This interview is from a British magazine called Film Review, and it's by a guy named Ronald Rynning.
THE KING OF THE WORLD !!!
Leonardo DiCaprio is sitting pretty at the top of the box office with Titanic and starring in dual roles in his new movie, The Man In The Iron Mask.
Can you tell me more about your new film?
I thought there weren't to many movies like TMITIM today. It's about valor and passion and honor, as opposed to this machismo thing that's going on right now with films. There's a lot of apeal in it and the story is so complex. It has so many twists and turns and you really get wrapped up what's happening. When I read the script, I couldn't put it down. I play two parts, the evil king and the twin brother he put in prison in an iron mask, so no one would recognize him. Luis has been brought up on the throne and is tainted in his view of life and how to treat people. He has turned into a menace and is making the people of France starve. Phillipe has spent a lot of time alone and has had a lot of time to think about his situation. He's also had a life of complete mystery because he really has no idea where he came from, what his background is or why he was put in this iron mask for the whole of his teenage life.
How was the mask? Difficult???
It got claustrophobic, and within 10 minutes of it, I could almost bash my head against the wall with frustration. I did get used to it, but I had to fight all the urges to scratch my face off.. At the end of the day I always longed to get rid of the mask. I thought Phillipe would be mentally disabled from being in this mask for so long. Randy (Wallace) saw Phillipe as a Nelson Mandella figure, who was trapped in a place so long and did only good while he was enclosed by himself. Mandella came up ruling his country. The mind must take over the body and he's able to control himself and not completely lose it, which I found very interesting.
What was it like to work with this stellar cast?
I was expecting the worst because you have all these great actors who are all highly acclaimed. I didn't know we would all mesh together. But as soon as we started working, it was a totally relaxed set. All of them just started joking around constantly like schoolboys, and I was definitely included in that.
What about the mannerism and the etiquette of the time?
It was great. I also had to learn how to be a king and all those things that went along with the period. I had to learn to dance and practice the manners to the point where I looked comfortable with them. I didn't want to be doing the things wrong. And I didn't want it to look like it was no big deal, being the king. Louis took it very seriously. So, I had somebody helping me out a lot with the etiquette.
What was it like to work with Randal Wallace??
Randy was fantastic. He had so much enthusiasm and watched in such close details and told me the exact thing to do. I trusted him and just went with it. If I had questions and advice, he was always there for me.
What's it like being a sex symbol?
It's hard for me to talk about being a sex symbol. I'd like to be an actor. The sex symbol stuff just comes and goes.
