James+Mottram
想象的魔力
二十多年前,一家咖啡廳里,一個名叫J. K. 羅琳的單親媽媽創造了一個魔法世界,讓它進駐了每一個讀過《哈利·波特》的孩子的心里。《哈利·波特》獲得了巨大的成功,讓羅琳一躍成為史上最富裕的作家之一,可她并沒有停下想象的腳步。
2016年11月,隨著影片《神奇動物在哪里》上映,魔法世界從英國擴展到美國,我們跟隨魔法新主人“小雀斑”埃迪·雷德梅尼的腳步,與魔法世界的神奇生物親密接觸,仿佛打開了新世界的大門。可羅琳的野心仍舊不止于此。
不信你看,她的魔法世界已經擴張到全球,單單已知的像霍格沃茨那樣的魔法學校就有11個,遍布地球各個角落,讓我們覺得魔法巫師仿佛就生活在我們身邊。
這就是想象的魔力。它能創造財富,創造成就,創造一個虛構的世界,從而影響和改變現實的世界。正如羅琳所說:“我們不需要魔法來改變世界,我們內心已經擁有了改變世界的所有力量:我們擁有想象更加美好事物的力量。”
Eddie Redmayne groans when I tell him he's just been described as "nice". The culprit1) is Alison Sudol, his American co-star in the Harry Potter spin-off2) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. "That word is like a crucifixion3)," he sighs.
He stops, a little annoyed, but at least I didn't tell him everything Sudol said. "He's such a great human. He's kind to everybody. He's gracious. He's humble. He makes people feel good."
While all actors are trained to flag-wave4) for their co-stars, in the case of Redmayne, this character assessment is not hard to accept. We met at Claridge's hotel in London. The green-eyed, freckle5)-faced 34-year-old is dressed in black jeans and a navy jumper with the outline of a dog's head on it. It's the third time I've met him and he never fails to be anything but extremely mannered and welcoming.
Certainly success hasn't changed him. Made an OBE6) in 2015, he's twice been nominated for an Oscar—most recently for The Danish Girl, playing Lili Elbe, the first person to receive gender reassignment surgery. Before that, he won Best Actor for his stunning portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Now he's the lead in Fantastic Beasts, the first of five films inspired by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter universe.
Scripted by Rowling herself, Fantastic Beasts takes its name from her 2001 companion7) book, a key magic text "authored" by one Newt Scamander. An employee at the British Ministry of Magic, Newt lived long before Harry entered Hogwarts.
Directed by David Yates, who was also the director of the final four Potter movies, it sees Redmayne play Newt as a young man. "He's a knotty8), prickly9) character to begin with," he says. "You don't necessarily instantly warm to10) him." Arriving in Prohibition-era11) New York with a suitcase full of magical creatures, Newt is public enemy number one when—in a country intolerant of magic—some of them escape.
"Certainly some of the themes are more adult," the actor nods. "There is darkness to it, there are comedic elements to it, there's a romantic side to it, there's a thriller quality, and yet at the end, when I saw the final cut, I was deeply moved by it."
Does he feel the pressure, taking over from Daniel Radcliffe's Harry and carrying on the film? "It's J. K. Rowling's world and I think she is a genius. I love everything that she's done. And now I'm getting to enter it; I don't want to be the one who lets that down. I'm not the sort of person who can go, 'This one's for fun!' But I am trying to learn to enjoy it."
