5
minute read
You know his face, if not his name.
Veteran actor Linus Roache’s 35-plus year career has spanned classic British theater (ie, Royal Shakespeare Company), feature films and TV movies including a Golden Globe-nominated performance as Robert Kennedy in RFK, and roles in some of TV’s biggest hit series like Law & Order, Homeland, and Vikings.
As one might expect when digging into such a diverse and vast career, sitting down for a two-hour chat with Linus Roache revealed a treasure trove of fascinating stories and perspectives.
Linus Roache on family and social activism
Roache, a 2021 SPYFLIX Festival Guest Judge, shared his thoughts on why the 'snobbery' and contempt that movie stars once had for TV projects has all but disappeared, how he feels both liberated and limited by an American accent, and how the producers of Homeland kept the finale’s last 20 minutes a secret from most of the episode’s cast and crew (Roache included) until its airing.
He shared with us the basis of a true story that moved him and his wife so deeply, they purchased the film rights and have written a complex and extraordinary screenplay.
We learned why he and Nicolas Cage avoided each other on the set of the 2018 psychedelic horror film Mandy, how Roache went from a hard ‘no’ to being 'all-in' for the role, and why in the end he is very proud of the project.
A highlight was learning that his 89-year-old actor father (whom Roache calls “a living legend”) is a Guinness World Record holder. His father's forever-young vitality, daily exercise regimen, and unwavering work ethic (he began playing his current tv role 61 years ago), had us all feeling like massive underachievers.
We explored finding your proper place in social activism, and why extreme method acting makes perfect sense for some but makes Roache feel like a phoney. Roache also revealed why he was once arrested.
We also learned there’s a lot more to come from Roache. Though he’s spent much of this last year at home in New York with his wife, Rosalind Bennett, he continues to work steadily on the acting front - he crossed the Atlantic repeatedly to shoot an Amazon Studios production in the UK which operated without a single Covid-related shut down (and in which he’s portraying the older Harry Styles). He’s already knee-deep in writing, and he has aspirations to direct as well.
Whether or not you realized it before today, you’re likely already a fan of Linus Roache’s. Since SPYSCAPE began working with Roache in early 2020, we’ve heard time and time again, “That guy? I love that guy!” So do we. And after this read, you’ll love him too.
Linus! It’s so great to see you again. What have you been up to?
It’s great to see you as well! I’ve been keeping quite busy working, preparing to rent out an apartment, and just managing through this crazy time. I recently completed a film for Amazon Studios called My Policeman, in which I play the older Harry Styles, if you can believe that!
Um, yeah! Can absolutely see that. How did everything go?
Well thank you. The only thing more flattering than being asked to play the older Harry Styles would be if they had asked me to play the younger Harry styles! Smiley Face! It went really well. It was great fun to work with such a wonderful cast ... Rupert Everett, Gina Mckee and then Emma Corin and David Dawson as the younger characters. And it is directed by the wonderful Michael Grandage who I knew from my drama school days.
I began the transatlantic commute for the film before being vaccinated, and after I got vaccinated, I was fascinated to see that it changed absolutely nothing! Meaning, back when I got vaccinated (this was a few months ago), I thought, “Oh great! This will give me greater access to things and open the world back up a bit.” It changed absolutely nothing. Of course it does give you your own sense of feeling protected and that you’re doing your part to not harm others - which is really the key purpose in doing it. But I just expected things to improve a bit when I returned to the set in the UK, but... nothin’!
I am pleased to say however, that there was not a single covid-related shut down on this production. It was really well-managed. They did a phenomenal job.
Impressive indeed. We’re glad that you are healthy and well, and we’ll look forward to My Policeman. So Linus, starting at the beginning… Your parents were actors, and you caught the acting bug at a young age. Tell us about that, and were your parents supportive when they learned you wished to pursue a career in acting?
My mother (Anna Cropper) was really an actor’s actor. She wasn’t a celebrity, but she did a lot of cutting-edge TV drama and theatre and was highly respected in the industry. My father (William Roache) is an actor as well, yes. He’s also a legend - he’s a living legend! He’s 89 years-old and is still playing the same ITV soap character he’s played for 61 years. The show, Coronation Street, started in 1960, and he is the only surviving member of the original cast. He’s been in more than 10,000 episodes, starting at episode one, and last November the Guinness Book of World Records honoured my father and the show with awards for longest-serving soap star in the world and longest-running soap respectively. He’s still working on the show every day, and is really the patriarch of the whole thing.
