Matthew Goode takes on a classic in 'Brideshead Revisited'
Monday, July 28th 2008, 5:04 PM
From l., Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell and Ben Whishaw in director Julian Jarrold's 'Brideshead Revisited'
As laid-back as Matthew Goode looks kicking up his feet in his L.A. hotel room, he is a bundle of nervous energy while discussing his latest film, "Brideshead Revisited," which opened Friday.
"If we had a couple of drinks, I wouldn't seem so nervous," he jokes as he fidgets with not one, but two cell phones.
Goode admits he had fears about taking on the role of charming social climber Charles Ryder in the first big-screen adaptation of the classic Evelyn Waugh novel.
"It was total terror, unfortunately. The other actors were like, 'You seem totally, remarkably relaxed taking this on.' But I was aware that if no one really buys me, then they are not really going to buy the story. It came with pressures."
Among factors weighing on the 30-year-old actor were memories of Jeremy Irons' iconic portrayal in the revered 1981 "Brideshead" miniseries. The filmmakers also made changes to the story that might upset purists, creating a love triangle with Ryder and siblings Sebastian and Julia Flyte (Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell) during an idyllic summer at the titular estate.
"We do have a kiss in this," says Goode, referring to how the film plays up the homosexual undertones between Ryder and Sebastian that were only implied in the 1945 novel, whose story spans the '20s to World War II.
"As a modern audience, we are fine with it now, but when it was written there would have been a hell of a lot of uproar."
Still, he cautions that the film does not change the friends' relationship too drastically.
"That's as far as it goes and it leaves us not knowing where Charles is. He's taken by this rare peacock that has captured his heart and showered him with love, and it's the first childhood he's ever had. He wants to continue that, and the ambition kicks in."
The British actor is best known for his roles in Woody Allen's drama "Match Point" and romantic comedies such as "Chasing Liberty" and "Imagine Me & You," in which he has been paired with young American actresses Mandy Moore and Piper Perabo. But in "Brideshead," he goes up against some formidable co-stars: Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon play Sebastian and Julia's aristocratic parents.
"I was scared particularly because of Gambon," says Goode. "I saw him in 'Volpone' at the National Theatre when I was 17. He has been such an influence for me at least trying to be an actor, so he scared the s- out of me! But then I met him and he's hilarious.
"There's nothing better than sitting down with Michael Gambon and having a glass of wine in the evening - or five," adds Goode, recalling long cast dinners during shooting in Venice. "He just brings a real romanticism back to the job we do, to hear his old stories about Laurence Olivier."
The past two years have taken Goode from England to North Africa for "Brideshead Revisited," and then on to Canada to film "Watchmen," the superhero thriller due next spring.
"I auditioned for 'Watchmen' on the toilet of my hotel room - with my trousers up, obviously," he says, laughing at how he nabbed the role of the villain, Ozymandias.
"And then I got offered it and was off. Literally two days after I finished shooting ['Brideshead'] in Morocco, I was in Vancouver [for 'Watchmen'], and I was so tired," recalls Goode of his whirlwind schedule last year.
After having New York as a semi-home base while shooting around the globe, Goode is firmly rooted back in the U.K., where "Brideshead Revisited" will open in October - yet another worry for the actor.
"The premiere in England will be very nerve-racking because it's so very beloved," he says. "I'm probably better known over here actually than I am over there, but I don't want to first be known as the guy who screwed up 'Brideshead.'"
