Jeremy Irvine

[MauiKane]

Jeremy Irvine (born Jeremy Smith; 1990) is an English stage and screen actor.

In late 2011, Irvine starred as the leading character in the epic war film War Horse directed by Steven Spielberg and based on an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo children's novel. War Horse was nominated for six Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and five BAFTAs.. The movie became a box office success and turned Irvine into an overnight film star. Later work included starring as Pip in the 2012 adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, directed by Mike Newell alongside Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter. Other work has included the romantic film Now Is Good with Dakota Fannng and subsequently The Railway Man with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidaman. (From Wikipedia)

[MauiKane]

http://youtu.be/C4EPlzRTklE

[MauiKane]

[MauiKane]

The Independent

January 28, 2013

www.independent.co.uk

Jeremy Irvine: A young workaholic with great expectations

Two years ago, Jeremy Irvine was unknown, but after the lead in Spielberg's War Horse and another starring role as Dickens' Pip, the big time beckons. And, he tells Francesca Steele, he's earned it.

Jeremy Irvine has spent the majority of his burgeoning career on screen with a broad west country accent, first in Steven Spielberg's War Horse and now as Pip in a new adaptation of Great Expectations. So it's rather odd, in person, to hear him speaking with clipped vowels more reminiscent of Laurence Olivier than Vicky Pollard. "Yes, the accent was quite hard work. I actually spent ages with 1920s recordings of old Dartmoor accents trying desperately to pick it up. Now that I've got it, it's pretty hard to stop. Sometimes I slip into it. I always wonder whether I'll get treated differently with a different accent."

It's no wonder this earnest 22-year-old, impeccably polite though his sentences are littered with swearwords, is curious about being treated differently. Not so long ago he was a jobbing actor from a small village in Cambridgeshire, with one year of LAMDA (The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) under his belt and little to recommend him but a stint as a tree with no lines in a Royal Shakespeare Company production and a brief appearance on a Disney sitcom.

But he had, like Pip, great expectations. Along came an audition for War Horse and, after two months of endless recalls, his role as a Spielberg lead – and as a British rising star – was confirmed. In September he appeared in Now is Good, a drama with Dakota Fanning, and he has just returned from filming the prisoner-of-war drama The Railway Man in Thailand with Colin Firth, and A Night in Old Mexico, a comedy with Robert Duvall.

In just two years he has gone from nervous newbie, "freaking out" on the set of War Horse, to a celebrity in his own right unfazed by his co-stars, with a huge teenage girl fan base and, it seems, a famous new girlfriend, singer Ellie Goulding, with whom he was recently spotted at Somerset House inLondon, ice skating hand-in-hand. He is tight-lipped about the latter. "Let's just say it wasn't easy to go on dates before all this [fame] and it sure isn't easy now." Does he feel like he knows what he's doing now? "Ha!" He grins bashfully. "I'm glad I've given that impression. But no, a lot of it's still guess work. Of course, walking onto a set with people like Ralph Fiennes [as Magwitch] and Helena Bonham Carter [as Miss Havisham], you are going to be a bit like, 'God, that's Helena Bonham Carter, you know?' I'm just this snotty-nosed little new kid. But you just try desperately not to think about it." Fiennes, he admits, was a bit intimidating. "But," he proffers diplomatically, "he's playing a really scary role."

This new adaptation of Great Expectations, directed by Mike Newell with a screenplay by One Day author David Nicholls, is, he is keen to stress, the first period film since David Lean's much- revered 1946 version, although there have been several contemporary adaptations and TV series, including last year's by the BBC. But his Pip, Irvine insists, is very different from his predecessors.

"The first thing Mike said to me was, 'Why is Pip such a little shit?' It sounds silly, I know, but there are two ways you can look at Dickens: one is as having these funny, farcical characters and the other is for real. As a child Pip is beaten by someone called Mrs Joe with a stick nicknamed tickler. Funny, right? But this is someone who has been the victim of the most awful domestic abuse. Pip has to look after himself and from that he gets a hardness. His idea of becoming a gentleman isn't a childish whim to get Estella. It's a dark, burning obsession about getting away from this awful, awful life that he's come from."

Irvine, too, has an obsessive streak. When he was out of work, he hired cameras and created a showreel of fake work before passing it off as real to agents. He also turned down a big commercial film in LA after War Horse, he says, doggedly waiting for better scripts. Clearly a hard worker, he is determined not to be mistaken for just some kid who got lucky. For The Railway Man he lost two stone; he shows me a picture on his mobile in which his ribs jut out. "It scared my mother. But it's so hard for someone of my generation to understand what happened to those guys that you have to do absolutely everything you can to relate."

