Commanding Presence: Lee as Burgomaster in Sleepy Hollow, and (below, left to right) genre gentlemen Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Lee and John Carradine.
In addition to The Wicker Tree, you’re also going to be working on a film about grave robbing, correct? Well, yes. My next job is with John Landis in Burke and Hare, which is actually a com- edy.
And that’s not all... I’ve got several things to come out. One is an animated film called Monstermania!, which is extremely funny. I don’t play any of the characters that you think I would. There’s another one called Boogie Woogie, with Joanna Lumley. She’s a lovely woman. And recently I made a film which has been cut to rib- bons called Triage. It is with Colin Farrell, who gave a terrific performance. I had the best part that I’ve had in years, and I think I gave the best performance in a very, very long time. But the film had twenty minutes cut out, which was a disgraceful thing to do. And it certainly had nothing to do with the director.
What do you think is your greatest role? I went to Pakistan in 1997 for ten weeks to play the founder of the nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. And that’s the title of the film, Jinnah. That’s the biggest challenge I’ve ever had – [playing the role] in front of his own people, who greeted me with enormous kindness and praise. I think that’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done.
Is there an actor or actress out there that you really ad- mire? You’ve mentioned Sir Anthony Hopkins in the past, but is there anyone else? Well, I would see anything with Gene Hackman in it; and of course you have Jack Nicholson, whom I know, Dustin Hoffman, whom I know. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, both of whom I don’t know. And there are of course others, like Jeff Bridges, who is a very fine actor. And, of course, there’s Johnny Depp.
Like Depp, you’ve appeared in several of Tim Burton’s films,
including Alice in Wonderland, in which you voice the Jabberwocky. Are there any other directors that you’d love to work with? There are three directors that I’d love to work with: Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood and Peter Weir. But the director is undoubtedly Tim. He’s number one in my book.
Alice in Wonderland seems like a very ambitious project; have you seen it yet? Thoughts? Tim had an incredibly tough time getting this picture made, going backwards and forwards between the States and here. And there’s so much CGI. I think that there are only about six live actors in the film. I’m going to see it later this week.
I think his films – and, of course, the newer Star Wars movies and The Lord of the Rings series – have really in- troduced you to younger generations of filmgoers. Yes. You see, there are many generations that know me. But many of them are very young; children of the age of six can go and see Star Wars and many of them do, and of course children over the age of twelve can go and see Lord of the Rings, and now it seems that I’m known to every generation. You can’t ask for more than that.
At this point in your life, what do you fear the most? Well, everybody fears something, don’t they? I think above all, I’m a bit afraid of the unknown. And speaking on an en- tirely personal basis, I don’t want to die before any other members of my family. You understand what I mean by that? I have a fear, obviously. I don’t know how to define it, really. We’re all going to die, but I’m not ready yet. I remember two wonderful comments: Vincent Price said that if he had a gravestone, it would say, “I’ll be back,” and Jack Lemmon, who does have a gravestone, had it inscribed with, “Jack Lemmon –
in.” And if I did have a gravestone or a memoriam of any kind, I think it would probably say, “Too Soon.”
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