London actor Hugh Dancy, best known to American audiences as Anne Hathaway's prince in 'Ella Enchanted,' is really a costume-drama boy at heart (whether or not he'll admit it). He returns to form, sort of, in the intergenerational, star-studded drama 'Evening,' based on a Susan Minot novel, in which he plays Buddy, a troubled rich boy in 1950s Newport. We caught up with Dancy on his love of the stage, his well-deserved holiday and the profundity of 'Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.'
EveningHugh hi angie
MoviefoneAngie: hi! is that hugh?
EveningHugh it's hugh
MoviefoneAngie: ok. how're you this morning? all interviewed out?
EveningHugh fine so far.
EveningHugh how are you?
MoviefoneAngie: i'm great, thank you! i get to be at home, so i'm just sitting on my couch
MoviefoneAngie: do you use instant messaging very much? you very computer literate?
EveningHugh no never done this before actually\
MoviefoneAngie: i saw one of your fansites -- pretty extensive and impressive. do you ever check it out?
EveningHugh yes i have looked at the fansite - in fact some of the people who run it came to play i am in at the moment
EveningHugh i mean came to the play
MoviefoneAngie: yeah, i figured that's what you meant; is the play in NYC?
EveningHugh yes, it's called journey's end and we've been running since february - it closes next sunday [June 10]
MoviefoneAngie: oh, did you also do that in UK?
EveningHugh no, but the production started in the UK. I only did it on Broadway, and the rest of the cast are Americans except for a couple of Brits who live here
MoviefoneAngie: ah, got it. i'm sorry i've missed that. i've seen you in a couple of your bbc things -- i LOVED daniel deronda
EveningHugh thank you. i was really glad that people in the States got to see it
MoviefoneAngie: based on george eliot novel, and now 'evening' is based on a susan minot novel. when you do based-on-book things, do you make a point to read the book, or not?
EveningHugh with george eliot yes, in fact i'd read the book before at university. it's amazing to have a writer like george eliot give all the insights into a character that you're going to be playing. it feels like cheating
EveningHugh but i didn't read evening
EveningHugh until long after i'd read the script. and then it turned out my character wasn't really in it
MoviefoneAngie: (and of course you've also done madame bovary, and david copperfield -- both of which you'd probably also read prior)
EveningHugh actually no, i'd read other dickens novels but not that one, and i hadn't read madame bovary either
MoviefoneAngie: oh, really? funny. and not 'evening,' either. oh, yeah -- they beefed up your character a lot for the film. he was sort of a wreck. was that fun to just sort of be able to let go, or was it stressful to play someone who was so unhappy?
EveningHugh it made me nervous at first, not because he is so unhappy but because he's very extreme, and in fact, very drunk, so i was wary of seeming over-the-top. but that quickly went away partially because i felt so comfortable with all these other amazing actors
MoviefoneAngie: yeah, it was a really incredible cast (Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Patrick Wilson, Claire Danes, Natasha Richardson, Toni Collette). how'd you get involved, did they seek you out or did you just audition?
EveningHugh i read the script a couple of years ago and loved it, before anybody was really attached, and then i went about pursuing it, trying to meet the right people - producers, director, etc. Eventually I auditioned with Lajos the director in London and got the part.
MoviefoneAngie: ah, nice that something you wanted so much came through.
MoviefoneAngie: how did you prepare for that role? any research on alcoholism, or that class of people in that period?
EveningHugh i hung out in newport for a week before the shoot began just to get a sense of the place and its history. it's very specific, very rich and very privileged with alot of unspoken rules, particularly back in the '50s when my bit of the movie is set. but beyond that most of the information i needed was in the script
MoviefoneAngie: you really haven't done comedy, have you? is that a deliberate choice, or just coincidence?
MoviefoneAngie: you a drama guy? not interested in comedy?
EveningHugh actually i made a movie immediately after evening called The Jane Austen Book Club which has quite alot of comedy in it so I do want to keep trying new things. I don't think they are always completely separate. Any good drama has comedy and vice versa.
MoviefoneAngie: true. ok, i've read about the jane austen book club, very intrigued. and that's true about comedy and drama overlapping, usually, you know unless it's something like 'harold and kumar go to the white castle'
EveningHugh i don't know. i find that movie very profound.
MoviefoneAngie: oh, you brits. can't get anything by you re: the drama.
MoviefoneAngie: how long have you been living in nyc now?
EveningHugh i've been in new york since early January doing the play.
MoviefoneAngie: and you'll stay in nyc now?
MoviefoneAngie: (are you hearing my led zeppelin music every time i send an im?)
EveningHugh no just a plink plonk sound. i'm going to take a holiday after the show, and maybe go home for a bit to london, and then i'm sure i will be back here eventually
MoviefoneAngie: oh, drat. NYC will miss you. no specific plans on staying/returning? but i imagine you'll continue to mix it up with stage and screen work?
EveningHugh yes, that's the idea but no particular plans right now\
MoviefoneAngie: any thing on the horizon after jane austen book club? either movie or play?
EveningHugh at the moment i can't think much further ahead than the holiday bit
MoviefoneAngie: ah, got it. well, thanks so much for chatting. and i hope your first session of im wasn't too traumatic
EveningHugh not at all.
