research extracting fluids from the adrenal glands of sheep and design mig own urban camouflag all the while we're in a decisive break through of the most important case of my career. >> rose: where was downey, here, who's great in this >> he should be right here. >> rose: where is he? >> funnily enough, the two of us now have a great time... >> rose: divided up? >> no, we on the whole do everything tot together. >> rose: he doesn't like he? >> i think he doesn't feel like he's been innovated. charlie, we have to sort this out. if there's somebody i'd like to see around this table... >> rose: it would be him. this is unforgivable on whoever's part. to see the two of you together. did he think he was not innovated? >> he was jealous let me put it that way. we were running through our into tin ray and i said i'm doing charlie it was literally how come you're doing tt? i want to do that. >> rose: so we'll bring you back together another time. >> good. >> so let me look at some of those things we saw. of all those characters, what's the... is there a cnection between onand the other and the other other... do you have some method of which you choose the people you want to play? do you have some gding light? to depend on whatever you did before. does it dedepend on the offer you have? >> no, there's no connection and there's certainly no plan. there's no map. >> rose: (laughs) clearly. an examination would suggest there's no plan. >> no, indeed. but if anything one is ary action of the last. i quite like the idea of keeping my interest up to do something very different because you feel like you've covered a certain territory or period or a certain type although that minimizes the character. but ere's... if anything it's a reaction against what i've just done. on the whole i'd like to think... it's interesting. for me i've always looked at it as... there's always been a guiding light. initially i would say in my 20s i was just trying to prove variety and i think throughout the bester part of my 30s i was trying to dig out stuff i've never done and now more than ever i'm just interested in who's directing it. there's a certain point where you think okay where am i... i want to be stretched, i want to be taught. i want to do new things but that comes from being... >> rose: youid two with the late anthony minghella. >> tee. >> rose: cold mountain... >> ripley and breaking and entering. >> rose: wow. >> yeah. >> rose: a man who died way too young. >> truly. >> re: he said all these amazing things about you, as you must know. >> yeah, we had a very extraordinary friendship, working friendship. we shared an awful lot of... there's more similarities of where we lived and interests and how we like to work. we weren't great buddies away from work. we didn't spend an awful lot of time together but at work he had a... i find it quite hard to talk about him, funnily enough, without getting quite upset. he had a real key into my heart, myoul. and i always felt very... very safe in his hands and i felt that he was someone i was happy to reveal sides of myself to on camera and that he f he guided me i really trusted him. i felt very... not only was he capable but nurturing. >> rose: do youeel vulnerable in the hands of som directors? >> yeah. there have been the odd occasion. when you wonder where it... where he's going or whether what you've just given is going to be either used or, indeed, appreciated. again, i'm fortunate. i've had pretty much... pretty much majority of good experiences and sometimes feeling vulnerable in their hands has led for a positive exrience. >> rose: it brought up things in you... >> it shouldn't always be a party. you're at work. if someone wanted to feel a certain way th's a good thing, too. if they want it to be uncomfortable and awkward, that's a decision. but i think it's more if you're going to give something which i think is what film acting is, you give and then the director... the post-production is such a huge part of film making, unli theater where it's you performing there and then. if you're going to give, you hope that you're on the same page so that what you see at the end is close tohat you were both trying to get to. >> rose: but you don't know that until you see? >> you never know. certainly if you're not involved... >> rose: you don'talk about that along the way? >> yes, of course. you talk about it... you certainly talk about it along the way and you hope but unless you have a hand in the editing room or say if you're a producer as well as an actor, if you're just an actor for hire you think oh, gosh, it's become that. and that can sometimes be a surprise to put it mildly. >> rose: the last time you were here we talked aut "hamlet". >>es. >> rose: since then, even though we had a long conversation with you with different versions of hamlet we have enlarged that idea. we're doing a whole series called "why shakespeare" talking about how actors approach a particular role or scene and how directors staged it or whether the ideal was to make it contemporary or not. witness one that you did. and you said when i brought upham let that for a while you felt like you owned it. you'd given so much to it and because it is the role to have, i assume, as an actor. >> i would certainly say