UK Premiere Magazine – December 1997

Interviewed by Jane Preston

Ten years after Withnail and I, the lanky teetotaller is still ranting and raving on the set of Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

Meeting Richard E. Grant is a disconcerting affair. You have to be very quick on your feet to keep up with him — not just verbally, for he has the sharpest line of vitriol, but also physically. For Grant simply can’t walk anywhere — he runs as if he were being chased by a pack of hungry hounds.

“Why waste time?” is his response to the sloth-like journalist who is breathlessly pursing him from camera to caravan on the set of Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

In George Orwell’s semi-autobiographical tale, he plays eccentric budding poet, Gordon Comstock, the latest of the unsavory and decidedly unhealthy characters he has built his career around since Withnail and I.

What on earth tempted you to accept your role as the Spice Girls manager in the forthcoming Spice World?

My nine-year-old daughter would never have forgiven me if I’d said no. It’s good comedy, like a Carry On. There’s no swearing or violence, just good fun.

What were the Spices like?

Surprisingly good actresses. They were good fun, forever playing practical jokes and winding me up. They also wrote the part with me in mind, which was flattering.

So how does it feel to be the thinking women’s-and every Spice Girls-crumpet?

Me, a sex-symbol? I’m tall, skinny scarecrow with a face as long as a tombstone, so how other people see me is a revelation.

Given that you’re happily married (to dialect coach Joan Washington), does it make you uncomfortable when a women makes a pass at you?

Harrison Ford said to me that you give off a stink whether you’re available or not, like an animal in mating season. Perhaps if I looked like Harrison Ford I would be besieged, but I don’t, so I’m not. However, there are groupies out there and if they want something, they don’t care who’s in their way, least of all a wife or a partner. I’ve watched groupies try it on with actors who completely fall for it.

But not you?

Absolutely not. After my parents’ divorce I was convinced that if I ever trusted anyone with my heart, I would run the risk of having it broken, so I shied away. But I was lucky enough to fall in love with the right person, who wiped out any doubts I had.

You’re teamed with Helena Bonham Carter again in Keep the Aspidistra Flying. Are you two close?

I worked with Helena on Twelfth Night and I suffered unrequited love for her. In this one I get to marry her and have a baby with her, which made up for the loss in the other film. Helena makes me laugh more than anyone else I’ve ever worked with, except Julie Waters, which is saying something. It’s a definite advantage when it comes to doing sex scenes. Especially ones like ours, where we’re doing it in the woods. It was very cold and I was asked to wear a throng so they could see my backside when I climbed on top. There were 60 people standing in anoraks watching us do the most intimate thing that human beings can do. Fortunately we were great mates and could share the embarrassment.

Somehow I can’t imagine you shying away from sex scenes?

I grew up in a country where polygamy was the culture (Swaziland), but I was never a lady-killer. I was a pimple spotter more than anything else. I had terrible acne, which does tend to thwart your sexual ambitions hugely. I had no option-I grew a long fringe and sulked for years.

Your father was the minister of education in Swaziland. Did you have an exciting life, filled with balls and banquets?

Ambassadors would fly in from all over the world, and when they found no smart embassy waiting to entertain them they’d go to all the ex-pats’ houses cocktails. Everyone knew everyone else. No marriage stood a chance of surviving more than three weeks in Mbabane – there was nothing to do except have affairs. It was the perfect dress rehearsal for Los Angles.

When did you move to London?

As soon as I decided that I wanted to act. It was a shock – so many white people. I had always been part of a majority, clearly distinguishable from the rest of the populace; suddenly I became part of a large majority.

Why did you add the E to your name?

I don’t like it, to be honest, but when I applied for my Equity card, my name coincided with another actor’s, so I had to insert the E.

What do you find the hardest aspect of making movies?

I do always feel sorry for hairdressers on movie sets. I mean, what on earth can they do with these arts’ pubes I’ve got for hair?

Do you have any career regrets?

When Philip Kaufman cast me in Henry and June he asked me to play my character totally straight, like Jimmy Stewart, without any excesses. So I did. I received hundreds of letters saying,”Why did you play such a bore?” Not that I mind. I’ve never never had a problem with playing any role. As long as you pay me a salary I’ll do anything: shave my head, wear high heels. I arrived in England nearly 20 years ago with a passport, two suitcases and blind hope. Now I have a wife, child, house, car … and I am incredibly happy. I know that doesn’t make headlines these days, but the transformation has been so enormous it’s like living two lives.

— JANE PRESTON

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