I worry that sex scenes will overshadow my performance, says Bodyguard star
Richard Madden admits he fears being objectified as TV’S latest naked ‘hunk’
THE sight of Richard Madden’s naked form in Bodyguard, the BBC’S hit political thriller, has become a national talking point. But the actor has admitted he worries about being objectified on screen, saying it detracts from his performance.
Madden plays Sgt David Budd, a personal protection officer in the throes of an affair with the home secretary (Keeley Hawes) he is guarding.
As with Aidan Turner’s topless scything in Poldark and Tom Hiddleston’s bare bottom in The Night Manager, the scene of Madden without his clothes soon went viral. Asked about the focus on his looks, Madden said: “I worry sometimes about it affecting my job. If people go, ‘Oh, you know, he’s that hunky thing’, then it undermines that actually I’m an actor, and I’m trying really hard to be good at it.”
The actor, who previously starred in Game of Thrones and played the prince in a film adaptation of Cinderella, said he did not want to complain because women had been similarly objectified for decades “so I don’t really have a right to be p----- off ”.
In an interview with Mr Porter magazine he said the pressure to slim down and look good for a role was not con- fined to actresses. “I’ve done loads of jobs where I’ve been asked, or told, I need to lose weight – or I need to be in the gym every day,” Madden said. “And that sucks, because it actually gets in the way of the job, a bit. And also because it’s just unrealistic. Not everyone walks around with six-packs – unless you’re on Love Island.
“I was out in Ibiza earlier this year, and it was so funny – every guy had a six-pack. It was like, have you all just worked out all year for that one week in Ibiza where you can drink and party? Or is everybody just really genetically gifted? Because I know I only get a six-pack if I don’t eat and work out for months.”
Bodyguard, currently midway through its run on BBC One, was the corporation’s mostwatched drama debut since records began.
It has been criticised for featuring too many women in positions of power – something Madden dismissed as “f-----bananas. It’s not unrealistic at all to have these women in there – it’s completely normal. Especially when the show focuses on a young white male.
Let’s not forget that the camera is on a young white male the whole time.”
His comments on women have been backed up by David Zinzan, a former commander with the Metropolitan Police and the show’s police adviser, who said: “Let’s just look at the current world we live in. The top three jobs in policing are run by women. “The National Crime Agency has Lynne Owens. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has Sara Thornton. The Metropolitan Police, Commissioner Cressida Dick. The three top jobs in policing are run by women. We have a second woman prime minister. “We’ve had a number of women home secretaries. A lot of traditional barriers are breaking down. “So I think the younger generation will accept that as the norm. It’s only probably older people who say, ‘This never happens.’”
The drama has proved popular with Amber Rudd, the former home secretary, who said the relationship between the protection officer and his charge was quite true to life – apart from the sex.
“Like everyone, I have been absolutely gripped by Bodyguard. I love it. And it is a pretty accurate depiction of what the relationship is like between a home secretary and their bodyguard in the sense that they are incredibly close to you a lot of the time – although obviously not that close.” and Eastenders, and went on to direct episodes of Footballers’ Wives, Life on Mars and Ugly Betty. Her other credits include an adaptation of the Nigel Slater memoir, Toast.
Clarkson has said she is interested in “taking the action genre and high-octane storytelling and making sure characterisation [is] at its heart”. Earlier this year she was appointed director of a new Star Trek film, so a potential scheduling conflict could put paid to the Bond collaboration – the 007 film is due for release in November 2019, and producers are keen to begin shooting.
Clarkson is one of three names in contention for the job: the others are Bart Layton and Yann Demange.
Boyle left the project last month due to “creative differences”. It was suggested there were disagreements over the script and the casting of the lead villain. But Boyle had also spoken of updating Bond for the #Metoo era, saying: “You acknowledge the legacy … but you write in the modern world as well.”
In an interview given shortly before he quit, Boyle said he had been asked to bring a “freshness” to the new film, which will feature Daniel Craig in his fifth – and possibly final – outing as 007.
‘If people go, ‘Oh, you know, he’s that hunky thing’, then it undermines that actually I’m an actor, and I’m trying really hard to be good at it’