Post by callygirl on Feb 24, 2008 10:29:07 GMT 9.5
Here is another interesting Miranda article - enjoy!
SHE shares a flat in London with a dog, two cats and a Mexican giant newt called Tank Girl, but Miranda Richardson is feeling lonely. "Just because there isn't someone in the house doesn't mean that I feel I'm on my own. But I do get lonely," she says with a sigh. "And when you're away on location in a strange country it can be excruciating.
Sometimes it's so horrible, you don't know why you do it." An eye- opening confession from the woman who jealously guards her privacy and rarely refers to her emotional life in interviews. It's that same perceived coldness which has helped her receive such rave reviews for her performance in Stephen Poliakoff 's two-part BBC drama The Lost Prince as Queen Mary, the emotionally repressed mother of Prince John. A loving mother with a son who suffers from autistic-like learning difficulties, Richardson's Queen Mary is a fundamentally inhibited character who finds it difficult to communicate with those around her.
"Queen Mary may never have laughed in public, but that was because she was shy. She felt she wasn't able to express her emotions in public," she says.
"I am quite private, too. I like to keep people guessing."
It's this ability off-screen which helps explain Richardson's versatility in front of the camera; aside from her haunting portrayal of Queen Mary, her two latest films (David Cronenberg's thriller Spider and Stephen Daldry's award-winning The Hours) are finally giving her the recognition that's eluded her for so long.
Rumours that she might be in line for an Oscar (making it her third nomination) for her tripartite performance as a ruleobsessed landlady, a cheap tart and a cheated wife in Spider prove she can turn her hand to anything. It's transformed her into Britain's most accomplished acting export in Hollywood.
Which makes her confession of loneliness all the more strange, especially from someone who once admitted she was too independent to live with anyone - she tried living with partners, but found it too difficult - let alone marry.
Love, according to Richardson, was an illness, something that wasn't life-preserving and thus best avoided.
But age appears to have mellowed her.
She's no longer so prickly about answering questions on her personal life and, at 44, may come round to the idea of marriage, providing she meets the right person. "I think, intermittently, you find Mr Right, but you have to get lucky. I don't rule out having a family, it just hasn't happened for me yet."
But then she has had little time for romance of late. "I wouldn't say I was married to my work," she says. "My new phrase is, 'I think you can have everything - just not all at the same time.' I have made a concerted effort in the past year to work a lot."
Despite the Oscar rumours, Richardson says she is less pleased with her performance in The Hours. The movie recounts the events of one June day in the lives of three women, played by Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, who are profoundly affected by the works of Virginia Woolf.
Richardson plays painter Vanessa Bell, Woolf 's sister, but recently admitted that she was slightly upset she wasn't approached for one of the lead roles.
"It's certainly not my best role. I didn't have time to do it justice - I'd have liked to have been on the film a bit longer. But David Hare did a great job on the screenplay and the film's got a wonderful cast," she adds quickly.
Born in Southport, Lancashire, Richardson, the daughter of a marketing executive, enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and started acting at school before enrolling in the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School at 17. She then spent five years touring the country in rep.
She landed a film role in 1985 in Dance With a Stranger, in which she played Ruth Ellis - the last woman hanged in Britain. The performance won her awards, but also left her ill, depressed and weepy. "Playing Ruth really affected me. You have to understand what makes somebody tick, to be able to tune into them."
FAMED for her ability to bury herself deeply in her characters, her performance as the wronged wife of Jeremy Irons in Louis Malle's Damage, for example, was lauded as the best thing about the film, earning her one of her two Oscar nominations. But she hasn't always been a fan of Hollywood and turned down the Glenn Close part in Fatal Attraction with the explanation: "I cannot do crap convincingly."
However, these days she says there is less opportunity to pick and choose.
"There aren't really any British films any more. We either do gangsters or Carry On Up Your Knickers kind of films. So I don't find myself making as many British movies, except for the odd period drama like The Lost Prince."
Richardson spends what little spare time she has at her new house in the country where she's a bit of a greenfingers - "I find it very therapeutic."
And, of course, there are her animals. "It's heartbreaking having pets when I'm away so much. I took them all with me when we were on location last summer in England and we all stayed in a cottage. Well, all except Tank Girl who had to stay behind, bless her."