And yes, I caught the bug very early on. At ten years old, I’d already known for a few years that I wanted to act, and it was around that time that I was given the opportunity to portray my father’s character’s son on the show, the role of young Peter Barlow. They’d written a two-week arc for me, and that was really my initiation into acting. And I loved it! It was so great to work with my dad - to be there on set, to see how it all worked. And I had no idea millions of people were watching the thing - I was just having a great time!
Linus Roache: Coronation Street star
The producers loved the two-week arc so much that they offered me the job for two years. But after much discussion with my parents, who wanted me to go to school, have a normal life, etc., we all kind of decided together that I wouldn’t do it.
Many years later, after I left drama school, the role opened up again! But, as great as it would have been to work with my father, that was not the career I wanted.
But I did return years later, along with my half brother James! A wonderful actor was already playing Peter Barlow, so I could not play that same role again. The writers decided to give my father’s character an illegitimate son and grandson, whom I and my brother portrayed respectively. It was incredible to have all three of us working together, and it was during a Law & Order hiatus, so it really just all worked out perfectly.
And yes, once I’d finished school, my parents were absolutely supportive. It was really just that they - mostly my mother - didn’t want me to be a child actor. She wanted me to have a proper childhood, and I’m very grateful to her for that.
How did you find the TV soap production process? So many actors speak about how it’s a completely different animal from weekly TV series production (and often too difficult to handle)!
Well, first of all, when my father started the show in 1960, it was not called a “soap.” The show was a cutting-edge drama about working class people in Britain, which hadn’t been done before. It was really the first time a TV camera went into working-class people’s kitchens and saw their daily lives. And when you look at the old episodes, it’s like watching old Ken Loach films - they’re gritty, have long periods of silence, some are in black & white, they take place in the north of England.
The show started with these archetypal characters that just became icons over time. It was a long-form, social commentary drama presented in two half-hour episodes every week. So when I first appeared on the show at ten years old, they were taking a (nice long!) entire week to prep and produce one collective hour of work. But when I went back, which by then would have been about 33 years after my first appearance, it was terrifying! There was no rehearsal, nothing! The lights went on and bam! My respect for my dad went through the roof because you’ve got to just know it and do it. And do it again. Every day, non-stop. It really is a different animal from weekly TV series production. There are like fifty characters, many with their own crew, their own set - it’s incredible.
And not everyone can handle the soap format, but my dad was able to make the transition and thrive beautifully. He still handles that five-shows-per-week pace very well, which is part of why he’s the longest surviving member of the show. I think the work, the memorization, being engaged, and working out (he still works out!) … it all helps keep him young. And I think NASA should do experiments on him!
Well, we’re all feeling quite inadequate now. And lazy. God love and keep your dad, man. Now, unlike decades ago, actors now very frequently (and happily) play roles in feature films as well as television series and movies, but years ago "the small screen" was figuratively synonymous with lesser profile productions, and "movie stars" shied away from TV. Do you have any memory of when that shifted and/or do you have any thoughts around why it shifted?
Absolutely, I was very aware of the snobbery between TV and film, and I felt very caught up in that. In fact, I’d been lucky enough to get a couple of good movies in the beginning, and I remember pulling out of a TV show I’d meant to sign on for three seasons, because at that time I was thinking, “No way - no TV… I am a purist... blah, blah, blah.”
But then I started seeing people I really admired like Martin Sheen (one of my idols) on The West Wing, and of course Sam Waterston in Law & Order before I joined - who I loved in The Killing Fields and The Great Gatsby. Here they were doing television! Those guys paved the way and broke the snobbery of it. When I saw them taking TV roles, I was done being a film snob.
And now, there are just so many more platforms, and there’s more energy being put into long-form story-telling - and as a result we get incredible shows like Breaking Bad, for example. I still love the art, craft and singularity of a movie, but I also love that, as an actor, you can take a character on an epic, long journey throughout a series. And now it’s all flipped! Now everybody wants to do TV. In fact, I’m more likely to get a role in an indie movie right now than a big TV series! But I love what’s happened. I binge-watch a lot of TV. The work is so good right now.
