Jeremy Irons: Bradley Cooper finds the right ‘Words’ (METRO WEST DAILY NEWS)

By Ed Symkus
For The Patriot Ledger

“I’m definitely a victim of the magical essence of movies,” he said. “I still to this day feel like I did when I was 10 years old going to the movies. I love when the lights go down and the movie’s about to start.”

He was very candid about the fact that he was totally star struck when he met Jeremy Irons, who plays the character that actually wrote the manuscript found by Cooper’s character.

“The first time I met Jeremy and heard his voice it was incredible,” he said. “But then very quickly what starts to happen is they become human. Robert De Niro is the best example of that for me. I love him, and he’s really just ‘Bob,’ and I never thought that that would be possible! But in many ways, he’s the reason I became an actor, and now we’ve done two movies (“Limitless” and the upcoming “Silver Linings Playbook”).

“That process is so fascinating. I think it happened for all of us with Jeremy, and it’s because these guys – like Liam Neeson and Christopher Walken – are so present and down to earth and make you feel at ease. In terms of acting with them, it’s just effortless because they are so good and you are in such great hands. When you’re acting with a great actor, it’s not as if you’re playing against them in a sport. I don’t want to be playing against Jeremy Irons; I want to be playing with him. Acting is a collaborative sport, and what you’re up against is telling the story. So you’re all on the same team.”

“The Words” opens on Friday.


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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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