魔法世界的新主人
A Nice Fellow
A New Hero in Magic World
可以肯定地說,成名之后的雷德梅尼并未有絲毫改變。他在2015年被授予大英帝國官佐勛章,迄今已兩獲奧斯卡獎提名,最近的一次提名是因為他在影片《丹麥女孩》中所飾演的莉莉·艾爾比——首位接受變性手術者。在此之前,他曾在電影《萬物理論》中飾演物理學家史蒂芬·霍金,并憑借高超的演技奪得奧斯卡影帝。如今,他又是《神奇動物在哪里》一片的主演,那可是J. K. 羅琳的“哈利·波特”魔法世界所催生的五部電影中的第一部。
《神奇動物在哪里》的劇本由羅琳親自操刀,片名則取自于她在2001年“化名”為一位名叫紐特·斯卡曼德的人所著的學習指南,那是一本非常重要的魔法寶典。而這個紐特則是英國魔法部的一個職員,在哈利進入霍格沃茨魔法學校很早之前就有他。
該片由大衛·葉茨執導,他也是《哈利·波特》系列電影后四部的導演。片中,雷德梅尼飾演年輕時的紐特。“他一開始是個難以捉摸、脾氣暴躁的家伙,”雷德梅尼說,“你未必立刻就喜歡上他。”紐特拎著一個裝滿神奇動物的皮箱,來到處于禁酒令時期的紐約,隨著一些動物逃了出來,他成了這個魔法不受待見之地的頭號公敵。
“當然,有些主題更加成人化,”雷德梅尼點了點頭說道,“這部影片有陰暗之面,也有喜劇元素,有浪漫情節,也有驚悚氛圍,但是最后在看完最終剪輯版后,我卻深受觸動。”
取代丹尼爾·雷德克里夫飾演的哈利·波特,繼續拍攝魔法世界的電影,這是否讓他感到壓力山大呢?“這是J. K. 羅琳的世界,我認為她是個天才。她寫的東西我都喜歡。現在我要進入這個世界,我不想成為那個敗筆。我不是那種能說出‘這個就是玩玩!的人,不過我正努力學著享受這個過程。”
當我告訴他有人剛說他“人不錯”的時候,埃迪·雷德梅尼發出一聲嘆息。這個“肇事者”就是他在《哈利·波特》衍生電影《神奇動物在哪里》中的美國搭檔艾莉森·蘇朵兒。“用這個詞形容我就好像把我釘在了十字架上,十分難受。”他嘆了口氣說。
他有點氣惱,一時無語,但至少我剛剛沒有把蘇朵兒的原話都告訴他:“他這個人很了不起。他對誰都好。他溫文爾雅、為人謙遜。他讓人覺得舒服。”
盡管演員們都已經過訓練,會去盛贊他們的搭檔,但這個人物評價放在雷德梅尼身上并不為過。我們是在倫敦的克拉里奇酒店見的面。34歲(編注:英文原文發表于2016年11月)的雷德梅尼長著綠色的眸子,一臉的雀斑,身穿一條黑色的牛仔褲和一件印著小狗頭部輪廓的深藍色毛衣。這是我第三次見到他,每次他都一定是彬彬有禮、熱情相迎。
“好好”先生
1. culprit [?k?lpr?t] n. 責任人;罪魁禍首
2. spin-off: (節目、電影等的)派生作品,搭車作品
3. crucifixion [?kru?s??f?k?n] n. 釘死于十字架上;苦難;折磨;極端的不公正
4. flag-wave: 為……搖旗吶喊。
5. freckle [?frekl] n. (尤指膚色淺的人臉上的)雀斑,小斑點
6. OBE: (= Officer of the Order of the British Empire)大英帝國官佐勛章
想象的魔力
The son of a banker, London-raised Redmayne comes across as grateful for everything—especially being educated at Eton. "I went to an extraordinary school with amazing facilities," he says. "It was a time when, if you had interests in something, you could really discover them." Music and rugby played a part in his life. "It wasn't just acting. I didn't feel like the sensitive guy in the corner."
His big break came when, aged 20, he won the role of Viola at the Globe Theatre in a 2002 production of Twelfth Night. Stage became his anchor12) until he was snapped up13) for the 2006 Australian psychological thriller Like Minds. Almost immediately, Hollywood spotted him, and he won a role in Robert De Niro's CIA origin thriller The Good Shepherd. Nor was he unwilling to risk-taking—starring in the eye-opening Savage Grace, a true-life incest14) tale.
Rarely has Redmayne got to play the villain, though. "I've played bad people," he protests. "I played Angel Clare in [the 2008 BBC version of] Tess of the D'Urbervilles, who was pretty hypocritical15) and annoying. Have I played baddies16)?" He pauses, before citing his "psychopath17)" in Like Minds, but fails to bring any others to mind.