That said, there aren’t that many shows that actually pull off the long-form journey, satisfying you all the way through to the conclusion. On one hand, long-form is great because you have more rope and can really explore, but it’s also harder because you create this massive, epic journey, and somehow you must give your audience a satisfying journey and conclusion. And that’s not an easy thing to do. And credit to Homeland - they did it. They really did it! To the point that I didn’t know what happened in those last 20 minutes of the finale. We were not shown the full script, and it wasn’t until I saw it unfold on the screen that I knew how they had ended it. They really pulled it off. I mean, too often you get into a show and it seems like it’s going to be great, and then they just ruin it.
Linus Roache: network vs. cable television
I loved The Americans. The acting was absolutely superb. I was hooked and it was wonderful. Until it got to a point where it wasn’t. When it starts becoming “the story of the week,” it turns me off. The show got to a point where they were trying to resolve a little story each week and then sort of also carry on with the bigger story. I need the long-form, you know where you really carry the integrity of something all the way through. So I bailed on that show.
Getting back to your question … I think we now have snobbery between network TV and cable television. And I suppose I’m a bit of a cable TV snob, but I’d never say never. Law & Order was not ever about the fact that it was a network show - I loved the format and that it was designed to be self-contained stories every week. For me it was like going back to the theatre, being in that courtroom. And working with Sam Waterston who I’d tracked - watching him go from movies to TV - I mean, that was great. It was about the whole piece itself - I just loved doing the show. But a lot of network TV lets you down today. I think they’re having to up their game too.
You generously served as a Guest Judge for the inaugural SPYFLIX Festival. Filmmakers appreciated your thoughtful feedback, including this note about 2021 Narrative Short Winner Da Yie: "This is a beautifully made film and I feel the director’s heart in the piece. I admired the way he had the confidence to take his time and allow the relationships to develop, and therefore the stakes got very high."
Do you have any ambitions to write, produce or direct yourself? If not, we at SPYFLIX have decided you must get behind a camera STAT - your perspective on story and character, as well as your technical observances, were quite impressive.
First of all, being part of SPYFLIX was fun! And this is my absolute favorite genre - it’s totally my jam. Most everything I watch and read is in the genre.
Secondly, thank you very much! Your kindness is very supportive and is pushing me and my wife to do what we really need to be doing, which is getting our film produced - a real labor of love. We’ve spent about four years on this highly ambitious project, and more than half of that time has gone into writing the script.
It’s an epic story and an incredible tale about a hero of ours. We knew it was the story we wanted to tell, so we bought the book rights, and we now have a script that we’re really proud of. It’s based on a true story of Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest and scientist who believed in evolution, and he paid a great price for it. He was exiled by the church in the 1930’s and died in New York in the 1950’s.
Teilhard lived through two world wars and saw enough division to break your heart. Yet, he had a profound ability to see the world from a bigger perspective. His ability to carry that as a human being throughout his life was very grounded - he had deep faith. And though he’s a priest, it’s not a religious film per se. What he carried in his being is something important and relevant to what the world is going through today - the feeling that we’re being torn apart and we don’t know what the hell is going on. More than ever we need to find faith in the future.
While living in New York, at 74 years old, he met a 12-year-old girl, a young Jean Houston. They literally bumped into one another in Central Park - she knocked him flat on his back. A conversation ensued that changed Jean’s life forever. She is alive today and is very influential in the human development movement, helping hundreds of people to find their potential.
These two characters’ conversation is the grounding of the story - a distraught young girl, whose parents are divorcing and who’s ready to give up, and this psychologically crucified old man who’s been rejected and silenced by the church for his whole life. During their conversation he revisits his entire life in a story that spans two world wars, three continents, the discovery of the Peking man Skull and his Galileo-like trial with the Vatican - all culminating in the reckoning of a single extraordinary life and a more hopeful vision for the future.
Wow! This sounds unbelievably powerful and like it could fill much more than one film.
Well, because of the nature of his perspective, it really needs to be a whole singular experience. It’s always been a movie in our minds. One sitting. One event. It’s about one day in a man’s life when he looks at one lifetime on this earth. It needs to be a movie.
