This week Mackenzie Crook made a visit to the North London Collegiate School to discuss acting and his career with the students. One of these lucky students was nice enough to give a description of the appearance along with some of his quotes. They write:
He's taller than he looks, not just on screen, but close up too...As for his accent, it's fairly 'proper', not the full posh British onslaught, but very different to Ragetti...He basically said that this was the first time he'd ever spoken to a group of people without some form of costume or prop. You could see he felt really exposed without them, and was extremely nervous and shy...Despite this he was intelligent, interesting, articulate... everyone was jotting down what he was saying. And wasn't long into his speech before he proved himself to be amazingly funny, in a self-deprecating manner.He talked a lot about being typecast in comedy roles because of his appearance, and how he really badly wanted to break out of that and get a serious part:
"I do tend to get typecast a lot, which is annoying, but I suppose that's actually worked in my favour, y'know? I mean, there's always going to be someone who looks like drug addict on the cast."
"I've got a lot of parts based on how I look. You know, thin and sickly. Recently, in Pirates and stuff, they've started to pair me up with fat guys for amusing contrast, like Lee, who is getting a little fa-... well. Heh."
Yes, he kept referring to Lee Arenberg (Pintel) as his "fat partner", and then laughing. Methinks this is a private joke from the set...And the humour just kept on coming, and all this interesting information about acting and auditions and how he got started...
"I was doing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in the theatre, and there was this moment when I had to have a huge nervous breakdown on stage. But I only managed to cry about two nights out of five. People kept telling me to imagine terrible things, happening to my family or something. But that doesn't work for me I wanted to tears to be due to the situation I was in, not the 'slaughtered family' tears. They're the wrong sort."
On filming the Pirates of the Caribbean films:
*Contains some minor spoilers on the sequels*
- "I was a big, big Johnny Depp fan before I met him on Finding Neverland. The guy's a legend. And now I've worked with him on four films, and... yeah. Amazing, amazing actor, really focused, totally absorbed in the craft and he plays such unexpected parts, which I really admire. It's not just him looking beautiful on the screen. A really nice guy. He's an idol, my hero."
- "I just finished the second one and we're going to be doing some stuff for the third film soon. We were shooting the two films back to back, which made it pretty messed up; we had no idea where the whole thing was going. I'd shoot, like, half a line and have a week off."
- "I've been so lucky to work with some of the most gifted screen actors around. And directors Gore Verbinksi, who directs Pirates is incredible, one of the best. He's so focused I was saying about how the scripts were all messed up, but he always knows exactly what's going on and what our emotions should be."
- "Really, I'm a prop man. So when I heard my character in Pirates had a wooden eye, I was like... YES!"
- "Usually I just play the clown, but there's a bit in Pirates 2 where I kind of save the day it's a pretty tender moment."
- "I sometimes get really caught up in the emotions, and kind of break out from the comedy. There is actually a moment at the end of Pirates 2, where I... and I hope they got it on camera... I actually shed a tear for Captain Jack."
- "I just got back from the Bahamas, and there was Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy, all these legends... not that I'm dropping names or anything. But they'd tell all these anecdotes around the dinner table and I was just in complete awe. I didn't know half the people they were talking about all famous actors and the like. Next time I'm doing research."
- "The travelling does get you down. I've been away for practically a year on Pirates, and I have a little 3-year-old son."
On Stunt work for Pirates:
*again minor sequel spoiler ahead*
- "There are so many stunts in the next film, it's crazy. They like us to do as much as possible, but I do have a stunt double. I get to fire a few guns and cannons, and swordfight a little, but they do the big stuff. Actually there's this scene, my entrance to the second movie, when me and Pintel my... fat... partner are in this long boat and this HUGE wave comes up and crashes us onto the shore. They had the stunt guys do that. And when they did it... it was so dangerous, it looked like they were going to be crushed to death by that boat. Really... mad. We had a few nasty accidents on set, but they're all okay now, so you can watch the film without feeling guilty."
He was amazing. As I mentioned before, he was shaking like crazy, and twitching and fidgeting. But he closed his eyes and put his hands over his face for about two seconds, and he just... stopped. And then when he opened his eyes again he wasn't shaking at all, his whole expression was different, his accent, his manner, his gestures it looked like a completely different person. He kept it up for a minute and the suddenly he was back to normal, fidgeting away.
...So astonishing.
Then, as it was drawing to a close, he said the most wonderful, poignant thing.
"Acting's quite hard. I mean, you've got doctors, nurses, fire fighters, people making life liveable. But it's the actors and performers who make life worth living. It's a lot tougher than other jobs; you have to work very hard to prove yourself, but in the end... it's the best job in the world."
And a big thanks to this student, sounds like it was a great time!
If anyone else would like to contribute, please feel free to email me!