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Here is a transcript from the interview:
FS: Now then, another epic film hits
the screens next month; it's Lord of the
Rings, and who's the hunky, sexy star
of that film? Ladies and Gentlemen,
Sean Bean! ... Are you alright?
SB: Yeah. (laughs)
FS: Did you read Lord of the Rings as a kid?
SB: I read it when I was about 25, em, and, um, and I sort of
got through
most of it, but, um…
FS: It's big, isn't it?
SB: Yeah, it's very… (FS interrupts and talks over Sean
here)
FS: (pulls the one-volume version of LOTR out from behind his
chair) I
mean, look at that! Who's going to read
a book that big?
SB: (laughs)
FS: Here's how I choose a book (measures the width of the binding
with
thumb and forefinger) No!
SB: Yeah, yeah…
FS: (unintelligible) It's quite small writing, as well. Well,
lots of people
did read it, didn't they? It was kind
of a hippy thing, wasn't it, Lord
of the Rings?
SB: Yeah, I mean it's got a lot of, eh, qualities, eh, I think
people can
identify with, it's got a bit of, of
mythological stories, and of old folk
stories, and uh…
FS: Are there any dwarves in it?
SB: Yeah, yeah, there's one in particular… (FS interrupts
Sean)
FS: Yeah, I thought there were. It's been a great year for dwarves,
hasn't it?
SB: (laughs)
FS: With Harry Potter, there's been (unintelligible, at least
to me) No,
seriously, any dwarf that's out of work
this year should be ashamed of
himself
SB: Well, yeah, you're probably right.
FS: How many dwarves did you ever get, do you have any idea?
SB: Well, yeah, quite a few, because, I mean, we had people,
I mean, I,
I play a human, and, um…
FS: What, as opposed to a dwarf?
SB: (laughs) yeah!
FS: (Unintelligible, something about dwarves being practically
human)
SB: But um, when we were doing like um, the perspective, um,
we have
the big guys and stuff like that, and
we have the hobbits, who are played by,
by, by…
FS: dwarves
SB: yeah, dwarves, and um…
FS: it's okay to say that
SB: And um, yeah, I know, so we were changing the perspective
and we
were doing scenes with them, and…
(laughs)
FS: Why were you changing perspectives if they were dwarves?
SB: Well, because when we… Yeah, you're right, there, I
didn't think about
that. (laughs loudly)
FS: (partially unintelligible) You weren't trying to make them
look like they
weren't dwarves. In that case, why hire
them?
(both laugh)
FS: Now uh, we got a bit, we couldn't get a clip…
SB: Yeah it's (unintelligible, something to the effect that it's
not out yet)
FS: We've got a bit of a trailer, just a take of the film…
(short compilation of clips from Fellowship)
FS: Now you play a character called
Boromir…
SB: mmmm
FS: what's he like?
SB: He's, uh, he's alright! (laugh) He's, uh… (hesitates)
(both laugh)
FS: You haven't read the book have you? (laughs)
SB: He's a Gondorian, and, uh… (kind of acts like he doesn't
know what to
say, then laughs)
FS: I'm very broadminded
SB: He's from a very distinguished, warlike military family who,
who, have
been on the forefront of battle for
many years, protecting the uh, country of
Middle Earth and the Shire. And uh,
he, uh he comes in order to try and join
the fellowship, which is a sort of motley…
FS: Don't try to tell us the whole story, it'll go on and on.
SB: Yeah (laughs), and then, uh, (laughs)
FS: (unintelligible, something about taking the book) You've
got the
ultimate accolade, Sean, and that is
that you ARE an action figure. (reaches
behind his chair and pulls out a Boromir
action figure)
SB: Yeah, yeah (looks embarrassed and laughs)
FS: Let me take Sean's clothes off (takes cloak off), there's
a thing in the
back, uh. It's the age old decision,
horn or sword, horn or sword… horn or
sword (as he pushes the button and makes
Boromir's arms move up and down)
SB: You should try moving the arm down a bit further, he does
something
different.
FS: What with...(looks a bit stunned, then laughs)
SB: (laughs and rubs eyebrow) I promised I wasn't going to say
anything
like that.
FS: Yeah, yeah. Have you got one of these?
SB: Mmm (nods)
FS: Got one at home, hmm?
SB: Two (said with an embarrassed shrug and shake of his head)
FS: You've got two?
SB: Yeah
FS: Have you just got you, or do you have any of the other characters?
