Rupert Friend Q&A

2 months ago 24th Sep 10:21

Nominated for Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards 2005 for his role in The Libertine, Rupert Friend has subsequently more than justified that faith.

He has since appeared as Mr. Wickham in Joe Wright’s celebrated take on Pride and Prejudice, in Nick Love’s contemporary thriller Outlaw and as a Nazi lieutenant in Mark Herman’s The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas.

Yet the 27 year-old actor, who hails from Oxfordshire, takes his biggest role to date in Stephen Frears’ Chéri.

Based on the Paris-set novel by Colette, Friend plays the title character a spoilt member of the Belle Epoque who falls for the much older courtesan, Léa de Lonval (Michelle Pfieffer). Below, Friend talks about what it meant to play Chéri, what it was like to do a sex scene with Michelle Pfieffer and why he’s not afraid to play in more costume dramas.

What first drew you to Chéri ?

Primarily, it was a very complicated and well-drawn relationship, which dealt very well with love and time and beauty. I was really intrigued because of that.

What made you connect to your character?

I didn’t at first, largely because he didn’t seem to have a character. As Léa says, one of the weird things about him is that he’s this blank page with no opinions or desires or wants. So it’s very hard to know how you play it, because there’s no character. So the great challenge for me over the time I was preparing it was to unearth that vulnerable little boy who’s hiding behind that little charade you see.

Aside from this, what did you think about Chéri as a person?

I think it was the idea of somebody who has everything they could possibly want, and none of it means a thing. What happens when you’ve got the lot? When you can have any woman you want, when you can have any clothes, any possessions, go anywhere, do anything?

What happens when there are no challenges, when there’s no boundaries and no struggle? What happens is you become almost removed from your own life, which I think we see in Chéri. You become so apathetic, you are heading for some kind of crash. There is nothing to engage you with the fabric of your life, and that’s a terrifying thought.

Were the books by Colette useful?

Very. I didn’t read The Last of Chéri, because I didn’t want to know what happened. But the book that’s called Chéri was my Bible all the time. The thing about Colette is that she has written characters that have a perfect, smooth veneer, but each one has tiny fissure cracks, and there’s only three or four in each of them, but they run so deep.

It was a help for me to read that, because you see this guy who seems to have got it sorted, and nothing can phase him, but you just see the desperate loneliness, and the desperate need for something, which is almost nameless. It broke my heart when I read it.
         
How do you think the film reflects the book?