More Trial of the Chicago 7 interviews

Kevin McCarthy (Twitter/Instagram: @kevinmccarthytv) spoke with Aaron Sorkin,

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Eddie Redmayne (9:02) about "The Trial of The Chicago 7".

Eddie on collecting things: "Nowadays I'm afraid I've got that whole thing where I collected

over the years sort of you know CDs and albums and things, and then as the technology moves

on they become frustatingly kind of it's not all in one place, so I'm now afraid I have moved to

kind of a digital era even though I have a good proper DVD."

Eddie on how Tom Hayden's character affects him on a personal level: "I knew nothing

about Tom before I started this film, and the more I researched him, the more I was astounded

by the integrity of spirit that this guy had, and I think that whenever you meet someone that is

sort of deeply admirable and you get to sort of really immerse yourself in their world for a

moment, it makes you want to be a better person. It makes you want to look at your own

hypocrisies because he was someone that really... - you know I don't want to say he put his

money where his mouth is but he's put his integrity where his mouth was and lived the way

that he spoke. And so it's made me question that in myself a lot."

On how does he find his way into an accent: "I started out weirdly - often in England,

if you're an actor you start out doing English things and English superior jobs. And

weirdly, my first play in London was an Edward Albee play, and one of my first films

was The Good Shepherd playing an American character..., and I did lots of little films

that were lots of different American accents. They were indie films and I worked with

a brilliant dialect coach guy called Michael Buster. And then I went to this English

period dramas phase, basically only playing English. And what's weird is when you're

known for that, that's then the offers you get. And what I love is that I think

Aaron Sorkin had actually seen a play I did on Broadway, called Red - I don't know

- in which I played American and so he was one of the few people in Hollywood

"oh maybe that guy can play American". And he gave me this part and I worked

with Michael Buster again. And I love it as a way of working because I start with

the accent actually and it's a bit like learning to play - I'm not someone that can jump

into accents, I can't do an impression of someone, I can't. It's not inherent to me.

I don't have that skill, so I have to start a bit like learning to play the piano.

You start with kind of scales or you start with little exercises, and very technically,

but I have to start months and months beforehand because by the time I'm on set,

I want it to be so in me, that whatever's thrown at me, whether it's improvisation

- you know - it's deeply rooted in my body. And this was a film that didn't have

money so didn't have necessarily like you could didn't have that time and support,

but they kindly allowed me to work with Michael for a period beforehand."

"You could do anything to anything by taking it out of context."

It's such a brilliant line from the movie!

In the next video, Eddie talks about Tom Hayden, whom he plays in the movie.

Eddie also talks about what he loves about the film and about working with Aaron Sorkin.

"One of the things I love about this film, it doesn't give answers really. Like the World was not

solved by the resolution of how this trial ended and some of the major issues with our political

systems remain fragile and unworkable, or seemingly unworkable, and at the moment in the

world where everyone is sort of standing then with bewilderment, the idea of continuing

conversations seems vital to me. And that's what I love about what Aaron's done..."

"... and it was this extraordinary thing, I've never had that access to a writer in which

you saw him going to his head and be in that place where he was when he wrote that

specific word, and that idea of that clarity is overwhelmed. And the other thing is

amazing is he just writes in music, in a musical way, and sometimes you see him

by the monitor - he's not watching the monitor, he's literally just listening, and he can

hear instinctively when the thing is jazzing, when it's riffing or when it's cooking

because he hears it in his ear, and it plays how he once imagined it."

I think this interview was recorded on the set when they were filming the courtroom

scenes in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

Interviews on my YouTube playlist

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