| Jodie Whittaker Gets Schooled By Peter O'Toole |
| Written by Brad Balfour | ||||
| Wednesday, 21 February 2007 11:20 | ||||
Page 1 of 2
What a way to kick-start your career. With few credits to your name, you land a co-starring role opposite a legend of the silver screen and theater, someone who has never won an Oscar but is long overdue for one (he's been nominated seven other times for his acting but only got an honorary award for his longevity). Yet novice actress Jodie Whittaker did just that, managing to get herself cast as the love interest for again Oscar-nominated mega-vet Peter O'Toole in Roger Michell's touching romantic comedy "Venus." 
Jodie Whittaker plays Jessie, a brash teenager that initially irritates then fascinates Peter O'Toole's character Maurice
Peter O'Toole is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in this year's Oscar race
Jodie Whittaker's character eventually is nicknamed "Venus" by her besotten mentor
South African-born director Michell has addressed age and sex before in a previous film, "The Mother," so he treads over familiar ground with an even surer hand than he had when doing the earlier, much-acclaimed film. With the presence of Vanessa Redgrave as a supporting actress and the fine writing of award-winner Hanif Kureishi, "Venus" is one of the surprise successes of this Oscar season. Q: What happened when you got the call to work with O'Toole? JW: It took over three weeks from the first audition to the final audition. There was a general audition with the casting director just to see if I was all right for the part and then there were three auditions after that, two of which were just with Roger [Michell] and Kevin [Loader]. Kevin was the producer and he was modest and it was really good. Then the final audition took place; I knew we'd been narrowed down to about three, and Peter was there for that audition. I'd been forewarned because it's terrifying to just have Peter O'Toole sitting there, but just within seconds of meeting him he completely made me feel at ease so the audition went really well. I think that took about two and a half weeks, because they would cast me without me knowing, and they had to get the final funding. So they didn't want to tell because of my lack of experience, for me to get the part and then have the money disappear. So they protected me from that, because I would have died. Q: What was your perception of Peter O'Toole as an actor? You're so young, had you seen "Lawrence of Arabia?" JW: Of course, I've seen loads of his films, but I think it's funny because at that point I thought of him as Lawrence of Arabia so I knew his work as an elder man but still it's really bizarre because his eyes are really preserved in these glass cases, and it's really strange because they're so famous. It's like this image of his eyes are hugely famous, and then you meet him, and you're automatically drawn into them. It's such a thing to have as an actor, to have the most famous eyes in the world, so it was great. Q: What was he like to work with? Was he very generous? JW: Yeah, absolutely. I think people like Peter get the reputation that they've got because of how they work. You're not acting around his performance. In a scene, you don't have to feel like you've got to tip-toe around his performance. He's just really open, just really professional obviously because he's gotten to where he is. He's just worked so hard. You couldn't see his script for the notes that he did on that. That was so exciting to know that no matter how much experience you've got, how old you are, how many people you've worked with in this industry that you still want to work hard and to push themselves. Obviously I was going to work hard, grabbing at things, but it was great to be inspired by someone who was just so committed to a part. And that just makes it easy, because in your head you're reading these scenes and you're thinking, "Oh God, how am I going to do it?" But you forget that someone's doing 50% of that for you by the way they look at you, by the way they change, the way they say something. It's 100 times easier working with people like that, acting royalty. Q: Was he around in between scenes to discuss your roles? JW: I sat with him in between scenes all the time to chat. There's no glamorous trailers, there's nothing like that. When we were outdoors he had a tent, I think it was in his contract, it was just a tent with a heater. It looked slightly industrial, like what we would cover manholes with. And so, it would ping up, and it had to have a heater, and he had to have two chairs, and so we had two little director chairs, a mug of hot chocolate, and sat in this tent [which] went everywhere. There's a picture of it by the Thames, in Trafalgar Square, everywhere this tent went. And on the platform in Whitstable because we were waiting for the train to arrive. Q: Did he tell you any funny anecdotes? JW: Well, he's really funny. When I tell him stories I'd heard about him, and he'd say, you might have to bleep this out, but I'd say, "My friend told me that she heard that you did this, this, and this." And he'd say, "It wasn't me, but I fucking wish it was." 'Cause I go, that would have been a great story. But literally you'd say something to him, and it's not like "Have you ever been to France?" or "Have you ever been to Mexico?" He's never just been somewhere. I was like "You've got to write this down!" Every stage of his life is like a film. He's one of the only people I've ever met who's got one poisonous snake wound, and it's not that poisonous, a black adder, he's been bitten by one. And like he was telling this story, and I was absolutely terrified because I had never seen a snake in England. And not only do we got this one poisonous one, he's been bitten by it and he showed me the mark on his knee. And I was like "Oh my God, you are that kind of unreal person." It's crazy. Q: Where are you originally from? JW: I was brought up in Yorkshire. I left when I was 18, went backpacking for a year, and I came back at 19 to work to get into drama school, and I moved to drama school at 20 in London, it was the Guild Hall school of music and drama, and I went there for three years, and I left there summer of 2005 and I got "Venus" in October, so it was all very quick. |
