You’ve probably seen Iwan Rheon in something over the last few years, he’s one of the hardest working men in the British film and TV industry, but with his remarkable and chameleon-like ability to inhabit characters, there’s every chance you won’t have realised. Most recently he’s starring in The Rise, the Leeds-set heist movie that hits stores on DVD today.
We recently spoke with Rheon about filming The Rise, as well as his plans for the next step in his career, and the appeal of theatre acting.
How do you find doing the publicity interviews?
It’s kind of the bit I don’t like most, about the job, but I understand that it’s crucial, and that you need to do it. Red carpets are a bit stressful for me. I really love doing the job and the work, but then you have to go through all that, and it’s a bit weird.
When you’re doing the job – the things that spring to mind that you’ve done recently, Wild Bill, this and Game of Thrones, they’re so disparate. The characters are so massively different. How do you find that?
It’s crucial for me to keep myself entertained. It’s funny that people have only just started seeing that, but I think it depends which way you look at it. A lot of people say, “your characters are creepy”, but then they haven’t seen other things I’ve done. I want to play completely different characters. I’m an actor, I’m pretending to be other people. I always want to do as many different varying roles as possible, because then it’s more exciting. If I start not enjoying it, and just doing it for the fuck of it, I’m going to end up really miserable.
Does it feel like work?
I really love doing it, It’s a brilliant job, I’m so lucky. You get the opportunity to work with loads of different people, you go to great places. You meet really interesting people, really clever people in all departments. It’s a great job to have. It is work, but it’s certainly not going down the coal mine.
Although, presumably at two o’clock in the morning, in the freezing cold, with rain pouring down…
You need to do stuff like that so you can have a little moan, because actors love moaning. It’s all crucial.
What was the worst moment to film on this then?
I don’t know. There wasn’t anything that particularly stands out. There were some night shoots, but I just had a lot of lines, and really fast talking, and using a dialect that I was completely unfamiliar with, and that I’d never done before. I think the first day was hardest, because I had this massive speech, and I didn’t know whether my accent was actually anywhere near what it should be, and it’s quite hard to work like that because you’re not confident.
I presume Rowan [Athale – the director] gave you a bit of help with the Leeds accent.
Yeah. Sort of. I got two whole sessions with the dialect coach, which was mad – that was sardonic, just in case that tone didn’t come across – but I don’t think I should be – you have two groups of actors, I think: ones who expect everything to be done for them in order to create what they do, and ones that do it themselves because they care what’s going on, and what’s going to be seen on screen. I think I’m in that group. So I do as much as I can myself, and I just need someone to go through and say, “that vowel’s wrong, that vowel’s wrong”, and then just go through it.
I think the character comes first anyway. Maybe the accent isn’t bang on, but I think hopefully, you start forgetting about the accent. Also Matt Lewis’ accent is awful in the film. Particularly. I’m not going to name any names, but Matt Lewis.
Sticking on acting, I know Gerard Kearns actually learned to weld as part of his preparation for the role. Do you go to that sort of extreme yourself?
It depends what it is. If it’s something that’s very specific like that, I probably would, but a lot of it’s in your imagination. Essentially acting is playing cowboys and Indians, like when you’re a kid. If you look at children playing, they believe that they are in that moment, and that they are a cowboy. And they can come out of it and everything’s fine. I think that’s what acting should be. I know everyone’s got their own way of doing it, and if you want to do all that method stuff, then fine, but I think life’s too short. You’ve got to enjoy what you’re doing, otherwise you’re going to die and not be happy – waoh. Dark.
But obviously if there’s a specific skill that you need to do, then you have to learn how to do it, or you’re going to look stupid. That’s back to what I was saying about being arsed to – you’ve just got to know what you’re playing and who you are. If I’m a welder, then I need to have some idea of how to weld, or I’m going to look stupid welding.
How long did you spend practicing with the crossbow?
Hours. Days.
Did you keep it?
No, they wouldn’t let me keep it. It’s a fucking dangerous weapon. It’s a real thing. You could kill someone with that easily. It’s not a prop one. They were a bit worried about me wielding it around on set.
Career-wise, you’re building a pretty wide-ranging portfolio. Where would you like to take it next?
I’d really like to do a bit of theatre. It’s been a while, it’s been over a year since I’ve done any plays or anything, so I’d like to do that. I’d love to play Iago in Othello, but I’ll probably have to wait a couple of years, If anyone would ever let me do it. But yeah, some Shakespeare would be nice. It’s just that I like doing different things, otherwise I get bored.
What is it about theatre then, that’s interesting at the moment?
I think for me, at the moment, because I haven’t done it, I want to do it. And I really enjoy the rehearsal process; I think more than actually coming to perform it, because you’re learning. It’s a different way of learning your craft as well. You spend all that time creating these relationships with the character that you then show to people, whereas filming tends to be a little bit faster, and in and out. You’re doing different things every day, which is cool, but then you’re also not really, I don’t feel, getting into that much detail. Well, you do, but you have to do it all on your own at home, if you want the detail. Whereas with theatre, you get to spend all that time finding things, and then you get in there and it’s like, “now we’ll show you what we’ve been doing”. And I guess it’s also the thrill of live. Nothing beats it. You’ve got to have balls to do it, as it’s scary as hell.
The Rise is out on Blu-ray and DVD now.
