Hot Property
Orange's sponsorship of the British film industry over the past few years has
helped kick-start several new careers. On the eve of this year's Orange
British Academy Film Awards(OBAFAs), we profile three talented actors and
one screenwriter, all poised for superstardom.It's one of those crips, sunny London mornings that makes you think, momentarily at least, that London is the only place in the world one would ever want to live. On a leafy street in Holland Park, inside the cramped confines of a location van, two young Welsh actors, Ioan Gruffudd and Matthew Rhys, (who also happen to be best friends and flatmates) are swapping light-hearted banter with actress Natasha Little. Squeezed in beside them - the pressure on space means that he has had to make the driver's seat his temporary home - is the screenwriter Bernard Wright. His is an altogether quieter presence, though later, talking animatedly about his career, he reveals flashes of the wit and wry humour that punctuate his work.
You only have to scan their CVs to know that you are int he presence of four of Britain's brightest young stars (with credits as diverse as "Titanic" and "This Life", superstardom inevitably beckons). But that share another key trait: Ioan, Matthew and Natasha have all been nominated for or won BAFTAs. This year, Orange will sponsor the British Academy Film Awards ....
~snip~
"Guess who Matthew was up against when he was nominated for a BAFTA?" laughs Ioan, "Himself!" He was actually up for two different projects, which is pretty impressive. Matthew Rhys is also the man who last year spent five months in bed with Kathleen Turner - duty called, you understand, with Rhys playing Benjamin, Turner's naive young prey, in the smash-hit stage producation of "The Graduate" - with the two parting as firm friends. "Let's just say that being in bed with someone eight times a week, you get to know them pretty well," he laughs, thought he is quitck to recount how a semi-naked stage appearance earlier in his career had been one of his toughest career monments to date. "It was a play called 'Cardiff East' that ran at the National Theatre in London but transferred for a short time to my home town of Cardiff. Can you imagine what it felt like to have everyone form your school friends to your family, watching you in these rather risqué scenes?" he says. "It's like that nightmare scenario of having to sit through a dirty movie with your parents," he adds, grimacing, "except that, even worse, you're in the movie."
With a career that, since his graduation from RADA in 1996, has spanned film and television as well as theatre, Rhys cites working with Anthony Hopkins on Julie Taymour's adaptation of Titus Andronicus as one of his career highs to date. "Working on a production of that scale [the movie also starred Jessica Lange] was a dream in itself." he says, "thought I spent most of my time in awe at how Anthony Hopkins could manage to be doing Tommy Cooper impressions right up until the work 'action' and then be crying to the stars as if it were the most natural thing in the world."
This page was definitely a group (as well as international) effort! Thanks to Tonny who spotted the article and announced it to the IGNews list so quickly, to Gigi for being so quick on the draw and letting the MR list see the pictures almost immediately, and especially for taking the time to type up the relevant parts of the article. And to Cindy and Caryl, who made the scans which are used on this page. Thanks, guys!
click on Graceland to go home