it's the most rewarding part i've ever read or played. >> rose: because? >> because not only do you have on paper some of the most beautiful intro speckive the and revealing speeches written in the english language, you also have the opportunity to imbue them with yourself. it becomes a very personal journey so somehow you are playing a character that ultimately is a journey into your very... your own being. >> rose: that's why you got so many good interpretations and they can all be right. because it's a reflection ofwho the actor is. >> and it that has capacity to make all of them right. yet also on top of that it's just great story. off great journey. you see faust thys is a great character with many levels that allow u to interpret... it's not a brilliant story, the way the structure fall ace part for the middle. "hamlet" is this phenomenal journey which has every peak, every trough rhythmically worked out. >> rose: you said once that you don't play hamlet, hamlet plays you. >> yeah. i guess... >> rose: do you remember that? >> i do. (laughs) i think... yeah, i kept saying that, actually, because i was exhausted every night after... >> rose: playing it again. >> yes, indeed. yes, he does, because the spirit of him, as i said, you sort of... it tattoos itself on you for a time. for the duration of your run. >> rose: and even late >> and then it' psed on. >> rose: you said as you sat down for a while you didn't go see other hamlets because you felt like you... he still was within you. >> there have been a couple of productions in london in the last two years since i finished... because i finished my production here in new york both of which have been very well reviewed and both the parts are played actors i admire greatly. but i just didn't feel... funnily enough i think alan rickman said that to me. said "you won't want to see this play for a fe yea because..." and he was right. you feel a sense of... it's not ownership, it's almost that it's... if you're playing something that's happeng to your emotions on that level where you feel that you're really putting yourself out there as in the e a human strip. a human revealing what it is in the sense to be a human, a character that's revealing what it is to feel alive and to play with the idea of being alive and dead and mad and not mad every night i think the key in you just hearing that dialogue would open. i was a liltcared of it. and i think the idea of seeing someone else interpret that or try and take that on this close wasn't somewhere... >> you're not suggesting that somehow you would see somebody do something and you would say damn, i wish i thought of that. >> maybe that, too. aughs) why not? oh, missed that. oh, that's how you say that line >> rose: ii could do it again i would do it that way. >> yes, funnily enoh, i said to when i finished it i said "i found it hard to find anything i wanted to play." and he said "do it again." because he's played it several times. >> rose: are you going to do it again >> no, i don't thinkly. there are too many other parts. >> rose: does it have to do with orders, what comes into the table, as to whether you go into the theater? because you have to plan these things and now that you have kids is it more interesting to stay at home, be close to home? yes, it is. it's certainly... it's more fun having that routine but having said that when an opportunity arises that is irresistible and an opportunity for the family, you know, upping sticks and moving to an extraordinary new town or country a wonderful experience and i think it's not... you know, it's easy to look at the down side and say gosh that can be an uplooefl. but it's exciting to take your family to a new experience. i'm quite methodical about planning it. >> rose: methodical? >> yeah, i'm aware of keeping an eye on how long we've been away and honk we've been at home and how long i've bn on screen or not on screen on stage and i quite like to be... to keep an eye on that sort of thing. >> rose: great to see you here, thank you very much. congratulations again. >> thank you. >> rose: jude law will be back and talk about anna when you do that? >> i hope i can come here and do that. i'm not sure we can yet. we'll see. we'll see. >> rose: why couldn't you >> well, th actress has got a wonderful film job which she really wants to do so we won't be doing it early next year and you know the momentum is lost sometimes with these things. but it was a part i... i fell in love with playing this role. >> rose: did you really? beyond expectations? >> way beyond expectations. and i really... i really loved working eugene o'neill. he's an extraordinary writer and it's... but there's a future to this piece, i think. i think we're going to find another way of doing it. whether it's new york, back in lob don, on film, somehow we're going to do it again. >> rose: thank you for coming. >> my pleasure. >> rose: jude law. ralph fiennes is here. he is a classically trained stage actor and began his career at the royal shakespeare company. here's a look at some of his work. >> they cast a spell on you, you know, the jews. when you work closely with them like i do you see this. they he this power, it'slike a virus. some are infected by this virus. they should be pitied not