How Irvine – whose real surname is Smith (Irvine was grandfather's name) – fell into acting seems a bit of a mystery, even to him. At 19, he applied for the army, but was rejected after lying on forms about his diabetes, a condition he has had since childhood.A great drama teacher at school had told him that drama school would be like boot camp, really tough. "That kind of appealed to me, not sure why."

His younger self in Great Expectations is played by his 13-year-old brother Toby, after his mum met the casting agent at an after-party. (His mum comes to a lot of parties with him, because it's not really his "scene" and "anyway she likes to spot famous people".)

But Toby, who has the same angelic looks as his brother, right down to the blue eyes and the chin dimple, is, says Irvine, much less perturbed by the whole rigamarole than he was. "I was a bit worried on the red carpet at points because he's so young. When people scream your name and tell you you're amazing it would be so easy to buy into all that stuff, even though none of it is real. But he was just like, 'Well, that was fun, I think I'll go back to school and get back to playing hockey now.'"

There is another brother, currently studying to be a vet at Cambridge ("He got all the brains"). Dad is an engineer and Mum is a local politician. "She makes what I do look kind of farcical. If I ever feel swept up in it all I remember that she's there housing homeless people." Irvine now lives in north London with a friend. In his spare time he like to "claw back some masculinity" after weeks in a make-up chair by doing things like boxing and playing rugby. He's a bit of a history nut too, he says, and has just written a documentary about First World War fighter pilots.

At the end of the interview, Irvine settles comfortably into the corner for photos. He picked out his outfit himself, he says – leather jacket, white T-shirt, James Dean haircut. He is cool as a cucumber, every bit the professional. He may be young, but Jeremy Irvine is definitely here for the long haul.

[MauiKane]

[MauiKane]

www.gq-magazine.co.uk

Great Expectations star Jeremy Irvine is wowing Hollywood-If not women (yet)

When Jeremy Irvine returned to Britain after riding the celebrity carousel of last year's Golden Globe awards- his film, War Horse, was up for two - the actor's friends were somewhat taken aback. "I was raving to them about all the amazing people who were there," recalls the 22-year-old. "And one of them finally went, 'Yeah, OK. But you're not a paramedic.'"

Irvine's character in this month's big-screen adaptation of Great Expectations, Pip, has a similar reality check. Thrust up the social hierarchy by a mysterious benefactor, he realises he has alienated the people who care about him.

"One of the first questions [director Mike Newell] asked me was, 'Why is Pip such a little s***?'" says Irvine. "I'd seen so many wide-eyed, innocent Pips, but I wanted to get far away from that: Pip's ambition of becoming a gentleman is dark and consumes him. It's his way out of a life as a blacksmith." Irvine's early ambitions were rather more sparing, but no less compulsive - he, too, was looking for an exit strategy. "I went to an all-boys school and hated feeling like one of the crowd. I was asked to stop history two weeks before my GCSE exams because my results were so bad," he says.

"When I left school I tried to join the army but I'm diabetic and lied about it. I didn't pass the medical tests." Acting, instead, became the destination.

So did he encounter his own Estella along the way? "Who hasn't when they're a teenager? That's why Great Expectations is really magical." He didn't get the girl, he says. Still, GQ proffers, surely he's more successful now?

"Everyone keeps saying that to me and it annoys me because I'm like, 'That would be nice!'" Even so, casting agents seem enamoured. Next up is The Railway Man with Nicole Kidman, about a WWII torture victim, for which Irvine had to get skeletal.

"I'd walk all day through the Cambridgeshire countryside with my script to burn calories," he says. "I think I scared my mum a bit." Not that his all-in approach has rendered him po-faced: "Every time I get a role I think, 'I've actually fooled them again, I can't believe they keep falling for this!'"

[MauiKane]

[La Parisienne]

What a handsome fella!

ianderry.tumblr.com

[MauiKane]

What a handsome fella!

[La Parisienne]

So true......so true....

[MauiKane]

^Thank you La Parisienne. How is it possible that anyone can be so beautiful?

[La Parisienne]

^Thank you La Parisienne. How is it possible that anyone can be so beautiful?

[jamesdel]

He's adorable and so hot.

[La Parisienne]

He's adorable and so hot.

[MauiKane]

[MauiKane]

[MauiKane]

[MauiKane]

'How to Become a Star in 1 Easy Lesson': 'War Horse's' Jeremy Irvine (Q&A)

By Stephen Galloway

The Hollywood Reporter

12/29/2011

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com

14-pound weight gain, 20 rat co-stars, 15 texts from across the pond: The British newcomer reveals to THR details of his transition from a London stage to his big break in a Steven Spielberg epic.

Jeremy Irvine, the 21-year-old star andacting newcomer from the Steven Spielberg-directed Disney film War Horse, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter's executive editor, features Stephen Galloway about his big break.

The Hollywood Reporter: How did you get the part?