MoviefoneAngie: (and sorry you couldn't hear the zep riff -- that's part of the experience)
EveningHugh that's ok. i have been imagining it anyway. hope you like the movie
MoviefoneAngie: i did like it -- such incredible acting, and script. it felt like sort of an honor just to watch all those people together
EveningHugh yes you can imagine how it felt acting with them
EveningHugh have a great day
MoviefoneAngie: you too!
EveningHugh hi angie
MoviefoneAngie: hi! is that hugh?
EveningHugh it's hugh
MoviefoneAngie: ok. how're you this morning? all interviewed out?
EveningHugh fine so far.
EveningHugh how are you?
MoviefoneAngie: i'm great, thank you! i get to be at home, so i'm just sitting on my couch
MoviefoneAngie: do you use instant messaging very much? you very computer literate?
EveningHugh no never done this before actually\
MoviefoneAngie: i saw one of your fansites -- pretty extensive and impressive. do you ever check it out?
EveningHugh yes i have looked at the fansite - in fact some of the people who run it came to play i am in at the moment
EveningHugh i mean came to the play
MoviefoneAngie: yeah, i figured that's what you meant; is the play in NYC?
EveningHugh yes, it's called journey's end and we've been running since february - it closes next sunday [June 10]
MoviefoneAngie: oh, did you also do that in UK?
EveningHugh no, but the production started in the UK. I only did it on Broadway, and the rest of the cast are Americans except for a couple of Brits who live here
MoviefoneAngie: ah, got it. i'm sorry i've missed that. i've seen you in a couple of your bbc things -- i LOVED daniel deronda
EveningHugh thank you. i was really glad that people in the States got to see it
MoviefoneAngie: based on george eliot novel, and now 'evening' is based on a susan minot novel. when you do based-on-book things, do you make a point to read the book, or not?
EveningHugh with george eliot yes, in fact i'd read the book before at university. it's amazing to have a writer like george eliot give all the insights into a character that you're going to be playing. it feels like cheating
EveningHugh but i didn't read evening
EveningHugh until long after i'd read the script. and then it turned out my character wasn't really in it
MoviefoneAngie: (and of course you've also done madame bovary, and david copperfield -- both of which you'd probably also read prior)
EveningHugh actually no, i'd read other dickens novels but not that one, and i hadn't read madame bovary either
MoviefoneAngie: oh, really? funny. and not 'evening,' either. oh, yeah -- they beefed up your character a lot for the film. he was sort of a wreck. was that fun to just sort of be able to let go, or was it stressful to play someone who was so unhappy?
EveningHugh it made me nervous at first, not because he is so unhappy but because he's very extreme, and in fact, very drunk, so i was wary of seeming over-the-top. but that quickly went away partially because i felt so comfortable with all these other amazing actors
MoviefoneAngie: yeah, it was a really incredible cast (Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Patrick Wilson, Claire Danes, Natasha Richardson, Toni Collette). how'd you get involved, did they seek you out or did you just audition?
EveningHugh i read the script a couple of years ago and loved it, before anybody was really attached, and then i went about pursuing it, trying to meet the right people - producers, director, etc. Eventually I auditioned with Lajos the director in London and got the part.
MoviefoneAngie: ah, nice that something you wanted so much came through.
MoviefoneAngie: how did you prepare for that role? any research on alcoholism, or that class of people in that period?
EveningHugh i hung out in newport for a week before the shoot began just to get a sense of the place and its history. it's very specific, very rich and very privileged with alot of unspoken rules, particularly back in the '50s when my bit of the movie is set. but beyond that most of the information i needed was in the script
MoviefoneAngie: you really haven't done comedy, have you? is that a deliberate choice, or just coincidence?
MoviefoneAngie: you a drama guy? not interested in comedy?
EveningHugh actually i made a movie immediately after evening called The Jane Austen Book Club which has quite alot of comedy in it so I do want to keep trying new things. I don't think they are always completely separate. Any good drama has comedy and vice versa.
MoviefoneAngie: true. ok, i've read about the jane austen book club, very intrigued. and that's true about comedy and drama overlapping, usually, you know unless it's something like 'harold and kumar go to the white castle'
EveningHugh i don't know. i find that movie very profound.
MoviefoneAngie: oh, you brits. can't get anything by you re: the drama.
MoviefoneAngie: how long have you been living in nyc now?
EveningHugh i've been in new york since early January doing the play.
MoviefoneAngie: and you'll stay in nyc now?
MoviefoneAngie: (are you hearing my led zeppelin music every time i send an im?)
EveningHugh no just a plink plonk sound. i'm going to take a holiday after the show, and maybe go home for a bit to london, and then i'm sure i will be back here eventually
MoviefoneAngie: oh, drat. NYC will miss you. no specific plans on staying/returning? but i imagine you'll continue to mix it up with stage and screen work?
EveningHugh yes, that's the idea but no particular plans right now\
MoviefoneAngie: any thing on the horizon after jane austen book club? either movie or play?
EveningHugh at the moment i can't think much further ahead than the holiday bit
MoviefoneAngie: ah, got it. well, thanks so much for chatting. and i hope your first session of im wasn't too traumatic
EveningHugh not at all.
MoviefoneAngie: (and sorry you couldn't hear the zep riff -- that's part of the experience)
EveningHugh that's ok. i have been imagining it anyway. hope you like the movie
MoviefoneAngie: i did like it -- such incredible acting, and script. it felt like sort of an honor just to watch all those people together
EveningHugh yes you can imagine how it felt acting with them
EveningHugh have a great day
MoviefoneAngie: you too!