In a career spanning over four decades, actor Ben Kingsley has enthralled his fans with films like Gandhi and House of Sand and Fog. Speaking about playing Papa Rudy in his upcoming movie, The Walk, the veteran explains what attracted him to the script and how he spends hours reading the lines to understand the role he has been given. Excerpts from an interview
What attracted you to the script of The WalkIJ
That I was offered the film is big in itself. It always feels good when one is offered a role in movies. Added to it was the fact that it was being directed by Robert Zemeckis. He is a great master and his work has been celebrated earlier and will continue to be celebrated. In have never worked with him. After having read the script, I found it to be extremely well-written; it is unsentimental and strong. Also, I had previously met French high-wire artist Philippe Petit himself when I first saw Man on Wire (James Marsh’s 2008, documentary; Oscar winner, Best Documentary 2009).
So it began with an invitationIJ
It’s always great to be asked to be part of wonderful projects. That in itself is very attractive because immediately to know that the director, in his or her wisdom, sees that you will be a piece of the mosaic that will create the bigger picture. I always feel secure when I can understand what my dramatic function is for the director. What do you want me to doIJ How can I help you on the setIJ If it’s crystal clear, then it’s very attractive. Any director who is unclear about what he wants from me, makes me say no to the project.
Tell us about the character you play, Papa Rudy, and how you approached himIJ
A lot of imagination goes into creating a character. The script is a wonderful start. It gives you the parameters and it gives the character a function. From there, you start to create the portrait. My character worked in the circus; I work as an actor. So this portrait had a lot to do with my imagination and a very good script.
You were five or six and wanted to act. How did you know from such a young ageIJ
I was very impressed — that’s the right word to use for a child that young — by a movie that I saw. Suddenly, there was nobody else in the world, except myself and a child on the screen, who was a little boy about my age. I didn’t want the film to end. When it did end I was in tears. Somehow there was a connection between me and the screen. I couldn’t decipher it. But I just knew what I wanted to do from then on.
What was the filmIJ
Never take no for an Answer (1951) directed by Maurice Cloche, Ralph Smart. I recently told my colleague, Martin Scorsese, the same story story and he said, ‘I know the film’. Martin, of course, being the great restorer of film and a lover of films, placed a DVD of that film in my trailer the very next day after our conversation. So I have a copy of it and I’m able to revisit, by watching this film, those first extraordinary feelings that I had inside me, that are very difficult to describe. I hope I’ve paid service to that first impression by saying to that little boy on the screen: “I want to do what you do.”
The Walk suggests that an artist will risk everything for his art. Is that something you can relate to yourselfIJ
To an extent, I think everyday, I hope I risk everything. In the hope that I start from nothing. That nothing is accumulated. That there is no comment, no judgement, no assessment, no accolade, nothing. I have to start from zero. I have to put my foot on that tightrope for the first time every day I walk onto a film set.
Did you do anything special to prepare for this filmIJ
This may sound mundane, but to be honest to any person who reads this — I learn my lines until I know them so thoroughly that I will never let anybody down on the set. I’ve always done this. In that process of learning what that man has to say, how that man meets the world with words, specifically how Papa Rudy teaches, is a huge indication to who he is and what he is. So I study the script for hours. Through the words come the first sketches of the portrait.
How does this story, this film, relate to the events of 9/11IJ
Any other director might have reminded us that the Twin Towers are no longer there. Zemeckis never mentioned it once. This is what I meant when I said earlier, ‘unsentimental.’ The profound truth is that that angel walked between those two Gods and they are no longer there.