MARK RYLANCE
“I DON’T FEEL I HAVE MORE INTEGRITY THAN OTHER PEOPLE… I’M LUCKY TO NOT HAVE TO DO THINGS JUST TO SURVIVE. THAT’S JUST GOOD FORTUNE, ISN’T IT?”
Mark Rylance pads into a hotel room in Zurich. Wearing his trademark trilby, the British actor looks markedly different to the last time Total Film saw him. Last year, he was hosting the 20th anniversary concert for Peace One Day at Shakespeare’s Globe, where he was artistic director for a decade before he stepped down in 2005. This annual call for a global ceasefire saw him dressed up as the BFG, large ears and all, singing ‘The Last Ship’ with Sting.
Reprising the Roald Dahl-created giant he played in Steven Spielberg’s 2016 charmer underlines Rylance’s sense of humour about his work. But no doubt, it’s work of the highest quality. He’s become a Spielberg favourite ever since he played Soviet agent Rudolf Abel in Bridge Of Spies, winning him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. “He’s a very gentle soul,” the director noted, before casting him for a third time as the game designer in Ready Player One.
If that wasn’t enough, Christopher Nolan cast him as the unflustered ‘little ships’ captain in his 2017 World War 2 movie Dunkirk, while his Sir Thomas Cromwell in the BBC’s Wolf Hall brought living room recognition (and a BAFTA). It’s a remarkable run for an actor who, until recently, was more heralded for his stage work – winning two Olivier awards and three Tony awards, including one apiece for his electric turn as the eccentric Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron in Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem.
Easing his way between the West End and Broadway must’ve felt natural. Born in Ashford, Kent, Rylance grew up partly in America, after his English teacher parents moved to Connecticut and later Wisconsin when he was young. By the late 1970s he returned home with ambitions to act. The stage became his lifeblood – even founding his own theatre company in 1990 with his wife, director-playwright Claire van Kampen – while film was largely kept on the backburner.
It’s only now, as Rylance turns 60, that he’s being fully embraced by movies – and that means leading roles, at, from ’s Ciro Guerra, Rylance is typically powerful as the liberal official presiding over a desert outpost during colonial rule. No question, his understated approach outshines the more villainous turns from co-stars Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson.
