THIS IS THE AGE OF THE SELFIE. IT’S SO BORING!
Charles Dance is back in a lavish period drama about Britain’s vaunted age of Empire, but the Game of Thrones star tells DAVID STEVENSON he’s not so fond of elements of the modern world, either
WE’RE IN a hot, stuffy caravan on the glamorous set of ITV’s new period drama, The Singapore Grip, in Kuala Lumpur. It may be 38 degrees in the shade, with storms appearing almost instantly from nowhere, but this is exactly what Charles Dance is here to sample. Indeed, he embraces it.
“I’ve worked in India and South Africa in the summer,” he tells me, “but Kuala Lumpur is serious heat. The trick is to turn off the air conditioning so that you don’t keep getting hot and then cold. Your body has to take it in. Unfortunately, when you have to look reasonably presentable you do have to depend on the air conditioning though. The other trick is to walk very, very slowly.” Which he does with some aplomb.
With a clipped accent, just like his colonial character Mr Webb, Charles, now 73 years young, is no stranger to period roles, including The Jewel In The Crown, The Crown (as Lord Mountbatten) and White Mischief. Recently, he topped all of that with a feature performance in Game of Thrones, in which he played Tywin Lannister. He now specialises in what we call “guest cameos”. But why here?
“I did this because of the writer, Christopher Hampton. We were at a pre-Bafta dinner and he was talking about it. He said to me, ‘You probably won’t want to do it’, but he’s a terrific writer and this is a substantial piece of work. Plus, I hadn’t been to Malaysia before! So, Christopher Hampton, Malaysia, in and out pretty quickly. Why not?”
The Jewel In The Crown and The Singapore Grip almost complement each other, Charles believes.
“Being out in Malaysia I could almost have been doing The Jewel In The Crown. They’re both period dramas about the end of the Empire and set in this part of the world with the threat of war and Japanese invasion. Although this drama is set in Singapore, it was extraordinary to be filming it in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur is just astonishing.
“What I tend to do when I go to new places is pound the streets. I may go to one or two tourist places, but I’m happier going off, walking, exploring and listening to people. It really is an extraordinary place.”
In The Singapore Grip, adapted from the third in a 1970s JG Farrell trilogy, Mr Webb and Walter Blackett, played by David Morrissey, run a rubber company as the Japanese prepare to invade Singapore in 1937. In the first episode, Blackett gets wind of an American deal to buy a lot of rubber and plunges himself into stock buying. Blackett is also intent on marrying off his daughter to suit his business needs. Webb and Blackett live near each other in colonial piles, with Webb tending his roses bare-chested when we first encounter him.
“Yes, he does like gardening with virtually no clothes on, and pruning the roses. Mr Webb has been out in Singapore for some considerable time. He’s adapted very well and easily to the way of life in Singapore, he’s not typical of his kind.
“What’s typical of his kind is a rather superior attitude to the native population. He says to somebody at one point, ‘I’ve been in this colony since before you were born’. He’s a rather Graham Greene-like character. It also looks like Mr Webb has been side-lined a bit in the office.”
But he still respects his business partner.
“He has a healthy regard for him. There is a whole social life going on, though, and dear old Mr Webb has age-related cynicism. Rather like me, I think he would define cynicism as the truth not wrapped up in a pretty ribbon. He observes what’s going on, like this birthday party the Blacketts throw for him. It’s the last thing he wants, to sit there on show like a prize animal.”
Charles has met some “old colonials” – those people who stayed on in India. “I met a guy in Barbados whilst I was there on holiday. He had speakers on his terrace and was playing Wagner. He lived on his own, with lots of brown wood and speakers, and was listening to Tristan And Isolde. We sat on this veranda being eaten alive by mosquitoes because he’d now become impervious to them.”
Charles has been sampling local life on what is called The Strip in Kuala Lumpur, which is rammed with restaurants, bars... and massage parlours.
“The area,” he says, “is full of Game of Thrones fans! I’ve been
Rather like me, I think he would define cynicism as the truth not wrapped up in a pretty ribbon... Charles Dance on his character in The Singapore Grip, Mr Webb
mobbed. You hear the patter of feet behind you... then they pounce. Two or three guys chased me down the road the other day – ‘Charles! Charles! Can we have a selfie?’ It’s the age of the selfie.
It’s so boring.
“I just say, ‘If you must...’ with a kind of reluctant expression on my face or occasionally depending on the mood
I’m in, ‘Certainly’. But more often than not I’d rather not if you don’t mind. Most people can accept that but others don’t, thinking it must be obligatory.”
Game of Thrones, he admits, “helped” his image and standing around the world.
“Well, it did do that,” he explains, “because it was one of the biggest series in the world. They were airing the same episode all over the world at the same time. I tend to work pretty hard anyway.”
He enjoyed his character’s exit – while sitting on the loo. “Yes, I thought that was pretty good. Shot by my ungrateful son after all that I had done for him. The little s***!”
The actor’s next performance keeps him firmly in the historical mode.
“I’m playing Kitchener in a film by Matthew Vaughan. I have a moustache which will make Kenneth Branagh’s in the Agatha Christie look subtle! It’s huge. “Then I’m being blown up as Mountbatten in The Crown. Kitchener to Mountbatten – this is kind of my world I guess.”
The Singapore Grip starts on ITV, tonight at 9pm.