NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� On a recent winter day in New York when the sun was shining, rushed into a coffee shop between recording sessions for an upcoming series.
鈥淚鈥檓 scheduled tighter than a teenage pop star,鈥� he said, beaming.
The interview had been postponed once, and the location was switched at the last minute to save Scott some time in traffic. But he sat down fully engaged and eager to start talking. Immediately, though, a passerby tapped on the storefront glass and asked for a photo. Scott, without a grumble, sprinted out to oblige, even though the gesture seemed more like a command (鈥淵ou鈥檙e under arrest,鈥� joked Scott) than a polite request.
Scott, the 47-year-old Irish actor, is in demand like never before. That鈥檚 partly due to accrued good will. A regular presence on stage in the West End, Scott is known to many as the 鈥淗ot Priest鈥� of or the cunning Moriarty of 鈥淪herlock.鈥� Soon, he鈥檒l play Tom Ripley in the Netflix series 鈥淩ipley,鈥� adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel.
But the real reason Scott鈥檚 time is short right now is new film, In it, Scott plays a screenwriter working on a script about his childhood. The film is gently poised in a metaphysical realm; when Adam (Scott) returns to his childhood home, he finds his parents (Claire Foy, Jamie Bell) as they were before they died many years earlier.
At the same time, the movie, loosely adapted from Taichi Yamada鈥檚 1987 book 鈥淪trangers," balances a budding romance with a neighbor ( ), a relationship that unfolds with profound reverberations of family, intimacy and queer life. In a dreamy, longing ghost story, Scott is its aching, shimmering soul.
鈥淭he challenge of it was to try to go to that place but not gild the lily too much,鈥� Scott says. 鈥淎s an actor, I have to be in touch with that playful side of myself and that part of you that鈥檚 childish. I was actually quite struck by how vulnerable I looked in the film.鈥�
Scott鈥檚 acutely tender performance has made him a contender for the Academy Awards. He was named best actor by the National Society of Film Critics. At the (Scott wore a white tux and t-shirt), he was nominated for best actor in a drama.
Scott has long admired actors like Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench and Meryl Streep 鈥� performers with a sense of humor who, he says, 鈥渁re able to understand what you feel and what you present.鈥� Scott, too, is often funny on screen (see ). And even in quiet moments, he seems to be buzzing inside at some discreet frequency. Something is always going on under the surface.
He鈥檚 been acting since he was young; drama classes were initially a way to get over shyness. Scott鈥檚 first film role came at age 17. He has often spoken about seeking to maintain a childlike perspective in acting. In that way, 鈥淎ll of Us Strangers鈥� is particularly fitting. On Adam鈥檚 trips home, he sort of morphs back into the child he was. In one scene, he wears his old pajamas and crawls into bed with his parents.
鈥淪o many of the things that are required of you as an actor are a sense of humor and some ability to be able to put yourself in a situation. Because it鈥檚 all down to imagination,鈥� says Scott. 鈥淔or me, that鈥檚 the thing you need to keep. That鈥檚 the thing 鈥� because I started out when I was young 鈥� I don鈥檛 want to move too far away from. Like when kids go, 鈥極K, you be this and I鈥檒l be this.鈥� That ability doesn鈥檛 leave us. What does leave us is a lack of self-consciousness. Our job is to hold on to that.鈥�
Haigh, the British filmmaker of 鈥�45 Years鈥� and 鈥淲eekend,鈥� began thinking of Scott for the role early on. They met and talked through the script for a few hours.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a similar generation to me. He鈥檚 a tiny bit younger than me, but he鈥檚 from the same generation,鈥� says Haigh. 鈥淗e understands that experience.鈥�
Scott came out publicly in 2013, but his natural inclination is to be private. 鈥淚 feel like I鈥檝e given so much of myself in the film, you think you don鈥檛 want to give it all away,鈥� he says. He describes 鈥淎ll of Us Strangers鈥� 鈥� which Haigh shot partly in his childhood home 鈥� as personal, but not autobiographical in its depiction of the alienation that can linger after coming out.
鈥淢ercifully, I feel very comfortable for the most part. But it stays with you that pain, and it actually makes you more compassionate, I think. Because we shot in Andrew鈥檚 childhood home, that sort of threw down the gauntlet in relation to how much of his own personality he was giving,鈥� says Scott. 鈥淚 wanted it to be sort of unadorned, unarmored and raw. That鈥檚 why I think there鈥檚 such tenderness in the film.鈥�
Scott has sometimes recoiled from how sexuality is talked about the media and in Hollywood. He recently said the phrase 鈥渙penly gay鈥� should be done away with. As of late December, Scott hadn't yet watched 鈥淎ll of Us Strangers鈥� with his parents, though he planned to.
鈥淭he best way to express it is to say I鈥檒l be very sensitive to how they watch it and how they feel about it, and how it makes me feel them watching it,鈥� Scott says.
The tenderness in the film is also owed in part to Scott鈥檚 chemistry with Mescal. On-screen chemistry is an amorphous quality that the film industry has long tried to turn into a science with camera tests and marketing that flirts with real-life romance.
But for Scott, it鈥檚 something different. He and Phoebe Waller-Bridge had chemistry, overwhelmingly, in 鈥淔leabag,鈥� but that didn鈥檛 have anything to do with sexual attraction. Pinpointing that quality is something Scott pondered during Simon Stephens and Sam Yates' recent staging of Chekhov鈥檚 鈥淯ncle Vanya鈥� at the National Theater. Scott played all eight roles, meaning he essentially had to have chemistry with himself.
鈥淐hemistry isn鈥檛 just about sexual chemistry. It鈥檚 something to do with listening, and I think it鈥檚 something to do with playfulness,鈥� Scott says. 鈥淵our ability to listen to someone and take note of what someone is doing is chemistry. You have to wait and see what the other actor is doing.鈥�
A few moments later, Scott will have to rush out just as quickly as he arrived. But before that, he leaned back, naturally lit by the winter sun, and pondered whether 鈥淎ll of Us Strangers," in the nakedness of his performance, had taken him somewhere he hadn't before been as an actor.
鈥淵eah, I think so,鈥� said Scott. 鈥淥r else to return to something that perhaps I鈥檝e been before.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
