Tanya Gold asks Sir Ben Kingsley about his upbringing, his new film, and drawing a line between reality and acting
Begin by deciding if you will use the existing hardware (rods) or would you like to replace them with something more modern. Oftentimes, you can use the same rods in a different way to alter their appearance. For example, you can take a stationary rod/pole (non traversing) with curtains on it and simply add designer ring clips. This will allow you to use a classic pinch pleated drape on the rod and save money to put towards other drapes. Adding a second rod behind your existing hardware will permit the use of a sheer drape or curtain as an economic way to change your window treatments. Or, purchase cost effective standard heavy duty traverse rods in a neutral off-white color that blends in nicely with practically all styles of furnishings. In many cases, the rod can be covered with a new valance leaving you the perfect reason to keep your existing rods.Choosing a drape or curtain style to suit your environment should be exciting. With the number of options available to the consumer, it is easy to get carried away with trendy brick-a-brack window treatments that can leave your windows over dressed and your pocket book empty. Pick classic styles such as pinch pleated or tab top drapes and add a stunning valance to define the style of a room. If you want to create a more formal look, include a pinch pleated sheer that can be opened and closed to create an airy look as well as adding privacy. Finish with simple tie backs in the same fabric as the drapes to hold the drapes or curtains back away from the window.And now you live in Wasp Central, in Oxfordshire. Where do you feel at home? I ask because I am sure that the gifted half-Indian, quarter-Jewish boy is the key to Sir Ben Kingsley, and I want to know where he has gone. 'What did you call it?' he asks. Wasp Central. He gasps. 'That is a terrible thing to say. It's not Wasp Country. It's Shakespeare Country. That part of the country gave me my craft and my adoration of the English language. I am more Shakespeare country than LA and the social element is minimal because I hardly ever talk to anybody.'So saying he has the Ralph Fiennes part in The Prince of Persia is like saying Tom has the Ralph Fiennes part in Tom and Jerry.I don't want to discuss the psychology of tyranny with Ben Kingsley. So I ask: What were your parents like? He gives me a violently calm look. 'That is very hard, ' he says, 'because my siblings are alive. We are treading on very dangerous ground. The repercussions could tear through my siblings.'The film is awful, as bad as movies get, and I am hoping he'll roll his eyes, admitting in code how terrible it is, but no, he's quite serious about pretending this schlock was a great experience: 'It's terribly exciting.' I haven't bothered turning on the tape recorder for this, but he points at it and says, 'You can turn it on.' His body language is relaxed but watchful. His accent is from nowhere.ZENA SAYS: Floral patterns are very popular at the moment and if you're looking for a more traditional style, try the Vantona English garden valance sheet (below). It's 50 per cent cotton, 50 per cent polyester. The sheet is available in a double size for pounds 22 and the pillowcase is pounds 8 (www.very.co.uk).Bridgette@factorydirectdrapes.comAnd the acting - better to talk about the acting - how does it impact on your sanity? 'It doesn't frighten me because I'm not addicted to anything, ' he says. 'If I was addicted to a dangerous substance then I'd be dead. I'd lose touch of where the boundary is and I'd be dead. I know I would.'He decided to become an actor at 19, after seeing Ian Holm playing Richard III.'It feeds your task of getting me down on a few pages, which is important, ' he says eventually. 'There are young actors who are going to leaf through this magazine and go, "Oh, let's see if he is an arsehole or not. Let's just see. Oh yeah, " ' he continues, still playing a young actor wondering if Ben Kingsley is an arsehole, '" I know about that pain. I know about that struggle." ' So this interview is an act of altruism for young actors. It's a masterclass. At least he told me.Many times, a valance with your existing window treatments will highlight the drape or curtain and �top� it off adding a perfect frame to your view. If you have mixed types of window coverings in a room, valances on all of the windows also provides continuity to really bring the room together.We sit down and I am slightly tongue-tied because I think he's a great actor, one of the best. His performance in Schindler's List was astonishing. When I say so Kingsley says 'Gulp', very theatrically. Then he goes into a long spiel about how the premiere of his new film, The Prince of Persia, is taking place all over the world today.Ben Kingsley, I know, has two methods in interviews. Sometimes he talks about growing up near Salford in the 1950s. He was called Krishna Bhanji then. His father, the Indian GP, drank and ignored him; his mother, the half-Jewish housewife, accused him of theatricality and ignored him too. He has said, 'I was not taken seriously. Everything I attempted to articulate was diminished, distorted or interrupted.' There was also a racist grandmother who hated her Jewish lover so much that she became an anti-Semite.I'm stuck. So I tell him that another interviewer called him impenetrable. 'You know I never read reviews, don't you?' he says, very conversationally. (Does he think interviews and reviews are the same thing? ) She says you are impenetrable, I repeat. 'I'm sorry, ' he says, 'I'm sort of listening and not listening.' He says it so mildly that I don't realise how cross he is until I play the tape later.Perhaps it's because misery clings to all his famous roles - Gandhi, Simon Wiesenthal, Otto Frank, the sociopath gangster Don Logan, the accountant Itzhak Stern in Schindler's List. And now he's neither in prison nor a concentration camp, but standing behind an enormous teapot, looking as Home Counties as a John Lewis valance.And he jumps up, shakes my hand and closes the door. He deserved the Oscar - it was for Gandhi - just for playing himself.The total impact of your drapes, curtains, and window coverings can be very enriching and add the perfect finishing touch to your d�cor. Doing it for less will enrich your bank account too ! For more information on window coverings or to use free design tools and decorating tips, go to http://www.factorydirectdrapes.comCould he have played the Ralph Fiennes part - the Nazi - in Schindler's List? 'Yes, because we have to illustrate with all our might how terrible it was, ' he says in a low voice with an actor's stare which is straight out of the Actor's Stare Handbook. 'In a sense I have the Ralph Fiennes part in this [The Prince of Persia] too.' He plays Nizam, a bald cartoon baddie with a polished head.Sometimes he talks about this and sometimes he just draws on a glittering robe and gives a magnificent display of luvvieness, which is rather touching because it's brilliantly crafted, but is incredibly irritating nonetheless. When he says, 'Albert Camus said the only way to understand Iago is to play him, ' I realise I am definitely getting the latter. Damn.
And he jumps up, shakes my hand and closes the door. He deserved the Oscar - it was for Gandhi - just for playing himself.
Author: Gold, Tanya
No comments:
Post a Comment