RAY STEVENSON: WORKING CLASS HERO
BY
ALEX SIMON
I interviewed British-Irish actor Ray Stevenson in July of 2005. He was in LA promoting "Rome," HBO's epic miniseries about the ancient city-state and its colorful denizens from high and low. Unlike most actors, Stevenson was as physically-imposing in person as he was on screen: around 6'4 and built like a halfback from Arsenal. His good nature immediately put everyone in his orbit at ease. This was clearly a gentle giant with whom you could share a couple pints while watching a football match at your local. Even if you were rooting for opposing teams, Ray still would've been your pal during the skirmish.
News reached this side of The Pond that Stevenson passed at the untimely age of 58 earlier in the day. No cause of death has been released, but it's a tragic end too soon for a charismatic, immensely likable actor whose range seemed to cover the board. Condolences to his family and friends.
A staple on British television since the early 90s, Ray Stevenson has made a career of playing hard men and heartbreakers, taking advantage of his rugged good looks and 6’4 rugby player’s frame. Born in Northern Ireland in 1964, Ray’s father moved the family to the northern English town of Newcastle after “the troubles” that were kicked off by the notorious “Bloody Sunday” shootings in 1972. Ray landed his first substantial big screen role in last summer’s King Arthur, and, having developed a taste for sword-wielding men of action, now boasts an impressive turn in HBO’s new series Rome, in which he plays uber-badass legionnaire Titus Pullo. Rome debuts August 28.
Ray made a recent stop in L.A. to promote the cable empire’s newest tele-epic, and sat down with Venice to discuss it. Here’s what transpired:
VENICE: Tell us about Pullo, your character in Rome. One might call him a tough guy with many nuances.
Ray Stevenson: Pullo’s a fun guy. I like him a hell of a lot, actually. I like the fact that he’s a very black and white guy, very straight and honest in his own way. He’s very into gambling, whoring and fighting, but there’s also no agenda with him. There’s no gray areas, really. He enjoys all his vices, and his life affords him that. He doesn’t have any ambitions to be a general or a centurion. He’s more than happy to be a grunt soldier with the other men around him.
He’s a classic working class hero.
Exactly. He’s an everyman. But the danger in that is a character like that could become a kind of pastiche, and become too diluted, but it’s been great to try and breathe some life into him.
I love the way you and your co-star Kevin McKidd play off each other. The two of you are a real study in contrasts.
We are sort of the flip sides of the same coin. Neither of them would admit to their own weaknesses, but each one quite clearly sees the weaknesses in the other one, as well as the strengths.
It’s always an interesting dynamic when two men who are initially enemies are thrown together and forced to become allies.
Yeah, and there was a precedent for this, as well. In Caesar’s journals—he kept journals throughout all of his campaigns—he only spoke about generals, senators, and other great figures of the time. There was this one section where he talks about these two ordinary centurions who hated each other and were always at loggerheads and trying to best each other on the battlefield, just at each other’s throats. What brought them to Caesar’s attention was that each one had risked his own life on more than one occasion to save the other one. And they were called Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo! Just to know that these names actually walked the Earth and came to the attention of Caesar is a wonderful thing for an actor. They’re not just a made-up device. The names themselves, they give you a kind of responsibility.
That’s interesting, because I kept thinking of the movie The Defiant Ones (1958).
(laughs) Yeah, sure. There’s so many parallels throughout movie history, aren’t there? The friendship either grows or is torn apart, in spite of themselves. One would always defend the other with his life, but would never tell the other one about it.
Tell us about some of your co-stars. I just interviewed lovely Miss Polly Walker. Tell us about her.
She’s just lovely. One of the greatest things she brings to the character, which is why I think it could only be Polly Walker playing Atia, is the fact that no matter what she says or does, you forgive her! I can’t describe that quality, but everything she does, she does for her children, yet she’s completely evil! But it doesn’t matter. You can’t help but fall in love and be seduced by her, just like everyone else is. She’s bold, she’s playful, she’s a great member of the team. And it was like that with everybody. It was just a great ensemble group of actors, and producers and directors, as well. There was no sense of detachment from anyone.
HBO has really become the place where all the interesting projects that no major studio has the balls to make have a shot at being produced.
I nicknamed them HB Bold. We were shooting multiple 35mm cameras, with hundreds of extras, it was like shooting a major studio picture. I mean our sets at Cinecitta dwarfed them all, including the sets from Gangs of New York. They recreated so much of the ancient city, it’s just breathtaking. Every day you’re reminded just how luckyyou are to be part of a project like this. Jobs like this are rare.
This is your first trip to L.A. What are your impressions thus far?
I’m intrigued, because it’s one of those places you’ve seen so many times on film, you’re almost over-familiar with it. You recognize almost every corner or turn, avenue, shop or street, yet you don’t know it at all. Even though it seems familiar, it’s completely alien territory.
Tell us about King Arthur, which I understand was a tough shoot for a variety of reasons.
Yeah, it was. Six months, we were out there in Ireland. Antoine is a man of very strong convictions and visions. We saw the frustrations that he was going through when halfway through the shoot, the producers decided they wanted a PG rather than an R rating, which is why the Director’s Cut is such a superior movie. It’s just a shame those restrictions came during filmmaking, because if he’d been allowed to make the film he wanted, you’re left with the question: what would that have been?
You guys should’ve made it at HBO.
(laughs) Ain’t that the truth! But that said, you’re dealing with a big studio picture, and dealing with the great and the good, and you have to finally say look, it’s your dollar.
It’s decisions based on commerce and not art.
Yes, but somehow, art still manages to come through.