SB: I've got one, I've got the man that comes with me, he's,
he's quite a
(laughs and gestures that he's tall)
FS: (reaches back behind chair and pulls out Lurtz) What, you
mean him?
SB: Yeah, yeah, (laughs) I share a box with him, this fellow.
FS: What, share a bob with him?
SB: (laughs)
FS: Share a box.
SB: Share a box with him.
FS: Yeah, it's part of a twin set. What, what's he called, Sean?
SB: He's called, eh, (rolls his head to the side disgustedly
and closes his
eyes, because he can't remember his
name, then curses unintelligibly)
FS: You share a bloody box with him!
SB: It's, eh…
FS: You must remember his name. (pushes Lurtz's button) Look
at that.
SB: I think you'll, you'll find, if… (Sean leans forward
like he wants to show
FS how to make Lurtz work)
FS: Why don't you do it, you obviously play with it for hours,
at home.
(Sean laughs and takes it and starts
messing with it, trying to get Lurtz's
arrow to fire) Don't aim it at me, Sean.
SB: I think you're supposed to press somewhere, on his back here…
(FS puts
hands up to protect himself, Sean shoots
Lurtz's arrow successfully, audience
cheers)
FS: Hey! Well done! (Sean laughs, hands Lurtz back)
SB: (spreads arms wide, grins at audience as they continue to
cheer)
FS: Is that the first time you've shot your bolt on television?
SB: (scratches ear, raises his eyebrows at FS and looks very
naughty,
laughs) No!
FS: I'll bet it isn't! It probably isn't! (Sean continues to
laugh) So, uh,
generally speaking, you're one of those
actors who's not like an actor.
(Sean raises his eyebrows and laughs)
You know what I mean?
SB: Yeah. (said in a kind of "if you say so" tone of
voice)
FS: Not in your performances, but one expects actors to be, what
they call
here a 'luvvie' thing.
SB: (nods solemnly) Mmmm.
FS: And you seem to me more like, say, a welder.
SB: (laughs and sniffs) It's funny you should say that.
FS: Yeah. Well, you were a welder once, weren't you?
SB: (laughs and nods) Well, there you go!
FS: Yeah. You don't expect actors to be, you seem to me to be
kind of an
ordinary working class bloke.
SB: Yeah
FS: And you like football.
SB: Mmm-hmm.
FS: And you like to have a few beers.
SB: Yeah.
FS: And all that. And that's not, I don't think, the stereotypical…
SB: No, I mean I think the only way you can find out about acting
and about
people, is to actually sometimes be
part of a group of, of, of people and
observe. And that's what it's all about,
after all, is observing, and if you sort
of put yourself away from that and you
put yourself in a world where you don't
observe people in natural surroundings
and stuff, and then you can't really act,
so I'd rather be part of communicative
people and watch them and learn from
them…
FS: And you do that then?
SB: Yeah.
FS: What do you think?
SB: I pick up on some things that friends, you know, people that
I know, and
I see them doing things. I mean, everybody
acts, I mean, everybody acts,
and you've got your pub or your restaurant
people always telling stories and
doing impersonations, and you sort of
take it a step further and do it in front
of a camera, I think, yeah.
FS: So when you were a welder and decided you wanted to be an
actor…
SB: Mmmm
FS: You went to Rotherdam College.
SB: Yeah.
FS: How did you make (unintelligible)
SB: I just thought it was a bit strange, but I was a bit strange
at the time
anyway, I mean I was a bit, I wasn't
really interested in, um, I always wanted
to do something different, I felt I
should be doing something different, uh,
I wanted to be in a band, I wanted to
be an artist, I wanted, at school, uh, I
went to school, I mean I had a good
time in school, but I didn't learn a great
deal uh, but when I left school I had
a sort of real appetite for wanting to
read and sort of educate myself in a
way, and, you know, that's what made
me want to do something different, I
didn't know WHAT I wanted to do, I had
no idea I would ever be an actor, you
know, that was the last thing on my mind.
And I tried acting just by chance and
acting combined all the things I was
interested in, like art and music, and
trying to express meself in some way
and I just didn't know what to do with
myself and that just seemed to solve
the problem I had of expressing meself.
That, I just, I had to find something,
that I felt really comfortable with
and, em, I just took it from there and I still
feel that way, and um…
FS: Did you lose any mates because of it?
