Saturday, October 4, 2008
Most have undoubtedly seen a film or at least heard of Jeremy Irons before. However, unlike many movie star personas in Hollywood, the classically-trained Brittish actor perfers to keep his lifestyle private from his work and the public eye. Therefore, not too many people know too much about him other than what they might see in one of the numerous film's he's been in.Jeremy Iron's has made a career and reputation for playing villains or morally-flawed protagonists. These roles are further augmented by is his deep-resonating, raspy voice that has proven to be one of his hallmark features. In fact, it was his voice that drew my attention to his work for the first time when he played the voice of Scar in Disney's The Lion King.
Most have undoubtedly seen a film or at least heard of Jeremy Irons before. However, unlike many movie star personas in Hollywood, the classically-trained Brittish actor perfers to keep his lifestyle private from his work and the public eye. Therefore, not too many people know too much about him other than what they might see in one of the numerous film's he's been in.Jeremy Iron's has made a career and reputation for playing villains or morally-flawed protagonists. These roles are further augmented by is his deep-resonating, raspy voice that has proven to be one of his hallmark features. In fact, it was his voice that drew my attention to his work for the first time when he played the voice of Scar in Disney's The Lion King.
Subsequently in his career, he has gone on to play the villains in Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Dungeons & Dragons and the upcoming Western Appaloosa. When he's played protagonists, what's unique about his character choices is that they are usually morally corruptive and self-centered. Though the films in which he has starred may not be as effective in getting their points across, (M. Butterfly comes to mind) his performances always do. In the films he's performed lead roles in such as Dead Ringers, Reversal of Fortune (which he won the Academy Award for Best Acting) and Adrian Lyne's Lolita, his work has truely embodied the inner moral conflict which clashes with the outer actions of the characters. As an artist, he finds a way to convey his own clash of moral humanity against selfish desires to better illuminate the flaws of the character.
I've had the pleasure of not only seeing him perform on stage at the Royal National Theatre in London, but have also had the oppurtunity to hear him talk about his career and life last summer while studying at the Brittish American Drama Academy in Oxford. He brought up many past experiences working with other actors or in specific productions, but what really resonated with me was his answer when a fellow student asked him what inspired him as an actor. He said "I feel inspired when I experience life. Truely experience life. I feel inspired when I feel the wind over my body when I'm going 80 mph in the English countryside. I feel inspired when I stand on the edge of a cliff overlooking the English Channel. I feel inspired when I look at my family." To me, this statement truely embodies what an artist should ideally acquire so that it makes their work that more substantive.
Jeremy Iron's IMDB Resume
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000460/
Jeremy Iron's Wikipedia Page with other links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_irons
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