NZNTV

Interview. Sam Riley (born 8 January 1980) is an English actor and singer best known for the performance in the 2007 biographical film Control, about the life of Ian Curtis. Riley was born in Menston, West Yorkshire, the son of « a textile agent and nursery school teacher ». He was educated at Malsis School, Cross Hills and Uppingham School.  He was turned down by both the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (« LAMDA ») and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (« RADA”).

Mr. Riley, do you ever get homesick?

I never imagined I would live in another country, but I went to a boarding school when I was seven years old and spent a lot of time away from my family as a child, so I don’t really get homesick so much.

Did you choose to live in Berlin because of your wife?

Yeah, I didn’t want to make her live in Leeds. (Laughs) I thought that might be a bit of a downer. The first time I came here to visit her I really loved it. Berlin has a great… to say that it’s got a “great” history isn’t perhaps the right word – it has a rich history. And Bowie and Iggy Pop did it, so I thought, why not? And I like being away from the business and the press, which London is very much.

Would you be more of a celebrity in the UK?

It is not like I would get recognized everywhere or something, but I like being away from the crap part of it and I find here in Berlin we have a more healthy anonymity. It depends on how much and the sort of work that you do. I have not done that much TV so nobody recognizes me on the street – unless they are a huge Joy Division fan. But in London you are encouraged to go to the parties. When I am not working, I like to be as far from all of that as possible.

Is there anything you do miss about London?

My friends and family sometimes. Some pubs.

You would think finding a place to drink beer wouldn’t be a problem in Germany…

I mean they have some good bars here but… I grew up in the pub culture. I can’t really describe it. There is something very British about a British pub and the warm, still beer that I love. I don’t like Irish bars, although sometimes I miss Guinness enough to go to one. I sound like an alcoholic now. (Laughs)

What is it like working in Germany as an English actor?

There aren’t many of us, English actors doing German films. But in the ’60s and things Richard Harris worked with Antonioni, Burt Lancaster and Terence Stamp worked in Europe as well. It has always been a tradition.

Do you think you could ever play a German?

I think I will always have to be the Englishman speaking German. I don’t think that I will ever lose the accent. And I feel like an alien most of the time anyway. I recently did a film where I was more or less the only foreigner on the set.

How was that?

We were shooting in this remote valley in Austria and there was a funny moment when I was having horse riding rehearsals and I wanted to do it in costume to get a better feel for how heavy everything was. And on the way back home, I stopped to buy cigarettes and all the local guys were there drinking beer and I came in dressed as a cowboy. It was just like in a western film – the whole place went completely quiet and the whole bar turned around and looked at me while I tried to order these cigarettes in German. And I thought, “I have to remember this feeling for the film.” But the people were charming.

You played a cowboy?

Yeah, I like to do action stuff. I do not always want to cry and smoke cigarettes in my films. It’d be cool to kick ass in a film, basically.

Didn’t you play a gangster in Brighton Rock?

Yes, but I was always kind of upset that I didn’t get to kill more people in that role. That is one of the fun things about acting. Now I have to be nice. But there I can be as horrible as I like. It is a side that is nice to let out sometimes.

Have you ever really shot a gun?

Yes, I have. I once nearly did a film in Hollywood and there they gave me three days of weapons training, which was brilliant and then they said that the movie was going to be too expensive so I just got three days of training for free. And I seriously thought about joining the army for a lot of years when I was a child so I spent a lot of time playing with guns and things.

Really? I have a hard time imagining you as a soldier in the British Army.

I can’t imagine that anymore now either. I got to a point when I was like 15 and I thought, “What the fuck have I been thinking the last 8 years? Why on earth would I want to join the army?” But I was pretty serious about it.

Who were your heroes when you were growing up?

When I watched Lawrence of Arabia as a boy that really had an impact on me. I think I almost fell in love with Peter O’Toole watching that. He had this British heroism that British boys like. But I like a lot of the hell raisers from that era as well, like Richard Burton. And I didn’t come to Richard Burton by watching Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – it was Where Eagles Dare with Clint Eastwood. Those guys, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman. There’s so many. I have a lot.

How did you feel when Peter O’Toole died?

I had a drink.

What did you drink?

I didn’t have any champagne. I was pretty impressed that he lived that long, really. I thought, “If I can still be smoking that long…” Garrett Hedlund, who I worked with on On The Road, worked with O’Toole doingTroy, and he told me a great story about how O’Toole was being helped up some stairs by an assistant. He had a cigarette in his mouth and the assistant said, “Maybe you should quit smoking, Peter.” O’Toole replied, “Maybe I should quit stairs.” That sort of thing amuses me, bad behavior. (The Talks)