Jeremy Irons has words about 'The Words' Published: August 29, 2012 1:07 PM (NEWSDAY)

By JOSEPH V. AMODIO. Special to Newsday  

There's a famous tale about Ernest Hemingway -- and the time his wife packed up all his early writings in a suitcase . . . and accidentally lost it on a train. The original manuscripts, all the carbons -- years of work -- gone.

This tale from the days before backup hard drives inspired "The Words," a haunting new drama about writers, romance and plagiarism that opens Sept. 7. It stars Bradley Cooper as a frustrated young writer being trailed by an old man, played by . . . wait . . . is that? Yes, it's Jeremy Irons.

The British icon aged nearly a quarter century to play the mysterious figure. Romantics, of course, still love him from the hit 1980s PBS series "Brideshead Revisited." Kids fear his bloodcurdling voice as the evil lion Scar in Disney's "The Lion King." And villainy fans enjoy "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" (he plays a terrorist), Showtime's "The Borgias" (a scheming pope) or "Reversal of Fortune" (murder suspect Claus von Bülow).

He's won a best actor Academy Award (for "Reversal") and a Tony (for Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing"), among others. Married with two grown children, Irons currently is shooting season 3 of "The Borgias" in Budapest. He spoke by phone with Newsday.


"The Words" is a rather literary film -- quiet, romantic. What encouraged you to make it?

Well, I thought the old man is an enigma, and it's always nice to play enigmas.

Why is that?

It's nice playing with the audience, letting them in slowly. And I thought it would be a bit of a challenge to play a man of that age. It would give me a chance to . . . do what I do, y'know?

I heard you were very particular about your costume.

I didn't want anything new. This is a man who had no interest in his clothing. I said, go to old thrift shops.
Find clothes that have life in them. I still have one of the shirts. I wear it and people say, "That's a wonderful old shirt."

The tale of Hemingway's lost manuscripts -- it's always haunted me.

Oh, terrible. Like losing a child. Terrible.

I guess that's one benefit of being a film actor over a writer -- your work is chronicled. It can't be misplaced.
But it can be forgotten. I remember when my eldest son . . . was young and having a birthday party, and the weather was terrible. So I said, "Why don't you watch a movie? Why not 'Some Like It Hot' -- it's a fantastic film. Marilyn Monroe." And he said, "Who's that?" And I thought . . . how soon they forget.


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