Whoa man, what an act or…
An
interview with Janet McTeer
By
John Esther
An
actor’s actor, Janet McTeer has been doing steady work on the stage and screen
for the past 25 years. Beyond her award-winning stage performances as Nora in
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and
Mary, Queen of Scots in Friedrich Schiller/Peter Oswald’s Mary Stuart to her award winning screen performance as Mary Jo
Walker in Tumbleweeds McTeer is one
of those actors people want in his or her plays or films. Even when you do not
notice it -- and that may be the greatest indication – when you forget someone
is acting – McTeer’s performances – from Catherine Walker in The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard Mrs. Dashwood
in Sense and Sensibility (2008
miniseries) to the Narrator of Velvet
Goldmine or Professor Lily Penleric, Phd in Songcatcher – is a good ingredient for any film, television show or
play.
However,
these days McTeer is getting noticed a lot for her endearing performance as
Hubert Paige in director Rodrigo Garcia’s Albert
Nobbs.
A
project near and dear to the heart of Glenn Close, who plays the titular
character, Albert Nobbs tells the
story of a woman posing as a man in 19th century Ireland because
life for Albert is better that way. Frightfully scared of being found out,
Albert meticulously adheres to his duties inside a hotel, all the while saving
up so Albert may one day own a tobacco shop. Albert’s desires are enhanced when
he meets Hubert, a free spirit handyperson who lives and breathes by Hubert’s
own rules. Not only is Hubert at ease with Hubert’s life, Hubert has someone to
share it with. Albert would like that, too but Albert’s affections may be
misguided in the form of Helen Dawes (Mia Wasikowska).
For
her portrayal of the film’s noblest character, McTeer has received Best Supporting
Actress nominations from the Golden Globes, Independent Spirit Awards, Screen
Actor’s Guild, plus various critic groups. Personally, I would give her the
award in that category.
Born
in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, McTeer trained at the Royal Dramatic Academy
of Dramatic Art. In 2008 she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British
Empire in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
While
many may know the actor and her great work, in this exclusive interview, LN got
up with six-foot-plus McTeer to not only talk about Hubert, working with Close,
gender roles and acting (pay heed, young thespians) but also what makes this
very private person tick.
Lesbian News:
How did you get involved with Albert Nobbs?
Janet McTeer: I was in New York doing a play at the
time; I was playing Mary Stewart on Broadway. Glenn Close came to see the play
with her daughter, Annie, and then she came back to say hello. And Glenn said,
“I’ve had a script come up, can I ask you to read it?” and I said, “Yes, of
course.” She sent it the following day and I read it and I found it lovely. So
I called her back and we met up the following week and that was that.
LN: What did
you find that was so lovely about it?
JT: I liked the fact that it has mixed messages: a small story
with very big heart. There is a saying that it takes an ordinary person an
extraordinary amount of courage to get through an ordinary day. I thought there
was something of that in the story and I thought that all the characters in the
play – well, originally it was a story then a play and then the film – were so
beautifully wrought. I thought that was a really interesting thing and I
thought it was very funny. I also enjoyed the fact that it was set in a time
before labels and set in a time before categories. I really liked that.
LN: What do you
think you have in common with Hubert Page?
JT: Well, I guess I brought my sense of humor to Hubert and I
would love to think I’m as good a friend as Hubert.
LN: What was
the greatest challenge in the role?
JT: I’d say the greatest challenge was that I was trying to
play an Irish man in an Irish accent in front of a whole bunch on Irish men. I
found that pretty scary – it was the scariest thing for me, I think.
LN: What did
you find the easiest or most comfortable aspect of the role?
JT: Probably the sense of humor. I love the fact that I could
imbue a little bit of humor in almost all of the scenes. That’s very me.
LN: What was it
like working with Glenn Close?
JT: It took about a year and a half to get the film up and
running -- so we worked together for a while. What I loved was that she
wouldn’t have taken from the book and then reduced the script. I was really
keen to make Hubert the exact opposite of Albert. So in great conversations
with Glenn about Albert, I sort of formed Hubert. Glenn, who is the most
wonderful collaborative person to work with, was very open to that. I wanted
Hubert to be the happiest, most content, active, non-judgmental human being. I
wanted Hubert’s relationship with Cathleen (Bronagh Gallagher) to be completely
fulfilled and gorgeous. Glenn was really open to any infusion of all of those
things that I would bring to her – in order for Albert to have something to
look at and say, “Gosh that’s really who I want to be and that’s where I want
to go” I loved working with Glenn. I mean she’s a perfectionist, as am I, when
she works and she works incredibly hard, as do I, and she also has a phenomenal
sense of humor. We laughed a huge amount. And we worked very hard. That
combination pleases me.
