Ian Grieve interview for Coalition

17 March 2015

Why did you want to take part in this project?

I became interested in the story; I’d been playing Gordon Brown for the best part of 18 months on stage. Although the play, which was a one man show, didn’t deal with the events of that election specifically, I’d read a good detail about it and I’d spoken to some political commentators and become a little more politically aware. And I suppose the Scottish Referendum was coming up – I was quite astonished when Gordon chucked his hat in the ring at the last minute. It was nice to take part in something that was different from the play. Having done a one man show for nearly a year and a half I was just looking forward to working with other actors.

 

What did you do by way of research? Did you study lots of Brown footage?

I did, I watched a great deal of Gordon Brown footage. I tried to get his different voices, it’s like most of us, there are about four different versions of him all wrapped up into one. The thing that I found quite interesting was listening to him on Desert Island Discs; it was the closest thing to an intimate conversation that I could get. Most politicians are very aware of the public, so they have a public voice.

 

Do you have to be careful to find a balance between capturing an essence of the character and doing a bad impression of him?

I remember talking to Bertie [Carvel, who plays Nick Clegg] and Mark [Dexter, who plays David Cameron] about this. Very early on, before we started filming, we all had a similar anxiety about taking on the different roles. We tried doing a level of impersonation, to put in some recognisable feature for our characters, which people will see. What it really boils down to is that we just had to play the truth of the scene.

 

Whatever vocal resemblance I have, I did lower my voice slightly for the role and the director Alex said that he had a growling quality to his voice. There were actually very few opportunities where the three of us are all together, only about two scenes in total.   We took those opportunities to catch up with each other and find out how we were finding it with our characters. In the end we all settled for acting advice that you get all the time, which is play the truth of the situation.

 

You are playing the character with whom the public will be familiar. Does that add to the pressure you’re under?

Playing a public figure means that you might have people saying ‘he’s not like that’ or ‘he is like that’. I remember when I was doing the play, the two big questions that I seemed to get all the time was ‘how do remember the lines?’ and ‘you must have watched lots of YouTube videos, because you are so like him’. I mean, is it flattering to be told that you are like Gordon Brown? I don’t know.

After a while you just need to think, well they have cast you for a reason, I must have some of the qualities that they are looking for and I must forget about impersonating him. That was the clever thing about the film, I remember we took photograph of ourselves as the three different characters and you could tell straight away who was playing who, but we didn’t look like exact copies. There was a hint in everybody. That was really clever, because nobody was a dead-ringer. That was the key for me, we didn’t want to be an impersonation.

 

Has playing Brown given you any insight into the kind of pressures he’s under?

Yes it has, definitely. My take on it is that he may have been the right man for the job and that he may have been a good man. I never set out in any way to attack him. It’s not that type of piece for me. It was an observation of things like power and the nature of power and the pressure that politician and leaders are under. I think in many ways, this particular leader worried about how the public would perceive him and his actions and his choices. It ended up becoming the dominating feature of his premiership. It’s sad that we put our leaders in that position, because surely when we elect someone we want them to be busy running the country not busy wondering how they can keep us happy.

I watched them all doing their party political speeches and as an actor, you can watch them and observe the things they’re directed to do to supposedly appeal to as many people as possible. Even when they are claiming to be themselves and talking directly to the people, it’s so staged and I suppose as actors we can spot that.

 

Someone said at one point we get the politicians that we deserve and I think that’s exactly what’s happened, because we make so many foolish demands. It would just be nice to have someone in Number 10 that we could trust to get on with it and knew what they were doing, regardless of which party they belonged too. I’ve never been a party political person. I’m interested in politics, but I’m not a member of any particular party.

 

Has it changed your opinion of him?

Yes, I didn’t know that much about him before and I actually quite admire the man. I think he does have a strong moral backbone. He’s someone that I’d like to meet and talk to him about this, eventually, maybe not right now.

 

I question some of the political choices that he’s made, because my take on him would have led me to believe that he would have made different choices. Because he believes so much on social justice I would have pegged him to be a Yes man in the Scottish Referendum, but he came down very hard on the other side. He came in at the last minute and more or less swayed the country. There are little contradictions in my perception of his character. But then I have to remember I am building a character, not the real person. It is a representation of him. I do also think that it’s important when you’re playing someone that you have to be empathic of them and understand their point of view.   I feel the way he was treated was a bit rubbish – he didn’t lose the election that badly, or, put it this way, nobody really won it.

 

Do you think there are similarities between acting and being a politician?

Absolutely. I’ve thought about this a lot, when I was doing the play, which was at the Trafalgar Studios for a short time, which is along from the House of Commons and Whitehall so a lot of politicians would come along and see that. I noticed that politicians like to make themselves known in an audience. They have a similar ego to actors, I think. The difference is – and I’m open to debate on this – an actor’s ego will constantly need reassurance; a lot of actors that I know are quite shy people. Whereas it seems to me that politicians are the exact opposite, they are constantly reminding everyone else that they’re actually really good.

 

How would you fancy a career in politics?

I have to be honest, there was a point when I could feel myself getting absorbed in it. I thought I might like to be involved in the local government, as I got a bit older and a bit angrier and more vocal. Common sense changed my mind and meeting people that actually do it. I don’t think I have the patience and the ability to cope with those kinds of stress levels. I would also get bored, I think. I’d get bored quickly.