Michael at the BFI’s preview screening of The Special Relationship.
For those of you who couldn’t be there yesterday, here’s a short summary of Michael’s answers during the Q&A… I do recommend you to read it all with Michael’s usual and healthy dose of irony in mind. 
Michael, you have met Tony Blair. Did he make a good impression on you?
MS: No… (jokingly) He gave me a good old look up and down. And he says he hasn’t seen the films, yet he has an incredibly good working knowledge of them. I now understand that he quotes from the films in his own book… which I haven’t read.
MS: No… (jokingly) He gave me a good old look up and down. And he says he hasn’t seen the films, yet he has an incredibly good working knowledge of them. I now understand that he quotes from the films in his own book… which I haven’t read.
Did you believe him when he said that he hasn’t seen the films?
MS: No, but I understand why he says that. Because if he says that he’s seen them, then people could ask him whether various things are true or not. And he just wants to bypass that, which is fair enough. So I don’t find it ridiculous that he says he hasn’t seen the films. But, I mean, clearly he has.
MS: No, but I understand why he says that. Because if he says that he’s seen them, then people could ask him whether various things are true or not. And he just wants to bypass that, which is fair enough. So I don’t find it ridiculous that he says he hasn’t seen the films. But, I mean, clearly he has.
Did he tell you which one he liked best?
MS: (laughs) I think he probably likes The Queen best. I couldn’t imagine that he likes The Deal very much.
Do you need to have a form of sympathy for Blair, as a character to play?
MS: Yeah, of course. Well, cards on the table, he’s a character that I play. I love him, because I love every character that I play. It’d be ridiculous if I didn’t. I’m not going to sit here and say ‘Oh, I don’t like Blair…’. He’s gone way beyond a politician or a leader… It’s a character I’ve played three times and the whole point of my job is that I have to connect with this character. Now, I don’t know Tony Blair, I’ve met him just once. I can’t say anything I know about him, but I do know this character that I play and that character has developed and evolved and changed and gone in various directions.
MS: Yeah, of course. Well, cards on the table, he’s a character that I play. I love him, because I love every character that I play. It’d be ridiculous if I didn’t. I’m not going to sit here and say ‘Oh, I don’t like Blair…’. He’s gone way beyond a politician or a leader… It’s a character I’ve played three times and the whole point of my job is that I have to connect with this character. Now, I don’t know Tony Blair, I’ve met him just once. I can’t say anything I know about him, but I do know this character that I play and that character has developed and evolved and changed and gone in various directions.
Are you going to do a fourth Blair film?
MS: “I am not and have never been a member of the Communist party”
MS: “I am not and have never been a member of the Communist party”
If you were his ghost, what question would you really like to ask him?
MS: If I’d been whose ghost? If I’d been Tony Blair’s ghost? (mass confusion) Oh, you mean ghost writer? If I’d been Tony Blair’s ghost writer… what would have been…
MS: If I’d been whose ghost? If I’d been Tony Blair’s ghost? (mass confusion) Oh, you mean ghost writer? If I’d been Tony Blair’s ghost writer… what would have been…
If you had been his autobiography’s ghost writer, what would you really have asked him?
MS: Oh, I see… (He actually didn’t answer the question at this stage. Interviewer said they’d come back on it later on)
MS: Oh, I see… (He actually didn’t answer the question at this stage. Interviewer said they’d come back on it later on)
Which Peter Morgan movie, that you’ve been in, is your favourite?
MS: The Damned United. Clough’s my favourite guy. It’s true! I mean, I like them all… They’re all brilliantly written. And I’m brilliant in them all. (laughs) But that’s my favourite.
MS: The Damned United. Clough’s my favourite guy. It’s true! I mean, I like them all… They’re all brilliantly written. And I’m brilliant in them all. (laughs) But that’s my favourite.
Was it a conscious decision to dismiss the negative press that Cherie Blair has gotten?
PM: I think I probably write her more as an interrogating figure towards Blair, like his conscience. So she is written a bit like Rosa Luxemburg.