LN: In what
ways have gender roles changed in Ireland and England since the time of Albert Nobbs?
JT: Originally it was a huge class difference in those days and
in many ways it was a lot easier for members of the upper class to have a nice
time and keep their mouths shut, as long as no one found out about it. We all
know about Oscar Wilde. There was a huge underground connection of places where
people could go or find friends, partners, blah, blah, blah. But it was against
the norm and that made everything much more secretive. Also, there wasn’t a law
against lesbianism in those times and the reason is because Queen Victoria
didn’t believe it existed. There was only a law against sodomy. If you were in
working class Dublin -- and that’s one of the reasons I also liked the film --
you see a small little fluctuation of the terror that Albert has of being found
out. And the fact that Jonathan Ryhs-Meyers character (Viscount Yarrell) comes
swathing out with various, various lovers and no one could do a thing about it
because Jonathan Rhys-Meyers’ character is an aristocrat and rich. The poverty
is very much seen in the film, it’s not just a film about gender. It’s a film
about women. It’s a film about poverty. It’s a film about struggling to
survive. In terms of your original question of how is it different, well let’s
put it this way, it’s nominally different. We’re also [in the film] in a
pre-Freudian, pre-analysis, pre-union, pre-anything kind of time. Hubert ended
up being Hubert. And probably if you were to ask Hubert, “Would you look back
and go, ‘yeah!’” And Hubert would reply, “It makes sense that I am what I am
now.” But actually, Hubert went from step to step to step, subconsciously
taking the steps toward happiness without necessarily realizing how and ending
up being exactly who he what, who he where, Hubert wants to be. Several times
I’ve been asked if Hubert a lesbian or is Hubert a cross-dresser or is Hubert
transgendered? Hubert is all of those things, but I just don’t think Hubert has
a label. Hubert is just Hubert and that’s what is wonderful. You know what of
it? We wouldn’t do the same thing with straight women who want to always wear
suits. Do you know what I mean? Just because it’s a gay woman who wants to
dress as a guy and blah, blah…you tie yourself up in knots. Hubert is just much
more comfortable living as a guy for many, many reasons. And it’s clearly
extremely active at what he was. I love that! What I really love about Hubert
is when they go out dressed as women and Hubert makes no effort to look like a
woman and that really made me laugh. I love the idea of women getting away with
it as men then getting dressed like those women who actually look more like
men. It just appeals to my sense of humor so hugely. The scene that leads up to
that is when Hubert says to Albert, “You don’t have to be anybody but who you
are. You’ve worked hard and you’ve earned your money and you’ve saved and
you’ve been shrewd. And if you want to find somebody to love and share your
life with, go and find that person.” It’s such a blissfully utopian,
lack-of-pronoun. I love that. I really want that for Hubert – to be somebody
who was way ahead of the time in terms of being totally nonjudgmental. Judge a
book by what’s inside it and not by its cover.
LN: Your
performance has struck a chord with audiences and critics alike? What do you
think it is about you performance that is drawing so much positive attention?
JT: It’s hugely flattering. I haven’t quite gotten over it. I
think what is so lovely about Hubert, honestly, is that Hubert is such a nice
person. Even though Hubert is living in a world with complication and poverty
and all of those things, Hubert is just somebody you would want to have on your
side. I tried to make Hubert the best of both male and female – somebody who
you wouldn’t have to use words with, have a drink with you, smoke a cigarette
and get into a fight, if necessary. And who would flatter you, so you could
feel good about yourself. Hubert is also a person who has confidence to have a
job and have a career of his or her own and make good money on his or her own
and be independent. He is also somebody who possesses the so called feminine
qualities of kindness and nurturing. I wanted to take all of those things, and
the way Hubert really kind of rescues Helen at the end I wanted it to be more
maternal than anything else. The combination of all of those things is somebody
who…everybody wants a Hubert in their lives. Hubert is just gorgeous.
LN: Do you see
any correlations between Hubert who presents herself as someone who is in
disguise (unintentionally) and actors who professionally pretend to be someone
who they are not?
JT: That’s a very interesting observation but I think that
Hubert is really not in disguise. As she says, she was married at a very early
age and beaten up, you know, the way people were: married off at a very young
age. Maybe she got dressed up as a fellow to get a job and then she became
comfortable. In the end, Hubert is not in disguise; Hubert is who she is.
That’s really cool. I’m a notoriously private person as an actor, not because I
have anything to hide, but because I think it’s nicer if an audience can go and
just see a character. You don’t necessarily know a great deal about the
performer. I find that much more interesting to only know about the performance
that you’re seeing. Do I love dressing up and getting into the stride? In that
sense, yes I do. I get quite embarrassed and shy when I have to be myself.
