{"id":16405,"date":"2014-09-18T14:58:38","date_gmt":"2014-09-18T21:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qgp.ykq.mybluehost.me\/cinephiled\/?p=16405"},"modified":"2014-09-18T15:06:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-18T22:06:08","slug":"interview-oscar-winner-christopher-plummer-phd-emotions-hector-search-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinephiled.com\/interview-oscar-winner-christopher-plummer-phd-emotions-hector-search-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Oscar Winner Christopher Plummer in \u2018Hector and the Search for Happiness\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hector-poster\"<\/a>In Peter Chelsom\u2019s quirky Hector and the Search for Happiness,<\/em> based on the bestselling novel, Hector (Simon Pegg) plays a psychiatrist who has become increasingly tired of his humdrum life. As\u00a0he tells his girlfriend, Clara (Rosamund Pike), he feels like a fraud: he hasn\u2019t really tasted life, and yet he\u2019s offering advice to patients who just aren’t getting any happier. So Hector decides to break out of his routine. He embarks on a\u00a0global quest\u00a0with the hope of uncovering the elusive formula for true happiness. At one point, he meets up with his former professor (Christopher Plummer) who has made a career out of studying happiness. Hector and the Search for Happiness<\/em> also stars Toni Collette, Stellan Skarsgard, and Jean Reno. I recently had the great pleasure of talking to Christopher Plummer, who, at the age of 84, is one of the busiest actors around. He made his film debut in 1958 and became the oldest person ever to win an Academy Award in 2012 when he was honored for his poignant performance in the movie Beginners<\/em>. As we spoke, I tried to find the strength to not bring up his role as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music<\/em> but I failed miserably!<\/span><\/p>\n

Danny Miller: I\u2019m such a huge fan of your work and I loved your strange character in this film. Do you think there are really professors who study happiness in this way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christopher Plummer:<\/strong> If there are, they\u2019re probably insane! But it was very fun being this Ambassador of Happiness. I played him like a kind of mad, demented Stephen Hawking.<\/p>\n

Is \u201chappiness\u201d something that you\u2019ve spent much time explicitly thinking about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, never! I was having far too good a time during my life to ever think about happiness! There\u2019s also something terribly Disney-like about the word happiness, it rather repels me! I think \u201cjoy\u201d is a better word. “Joy” is possible in life, “happiness” really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

You seem busier than ever at this point in your career. How do you decide which films you want to do these days?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be honest, sometimes it\u2019s the location \u2014 even if the film is absolutely ghastly and horribly written! But if it\u2019s being shot in the south of France or Italy, I jump at it! But truly, I\u2019ve been very lucky in the past few years. Scripts have come my way that I\u2019ve liked very much that I feel have something to contribute.<\/p>\n

\"plummer-collette\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Have you ever worked with these actors before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, and I enjoyed it so much. I\u2019m a great fan of Toni Collette\u2019s work and I was glad I got to do some scenes with her. I\u2019m also a fan of Rosamund Pike but we still haven\u2019t met. I think Simon Pegg is very bright, I\u2019ve always been a fan of his. I think he had a lot to do with this film getting made.<\/p>\n

At this point in your career, do your fellow actors look to you for sage advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, God, no! I really don\u2019t think I fit the description of someone people would come to for that kind of thing.<\/p>\n

\"plummer-som\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wonder if when you talk to people my age if you just wait, through gritted teeth, for the inevitable Sound of Music<\/em> question! I was five when I first saw that movie and I think I embedded many of my own memories of a happy childhood into the frames of that film.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Laughs.) I understand the emotional appeal of that movie. It\u2019s a very \u201ccozy\u201d film and they just don\u2019t make many cozy films anymore \u2014 they haven\u2019t for a long time. If any family films are made today, they usually have an edge to them, which, incidentally, I\u2019m all for! Films today are rarely so awash in sentimentality. But I do love older films, particularly the films of the 1930s and 40s. I\u2019m amazed at how quickly and easily and unpretentiously they were made. There\u2019s a certain rhythm and ambiance to many of those films that I wish would infiltrate to the films of today. I miss the smartness and joy so many of those films had.<\/p>\n

What are some of your favorite films from that time period?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh God, that\u2019s so hard to answer. All the Michael Powell movies, for one thing. He really changed the face of cinema. His films were so original, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n

Absolutely. Stairway to Heaven<\/em> is one of my favorite films of all time. I think it was called A Matter of Life and Death<\/em> in your part of the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. Oh, that movie was just enchanting. I love all of the Powell-Pressburger films. I also love the French films that came out when I was in my teens. One of my favorites was Jean Renoir\u2019s La Grande Illusion<\/em>. That film has always stayed with me. I still burst into tears at the end of that film, just like clockwork.<\/p>\n

Your career overlapped with people from that Golden Age. Did you ever find yourself tongue-tied when you met your movie idols?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, no, I never behaved like that \u2014 I always thought I was far superior to anyone I met! (Laughs.) In truth, I think I put that attitude on like a cloak to avoid shyness. I was very lucky in my career, I worked with Bette Davis, Sylvia Sidney, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, so many great people.<\/p>\n

I forget, did you ever work with Katharine Hepburn?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, but I knew her quite well. She had asked me to play Enobarbus when she did Antony and Cleopatra<\/em> on the stage in 1960. Unfortunately, I couldn\u2019t do it but I got to know her and she came to see me in every play I did. It was very sweet \u2014 there she was in the dressing room every time I was in a play. She was an amazing lady.<\/p>\n

What kinds of films do you like today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love biographical films. And I really enjoy doing real-life characters such as when I played Mike Wallace in The Insider<\/em>. I knew Mike and I felt very close to that part, I thought it was a very accurate film. There\u2019s a project in the works where I may play the Kaiser. I hope that happens.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been a fan of your daughter\u2019s (Amanda Plummer) work as well. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to see her on the stage many times. Do you think it\u2019s harder for young people starting out in this business today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, in some ways I think it\u2019s easier. Especially with child actors, they used to be so terrible and now I think many are very good. Most of them seem terribly versed in the techniques of the industry by the time they\u2019re 10. I\u2019m really quite amazed at how talented some of them are \u2014 I don\u2019t want to act with them at all, I want to put them down! (Laughs.) Young people seem much more professional now than they used to.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve made so many great movies, but did you ever feel that you were born in the wrong era?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely, I\u2019ve always felt slightly out of epoch. I think I would have been much more comfortable in the 30s, in the Ronald Colman era. I\u2019m really quite old-fashioned. But don\u2019t tell anyone, please \u2014 it\u2019s such an ugly word!<\/p>\n