MS: And she’s always good value comedy-wise. We always talk about how she’s really useful and I think you can’t help but making her funny. All these characters have to fulfill formal functions as well as be the actual character. Like in The Queen, Blair is the one taking us on the journey through it, so he’s fulfilling that function as well as being true to the character of Blair. I think, ultimately you always have certain types of characters in any story: someone is going to be the funny one and so on. And Cherie is a really great character for that particular function. I can imagine that sometimes, in the middle of a scene, you think ‘Oh, I wish I could get Cherie in this and get something funny out of that’.
PM: I think I probably write her more as an interrogating figure towards Blair, like his conscience. So she is written a bit like Rosa Luxemburg.
MS: And she’s always good value comedy-wise. We always talk about how she’s really useful and I think you can’t help but making her funny. All these characters have to fulfill formal functions as well as be the actual character. Like in The Queen, Blair is the one taking us on the journey through it, so he’s fulfilling that function as well as being true to the character of Blair. I think, ultimately you always have certain types of characters in any story: someone is going to be the funny one and so on. And Cherie is a really great character for that particular function. I can imagine that sometimes, in the middle of a scene, you think ‘Oh, I wish I could get Cherie in this and get something funny out of that’.
By the way, regarding the earlier question… I don’t have a specific answer to it, but the one thing I would love to talk to him about is religion. And how that has affected certain things. I think it would be very difficult, because that’s the one area he doesn’t go into much. It’s the one area that we’ve not really explored.
Could you tell us about anything that you really enjoyed during the production of the movie?
MS: What I found interesting about this story, from the beginning, was the idea of trying to find a kind of through-line. Certainly in America, people think of Blair as this really great, intelligent guy… and then he did this weird thing that we never quite understood. And I was always interested in looking at the consistency of it all. And there’s a kind of plotting all the things that empowered Blair, things that gave him a sense of right and wrong and that justified the choices he made. Nevertheless, within that, it’s not like we want to bring across a certain point of view. I’m still playing a living person that’s three-dimensional, flawed and as much a mystery to himself as anyone else. Because that’s how I feel about myself. So it would be unfair for me to play someone who is different to me, because that would be lying… If it hasn’t happened to me or I can’t relate to it, then I won’t play it, because I’d be rubbish and dishonest.
MS: What I found interesting about this story, from the beginning, was the idea of trying to find a kind of through-line. Certainly in America, people think of Blair as this really great, intelligent guy… and then he did this weird thing that we never quite understood. And I was always interested in looking at the consistency of it all. And there’s a kind of plotting all the things that empowered Blair, things that gave him a sense of right and wrong and that justified the choices he made. Nevertheless, within that, it’s not like we want to bring across a certain point of view. I’m still playing a living person that’s three-dimensional, flawed and as much a mystery to himself as anyone else. Because that’s how I feel about myself. So it would be unfair for me to play someone who is different to me, because that would be lying… If it hasn’t happened to me or I can’t relate to it, then I won’t play it, because I’d be rubbish and dishonest.
In the earlier films, you showed more of Blair’s typical mannerism. Was it a conscience decision to tone them down for this one?
MS: Nah, I just can’t be arsed… (laughs) When we did The Deal, that was the first time I’d ever played a real person that people were familiar with. When I now watch that movie, I cringe, because it seems all too much. In The Queen, it started to settle in a bit and then for this one… Having met him has really made a difference. Just being in the same room as him, seeing how he moves the air, how he is with people… Something shifted for me. Throughout the three films, I backed off a lot and personally I also think I just got better at playing him. I’m now focusing on different areas.
MS: Nah, I just can’t be arsed… (laughs) When we did The Deal, that was the first time I’d ever played a real person that people were familiar with. When I now watch that movie, I cringe, because it seems all too much. In The Queen, it started to settle in a bit and then for this one… Having met him has really made a difference. Just being in the same room as him, seeing how he moves the air, how he is with people… Something shifted for me. Throughout the three films, I backed off a lot and personally I also think I just got better at playing him. I’m now focusing on different areas.
xoxo
Carrie
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