LN: It may have
been just the way it was filmed, but were the clothes you wore as Hubert
actually comfortable? The fabric looked so course.
JT: Yes, very much. They were probably really uncomfortable but
I was really padded out. I had padding on my shoulders and my arms, on my
waist. When we first started we had to make sure we had ice on the set because
they were concerned I was going to get really hot. I didn’t because it was
minus bloody five degrees in Dublin. It was really cold, so I was one of the
few people who were really warm. [Laughs] So, actually I was really comfortable
but I’m sure if I had just been wearing the clothes it would have been really
uncomfortable.
LN: I know you
said you are a notoriously private persons but I would like to talk to you
outside the Albert Nobbs box. If I may ask, what was your childhood like?
JT: It was lovely: very normal, very ordinary, very lovely in
northern England.
LN: When did
you decide to become an actor?
JT: I got a job selling coffee in my local theater when I was
16 or so, because the theater was where we caught our bus home from school.
Whenever I went in there I just felt at home. I was just selling coffee there
but they used to let me in to see all the plays. When I watched the plays, I
really felt at home. I can walk into a theater anywhere in the world and just
feel at home.
LN: You also do
a lot of stage work? Do you have a preference for theater or film?
JT: No, I love them both equally, I really do. Theater is
harder work. Actors enjoy the sense of community; that’s why we enjoy being in
theater companies. Being on stage you have a very direct relationship with your
audience. There is something very therapeutic and it’s very grounding. It
grounds you to what you are doing and why you’re doing it. When I work on film,
it is forensic in its search for spirit. And I love that, too. The relationship
to the audience is at a distance and it’s later. And in certain ways it’s
closer because the camera is much closer. When you’re filming you are in a
little community of people for however long you’re filming, which is also
lovely. I like to mix them up and so far I’ve been able to do that.
LN: What is the
greatest challenge in getting a role right?
JT: Almost always I struggle to get the role right, finding the
right way to approach it.
LN: Has your
height ever interfered with casting?
JT: Never. When I was very young I thought it would be a
problem, but it never has. Not once. I’m sure there have been parts that I
haven’t even been considered for because I was too tall, certainly when I was
younger, but I’ve never not worked. I’ve always worked. I’ve always had great
parts. A long time ago somebody said to me that this business always likes
people who are different. You know, I’m over six foot – I’m six foot and ½ inch
– and it works. It’s never bothered me in the slightest.
LN: What advice
would you give budding actors?
JT: I have two bits of advice. One is, tag this on your mirror
and look at it in the morning: “Somebody has to succeed. There is no reason why
it shouldn’t be me.” And the other thing is never, ever, ever audition for the
part, always audition for the people who you are auditioning for because while
you might not be right for this part, you may be right for another part. So
often I’ve been in an audition where the people are rehearsing for another part
and clearly there is another project that they have decided they want to do
more than the one they are coming to audition for. So they haven’t really put
the work in. Whereas the ones who come in who are really passionate, even if
they weren’t right for the part, they may get another part. And you pass that
information on to other people. So, always audition for the people, never
audition for the part.
LN: How was it
working with Margarethe von Trotta on your most recent film?
JT: She is a wonderful woman. I play Mary McCarthy and it’s
about Hannah Arendt who was then working for the New Yorker. It’s about her
coverage of the trial of (Adolf) Eichmann. In and out of that story slips Mary
McCarthy, who was one of Hannah Arendt’s very best friends. Barbara Sukowa, who
has worked on and off for many, many years with Margarethe plays Hannah. She is
just wonderful, so I had an amazing time doing that.
LN: What
differences, if any, do you think there are between male and female film
directors?
JT: It’s a slightly different process but neither better nor
worse.
LN: What can
you tell us about the film you are now working on, Damages?
JT: Yes, you see I cannot tell you that much about that
because then they’d have to kill me. [Laughs.] I play a lawyer (Kate Franklin)
who has a bit of a history with Patty, Glenn’s character.
LN: What do you
do when you are not acting?
JT: Mostly I stick my head in a book. I’m a bit of a parody of
myself. I read anything and everything.
LN: Do you have
any particular social causes you champion?
JT: Not specifically. There are lots of ones that I support in
a minor way but not in a huge way. I’ve always been too busy, I know that
sounds ludicrous but it’s true. In a minor way I support a lot of children’s
charities and also animal charities.
LN: If you were
having dinner with three people who are not living and not family members, who
would they be?
JT: I would like to have dinner with, let me think, Oscar Wilde
and Shakespeare.
LN: What do you
think about these interviews where you discuss yourself and your work? Do you
think they serve the work or do you think the work should just speak for
itself?
JT: I think the work should just speak for itself.
LN: Do you read
interviews of other actors to find out what she or he may have been thinking
behind the performance?
JT: No.
