Timothy Spall ‘liberated’ after slimming down
FOR decades, life as an actress has meant losing weight or staying slim to win parts. In an age of equality, it seems, that requirement increasingly extends to men.
Timothy Spall, the British actor, has spoken of how his dramatic weight loss has transformed his career, “liberating” him from being pigeon-holed as characters of a “certain shape”.
Spall, 62, shocked fans after being photographed looking significantly slimmer in 2017, with his appearance so drastically altered it led some to fear for his health. He has since attributed the change to the simple decision in 2014 to cut down on food and alcohol.
The actor has gone on to win roles he would not otherwise have been physically suited to, he said, including that of LS Lowry in a new biographical film Mrs Lowry & Son.
“As a character actor, it’s put me in a position where I’m not hobbled by being a certain shape,” he told Radio Times. “I’m no longer that avuncular round bloke. It does feel liberating on many levels.”
Spall’s recent parts have included Lord Wallington in Stephen Poliakoff’s BBC period drama Summer of Rockets and thief Terry Perkins in ITV’S version of the Hatton Garden raid.
In Mrs Lowry & Son, he stars alongside Vanessa Redgrave, who plays the artist’s domineering mother.
“This is a man who never had any intimate relationships as far as we know, and was brought up in thrall to this difficult woman,” he said of the role.
“Yet he’s compelled to paint the world as he sees it, even though she doesn’t like his paintings.”
Spall, who has now taken up painting himself, said his preparation for playing a new character is still based on working “from the inside out”, adding: “You have to empathise with [the character’s] feelings, in the moment, and to do that you have to get to the root which made that happen.
Asked about his weight loss earlier this year, he said: “If I was going to write a diet book, it would be two pages. The first one is, food and booze is lovely and exercise is horrible. Right, turn over the page. If you eat too much and drink too much, you put on weight. If you eat about the right amount, you don’t.”