Aidan Gillen Interview - his role on 'Lorna Doone'
A&E - (Mar 2001)
Aidan Gillen, the coolly seductive Stuart in “Queer As Folk” (1999), gives a menacing portrayal of one of English literature’s most famous villains. In love, and obsessed with Lorna, Carver Doone is godfather-designate to the high-born family of outlaws who are desperate to get him to the altar with Lorna. But why?
Baby Joe Gillen’s entrance was always going to be a dramatic event.
He was due on the last day of “Lorna Doone” filming in Wales, but fortunately he arrived a couple of days late, allowing his dad Aidan the chance to wipe the mud off Carver Doone’s villainous boots and get home in time to welcome his second child into the world. Aidan can play a loving dad for real, but admirers of his professional work delight in his ability to chill, play the baddie and generally spook audiences.The actor raised the hairs on the back of producer Deirdre Keir’s neck within two lines of starting his first read-through for “Lorna Doone”.
“I like playing bad people,” says Aidan. “I suppose it feels glamorous sometimes to do the baddie. It’s the glamour of evil.”
The thoughtful and private young Dubliner did not have formal training as an actor but started doing plays as a teenager around his home city where his sister is also an actress.
Aidan came to London when he was 19 years-old. His first paid job -- four lines -- was alongside Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins in the feature film “The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne.” His first important break came in a production of “Handful of Stars” at the Bush Theatre in West London. From there, it was just a short walk to BBC Television Centre where he found roles in several BBC dramas.
He consolidated his reputation with roles such as the spooky Baby in the ‘50s period film “Mojo”, the homeless Londoner Gypo in “Safe” and as the cold-hearted seducer Stuart in two series of “Queer As Folk” (1999). Last summer he was voted Pathé Best British Newcomer at the Edinburgh Festival for James Thraves’ film, “The Low Down.”
As he was starting work on “Lorna Doone,” he was still recovering from the huge success of Channel 4’s “Queer as Folk.” As much as he enjoyed the two series, he doubts if he would do another. “It can limit the options you have because your soul has been sold,” says the actor whose other BBC credits include “A View of Harry Clarke”, Danny Boyle’s “Killing Time” and “Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha”.
Like many of the best villains, says Aidan, Carver Doone is talked about a lot more than he is seen. His brooding, murderous presence casts a shadow over the whole story.
“Carver Doone is evil, but I have some sympathy for him. What really attracted me to this character is this obsession he has for Lorna. I found that idea quite interesting. He’s 14 years older than her,” notes Gillen. “Carver and Lorna have been destined to eventually marry. He has been waiting for her. But when she grows up she is reluctant to have anything to do with him, pushing him away. Carver does not take to that too well. The more she pushes him away, the more he wants her.”
“He has to have her because he gets everything he wants. She is the key to his accession and regaining the Doones’ power. I believe he thinks he loves her. But he also really loves himself, he’s quite self-obsessed. He just wants to possess her.”
Aidan, who has also made a name for himself in theatre productions such as “The Long Way Round” and “Juno and the Paycock,” “Mojo,” “Playboy of the Western World” and “Marvin’s Room”, reckons that if Carver was around today he would not be in a prison for the mentally insane as some might think, but at the head of some very profitable mafia-type organization. Aidan is currently appearing in “The Tempest” at the Almeida. His next film, “The Final Curtain,” will see him alongside Peter O’Toole in the story of two rival game show hosts, one young, the other old. He did have a few problems with his role as Carver. “There are a certain few minutes when you first put on your gear. You worry about being taken seriously. I had a problem with that - the long boots and so on. I’ve had that ever since I saw Jack and the Beanstalk. I try not to think about the pantomime thing too much.”
And the trouble with being an actor is that there is always an audience. As director Mike Barker shouted ‘Cut!’ after the scene in the church where Carver attacks Lorna, the cast and crew packed into church, in true pantomime style, suddenly booed the villain. Aidan, however, was pleased: “I quite like the idea of playing the baddie in a Christmas production. I don’t think I’d like to play the good guy anyway.”
Back home, it’s a different story with his partner Olivia, two year old daughter Berry and new baby Joe. His idea of a day off from acting is “taking babies for walks in the park.”
