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There’s a further new interview with James Wilby in today’s Daily Fail Weekend Magazine (28 Jul 2018). The focus is mainly on his ‘career revival’ via Poldark. His career break in Maurice, the Hugh Grant stuff, and his upcoming direction of Maurice on stage at Above the Stag in London (Sep–Oct 2018) all get a mention – but, in classic Fail style, there’s no mention of the Maurice 4K restoration or that it opened in UK cinemas yesterday!

For everyone who refuses (for numerous political and representational reasons) to support the Mail by giving them clicks, here’s a text version of the interview below the cut.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5986525/After-early-stardom-James-Wilby-career-stalled-thank-God-Poldark.html

‘I've taken so many knocks’: After early stardom, James Wilby found his career stalled for a while – so thank God for Poldark, he says

• James Wilby talks about a career resurgence after he appeared in BBC’s Poldark

• He first earned acclaim for his role in the taboo-breaking film Maurice in 1987

• He is now set to be the director of a stage version of Maurice from Sep 12

By Maureen Paton, Daily Mail Weekend Magazine, 28 July 2018

***

Kissing Hugh Grant changed James Wilby’s life. The sight of the two handsome young actors locked in a passionate embrace in Merchant Ivory’s taboo-breaking film Maurice in 1987 launched the careers of the unknown Hugh and James, who played the lead, 31 years ago.

‘We didn’t throw ourselves into it – we hurled ourselves into it!’ says James. ‘When Hugh later became very famous with Four Weddings And A Funeral, he was asked who was the best kisser he’d had – he said “James Wilby”!’

Hugh and James got hundreds of letters from people saying the film had changed their lives, and they jointly won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. ‘We drank most of a bottle of Scotch that night on Hugh’s balcony,’ recalls James.

[IMAGE: James Wilby credits his role as Lord Falmouth as reinvigorating his career after admitting it had stalled]

‘We talked more that night than we ever did while filming. I took myself very seriously, but Hugh was lighthearted. I’ve come round to Hugh’s way of thinking. You have to take it all with a pinch of salt – and I was too earnest.’

Maurice was set in an implacably homophobic Edwardian society, and it was a role for which James is well-known. He’s resisted being typecast, veering from Howards End and Gosford Park to Casualty and Midsomer Murders, but he couldn’t turn down this latest role of Lord Falmouth in Poldark.

Based on a real figure in late 18th-century Cornish politics, Falmouth was the one who spotted maverick Ross Poldark’s potential and persuaded him to stand for election following the shock death of his nephew and heir Hugh Armitage, who was Demelza Poldark’s secret lover.

Tomorrow night’s episode [29 Jul 2018] is the last of this series [Season 4] – and it ends on a particularly heart-wrenching note.

‘The show is so well written,’ says James. ‘Actors get the plaudits, but I’m only as good as the script.’

[IMAGE: James Wilby and Hugh Grant portrayed a gay couple in the movie Maurice in 1987, for which they jointly won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival]

[IMAGE: James’ role in the taboo-breaking film Maurice earned him almost instant stardom – and he is set to direct a stage version]

He felt the same about ITV’s Victoria, in which he played Sir Piers Gifford, ‘a rather revolting reactionary character'. But there’s a mutual respect between Falmouth and Poldark.

'Falmouth constantly gives Ross rollockings – he needs them! I think there’s a father-son thing going on there,’ says James.

From 12 September [2018], James will be directing a stage version of Maurice in a purpose-built theatre called Above The Stag in London’s Vauxhall. ‘I’ll depict Edwardian society as even more repressed than in the film, you’ve got to get the audience imagining the fear,’ he says.

‘Practising homosexuals could be sent to jail with hard labour, as Oscar Wilde was.’

There are telling parallels between Maurice and A Very English Scandal, Hugh Grant’s recent series about Jeremy Thorpe, despite the two being set 50 years apart. ‘It was a wonderful performance by Hugh – it’s the first time I’ve seen him completely transform himself. I was so proud of him,’ says James.

A generous man who doesn’t begrudge another’s luck, James has impressed as everything from Don Juan to Lord Mountbatten and the Queen’s father George VI without achieving Hugh’s level of stardom. He admits he would have loved to have played Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey, the role taken by Hugh Bonneville, after James had worked with its writer Julian Fellowes on Gosford Park.

‘But Hugh [Bonneville] was brilliant,’ says James. ‘I’d been sent the script, but he was cast before I could meet the makers.

[IMAGE: In the past, James also impressed while playing the role of Don Juan [in Neil Bartlett’s 2004 production of Moliere] at the Lyric theatre in London]

‘You have to take so many knocks in this business. In my late 40s and early 50s, my career wasn’t going as well, and it got to me.

'But I thought, “What will happen will happen.” Someone said my problem was that I refused to pigeonhole myself, because you have to be known for something.

'But acting is all about playing different parts. And I’ll do anything, I’m a complete tart! I’d like to play leading-man roles, but if I don’t, so what?’

His family are his strength. He and wife Shana have four children – Barney, 29, Florrie, 26, Nathaniel, 22, and Jesse Jack, 17.

For 18 years they lived in Camilla Parker Bowles’s childhood home in East Sussex, a Grade II-listed rectory called The Laines, which they sold in 2014 for £3.5 million.

‘I’ve seen actors spend a lot of time away and it’s only a matter of time until home isn’t important to them any more,’ says James. ‘If you miss important stages of your children’s life, you never get them back.

'My wife has been behind me all the way, pulling up the slack when I was away – which was a lot. There was a point when I wasn’t a very good father because of it, but I’ve made up for it.

'Playing guitar with all of my kids and two of my best friends till 5am for my birthday this year was one of the most joyous evenings of my life.’

For all the ups and downs of his profession, he is content. ‘You think filming is glamorous, but the only glamour is the awards ceremonies and premieres.

'I don’t give a monkey’s about materialism; I love nature and beauty so I’ll pay a bit for that. We have a long view to the South Downs where we live and it’s so beautiful here, really special.’

James was known for baring his body, so does Aidan Turner’s Poldark have competition? ‘You saw my buttocks a lot in my early career,’ he laughs. ‘But there’s no flesh shown by me in Poldark!’

Poldark, tomorrow, 9pm, BBC1.

#james wilby #poldark 2015 #maurice 1987 #maurice #hugh grant #interview #daily mail #28 jul 2018

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