And we believe that we need to direct the film, getting back to your original question.Telling his story has become our mission, and we want to do it properly and give this man who had been silenced his entire life the voice he never had.
We work well together. My wife is a gifted editor and storyteller. I write and absolutely consider myself a student of cinema and think a lot about film and perspectives. The script we wrote is deeply complex and we’re very proud of it.
We will really look forward to that. Kudos to you and Rosalind! Ok, now that we’ve tackled writing and directing… apparently you’ve created original music for a movie soundtrack? What’s that all about?
That was really just luck. It was a project that was one of the most creative things I’ve ever done. And the soundtrack music was just one part of a much bigger concept. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea - it’s a Fantasmagorical horror revenge movie called Mandy. It’s a hybrid of Flash Gordon, Hellraiser and Death Wish 4, with some Trakovsky thrown in. It’s Bonkers! Absolutely gonzo. But in the end I was really proud of it! It has a real message and catharsis in it. My co-stars were Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough.
After I first read it, I had no idea what the hell I’d just read. I had no reference point for it. I was like, “Hell no, I’m not doing this!” But my wife suggested I at least talk with the guy (writer / director Panos Cosmatos) and watch another film of his. I watched the other film, and it was weird but had mastery. So I read Mandy again and thought, “My god… he’s written a white paper on the male ego!” And when I finally got on the phone with him, he was this gentle and deeply thoughtful man ... a funny and very kind man who was going through a kind of a catharsis, exorcising the death of his parents. After meeting Panos, I was all in. And once I got on the set I realized that I was part of a real piece of art.
My character, Jeremiah Sand, was this psychopathic cult leader who believes he’s this great singer. So we recorded a song for the movie, which was a total blast! I was like a pig in shit in that recording studio. I loved it! So that’s where my “original music” credit comes from.
The music of life
About a year later Panos and the film’s music producer called me up and said, “Hey man, do you fancy doing an entire album as Jeremiah Sand?” I said, “This is so nuts… I’m in!!”
They had built this whole narrative about how Jeremiah Sand’s garage tape recordings were found in a safe that had survived a California wildfire, and how they remastered them. We shot a 70s-style video, released the album on vinyl, and for a while people bought that it was real. For a little bit.
The whole project was insane, but here’s what I love about filmmakers - when someone’s got a voice and a perspective and they know what they’re doing with it, you just can’t argue with that. Whether you like it or not is kind of irrelevant. There are people out there who loved Mandy, and there are people who walked out on the thing. But love it or hate it… it walks its own walk.
Amazing. And we’ll be Googling ‘Jeremiah Sand video’ as soon as this interview is over. Pivoting a bit here, you’ve generously lent your voice to various important causes, including some that focus on climate change and environmental issues (e.g. Climate Actors). Can you tell us about what these experiences have meant to you?
Well, I wouldn’t say I’m a heavily engaged activist. But what we’ve done as a race, and continue to do, to the environment is devastating. There’s no other word for it. It kills me.
At one point I was so affected by it all that I did get on the front line and participated in a protest with the Extinction Rebellion. I was arrested and spent a day in jail with those guys, which was quite interesting.
My wife’s been involved in Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. Her work there helped me realize that perhaps I was less suited for the front line and could make a greater impact through building awareness and collaborating with other artists.
So I do team up with other artists and give presentations and lead discussions. And that to me is the most important thing of all - that we talk about it. We’re in the midst of it all right now. We’re seeing the wild fires, the floods, the rain bombs, the rising temperatures - we’re in it now!
Thank God we now have a president who’s doing something about it, and we’re no longer stuck with four years of denial. We’re certainly not going back to any Eden, but we need to clean up the mess we made. And I believe we will. I believe in human nature. I believe in the goodness underneath it all. There are a lot of potentials out there - scientific responses, more knowledge than ever, lots of willpower, and I see some very inspiring young people leading the way with this. And I think people are understanding more and more that small changes and efforts do make a difference.
So, my activism has really been mostly about keeping the conversation front and center, as well as empowering people with the truth that the little things - the small changes they can make - really count!
