THEATRE: FEATURE INTERVIEW
Christopher Plummer busier than ever
19 Dec'10

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

Today no one can say what his fellow revellers -- those who partied with him back in when his wastrelling ways had earned him the "Liquid Plummer" soubriquet -- would say about the pot of tea Christopher Plummer is consuming with such apparent gusto. There was a day when there were other ways to take the chill off a cold winter's afternoon -- and he admits he weathered a lot of cold days.

Now, many of the boon companions of his youth have passed on, while Plummer is not only still living, but vibrantly alive -- just days shy of his 81st birthday Dec. 13, when we spoke. And he's carrying a workload that would exhaust a man 20 years his junior.

His summer run in THE TEMPEST at the Stratford Festival behind him, he's already begun shooting on David Fincher's Hollywood take on Steig Larsson's THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, in which he plays Henrik Vanger. Currently on hiatus from that, Plummer is in Toronto rehearsing for the revival of BARRYMORE, the one-man show that earned him a Tony Award 14 years ago. He'll take a brief Christmas break, do a bit more shooting on GIRL then he'll be back for final rehearsals of BARRYMORE, which opens Jan. 30 at Toronto's Elgin Theatre (where it will be filmed for later theatrical release).

And no, there is no picture hidden away that is aging in his place, à la Dorian Gray, nor has he been any more successful than the ill-fated Juan Ponce De Leon in his search for the Fountain of Youth. "I blame my wife," he says simply. "She's a really good chef and that keeps me in shape." He used to rely on tennis as well, he admits, but now, "I'm trying to save knees for the work." As for that work, BARRYMORE marks the third of his acclaimed stage performances committed to film, joining CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA and THE TEMPEST.

He's not doing them for any high-falutin' reasons like posterity, he establishes off the top. "I wasn't thinking in terms of a legacy," he says of BARRYMORE. "I thought it might be interesting to look at it right now." But not interesting enough to sign a long-term contract. "I told the powers that be I wouldn't do it for very long," he adds with a laugh. "I didn't want to die doing BARRYMORE."

Still revisiting it has proved a good time already. "BARRYMORE is such fun," he enthuses. "I love the sort of creature he is." And after "14 frigging years," Plummer's understanding of the character has deepened. "I'm finding things I didn't know were there -- things I missed. It's more emotional than when we played it before," he promises. "It's got an equal amount of pathos as humour now. I just hope it works for the audience."

And while he's in the business of prognosticating, he's also predicting that, under Fincher's direction, THE GIRL franchise is going to be even hotter than the books that spawned it, and yes, he's read all three -- in 10 days. "Once you're in, you're in," he insists. "You can't stop. I was held riveted by those books -- the second one being my favourite, which I'm not in," he adds wryly.

Once GIRL is complete, probably by the summer, he's hoping BEGINNERS, a movie in which he plays a gay man, will be released, but regardless, "It's back to films for a while," he says firmly. "I've sort of done theatre back to back for a while." And he's not looking to reprise any more of his great roles. "I want to go on doing new things," he insists. "I think it's time to do a really outrageous modern comedy."

His eyes fill with mischief. "I'm determined to play a woman before I die -- maybe THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT," he says. "I'm determined," he continues, alluding to the fact that both he and his LAST STATION co-star Helen Mirren have played THE TEMPEST's Prospero this year. "I'm determined to get back at all these people playing my parts in a dress."

Mostly, it seems, he's determined to keep on working -- it is, after all, what keeps him young. "I'm not overly impressed with the big roles," he says. "I've done them so much. But a new marvelous role is sort of a rebirth. And my ambition is still there," he continues. "I'm always ambitious to be a hell of a lot better. If you don't have that drive it forces you to have, there's no hope. "You can be senile -- but you've got to be ambitious."

And so far, Christopher Plummer doesn't appear to be running out of new worlds to conquer.