punished. they should receive treatment because it's as real as typhus, i feel it all the time. it's a matter of money? hmm? >> you're offering me a bribe? >> a bribe, no. no, please. a gratuity. there a whirlwind from morocco against which they defend themselves with knives. and then there's the gibbly from tunis. >> the gibbly? >> the gibbly. which rolls and rolls and rolls and produces a lot of strange and nervous conditions. >> the dice... the dice that you played on the train, was it dutch hazards? >> yes. it was. we also played another game. >> old british, perhaps? >> in new south wales it's known as seventh man? >> and who provided the peter? >> the peter? >> was it unknown to you? >> no, i think it's quite familiar. >> (laughs) i thought so! would you be so kind as to excuse your character? the ministry needs it. >> unfortunately it does. >> so tell me, what is the secret? >> he's a good man. >> i was aaid you say that. you see, goodness has so little factional values. >> what does have fictional value? >> a minister of home security. i'm saying he could be in the right hands. >> can we get away from the service for a moment? >> are you changing the subject what do you think that arnold and tessa were doing at the lake? >> oh, i see. >> they did spend enough time together to give everyone the impression that they were... >> come on, you know what this place is like. you can't have sex, you have other people's sex. real or imagined. >> who's this? >> claude, arnold's boyfriend. >> i'd never have guessed. >> harry potter. the boy who lived come to die. avada kadavra! >> rose: when you seell that, from "harry potter" t "constant gardener," thi life in film. what do you think? >> it's odd. i feel odd. >> rose: (laughs) >> i feel a mixture. >> a slightly uncomfortable feeling. it's always slightly odd seeing your own work played back at you a few years later. >> rose: but it's such an interesting body of work for you. >> a lot of different directors there, different kinds of films, yeah. >> rose: has this life been what you hoped it would be? this life as an actor? terms of the professional part of it? the doing of the role. >> i've had opportunities in roles and things i don't think... i can't believe they've happened. it's been so extraordinary in a eat way. when i started off as an actor i was only focused on a theater. film seemed like well, if it happens, it happens over there. i didn't decide to be an actor. i do not decide to go to drama school because i was determined to be in film. i loved films, don't get me wrong. but they seemed like miles and miles away to the lucky few that got ther but i loved... shakespearwas a key ingredient in my ambition to be an actor. so going to the royal shakpeare company and national theater working with amazing stage actors, not necessarily famous but great stage actors, that was fantastic. i thought when i was offered henry vi at the royal shakespeare company i thought that was my greatest break. i remember driving up to stratford and playing classical music in my car and driving through the english countryside and there i was going to be... >> rose: (laughs) >> i didn't... >> and then three or four years latewhen film work started then it was exciting and at times alarming and shinder will's list was the one where it felt like a whole other... >> you had entered a new place. >> rose: tell me about "coriolanus." >> "coriolanus" was a part in a play that i was aware of and interested in at drama school. in fact, i remember we had a... it was a semicompetition about speaking and i remember i learned one of the speeches from "coriolanus" and at that time had been to see ian mckel lan play hit in thatiol theater and that was when it really struck me. i read the play and i saw it. then at harvard, i suppose, what i thought about it. and with jonathan kent that directed the "hamlet" that i did we did aouble bill with "richard ii" and "coriolanus" and that was the seed for it being a film was planted playing it on stage and i couldn't let go of it and felt that it was... it could be a dynamic political thriller, film, youere to be ruthless in editing it. >> rose: and set it in modern times. >> i like shaex peer set in modern times. >> rose: i do, too. >> i really like it. i think... it's old news in the theater. people have been doing this for years and years. nothing new at all. but i loved "romeo and juliet," i loved the unapologetic here's thisorld, helicopters and motorcars and petrol stations and here's the language they speak. i loved it and i suppose that was my key as a film... shakespeare film, that was a key reference for me. >> rose: and you wanted to direct? >> well, i had no one else banging down the door to direct "coriolanus" and i... >> rose: please, please, please direct "coriolanus". >> and when i thought about what it could be as ailm and i shared these ideas with the great john logan who is a key part in this film, it is what he brought to in the his screenplay but the more i thought about it, the more i felt that i wanted to direct it. i felt i had a strong idea about how it could be done. >> rose: here is the trailer for the film. take a look. >> my name is caius martius coriolanus. if ever again i meet him, he's mine. or i am his. >> heaven bless