AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES AUBREY (Moviestar Magazine - 06 / 2005)
Actor and globetrotter James Aubrey (not to be confused with 20th Century Fox mogul James T. Aubrey) might carry a British passport. However, he was born in 1947 in Klagenfurt, Austria – son of an English army officer and his wife, who happened to be stationed there. Since his father moved around for professional reasons every couple of years, James got a feel for the big wide world from early childhood on. Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, England, and finally Jamaica! There, he was discovered for the part which would make him famous: as Ralph in the 1963 movie version of Lord of the Flies.
Moviestar-correspondent Claudia Andrei considers herself lucky to have gained an interview with the sympathetic star, before he heads back for Australia. In Down Under he already stood on stage, in Adelaide to be precise, for a production of the Brecht/Weill play The Lindbergh Flight. This time around, he will play a wizard in a mystical TV-adventure.
Moviestar:
Your first part was the central figure in Lord of the Flies…
James Aubrey:
Back then, my father was stationed in Jamaica. It was the last British colony
before independence. Director Peter Brook and producer Lewis Allen were in the
process of casting the planned movie, but had no luck in the States. They simply
couldn’t find a suitable Ralph. So they tried their luck in Jamaica, en
route to Puerto Rico – as this was where the movie was filmed. Somehow
they ended up in the garrison where my father was stationed. Together with the
sons of three other officers I was fished from the swimming pool to do the screen
test. It was weird: one minute I was splashing about in the pool, the next minute
I found myself participating in a film. Were it not for that fateful day in
June 1961, I would never have become an actor and would not give you an interview
right now.
MS:
Were you familiar with William Golding’s famous novel before filming started?
JA:
No, I wasn’t familiar with the book before filming. Director Peter Brook
took us rascals to a cricket field, and we were ordered to run around and pretend
to be chased by ghosts. I mean, which child does not dream of being in the movies!
I did indeed score by getting the part of Ralph, although Peter (Brook) must
have checked out at least another 60 teenagers or so. My father allowed me to
stay off school for three weeks, due to filming schedule. Of course, this was
great (laughs). I think for the whole film I got paid about $ 200.- which wasn’t
so great… Still, my decision was made. I wanted to become a professional
actor! After my college degree I got a job as a theatre assistant while I visited
the London Drama Centre on the side - for three years. I even was offered a
part in a Broadway play! In 1978 I played the lead in Pete Walker’s controversial
‘Home Before Midnight’ and was nominated for ‘Best Newcomer
in British Film’. The drama ‘Forever Young’ (1983), in which
I played a disillusioned musician who hooks up with a musical priest, also earned
me considerable praise.
MS:
‘Lord of the Flies’ – brilliant book, brilliant film, disturbing
topic. Do you think this kind of scenario could happen for real?
JA:
Oh, I think it already happened for real. William Golding was a teacher in Salisbury.
He witnessed with his own eyes what went on in the school yard on a daily basis:
namely the hypocrisy of the English upper classes. His novel is set in the future,
where a group of school boys get evacuated during a nuclear war. The plane crashes
and the boys rescue themselves on a tropical island. At first, they try to get
a certain hierarchy going, but within a few weeks everything collapses and the
apparently sophisticated and educated pupils turn into primitive savages. Similar
things happened in Rwanda and in Yugoslavia or wherever. That is the actual
story of ‘Lord of the Flies’ – a critic of our society which
descends into chaos.
MS:
In 1978 you played in a successful British slasher film called ‘Terror’,
directed by Norman J. Warren. Apparently, the film was inspired by Dario Argento’s
‘Suspiria’.
JA:
I participated in several films that year, but ‘Terror’ was incredible
fun! It’s about a film crew shooting a movie in a haunted house. Because
of this, ‘Terror’ is considered ‘gothic’, although not
gothic in the style of Hammer Horror. I like the idea that the past takes its
revenge on the present-day film crew, haha. In one scene, I get attacked by
reels and reels of celluloid… You got to agree that this is not only symbolic,
but also funny. The film is alive and takes revenge on cast and crew. What a
bizarre and twisted concept!
MS:
Things turned even more bizarre in 1980, when you had a small part in Julien
Temple’s cult film ‘The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle’.
Originally, the ultimate Sex Pistols satire was supposed to be called ‘Who
Killed Bambi?’ and directed by the legendary Russ Meyer. Please tell me
that I’m dreaming…
JA:
No, you’re not dreaming (roaring with laughter). Filming had already started.
I was supposed to play the leading part, a character called M.J., but Mick Jagger’s
lawyers weren’t too pleased. So, the name was changed to B.J., which either
stood for Brian Jones or Blow Job. ‘Who Killed Bambi?’ was one of
the best scripts I ever read. It was pure anarchy and very different from Julien
Temple’s later script. It was penned by Russ Meyer and Sex Pistols singer
Johnny Rotten. Meyer complained that the English punk girls had rather flat
chests! We were filming four days in Oxfordshire. I played this arrogant rock
singer, rich and famous. In short, my character embodied everything the punk
movement hated. Russ Meyer let me drive a white Rolls Royce, and a dead deer
(Bambi) was draped across the car, blood dripping down. I would like to add
that I had nothing to do with the dead deer, it was legally killed by hunters!
Well, and then Her Highness Gracia Patricia of Monaco found out about the project,
because at the time, she had lots of money invested in 20th Century Fox. The
company received a phone call, and she demanded the immediate termination of
this ‘scandalous film’ or else, she would withdraw her money. The
plug was pulled, the project collapsed, and Meyer returned to the States. Surely
you know what happened to Gracia Patricia later on in her car… Who killed
Bambi?
MS:
In 1983 you had another small part in another cult film, Tony Scott’s
horror ‘The Hunger’, starring David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and
Susan Sarandon. What was it like to have your throat slit by La Deneuve?
JA:
It was a wonderful feeling, and Catherine Deneuve is a wonderful woman. To this
day I consider it surreal to have landed a part in the film. At the time, I
played in a very popular English TV-series (‘Bouquet of Barbed Wire’),
however, my character demanded that I speak with an American accent. Therefore,
the casting director for ‘The Hunger’ assumed that this is my true
nationality. When I turned up for the audition, I confessed that I’m British.
So it was bye bye! Instead, my part went to a real American who had no talent
for acting. His dialogue was re-written and became shorter and shorter, until
he finally got fired. Then the studio called me in again and I got the part,
minus the dialogue, as there was no time left to rehearse. It didn’t bother
me in the slightest. After all, you don’t get your blood sucked by Catherine
Deneuve every day. I even managed to creep up on the American film poster for
‘The Hunger’… as a corpse!
MS:
Director Tony Scott cast you once more in 2001, in ‘Spy Game’ with
Brad Pitt and Robert Redford. You also played alongside Dennis Hopper in the
SciFi-comedy ‘Riders of the Storm’ (1986) and with the late Anthony
Perkins in the German-English co-production ‘Der Mann nebenan’ (1991).
To top it all up, you became close friends with Tennessee Williams when he cast
you as Tom in ‘The Glass Menagerie’. Quite impressive…
JA:
Or perhaps just lucky. Although I had a very good part beside Dennis the Menace
(a real nice chap), and was inspired by Anthony Perkins – I believe it
was his last role and he still looked like Norman Bates – a lot of casting
directors never saw me in those films. At least not here in England, as they
never got released in this country. In Germany I participated in the ZDF-production
‘Mission Eureka’, with Peter Bongartz. But the world is big, and
who can tell in how many more countries I will perform…
Interview by Claudia Andrei