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INTERVIEWS
ROBBIE COLTRANE (3)
Par Steven Horn (18 février 2004).
We talk to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's
Hagrid on set in London.
February 18, 2004 - Robbie Coltrane is clearly excited. He's suiting up once
again to play Rubeus Hagrid, the hulking groundskeeper of Hogwarts and friend
to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. We caught up with Robbie in between scenes on
the set of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, at London's Leavesden
studios.
Q: Can you talk about the difference between working with [Azkaban Director
Alfonso Cuaron] vs. working with Chris Columbus? What does he bring to Harry
Potter?
ROBBIE COLTRANE: He's got a different style of shooting. I think, I mean,
you'd have to ask him. I know he was very keen to get out of the studio. [Harry
Potter] was very studio-bound. That's the trouble with anything which essentially
has a lot of bits that are physically impossible. You're left, stuck, in the
studio. And that's a shame. You're making a movie. You don't want it to stay
put, you want it to be a movie – to move. And I think he's been very
keen to do that.
Q : How about his directing style vs. Chris? Is he more hands on? Does he
let you do your thing?
COLTRANE: You know Chris is always very hands-on ... one of the many things
I liked about Chris was that he wasn't one of those directors who sits by
the monitor and goes, "Again! No! Again!" Between takes he runs
to the set and tells everyone what was wrong, so everyone knows what was wrong.
So then you're trying to get it right next time, because you felt that it
was an obvious thing that something that the lower director missed. (Everyone
laughs.) No names! So yeah, he is very hands-on, and he's very good with the
kids, too. I mean they're at a kind of strange and very odd age, 12, 13. So
they kind of don't know whether to play with the train set or look at the
nudie mags. And so he gets that because he know exactly how protected they
need to be, but he also knows that they are semi-adults.
Q: How does he suggest that?
COLTRANE: Well, you'd have to ask him. He does it perfectly. Very clever.
Q: I'm not sure we're going to have a chance. Is there (anything you) notice?
COLTRANE: Um, you want me to write you a piece? (laughs) What, what? Come
on, make something up. Isn't that what you guys do?
Q: Well we read that...
COLTRANE: Well there's quite an interesting piece today where they have to
hug. Hagrid insists that Hermione and Ron have a hug. Because they've been
fighting all year, you know. So they hug and they [makes retching noise].
So you know, so, that's the only problem with 11-, 12-year-olds. Moments like
that.
Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Q: When the kids were younger, Chris told us that
he would have to work with them and get them all ready to go, and then immediately
shoot, otherwise they would get distracted. Have things changed for them now?
COLTRANE: Definitely.
Q: So they have a little more stamina?
COLTRANE: Oh, tons of stamina, that's not the problem. It's the matter of
directing it. (Laughs.) Believe me, my children have more stamina than a power
station. It's a matter of saying "the boots have to go on, and then we
have to go to the car, or we will miss the plane." So, he was very good.
But also, as an adult, as an adult actor, you are very good at accessing parts
of your emotional memory. I mean, that's what you get paid for. But it's quite
different with children. You have to really sit down and say, "Do you
remember what it was like when you thought you were going to get such-and-such
for your birthday, and then it turned out that you got something really sensible
like a watch?" "Oh God, yeah." "Well, try and remember
that, and stand by, you know, and he was really brilliant with that. Now they're
much more ... well, they've lived a lot more. And they have more access to
their feelings. It's a different process.
Q: When the book came out, there was a bit of an uproar because of a comment
you made.
COLTRANE: That was a complete [misinterpretation] of what I was saying. I
wouldn't do that...nope. A lot of people were convinced that I hadn't been
brought back, and I don't know where they got that from...
Q: Can you talk about the animals you work with?
COLTRANE: Yeah. (Laughs.) Some of the people I worked with in the mid-'80s
... we were doing comedy. Dear, dear, no. (Laughs.) Well, I quite like animals,
but they're unpredictable. I mean, look at old what's-his-name in Vegas. Tiger
dragged him off the stage, you know? The guy brought up tigers. They're quite
unpredictable. I think the shocking thing to discover is the owls are not
stupid and very feral, very hard to train. What they are like is sharks, they're
very, very efficient killing machines. So, they get very, very good at killing
things. You don't need any other skills, you know what I mean? They're not
like dolphins, they don't play, they're not funny... they don't need to. "I
can eat anything I want. Nothing's going to attack me. Do I need to be charming?
