Michael Sheen interview

"I was kind of disappointed I didn't get to put the ears on and jump around as a rabbit..." Michael Sheen talks to Catherine Bray about Alice In Wonderland, Gordon Brown, the Oscars and the Twilight phenomenon

I've wanted to interview you ever since I read that A Matter Of Life And Death is your favourite film. Please tell me that's true?

It is my all time favourite film. It's apparently Daniel Radcliffe's too, we're in good company. We should all get together once a year and watch it. You know in America it's called Stairway To Heaven?


Tell me, how did they pitch your Alice In Wonderland role to you; was it a case of 'Michael, you've played the prime minister, David Frost, Brian Clough, we now think you'd be perfect for a talking white rabbit?'

They didn't really have to pitch it. When my manager said they want you to play the white rabbit in Tim Burton's version of Alice In Wonderland, I just said yep, I'll do it. I didn't have to read the script or anything. Tim sent me all the artwork and I saw what I would look like. I was kind of disappointed I didn't get to put the ears on and jump around as a rabbit. But when I watched the film, I could see that all the animal characters really do look like those animals, they're not humanised in any way. And that really works, they're very realistic. I still turned up at the studio everyday in my rabbit suit forlornly knocking at the door going 'please let me dress up!'


Did you get to interact at all with the other actors?

No, not on the set really, they were all off in the "green room"in their green suits. In fact there was so much green they had to wear sunglasses and take regular breaks because there was no natural light and that could actually drive you a bit mad. The first time we're all together will be tonight at the premiere.
So would you say you had it comparatively easy in your sound studio?

I had it very easy. I just had Tim Burton all to myself. We did about three or four sessions, just me and Tim. We just got to chat, have cups of tea, it was fantastic. Not like poor old Matt Lucas in a big fat green suit, or Johnny and Helena, who had to be in the full get up.


When did you first get to see the film and what did you think?

Last week. I loved it, and even though it was a film I was in, it was like seeing a film for the first time. There were so many elements that I had no idea what it would be like. I remember asking Tim you know, 'how's it going?' and he said 'I have absolutely no idea. This is the first film I've worked on where I don't have one single frame that I can look at now that will look the same in the final film.' Everything has to be worked on and so it was a kind of feat of the imagination for him to keep working on something that sort of didn't exist, in front of him. Matt was saying that when they filmed scenes with the Bandersnatch, a big scary monster, is running after you, it's just a bloke with a long stick with a X on the end of it that you have to react to. And there's no set, there's just a green room.


It was Tim Burton's name that sold you on the project, so what are your favourite films of his?

I love Ed Wood, Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands is a classic. Big Fish I saw recently... I can't actually think of any film Tim's done that I haven't liked. Even the short film he did, Vincent, is fantastic.


Although this is a Disney film, it feels like a very British film, with a great wealth of British talent involved - slightly ironic then, perhaps, that it was nearly boycotted by British cinemas over theatrical release windows. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Not really, I don't know the ins and outs of it. It's available for everyone to see in the cinema, so I don't really understand what it was about. It certainly does feel like a British film. It's a responsibility to think that for a whole generation of children, we will somehow be the definitive version of these characters.


On that British theme, could you tell us about your favourite British films?

Favourite British films, wow. Well, A Matter Of Life And Death is my all time favourite. I'm a huge fan of Powell and Pressburger, I think they typify the best of British films. Then of course the great Ealing comedies, like Kind Hearts And Coronets starring Alec Guiness. I'm a big fan of Carry On Films, so I'd have to put maybe Carry On Screaming in there. People like Mike Leigh, Ken Loach make great, classic films. Naked is one of my favourite performances in a British film. I think Withnail & I would have to be in there. Richard E Grant gives one of the great performances of all time.


I don't know if you've seen this interview with Gordon Brown published in Shortlist yesterday, but he says, "Recently, I watched The Damned United, which is an amazing film about Leeds United. It's based on a book, which I've also read."

Wow, look at that. When I went to Downing Street to do Andrew Marr's show last year and I met Gordon Brown, all he was interested in talking about was football. He was very interested in The Damned United although it hadn't come out yet, or was only just out. He was fascinated by that, but maybe that was just so he didn't get asked more about politics.


Perhaps the notion of an embattled leader resonated with him.

You hear stories about Alex Ferguson, Brian Clough having a bit of a temper, I suppose the word 'bully' might have been used of them... maybe he sees something he recognises.


Can you tell us about what you've got coming up later this year?

There's a whole mixture of things. There's Tron Legacy, another Disney film, that should be spectacular, that's another 3D film, out towards the end of the year. So that'll be exciting. The last one in the trilogy of films Tony Blair appears in comes out towards the end of May/June, which is Special Relationship, about Blair and America but specifically Clinton. I did a film called Beautiful Boy, a small independent film with Maria Bello, where we play the parents of a boy whose does a Columbine style shooting in his school and then kills himself, and it's about how the parents cope after that. I'm also in a couple of episodes of 30 Rock, which Tina Fey asked if I would do. She's amazing, I just love that show, I watch it a lot, I was flattered.


Now, the T word: Twilight. What's your take on the way that's become such a phenomenon, and do you get recognised in the street by fans?

Because I look very different in the film - you know I've got the long dark hair, the red eyes - I'm not as immediately recognisable as some of the others so I manage to retain some anonymity. Something that is lovely sometimes is seeing a 12 or 13 year old with their mothers or father and seeing the parents tell them 'look, that's the guy that plays Aro' and seeing them go 'oh, my god!' - that's fun. The next one, Eclipse, I'm not in. I think they're hoping to start shooting Breaking Dawn at the end of the year. My daughter is a huge fan of the books and films, I've scored all kinds of cool points. And of course now I'm in Alice In Wonderland as well, it's a double whammy. She's the most popular girl in school now. It'll all be downhill after that. Everything I've done in the past she's either been too young or had no interest in watching.


What type of film is the most sheer fun for you to do as an actor?

Mmm. Well, personally I suppose it's most fun to do something that really involves me, so where I'm there all the time and you get fully into it. So something like a film I did last year about Kenneth Williams called Fantabulosa which we shot in a very short amount of time, but it was such an intense experience so it was great fun to do. But you know I had great fun doing the Twilight film as well, where I come in for a week and swan around being the head vampire with red contact lenses in and everyone's bowing down to me, that's great fun as well. I'm very fortunate that I really enjoy everything.


The Oscars are coming up. Is there anybody you're rooting for in particular?

I've mentioned Jeff Bridges already. Not to be disloyal to the Brits but I am kind of hoping Jeff gets that one. A lot of my favourite films of the year didn't even make it into the top ten. I thought The Road was a really fantastic film, I liked Where The Wild Things Are. I really liked District 9, it was nice to see that in the top ten. I don't think it'll win, but it's nice to see it in there. The main guy in it, I can never remember his name, he should have been up there too. That was a way of using effects in a really brilliant way to enhance the story.