I almost always wait for autographs at the stage door and this evening was going to be no exception, in spite of the fact that it was a very cold winter night and my husband (at the time) was not only jealous, he was freezing! Nevertheless, he chivalrously indulged me and agreed to wait with me and, of course, Jeremy took FOREVER to come out. (The best ones always do.) I was very nervous because there was a big limousine waiting at the curb. It could only have been Jeremy's, and I was afraid he might just jump in and leave without signing. But there were at least three other smitten women waiting--and all around my age too--a little embarrassing. So he finally appears and I decided to step back and let the others go first so I could watch him to the max.
Amazingly, he stopped with each woman and exchanged a few words with them no matter the cold, no matter the limo waiting for him (and, perhaps, Sinead in the theater across the street--she was performing in NY at the same time with the RSC.) So now there's only me left. He smiled at me with that big, ingenuous smile of his and took my program to sign. I gushed something like, "It's a brilliant play and you're absolutely marvelous in it," which they always like to hear but which I meant sincerely. I could tell he was genuinely flattered and grateful and said in that exquisite accent I can still hear today, "Oh thank you, Thank you so much," and spontaneously wrapped his arm around my shoulder and gave me a big hug! It took me by suprise (he hadn't done that with the others and no actor--big star or otherwise--had ever done that to me before) and I could see my husband out of the corner of my eye kind of snarling and grinding his teeth (maybe it was just the cold), so I know it must have looked pretty dramatic. And even then, Jeremy could have jumped right into his limousine, but first he looked back at me almost as if he wanted to be sure he had made me happy (boy did he ever!) and only then, seeing me beaming, did he slowly get into the limo and drive away. Such a tiny moment showed so much of his heart and soul and his rapport with his admirers, I think. He's absolutely the all-time best and greatest."
--submitted by Michele V., 10/98
Being a student at the Uni me and my friends could get discounted tickets, and as all we knew about the film was that it was controvertial we decided to go and see it. Its not due to be released over here until the middle of May, and it was only by accident that we found out that Jeremy Irons was going to be there.
I myself enjoyed the film, and did not find it offensive or disturbing as some others in the audience did. It was very well directed and and acted on all parts. Well, as you can probably tell, I cant write film reviews so I'll just tell you about Jeremy.
There were three guys up on stage at the talk, Jeremy, the manager of the arts centre and a guy called David Lodge who is a film/novel critic. Here's the first thing that hit everyone - The manager was drinking mineral water,
David Lodge was drinking Orange juice but Jeremy was drinking a pint of Guiness! (a sort of strong Irish beer!) David gave a talk on his view of the film, which was pretty boring, Jeremy even looked like he was falling asleep, but then the manager threw the questions open to the audience.
The first to ask questions were the people around my age, basically just asking if he felt uncomfortable with any scenes, how he got on with the actors etc. There are many scenes in the film that involved Lolita sitting on his knee, he told us that during these scenes they actualy filmed him having
a cusion put on his knee before Lolita sat on it just incase any objections were made. He went on to explain how she was a very professional actress, even with her lack of screen experience. She had almost begged to play the part - she had sent videos of herself and her friends reading parts from the novel before she auditioned. He was basically raising the point
that he was probably more nervous than she was. The only real physical contact that he had was the kissing scenes but aparantly she had found herself a boy friend to practice with!
So everything was going along nicely until this woman about three rows behind us got to ask a question - she basically criticised Jeremy for his portrayal of his charater, saying that he made people feel sorry for him and she then somehow managed to link this to the fact that pedophilles would view the
film as an excuse for their actions etc etc (she talked for about 5 minutes) His first reply was - "I wish I had a pen because that question was so long I have forgotton what you said" This brought laughter from the audience, but the women became more enraged, she introduced her self as the head of Social Studies here at the University and began to repeat her questions in a harsher tone of voice. Irons obviously got a little pissed off by this and came back with some brilliant answers, saying things
like 'If we trusted in our selves then we need not worry' and that 'if we censored some things out of films then where would it all end', I cant honestly remember everything that he said, but it was brilliant and it almost brought a standing ovation from the crowd. The discussion had to end there because the theatre needed to be used for something else so he fought off all the autograph hunters and left, but I touched him! heheheh.
I think he must have been around for most of the day before hand becausethe national TV and radio stations had been around.
--submitted by Colin W, Apr.1998
Back to the front..
Thank you for visiting / Aela /
aela@tarsierjungle.net