If they ask you to appear in Star Trek again, would you say yes? Nicens_boi
I mean, you can’t top killing Captain James T Kirk. I suppose I could go back and kill old Patrick Stewart … I got a lot of flak from unhappy Trekkies, but there were also a lot of happy Trekkies who’d had it with old Bill. I think he overstayed his welcome. It was good for him to move on. I’m a great admirer of Shatner. He’s 90-odd. He’s still working. He’s been an astronaut. Good god, he wipes the floor with us young guys. I once made a surprise visit when he was being interviewed on stage. They introduced me: “And the one that killed Captain Kirk.” He went: “You shot me in the back.” I never thought the producers got it right, because they didn’t send him off in a glorious manner. Shot in the back on a bridge that collapses was not a noble end to a great character.
What’s has been your most exciting find in an antique shop? Catupatree
I’ve found some real beauties. I once went into an antique shop and there was a weather vane with $700 on it. I thought: “That seems cheap.” I brought it home, showed it to a friend who was a dealer who said: “That’s worth $35,000.” So that was very pleasing. My wife is brilliant. When she was 25, she looked 17. She walked into this very famous antique shop in Montreal, picked three things and had them brought to the counter. The woman said: “We have just debating who the hell you are. You look like a schoolgirl but you’ve picked the three best things we have in the store.” She has an uncanny knack for knowing what’s incredible.
Yeah it’s a Kubrick one (sorry). Don’t want interesting, funny or scary. Please tell us something really mundane about working with him. TooMuchSpareTime
Mundane? I’ve never been asked that one. We ate lunch together. I suppose that was fairly mundane, but even that was extraordinary. It was a takeout of Chinese food, and I noticed he’d eat the stewed pears then take a bit of hot and sour chicken. I said: “Why are you mixing all this up?” He looked at me and said: “Napoleon did.” I said: “Oh, I see. So we’re copying Napoleon now, are we?” He said: “Listen, it all goes down one way.” Food to him was fuel to live. I love to go out for dinner and have a great feast. That was considered a great privilege and something I really liked after being a successful actor because I’d had enough of fast food joints and fish and chips in newspaper. Stanley couldn’t care less. But mundane is not a word I would associate with Kubrick.
How was it working alongside the great Peter O’Toole? SalfordianBlue
Peter had such a natural charisma. I’d admired him as a young actor. I saw him in Lawrence of Arabia, one of the great cinematic performances. I was playing very small parts for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych. Somebody said: “There’s a bring-a-bottle party up in Hampstead” and we ended up in somebody’s flat enjoying ourselves. Suddenly there was a hush in the room, I looked over and there was this Greek god Peter O’Toole, flaxen blond hair – fake of course – but it didn’t matter. Cigarette holder, a great grin on his face, thin as a rail. He had his jeans tucked into knee-high boots and he looked like a movie star, which is indeed what he was. I’ll never forget that first image of him.
Any lasting eye damage following that scene in A Clockwork Orange? timo123
I did scratch my corneas, that is correct. My eyes were anaesthetised so I couldn’t feel those lid locks scraping down my eyes. The doctor was a real doctor from Moorfields eye hospital who kept putting in artificial teardrops because you can’t leave your eyes dry too long, you have to keep them moist. That was his job. Stanley decided to put him in the scene and give him a line, which was a big mistake. He was more concerned with his stupid line of dialogue, something like: “How are we feeling today, little Alex?” He kept saying: “What’s your name again?” “I mean, Jesus, doc, it doesn’t matter, just get those drops in.” I was home an hour later when the anaesthetic wore off and I’ve never felt pain like it. My own doctor came around and gave me a shot of morphine in my ass, which sent me to sleep. When I woke up the next day, it felt like I’d had a whole sack of sand in my eyes. The eyes heal themselves very quickly, so I didn’t suffer any permanent damage, only psychological.
The punishment scene in If … looked very realistic. Did you suffer any pain? tyroneshoelaces
Well, that’s down to good acting. Thank you very much. Lindsay Anderson wasn’t a sadist. He wouldn’t put you through being beaten. I had something in my ass. I did get walloped, it’s true, but I had an exercise book on my ass, so it stung less. Lindsey rarely said anything about one’s performance. He’d say: “All right, good, let’s move on,” and that would be it. But he did say to me after that sequence: “Malcolm, if all else fails in our film, at least we can look back on this sequence and say: ‘Job well done’.”
You’ve said you didn’t think Caligula could be salvaged, but seem to have embraced the new Ultimate Cut. What was the turning point? dallywhitty
What is coming out is not a re-edit so much as a new film. There’s not one frame of the Guccione Caligula, the old one. The new one was put together by this incredibly talented guy called Tom Negovan. Negovan’s Caligula is very much the movie I thought I was making with Tinto Brass. It’s sad that Tinto will not see it because he’s got dementia and is not well enough. It’s Tinto Brass’s movie, then Guccione took hold. He paid for it, or he claims he did. He recut the movie but didn’t care about continuity or story. He just wanted names above the title in porn. That’s what he got. It became a scandal. Unfortunately, nobody saw the movie that I made and it really depressed me. We’re going back 47 years, but critics would say: “Why would Malcolm McDowell do this pile of crap?” Why indeed? The answer is: “I didn’t do that pile of crap. It was rejiggered by a pornographer who had an eye for money.” When he built his casino in Atlantic City, do you know who his partner was? Donald Trump.
How did you approach playing Rupert Murdoch in 2019 #MeToo drama Bombshell? VerulamiumParkRanger
I knew I would have to get the accent right. Obviously he is Australian, lived in London a long time, then in New York. So there is a twang of everything. I listened to him quite a lot. The same person that did Gary Oldman for Churchill did the prosthetics for Bombshell. It was a terrific part. I’m good at coming in during the last 10 minutes of a movie.
What was the best thing about working in a nut factory? MrSOBaldrick
I never worked in a nut factory, did I? I remember working for the Chase & Sanborn Coffee Company. They sent me off in a car as a salesman to Yorkshire as my territory with loads of samples. A lot of my experience from that is in O Lucky Man! It was the same time the Beatles were happening. Seeing them in Liverpool and being part of that whole thing, I thought every city had 3,000 groups. Every single pub had a live band. It was incredible. Liverpool was an incredible place to grow up because it was bombed out, industrial, very dirty, but yet the spirit and humour was fantastic. I have many happy memories of going to Anfield as a kid. But a sportsman’s life is like a shooting star. You’re an idol for a moment, and then it’s all gone. There’s a lot of depression amongst professional sportsmen, and no wonder. One minute you’re idolised, the next minute, nobody knows you. Of course I would’ve loved to have played for Liverpool. But as an actor you can go on to play old grandpas, which is what I’m playing now.
Thelma is in cinemas now. Caligula: The Ultimate Cut is in cinemas from 9 August