I don't think so." So, owls are like that. Whereas the really smart ones
are crows. Crows are incredibly smart. They can be taught five things on the
drop. While an owl can only do like, "What am I going to do?" You
hear about the "wise old owl" – rubbish.
Q: What have you learned about being Hagrid in the third film?
COLTRANE: He's very much more vulnerable in this one ...
Q: Are you prepared to do Hagrid for all the movies?
COLTRANE: Well, I needn't do anything else. I mean, I've been on this since
February and I've got a lot of other work that's open, so I'm trying to do
4. I'm contracted until four.
Q: Anything beyond that?
COLTRANE: Beyond that, I don't know. Never say "never" again.
Q: How far in the future of Harry Potter, how many years into the seven
do you know about?
COLTRANE: Um, I don't know what happens at the end. I don't want to know.
Q: How much has J.K. Rowling told you?
COLTRANE: I can't tell you that. I know all sorts of insights into his past
which hasn't been discussed so far – which will be important. That's
all Jo told me. I said, "Tell me everything about his past that's important
– even if it's not expressed in the one we're doing. Even if it's irrelevant
to the one we're doing, cause I think it is relevant." I know stuff about
his past that isn't revealed.
Q: Are you the type of actor who looks at their lines, will say to the director,
"Well, I think that's ok, but I think it will come out better if I do
it like this?"
COLTRANE: Do I do that? Oh yeah. We cut a few lines that we were doing that
seemed to repeat themselves. But the writer is around a lot and he's not possessive
about his lines. And so the important thing obviously is to tell the story
as it was. Because the children will soon let you know if you messed that
thing up.
Hagrid and Fang
Q: So do you know the books?
COLTRANE: Well, I read them all to my kids. I haven't read the new one yet,
I'm dying to.
Q: Now Jo Rowling said that you were the actor she had in mind for Hagrid.
Having seen your performance in these films.
COLTRANE: She changed her mind. (Laughs.)
Q: Would you say that your performance is influencing the direction Hagrid
is taking in the books?
COLTRANE: Oh I wouldn't say that. No, no. I mean she's got the plots for all
of it in a vault in the Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh. That's where I keep
my money, by the way. No, I think she has known for ages. It's just a matter
of getting around to making that bit convincing, I guess. It must be absolutely
... terrifying ... to sit down and actually start it – even if you know
what's going to happen. You know what I mean?
Q: On the first film, I remember you telling the press that Daniel [Radcliffe]
changed your cell phone to Turkish. Have the pranks gotten a little more sophisticated?
COLTRANE: No, the jokes have got worse though. I think he's got a hankerin'
to be a comedian. He keeps telling me jokes that, uh – he goes, "You're
really gonna hate this one, OK?" And he tests me with them all, because
I haven't seen him for a while. He gives me about 40 jokes, most of which
were in the [mix] when I was about 10. But they don't know, because they've
never heard them before. Some people say there only are 10 jokes.
Q: What kind of scripts are you getting these days? Are they more fantasy-driven?
COLTRANE: No, I just get the same stuff as I did before, but the price tag
is much higher. You know Hollywood..."What did your last picture make?"
Q: Is there anything you're looking forward to?
COLTRANE: Well, I've written a script. I'm trying to flog... I want to direct,
myself. Which is always difficult.
Q: What is it?
COLTRANE: It's a thriller. Set in the west of Scotland. All sorts of weird
and wonderful things. Corrupt oil companies, genetically-modified food, the
love, romance and death.
Q: Excellent.
COLTRANE: And it'll go straight to video.
Q: Are you in it?
COLTRANE: I might be in it. Somebody younger and prettier, I think, will be
in it.
Coltrane in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Q: What's it like to be playing a character that is so much of a mystery?
Not like in Lord of the Rings where you found out what happened to the character.
COLTRANE: I know what you mean, because the backgrounds in Lord of the Rings
are all explained.
Q: It's all there.
COLTRANE: Yeah. Well, I mean, how old is Hagrid? 400 years old – something
like that?
Q: Hagrid? 60 or 70.
COLTRANE: Is he? Oh, that's right... Just checking. (Laughs.)
Q: These people will know, you see.
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