SB: Um, no, no, I don't… I, not really, I don't think I
did. I think I had to go
away for awhile, and do what I felt
I should be doing. I had to go away and
sort of make a step. I went down to
RADA. I felt I had to get away to some
extent to be able to express myself
in the way I wanted to do it. And I knew
that I couldn't do that in the surroundings
that I was in in Sheffield, as much
as, you know, I love the city. I 'm
proud of it but I knew I had to go
somewhere else to be able to become
a part of this world that I wanted to
be in. So I had a break from that, and
I think that things come around in a
full circle and I've got a lot of old
friends (unintelligible), I think you have
to make that break to find what you
want to do, you know.
FS: Right. So, um (Unintelligible) do you drink coffee?
SB: Sometimes, yeah.
FS: Yeah. You know I've got some coffee that's supposed to be
the most
expensive coffee in the world, and um,
will you try some of this coffee? I'm
going to have some as well.
SB: Yeah!
FS: (puts two coffee mugs on the table and Sean picks his up
and looks at it)
I'll tell you about it. This is, uh,
what it's called is Coffee Luak (?) Right.
And the thing's boiled cat (?). You
have to put it down so I can pour it. (telling
Sean to put his mug down. Sean laughs.
Frank pours the coffee as he's
talking, then adds cream) And the coffee
is, uh, the coffee beans are
eaten by these wild cats, right?
SB: Mmmm-hmmm.
FS: And then they, they have their shit in the jungle - you still
with me?
It's true. And the coffee beans don't
quite, um, get digested so they're
still kicking around. And, the, so the
natives pick the beans out of the
cat's poo, and then they, um…
SB: Hmmm (looking very wary, then laughs, but you can tell he's
disgusted
with the whole thing)
FS: (stirring the coffee) I've always wanted to be a shit stirrer.
(both laugh) And so this, this has actually
been through a cat, this coffee.
SB: Hmmm
FS: I'm not making this up.
SB: Yeah.
FS: And it's 10 pounds a cup!
SB: Yeah? Hmm.
FS: Because obviously there's not much of it about. It takes
a lot of
collecting and picking through, and
it's messy work.
SB: Yeah.
FS: So, you going to try it? (they both pick up their coffee
mugs)
SB: Have you got any sugar? (laughs)
FS: Have any sugar? Never put sugar in cat shit, that's my saying.
(they both sniff the coffee)
SB: Mmm. Yeah, you're wrong. (Grinning, Sean takes another exaggerated
sniff, then gamely takes a taste) Hmmm.
FS: What do you think?
SB: Yeah. How much is it?
FS: 10 quid a cup.
SB: F*cking 'ell! (laughs, and FS and audience just die laughing.
Sean puts
his cup on the table and leans back,
obviously not willing to drink any more of
the stuff.)
FS: You through with that? I'll take it away. (more small talk
that's
unintelligible - something like FS saying
'I'll drink that later on', and Sean
saying, 'yeah, no wasting it, right?').
Now, eh, as well as being an action
figure, which is obviously a brilliant
thing, you've also had, a thing that I
think must be brilliant, you've been
in ?? (unintelligible) comic.
SB: Mmm. (nods)
FS: Now I think it's (unintelligible)
SB: Yes, it's brilliant
FS: It IS a brilliant comic. And you're in a strip called 'I've
BEAN to Paradise'
(Sean leans in to see it more closely)
We've got a couple of stills from it of
Sean (shows a framed pic of Sean with
a comic bubble over his head and Frank
voices the cartoon, "Why, it's
uncanny. With this hair cut, I'm a dead ringer
for that hunky heart throb actor Sean
Bean!") Let's go onto the next one,
come on, I'll be the barber.
SB: Yeah, alright.
(Next frame shows the barber, which is FS saying, "That'll
be 1 pound 50,
sir. And would you like anything for
the weekend?")
(Sean, speaking the lines for his character, says in a wooden
tone of voice,
"Yes, I think I will, actually.
With this new Sean Bean haircut, I'll have to
beat the birds off with a shitty (stumbles
over word) stick.") (laughs)
SB: I've just dipped it in that coffee!! (FS hands him a stick,
then Sean
leans over and dips it in the coffee,
then mimes beating girls off, saying,
"Get off, get off!", laughing)
FS: Well, look, it's good to see you. And I hope Lord of the
Rings is a
massive success. Sean, thanks a lot
for coming on the show. Ladies
