As he returned to the city for a screening of the new film, we caught up with him to talk about his role as Dr Nicolas Garrigan, working with Forest Whitaker, the difference between TV and film acting, and his time on the Chatsworth Estate.How did you get involved with The Last King of Scotland? | | James as Dr Nicholas Garrigan |
"I got a call from the director [Kevin MacDonald] saying would I like to read the script, which I did. I rang him back and said I don’t like it because the character is too good and too heroic. He agreed with me and from there, I realised that he was someone who thought along the lines of myself and that we could work well together. It was an opportunity to make a film not just about Africa, but about the way that the West treats Africa." The film isn’t specifically about your character, Dr Garrigan, but it is seen through his eyes. Is that a good way of telling a story?"In a book, you can have a character who is a lend, like in Nicholas Nickleby. He’s the least interesting character in it and he’s the lead, but you can have that as a way to see the rest of the world. In a film, you can’t really do that. You shouldn’t be on screen unless you’re doing something. With this, we had that problem.  | | James with Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin |
"So we had to make my character much more proactive. And while it’s not necessarily about my character, it’s not necessarily about Amin either. It’s about two cultures, about Britain and Africa, about the post-colonial experience, about the way we patronise and underestimate and humiliate and manipulate, and ultimately, how it bit us back on the arse." Did you read the book before going into this film?"No, not at all. I began reading it before I got the part. I rang Kevin and he said ‘just put it down, don’t read it any more please, because the script is so different from the book that you’ll just do my nut in saying, can we put this back in or can we put that back in?’ "Also, it was useful because I didn’t want to learn anything about Uganda or about Amin. I wanted to go out there as naïve as my character. The film is set in 1975. It was a much more naïve time than now. We didn’t have reports coming from everywhere or video footage from every part of the world." You worked with Forest Whitaker on the film. What was he like?| "It’s weird to think about going back to something that you left on such a good note. You don’t want to soil the memory of it." | | James on the idea of returning to his role in Shameless |
"He was great. He was very intense and into his method thing, but he still understood that the relationship at the heart of this film would be the thing that carried it. If I had been rubbish in this film, he would still have been great, but the film wouldn’t have worked. As it is, we’ve got a film that he’s brilliant in, but it stands up on its own as well." Is it more difficult for you as an actor when someone is so intensely into a role?"I don’t think so. If he was selfish in it, it would have been difficult. My experience of method actors beforehand has always been bad, in that they have been very selfish. Forest was never like that. He was really keen to collaborate and take ideas from people that were a lot less experienced than him, and I think that’s really generous." This is a very different role from your part in Narnia or your upcoming film Atonement. Is variety something you look for as an actor?"Yes, I do. I’m very lucky that I get to be an actor anyway, but the fact that I get to be versatile and stretch myself, I’m very very lucky. Not a lot of actors get to do that. For whatever reason, people let me do what is not obvious. I’ve never played the same character type twice and long may that continue. If it doesn’t, I’ll still be happy as long as I’m working, but at the moment, variety is very important." Do you enjoy film acting more than TV acting?"Not particularly. It depends on how good the script is. If all the scripts on telly were rubbish, then I’d say yes, but I’ve always done good stuff on telly. But you do get more time on film.  | | James with wife Anne-Marie Duff in Shameless |
"Even on something like Last King Of Scotland, which was very low budget, we were doing about three pages a day, whereas on something like Shameless, we were doing 15 million pages a day! So you do get more time and that gives you the luxury of really exploring scenes and getting more out of them." Round these parts, you are best known for your time on Shameless. Do you ever miss that role?"I do a bit, but at the same time, when people say to me, ‘would you ever go back to Shameless?’ I don’t know. It’s weird to think about going back to something that you left on such a good note. You don’t want to soil the memory of it." With that and doing Early Doors before it… | | James in Early Doors |
"Yeah, people forget that and I loved Early Doors." The interesting thing is because those roles, people think that you are from around here. Do you mind that?"No! That’s brilliant. If you can fool people, then that’s fantastic. Most people think I’m English anyway, from some part or other. I don’t mind that at all. It just means that I’m doing my job not too badly." You spent quite a bit of time here with Shameless. Does this city have a special place in your heart?"It does, yeah. I was a younger man then. It was only four years ago but I feel very different now. It was a nice pressured time for me and they were two great summers, one particularly hot one, and one of my mate’s had a roof garden, so that was brilliant. I was up here before Christmas and it felt really nice. It got all gooey and reminiscent of the good old days." |
