Posted on 07/30/2007 12:45:09 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
DUBLIN, Ireland
On a typically drizzly Irish day, Peter O’Toole crossed a movie studio lot, protected by a huge green umbrella. He was elegant in white papal robes and red cape, with a characteristic glint in his world-famous eyes.
Spotting a new acquaintance, he called out, “Did you see Page 8 of The Irish Times?” He proceeded to read aloud the report about the Protestant leader Ian Paisley’s criticism of Pope Benedict XVI for the “excommunication of all Christendom” by endorsing a Vatican declaration that Roman Catholicism was the only true church.
O’Toole, 74, had just completed filming his portrayal of a 16th-century pope, Paul III, in Showtime’s much-talked-about series The Tudors, which will return for its second season next spring. Even out of character he seemed happy to discuss religion.
“I am a retired Christian,” he announced playfully, relaxing in his trailer at the end of a hard workday. His costume had been replaced by sweater, jacket, pants and an ascot.
Six decades after his altar-boy childhood and subsequent loss of faith, O’Toole said he looked elsewhere for guidance. “I suggest that an education and reading and facts aren’t bad things on which to ponder a few notions,” he said. But he acknowledged a “very strong and very real” spiritual side to his nature.
“No one can take Jesus away from me,” he said, having just expressed an affection for the Sermon on the Mount (“Blessed are the meek,” etc.). “There’s no doubt there was a historical figure of tremendous importance, with enormous notions. Such as peace.”
O’Toole’s character will spend most of next season in an epistolary battle with Henry VIII (the equally blue-eyed Jonathan Rhys Meyers) over the king’s insistence on a divorce from Catherine of Aragon so he can marry Anne Boleyn. The real pope at the time was Clement VII, but in last season’s brief papal scenes Clement was played by Ian McElhinney. So when O’Toole came on board, the series made him Clement’s successor, Paul III, instead. (By Paul III’s time, Anne was dead. But what’s a little dramatic license?)
The Tudors set can look a bit like the Island of Lost Handsome British Actors. Besides Rhys Meyers (who turned 30 on Friday and plays a particularly young, fit Henry), there are, among others, Jeremy Northam as Thomas More, James Frain as Thomas Cromwell and the newcomer Henry Cavill as Henry’s hunky brother-in-law Charles Brandon.
But the presence of O’Toole caused a stir. Few of the actors have scenes with him because the pope is in Rome, but several managed to be on the set to be photographed with him or shake his hand.
“He’s the only poster I’ve ever had on my wall,” Rhys Meyers said, recalling his youthful adulation after first seeing Lawrence of Arabia. “I just hope that I can hold up against him.”
But Rhys Meyers quickly regained his kingly attitude. “I’d love to have had a scene with Peter,” he said over tea in his own trailer. “It would have been war. It’s war anyway.”
Michael Hirst, who has written every episode of the series so far, said he was delighted to have O’Toole speaking his dialogue. “The pope was extremely cynical, so what I wanted was to hear the character of a man who is spiritual but also worldly,” Hirst said. “He says something about, ‘The French king has guns and soldiers, whereas we must make do with truth and beauty.’”
Hirst mentioned another cherished line. It was part of a discussion of Henry’s infatuation with the cunning Anne Boleyn, and it reflected the past of Paul III, who had mistresses and children.
“You and I have done well to escape the craft of women,” the pope tells Cardinal Campeggio (John Kavanagh). “Celibacy is an immense relief.”
O’Toole, who was married to the British actress Sian Phillips for 20 years (they divorced in 1979), recited the same line during his interview, which ended with a couple of glasses of red wine, one of his current drinks of choice. (The other is whiskey.)
He chatted about other subjects: his lifelong avoidance of physical exercise but enjoyment of sports, his background (born in Connemara, reared in Leeds, England, the son of a racetrack bookmaker), training (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London) and past roles, which have included a cardinal in a television Joan of Arc, angels in The Bible and a British lord convinced he is Jesus in The Ruling Class.
O’Toole recalled having played a pope before, onstage when he was 24 and filled in at the last minute for an older actor. In Becket he was on the other side, playing a king, Henry II, who ordered the murder of an archbishop.
Ireland ping (light celebrity “news”)
Hey tax-chick have you seen this story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6919655.stm
I don’t have any words really, or I would have posted a separate thread about it.
Egad! I’ve been in Londonderry when they were having the Foyle Festival, but I don’t recall any “pride” going on, thank goodness. The IRA march was distressing enough (my mom was trying to get under the seat of the car!).
Put up a thread, and I’ll ping the Ireland list. I’m sure someone will think of something to say!
Can no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?
“Peter O’Toole ...protected by a huge green umbrella...was elegant in white papal robes and red cape, with a characteristic glint in his world-famous eyes.”
What a description, hoping someone will post a picture...
I don’t know how to post the pictures, but this article has a few of O’toole in costume.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/arts/television/26tudo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Oh, thank you so much!
One view of Henry
http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/tudorbio.htm
Henry was about 40 at the time he fell in love with Anne and already anything but “fit.” The confusion of popes and the portrayal of Henry as a romantic figure shows that in this film history takes a real backseat. They should include a disclaimer to the effect that any resemblence to real persons is strictly concidental.
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