my lord and husband. >> you are a theater to the people. >> call me. >> my look is worthy of death! >> i will fight against my country >> and then die. >> coriolanus ha grown from man to dragon. >> rose: make you a fool of me! >> sweet. that's my revenge. >> rose: wow. (laughs) i should say, the cinema foger if is the same cinematographer that did... >> barry ackroyd. he also shot "united 93" and works with pall green grass. >> and gerald butt her have in this with you, vanessa redgrave. >> brian cox. >> rose: how did you find directing? or did it find you or what? >> we had, i suppose, this emerging curiosity that became determination to direct this and it was something that was starting to grow in me, this... morbid curiosity, desire to get behind the other side of the camera. i found ate mixture of scary and thrilling and once i suppose i'd cracked the first three or four days and we were on schedule and we had momentum then i think my confidence got stronger but i couldn't... not for a second could i... everyday was a huge challenge. i was playing coriolanus as well. at was great team around me, barry ackroyd was one of them, great designers, great script supervisors. >> rose: did you love being in the editing room? >> that was the biggest learning curve becae i've been on lm sets and i knew how... i'd experienced good film sets. i've watch sod many good directors. that territory wasn't new to me but the editing was a huge challenge. i went through so many different sort of weird awarenesss of the film just seeing all the raw material is bamboozling. i think you learn to mentally edit when you're watching. >> rose: indeed. >> you start off watching you see a whole take and if it's not good you think "it's not all good." you have tolearn to kind of look at it and. >> rose: know you can pick and choose. >> you can pick and choose. i think hard to watch myself and... >> rose: is it a physical thing or a performance thing? >> well, i mean i think everyone's hypersensitive about how they look and sound. i think most peoplere kind of... i think... >> rose: can you imagine having to do that everyday? >> everyday, everyday. and i think the actor could be the actor can indulge himself in the wrong way. it's hard to grapple with it. but i had a great editor who... the other thing is the editor put stuff together very quickly and you think oh, it works, it works. then the other part of the learning curve to see was well, it's good but there's other stuff we need to find. and that was another journey to go, yes, this was working but i thght we had this and can we try that? and it took me a while to have the confidence to say that. >> rose: tell me about coriolanus. who he was and what shakespeare intended and why this is such a great story. >> it's based on a plu tark... a greek historian wrote these lives and... historical lies of greek and roman figures. very brave, very grajs you but incredibly arrogant and proud. shakespeare took this story and made it into a play. he haded his ow.. built up characters that plutarch hadn't developed but it's a play about a crisis of leadership. at the centeof it is a mother/son rationship. >> rose: vanessa? >> vanessa playing volumnia. but it's an exposé of perennial political dysfunion that we're all part of and social dysfunction. i think it's quite a bleak piece i think it's properly tragic and i think that tragedy is something that you... you don't get a nice tidy message at the end of it. it should disturb you possibly. >> rose: is it also about the corruption of power? >> yes, it is, absolutely. about also the continue turnaround of power gera's character has a speech "one fire drives out one fire, one nail rights by rights fault strengths by strengths do fail." the continual one fire flames out another fire, one nail punches out another nail. we spin the turnaround of power. it never, ever stops. >> i've never asked this and i've always wanted to know this. as an actor do you have to know in order to be as good as you want to be what the lines are that you're following? do you have to be as much in your aracter in the other person'sharacter as you are in your character so that you are perfectly in perfect pitch as you listen to what he is saying in your response? >> absolutely. >> rose: you have to know those lines as well as y know your own. >> completely. because acting isall about listeng and reacting. so you can... >> rose: so what you hear in the way that actor says those lines give you a certain way to go. >> rose: >> absolutely. >> rose: what was the hardest thing about acting for you? >> acting generally? >> rose: yeah. or specifically. or not. was it not? >> no, it's all... it's... i think as you get older... when i was younger you have had v a kind of hunger and gung go... bring it on. and i think you suddenlyrealize as you get older wow, there's... to become another human being is a really big task. and it's sort of... you shouldn't overcomplicated with anxiety or neurosis but it's a huge thing. it's amazing to watch vanessa redgrave in this film because she sort of... apparently simply seems to inhabit something while the rest of us are kind of working hard to get there. >> rose: like a natural... >>ose: >> how to drop into something. people ask about