» Terence Stamp interview
Terence Stamp talks to Latest 7 about his role in the comedy Get Smart and fighting Superman
How much fun was the role and what was it was that attracted you to it?
Me? I’m always rather flattered when I get approached about doing funny stuff. I guess it’s just unusual, when someone is devastatingly good looking, wise and sexy that people think I can do comedy. I was very naive. I didn’t know about Get Smart. I guess I just didn’t see it and so when I went into meet with the production team, it was just a chat. I hadn’t seen the script and I didn’t know anything about it and when it got serious I did the research.
I just thought that it was one of those characters that I could do something with, someone who is rather pretentious and looks down his nose at everyone. Something I could get some fun out of. In truth it was just such a great troupe, a great team. So I had a lot of fun doing this even though I had to make a fool of myself, which I don’t really like.
What other roles are you working on?
Tom Cruise and I were trying to blow up Hitler in Berlin for Valkyrie.
That took a long time and then I’ve just finished a project called Yes Man with the wonderful Jim Carrey and although I’m very tired, it was a wonderful week to work with him. He’s on fire all the time. The film is based on the Danny Wallace book where he set himself the task of saying ‘Yes’ to everyone and everything he encountered. It’s a straight out comic film.
So Valkyrie is next with Tom Cruise, or are you finished?
I’m finished, but the opening has been postponed. Do you know what a rave is? I’ve been invited to a Cruise party, but it’s like a rave. I don’t know the address. It’s such a good film and I’m just lucky to be in it. Eddie Izzard’s in it as is Bill Nighy so we had a very strong British contingent on set.
All the fans still get very excited about your General Zod role in Superman. How big a film is that for you still to this day?
There are certain films that change your life. I hadn’t worked for about ten years when I got the offer for Superman and I was very nervous because it was apparent that they just wanted the ugly. I had the feeling that they were just going to light me ugly and dress me up in the ugly stuff.
I had a friend who was a Baron, a Dutch Baron. He was a very wise guy and a bit old. I said that I was having doubts about this and he said, “You shouldn’t really have doubts about it because for loads of kids Superman movies will be the first movie that they ever go to see, and by the time they grow up there will be more people who want to be like Zod than Superman. So you really shouldn’t worry about it. You should just be as ugly and horrible as possible.“
It kind of came to pass. I’m trying to think of a funny example. We didn’t have a bathroom when I was a boy and so I became a clean freak very early on and if I can get into a steam bath I do, especially after a jet flight. So I was taken to a steam bath in New York and I walked in and I undressed and it was just all guys and I said to somebody, “Where are the loin cloths?“ He said, “They’re at the front.“
It was a very little loin cloth, like a little towel and a lot of guys in a steam bath, they go there to be nude, and anyway I’m walking back towards the steam and I see in front of me three enormous tough guys and they’re just kind of staring at me. I revert to my East End street mode and I walk straight towards them and as I got close, one of the guys said, “Are you the Zod guy?“ I said, “Smile when you say that!“ Then there were these three big grins.
So whenever I see big fierce guys staring at me I know that they recognise the General.