. The second part of The Lost Prince is on BBC1 on Sunday at 8pm and The Hours opens nationwide on 14 February.
SHE shares a flat in London with a dog, two cats and a Mexican giant newt called Tank Girl, but Miranda Richardson is feeling lonely. "Just because there isn't someone in the house doesn't mean that I feel I'm on my own. But I do get lonely," she says with a sigh. "And when you're away on location in a strange country it can be excruciating.
Sometimes it's so horrible, you don't know why you do it." An eye- opening confession from the woman who jealously guards her privacy and rarely refers to her emotional life in interviews. It's that same perceived coldness which has helped her receive such rave reviews for her performance in Stephen Poliakoff 's two-part BBC drama The Lost Prince as Queen Mary, the emotionally repressed mother of Prince John. A loving mother with a son who suffers from autistic-like learning difficulties, Richardson's Queen Mary is a fundamentally inhibited character who finds it difficult to communicate with those around her.
"Queen Mary may never have laughed in public, but that was because she was shy. She felt she wasn't able to express her emotions in public," she says.
"I am quite private, too. I like to keep people guessing."
It's this ability off-screen which helps explain Richardson's versatility in front of the camera; aside from her haunting portrayal of Queen Mary, her two latest films (David Cronenberg's thriller Spider and Stephen Daldry's award-winning The Hours) are finally giving her the recognition that's eluded her for so long.
Rumours that she might be in line for an Oscar (making it her third nomination) for her tripartite performance as a ruleobsessed landlady, a cheap tart and a cheated wife in Spider prove she can turn her hand to anything. It's transformed her into Britain's most accomplished acting export in Hollywood.
Which makes her confession of loneliness all the more strange, especially from someone who once admitted she was too independent to live with anyone - she tried living with partners, but found it too difficult - let alone marry.
Love, according to Richardson, was an illness, something that wasn't life-preserving and thus best avoided.
But age appears to have mellowed her.
She's no longer so prickly about answering questions on her personal life and, at 44, may come round to the idea of marriage, providing she meets the right person. "I think, intermittently, you find Mr Right, but you have to get lucky. I don't rule out having a family, it just hasn't happened for me yet."
But then she has had little time for romance of late. "I wouldn't say I was married to my work," she says. "My new phrase is, 'I think you can have everything - just not all at the same time.' I have made a concerted effort in the past year to work a lot."
Despite the Oscar rumours, Richardson says she is less pleased with her performance in The Hours. The movie recounts the events of one June day in the lives of three women, played by Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, who are profoundly affected by the works of Virginia Woolf.
Richardson plays painter Vanessa Bell, Woolf 's sister, but recently admitted that she was slightly upset she wasn't approached for one of the lead roles.
"It's certainly not my best role. I didn't have time to do it justice - I'd have liked to have been on the film a bit longer. But David Hare did a great job on the screenplay and the film's got a wonderful cast," she adds quickly.
Born in Southport, Lancashire, Richardson, the daughter of a marketing executive, enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and started acting at school before enrolling in the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School at 17. She then spent five years touring the country in rep.
She landed a film role in 1985 in Dance With a Stranger, in which she played Ruth Ellis - the last woman hanged in Britain. The performance won her awards, but also left her ill, depressed and weepy. "Playing Ruth really affected me. You have to understand what makes somebody tick, to be able to tune into them."
FAMED for her ability to bury herself deeply in her characters, her performance as the wronged wife of Jeremy Irons in Louis Malle's Damage, for example, was lauded as the best thing about the film, earning her one of her two Oscar nominations. But she hasn't always been a fan of Hollywood and turned down the Glenn Close part in Fatal Attraction with the explanation: "I cannot do crap convincingly."
However, these days she says there is less opportunity to pick and choose.
"There aren't really any British films any more. We either do gangsters or Carry On Up Your Knickers kind of films. So I don't find myself making as many British movies, except for the odd period drama like The Lost Prince."
Richardson spends what little spare time she has at her new house in the country where she's a bit of a greenfingers - "I find it very therapeutic."
And, of course, there are her animals. "It's heartbreaking having pets when I'm away so much. I took them all with me when we were on location last summer in England and we all stayed in a cottage. Well, all except Tank Girl who had to stay behind, bless her."
. The second part of The Lost Prince is on BBC1 on Sunday at 8pm and The Hours opens nationwide on 14 February.