| Essexboys -
Film |
SEAN BEAN
Jason Locke
With a hugely diverse range of starring roles in feature film
and television, Sean Bean is firmly established as one of the
UK's top acting talent. Already an accomplished stage actor
(including playing Romeo in Michael Bogdanov's production of
Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Shakespeare Company), Bean leapt
into the public's consciousness with his portrayal of the dashing
hero in the hugely successful Sharpe 's Rifles which ran for
five series on peak time television worldwide. Other television
appearances have included Bravo Two Zero, Clarissa, Jacob (directed
by Sir Peter Hall for CBS), A Woman 's Guide to Adultery and
the acclaimed Ken Russell adaptation Lady Chatterley for the
BBC.
On the big screen Sean has played an eclectic array of parts
from aristocratic villain in the Bond epic Goldeneye, to a struggling
factory worker with dreams of playing for his football team
in When Saturday Comes and an Irish terrorist in Patriot Games.
Other film credits include John Frankenheimer's Ronin, Black
Beauty, Stormy Monday, Derek Jarman's Caravaggio and Jim Sheridan's
The Field.
Sean saw the character of Jason Locke as a somewhat twisted
soul: "Jason is a guy that has been locked away for five
years. That's a lot of time to seethe about taking the rap for
your mates. They have got rich and have done well while he has
been stuck inside. They all have flash houses in the country,
BMW's and all the trappings. Meanwhile he's come out to a little
flat in Essex. He feels bitter about that, and vengeful. He
wants to claim back what he assumes is his rightful place in
the criminal fraternity. The trouble is that he wants everything
that he has been missing out on all at once.
"Jason is a volatile time-bomb just waiting to go off.
He's headstrong and very temperamental. He will fly off the
handle without notice, and it's this unpredictability that makes
him very dangerous to be around.
"Throughout the course of the film, as well as dealing
drugs he takes more and more of them himself, which makes him
more and more obsessed and paranoid about people trying to rip
him off. It really is a mad headlong journey for him. He'll
get to the top of the tree, and will do anything to stay there.
He will sort anybody out who stands in his way. But as the power
goes to his head he, along with the others in the 'firm' begin
to believe they are invincible.
"I tried to build up his past. Jason used to mess around.
He likes the girls, and the girls like him. He probably has
a checkered history in that respect. As well as his mates, his
wife is another major source of his anger and paranoia. There
is a bitterness surrounding Lisa, and there's something bubbling
underneath their relationship all the time. Half the problem
is that they can't quite come to terms with, or even talk about,
the anger and resentment between them. But they know it's there
and brewing. Eventually it erupts through an appalling and violent
argument in the most public of places. They have a very explosive
relationship together. They passionately feel for each other
- love each other if you like - but they can't handle what's
been done in the past.
"He's been unfaithful to her more than once, and that really
stings her. The irony is that when Jason comes out, his one
fear is the thought of HER having been with someone else. It
terrifies him. He asks the question of his friends again and
again. He's been living with the possibility that she might
have been unfaithful for years - this fear that she might have
been with someone else, but there's also pride involved. He
knows that if she had been with someone else it would belittle
him within the social structure.
"He wants to try and make the relationship with Lisa work,
but he doesn't know how to go about doing that. He can't quite
bring himself to face up to the things that he's done in the
past. He can't forget his pride and listen to what she wants.
There is a glimmer of humanity there, but he can't bring himself
to face what the problem is. Here you've got someone who is
very insecure, who's been hurt, but he can't express himself
as he would wish.
"The anger that has been boiling up for years comes out
in vitriolic, vile obscenities. There is obviously something
very wrong there, but that is how Lisa and Jason exist - that
is their relationship.
"Saying that, Jason is a really nasty piece of work. Why
I would contemplate playing such a violent character? Because
what I saw there was a very interesting psyche. This was a role
that I thought 1 could make something of. Why not play a character
to his full extent?
"I want to keep as broad a range in my work as possible.
And also I don't want to miss out on opportunities like this.
It was an excellent script and I wanted to do it. I had worked
with Jeff and Terry before (on Fools Gold) and we got on really
well together.
"Jason is a very influential character within the 'firm'.
At this stage he has to catch up with his colleagues. And if
he can catch up with them, will he still be looked upon with
the same amount of respect? He doesn't feel that he is getting
the respect that he deserves, and that is why he goes over the
top all the time. Everything he does is over the top, and it's
a show of power and of strength, to disguise his frailty and
increasing paranoia.
"All I try to do is give a realistic portrayal of the character.
In order to get the person right, you have to put yourself in
their position. If you don't then it just doesn't ring true.
It makes it much easier if you feel right in the character.
"I believe scenes of violence should tell you something
about the world we are involved with and that they aren't just
shoved in there for no reason. The scene where I hit her around
was done last thing at night, and we did it in one take. We
used two cameras, and it seemed to work really well. It's the
kind of thing where if it works first time then it is fantastic.
It's difficult to go through something like that again and again.
"People ask me if there are roles that I would have loved
to have taken on. That's difficult. When I saw Nil By Mouth
I thought 'what a fantastic film, what a fantastic character'.
But saying that, I couldn't imagine anyone else but Ray Winstone
playing that character. When I see an actor doing something
spectacular like that then I think, 'Shit, I could never top
that anyway.' If I wrote a character for myself, I think I would
find it very difficult. To write a perfect character is hard.
"For the role of Jason I did do some research in advance
-I watched some documentaries and read various pieces on recent
events, but you can only go on what you have. I like watching
other stuff - I like to see what's around, and to get ideas
from other things. But I generally start with what I have in
front of me.
"I would like to stress that Jason is a totally fictitious
character and, if anything, is a mixture of people and faces,
past and present. I didn't want to pin him down to one particular
individual as I felt this would constrict his impact within
the confines of the story.
"With ESSEX BOYS Terry and Jeff are very ably telling a
good story. I think that was the main thing. I know this is
an idea they have been playing with for a while. I worked with
them on Fools Gold, a very low budget film for television about
seven years ago, and that was great. I had a really good time
doing that. With this one they even organised a cake for my
40th birthday. They're a great team, who allow their work to
be led by an idea - I like that. It's also helpful to have the
writers around, I think it gives actors confidence to experiment
and go further with potential ideas.
"I feel the basic concept of the film could transfer to
most places really. Wherever you go, any city, there is a stratum
of criminality. Around that concept Terry and Jeff adapted the
story to Essex - the Southend sea-front, the clubs, the organised
crime and ultimately the characters that inhabit this world."
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