Would he like to explore this aspect of acting? "My darker side? I quite enjoy playing people if there's a bit of distance between me and them. Some actors are good at bringing characters to them, but I like to jump away from myself a bit." He's certainly managed that in his next role—voicing the prehistoric, mournful Dug in the animation Early Man.
He believes the choice of project he now has "will be an ephemeral18) thing". But for the next decade, he'll be in Fantastic Beasts mode, with four proposed sequels. How many has he signed on for? "700!" he jokes. "No, I don't know. I think I've signed my life away for a couple more. But it doesn't feel like it. It feels like a really wonderful opportunity—because it's her [Rowling's] imagination. Anyone wants to jump into her world."
A Road to
Success
成名之路
雷德梅尼的父親是位銀行家,他從小在倫敦長大,看起來對一切都心懷感恩,特別是在伊頓公學求學的經歷。“我那時就讀的是一所擁有一流教學設施的頂尖學府,”他說,“那是一段你要是對什么感興趣就真的可以去探索的時期。”音樂和橄欖球也是他當時生活的一部分。“我當時的生活不是只有表演。我不覺得自己是那種敏感得會躲在角落里的人。”
20歲那年,雷德梅尼的人生迎來了重大轉機:他獲得了環球劇場 2002年出品的莎士比亞戲劇《第十二夜》中的薇奧拉一角。戲劇從此成為他的人生支柱,直到2006年他被挖去出演澳大利亞心理驚悚片《心智相投》。幾乎是緊接著,好萊塢就發現了他,隨后他得到羅伯特·德尼羅導演的青睞,出演了他執導的講述美國中央情報局起源的驚悚片《特務風云》。他還敢于冒險,主演了讓人大開眼界的《欲孽迷宮》——一部改編自真實亂倫故事的電影。
不過,雷德梅尼幾乎沒怎么演過反派角色。“我演過反派,”他提出異議,“我在[2008年BBC版的]《德伯家的苔絲》里演過安吉爾·克萊爾,一個非常虛偽、令人討厭的家伙。我演過大壞蛋嗎?”他停頓了一下,然后舉了他在《心智相投》里飾演的那個“精神病患者”,但除此之外就再也想不出其他任何角色了。
他想不想嘗試這方面的戲呢?“你是說我的陰暗面嗎?我很喜歡扮演跟我有點距離的角色。有些演員擅長給角色貼上自己的標簽,但我喜歡能夠稍微跳出自我的角色。”他接下來要為動畫片《早期人類》里憂郁的原始人道格配音,這個角色毫無疑問正中他的下懷。
他覺得自己現在接的戲“將會成為過眼云煙”。不過,在未來的十年里,他將進入《神奇動物在哪里》模式,預計還會出演四部續集。他現在簽了幾部電影?“700部!”他開玩笑說,“沒有啦,我不清楚。我認為自己已經簽了好幾部,夠演一輩子了。但我覺得并非如此,我覺得這真的是一個非常好的機會——因為這是她的[羅琳的]魔幻作品。無論是誰,都會想投身她的這個世界。”
7. companion [k?m?p?ni?n] n. (用于書名)指南,手冊
8. knotty [?n?ti] adj. 錯綜復雜的
9. prickly [?pr?kli] adj. 易動怒的,易生氣的
10. warm to: 開始喜歡上(某人)
11. Prohibition-era: 這里指美國歷史上的禁酒令時期(1920~1933)。在這個時期,銷售和運輸酒精飲料在美國都是違法的。
12. anchor [???k?(r)] n. 可以依靠的人(或物);精神支柱;靠山
13. snap up: 馬上錄用(某人),立即聘用(某人)
14. incest [??nsest] n. 亂倫
15. hypocritical [?h?p??kr?t?kl] adj. 虛偽的
16. baddy [?b?di] n. (電影、小說等中的)壞蛋
17. psychopath [?sa?k?p?θ] n. 精神病患者,精神變態者
18. ephemeral [??fem?r?l] adj. 短暫的,極短的;轉瞬即逝的
想象的魔力