Hear hear. Completely agree. Shifting back to the craft … you were with the Royal Shakespeare Company for years and have such strong roots in British theatre. Your vast and varied career has gifted audiences with extraordinary performances across film, TV, and the stage of course - often portraying American characters, such as those in Law & Order, Batman Begins, and Homeland. Tell us about your first attempt at an American accent? Is much (or any) effort still required to remain in character with American accent, or is it second nature now?
Well the first shot was given to me when I did a lovely Michael Cuesta film called 12 and Holding, for which I was given my first chance to play a New Jersey dad. That obviously called for something quite specific. And I do usually strive to be specific to the character’s needs, although I do have a general go-to American accent that I use. And I really enjoy delivering the accent - it’s quite liberating in many ways.
But I have to admit, it’s not something I can turn on a dime and just do - I have to work at it. Still. I have to work with the rhythms quite a bit, so that it’s in me - in the muscles of my mouth and my muscle memory. It’s not at all cool for me, when I was playing Robert Kennedy for example, for the director to say, “Now can you just improvise a bit, walk over there and just chat with those people?” Uh...nope.
Law & Order
On my first day at Law & Order, I tried to stay in an American accent all day. I was at the craft services table and a crew member asked me how I was doing, and I tried to answer with an American accent, but I just couldn’t. I felt like such a phoney.
I never carry on with the accent, staying in it outside of rehearsing or shooting. I’m too self-conscious. For me it’s about knowing my stuff and being deeply prepared, and then when I’m on the set working, I’m in it. For those moments. And it works beautifully for me there and then.
So no extreme method acting or staying in character for you, à la Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman?
No, but... I have had roles for which I’ve made a little bit of a demand to have the space to get “in it.” One thing you need to realize is that there’s all this social stuff going on on set. There are people all around who chit chat in between takes and rehearsals. One of my biggest challenges is that I of course want to be nice and gracious and everything, but when I’m acting, all of my precious energy all needs to be there for the camera - for the important moments. I’m not an Anthony Hopkins, whom I admire so much and who (I’ve heard) can be joking with someone in one moment and then - with no transition time - completely just be Hannibal Lecter or whomever in the next moment. He’s got that ability to just enter that character and deliver it instantly. And I saw it with Julianne Moore when I worked with her. She’s brilliant at it.
It’s really a trust in your ability and your craft, you know? A trust and a confidence in yourself. I have found that I do, however, have the confidence to say, for a specific scene or moment, that I’m going to need some quiet. Some space of my own. And it takes a lot, I’ve learned, to create that for yourself. You don’t need to be an asshole about it. It’s part of the job you were hired to do. Sometimes now, once cameras are rolling, I’ll take a little time and not start on ‘action’. I’ll take a moment to let things sink in and then begin.
Hollywood stars
It’s interesting what you’re saying. You are indeed there to do a job. And yet so often when people hear about actors like Jim Carrey or Daniel Day-Lewis staying in character 24/7, people tend to be critical of that. But the way you describe the need to not let socializing on set or just “being Linus” affect your ability to become the character and transition properly - it shifts the whole method acting thing to a place that makes perfect sense. It’s not about being a showman or eccentricity, it’s about each actor finding what works for them to deliver the best possible performance they’re capable of. Seems like unfair pressure to expect a great performance (which is why you’re actually there) and an all-around fabulous guy!
Precisely. I know what some people have said about Daniel Day-Lewis for example, which I believe wholeheartedly is a bit of a misconception. People have said that he’s just so intense and stays in character in this big, grandiose way. Yes, perhaps he holds the voice and some of the mannerisms, but my understanding is that he’s really lovely to work with and is both a wonderful person and a real pro - it’s really simply about being focused and undistracted.
When I first met Nicolas Cage who played my character’s rival in Mandy, we discussed our roles and thought that maybe we should go get a beer and talk further. But then Nic said, “Maybe we shouldn’t hang out, and maybe on the set we shouldn’t ever talk to each other.” I said, “Yeah ok, that’s cool, man.” So we would literally sit about six feet apart on set and not say a word, not even look at each other. And only when we were in front of the camera did we interact. And I tell you, it was such a relief! Because we didn’t have to deal with chit chat and then suddenly become these adversarial characters. Especially in a role like that, where there’s so much intensity, it really allows you to just do what you need to do. What you’re there to do.