research, you can talk about research again and again and again. there's an imaginative... a grace of imagination that allows i think when it works, when you have that moment you can... you imagine something and often it's connected to who you are and i think often when actors give their best work whe they find the linkage between them and the part. >> rose: is it because they see something else in that character that either answers question about themselvess? >> possibly, yet. >> rose: orsomething they identify with? >> it can be a bit of them or something they want to be. i mean, and what's the relationship between coriolanus and gerard butler's character? >> well, shakespeare esn't explain why they're enemies, he just says they're enemies. it start office here, we hate each other. but coriolanus, within their enmity and hatred there's admiration. >> rose: exactly. >> and the admiration is later on sort of exposed as being a kind of infatuation and gerard butler's character has a speech welcoming coriolanus to his encampment which is like the speech of a lover. >> rose: right. but borne out of respect? >> borne out of respect but also out of a weird worrier... it's like sportsmen. like "you're looking in great shape." it's only a few beats away from a kind of... from love making. it's that kind of... but it's... the undercurrent is there very mucho. it's written about and it's there to be played. the sortof... i don't think there's a conscious homoerotic lust but it's almost on the surface. >> rose: borne out of the whole range of... the admiratio, respect, awe, all of that. all things tt you want to see in yourself you see in that other person even though you might think that that person is evil and you're not. >> yes, yes. >> rose: you wanted to do this always because it was one of your favorite plays of shakespeare? >> it became one of my favorite plays as i was doing it. it's a very angry play full of confrontation. it's quite aggressive to an audience as a piece. it says "come on, come on!" he as a figure has contempt for the people. "get you home, you fragments." his whole speech to the people is "hang you, hang them, hang ye." i mean, he's... his first line is "what's the matter you rogues that rubbing the poor eh of your opinion make yourselves scabs." i mean he calls them scabs. and so i think he comes initially sticking ainger up at the people and by implication i think at the audience and i think the audiences back off of him. sorry. >> rose: no i want to show you... a, because we've been talking about her. that is scene between you and vanessa. here it is. >> must i with base tongue give my noble heart a lie that it must bear? well, i'll do it. away my disposition and possess me some spirit. but a beggar's tong may motion through my lips. i will not do it lest i cease to honor my own truth and by my body's action teach my mind a most inherent baseness. >> even just looking at her, even though that was your piece. >> it's a shame you didn't get to see her response to that? >> rose: what was it? >> well, just her... the range of emotions in her face. that scene. >> rose: so where might you take this? this whole notion of directing? are you now on the prowl for other things to do fo yrself or even if itdoesn't... if you' not an actor? >> i would like toirect again. i love the experience of it. >> and finding some balance between the two between acting and directing? >> yeah. >> rose: but i hear some people say to me they started... some actors have said they started directing as a protection when the roles no longer came i would have something else to do. with you it doe't seem like that at all. it's something you want to do because you wanted to be able to see the act of film making somebody else's perspecti a you wanted to bring whatever you would learn to that act. >> rose: i also felt the kind of passion for this piece that i wanted... i felt it could be... it's about now. and i just had this weird compulsion to make it. alongside i think a strong... a keenness to get behind. >> rose: do they say you have to act in it? >> no, unapologetically i said i want to do it. i thought i had unfinished business with the part on stage. i felt it's a very difficult part. >> rose: unfinished business? >> i felt i hadn't quite got there. rose: do you know why? >> well i think it grew, it matured a bit but the hard thing about coriolanus is that he's angry a lot of the time. and he's not... he hasn't got many soliloquies, shakespeare doesn't give you much whe he can reveal to you the audience once what's going on. i just felt i didn't fd all the modulations and differences. i felt there's more work to on it. >> rose: here's another clip trying to win back reman citizens' favor. roll tape. your voices, for your voices i have fought. watched for your voices. for your voices bear of wounds two dozen odd. battles thrice six i have seen and heard of. for your voices have done many things, some less some more. your voices. indeed i would be consul. >> rose: congratulations. >> tha you, chaie. >> rose: this is great. "coriolanus" opens in new york and los angeles, it will be released nationallyon january 20. thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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