Jeremy Irvine: Beforehand, I was in the chorus with the Royal Shakespeare Company, quite literally playing a tree. I hadn’t worked for a year, going off to audition after audition, and signed with a new agent after finishing with the RSC. I signed on a Friday night and went into the War Horse audition Tuesday morning. I had a couple of months of going in to audition two or three times a week, sometimes doing videotape and knowing it would be shown to Steven. I met Steven very, very late in the process. The weird thing was going on tape during the day, doing these situations, knowing it would be shown to Steven Spielberg in the evening! It was quite intense. I was getting called back so much it was astonishing and I never thought I’d get it. Then I got a call at about 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., saying, "Can you meet Steven for tea in a hotel in London tomorrow morning?" I did what any actor would do: I freaked out. I don’t think I slept most of that night. I went into this meeting and within about five minutes Steven and [producer] Kathleen Kennedy — we just sat having a chat. His greatest skill is his ability to put you at ease and make you very comfortable. You feel like you can make mistakes and that’s a perfect environment.

THR: When did you learn you got the job?

JI: It was all very secretive. I was at home building a go-kart for my brother and they asked me to come and tape and gave me a piece of script and said, "Steven wants this to be spontaneous and he wants you to just turn over the sides and start reading them to show you can do the accent." And I start turning over the sides in my agent’s office — and it was some fake script, and I’m just reading, "Steven Spielberg wants me to play Albert in War Horse!" I have the whole thing on tape. I was asked to wait and not tell anyone. I didn’t tell my friends and family for a few weeks. It’s amazing, when you have come from literally nothing to being offered a Steven Spielberg movie, it’s amazing what you can do!

THR: Did you go through boot camp?

JI: Not really. We got into it quite quickly, but we had two months of intense training with the horses and some came to us untrained because they were so young. I’d never ridden a horse before — and I had it really kicked into me by these horse masters. There’s a reason why John Wayne walks like he does! We all waddled around for two months before we got into it. I’d spend hours in the stable with this young horse until it became comfortable with me, then by the end we had it running around the fields, playing with me. They were some of the best moments. I thought, "I’ve never been an animal person. I’m not going to be a sucker for that and fall in love with the animal." And within a week I was as bleary-eyed as everyone else.

THR: What was the hardest part of the shoot?

JI: The stuff we filmed in the trenches: Steven was very keen to have as little CGI as possible — there’s only about three moments of CGI in the whole film, and that was for the safety of the horses. We’d be on the set and all these explosions that you see were real explosions going off; all the guns had ammunition. My rifle was a real rifle used in the First World War, and all the machine guns as well. There’s a scene with all the machine guns, and they were all real machine guns used in the real world. I actually collect old First and Second World War memorabilia. I got some nice souvenirs!

THR: What did the battle scenes involve?

JI: Long nights in soaking wet trenches up to our knees in mud and water. I would say for some of us they were the toughest in terms of just being physically and mentally exhausting. You are having to play that heightened emotion for a very long time. And what’s incredible is how heavy all your uniform and tackle gets. As soon as your big woolen uniform gets wet, the weight is unbelievable, and you'd be running across no-man's-land, right through the mud and dirt. There were sequences where explosions would take place next to me and three or four stuntmen would fly through the air — and then there'd be other scenes where you're just soaking wet. I got trench foot [a medical condition contracted through lengthy contact with dampness]. The soldiers used to get it all the time. And then there were the rats. They released about 20 rats — but there’s constant shouts of “Can someone get me a coffee?” But there were moments where I would be running off and explosions would be next to me and three or four stuntmen would fly through the air. I guess we spent about three or four weeks [in the trenches]. It was tough but also enjoyable.

THR: Did it make you identify with real-life soldiers?

JI: I don’t think any of us could even begin to say we could in any way relate to how they felt. That would be insulting.

THR: Did you have a favorite scene?

JI: One of my favorite scenes was one I’m not in, when they do this cavalry charge. This was my first film, so whenever I wasn’t filming I was going down to watch the other actors to desperately learn how to do it — and I remember watching this and they were doing this big cavalry charge and as they get close, they had about eight of these real, genuine machine guns and they just opened up — and to be there on the day was humbling and moving.

THR: Was there anything bad about the experience?

JI: They produce free food and the catering is amazing, and as an actor you stock up for a week, and I’m stuffing my face and they say, "Is there anything special you want?" I put on a stone [14 pounds] in three months! Then when the film came out, I’m thinking, “Great, all my friends are going to see me in this movie” — and I woke up and had about 15 texts, each one saying, "Jeremy, did you eat the bloody horse?!”

[MauiKane]

Jeremy (with Naomi Harris) meets Prince William

Audi Royal Polo Challenge (Chester, England)

[MauiKane]

http://youtu.be/SrnFGWXw1_k