Jeremy Irons on The Borgias and its end

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‚dafne

Posted on 1/12/2013, 09:40

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Playing Pope Alexander in The Borgias presented Irons with yet another acting dilemma.
“Once I started my research, I found one book about him where the writer listed all the adjectives that had been applied to him and it was like a rainbow, from the very good to the very bad and I said, ‘This is what I have to play, the enigma, the fact that he is a man of god and yet can command murders. He is God’s representative on earth, but he can have mistresses and children.’ I embraced the inconsistencies.
“We had a papal adviser on the show and I asked him, ‘What would someone from the time of the Borgias make of Bill Clinton and how he was knocked from power just because of Monica and his cigar?’ He said, ‘They would see that as deeply hypocritical. We are all sinners and we should expect a man to fall, not wait for it to happen and then condemn him.’”
The Borgias had two successful seasons but was cancelled while its third season was still being filmed. That led to an oddly abrupt final episode that caused much gossip inside and outside the industry. Irons sets the record straight.
“I didn’t want to do a fourth season, but I said, ‘Why don’t we do a two-hour special and end the thing with a bang?’ Neil Jordan (the show’s creator and director) wrote an amazing script, but Showtime felt they couldn’t justify it to their investors.
“It was amazing. I had a grand death scene where I was searching for someone to hear my last confession. I felt cheated. But our paymasters are the ones who always call the tune.”
Irons picks up on his last word and uses a musical metaphor to summarize his theories on life and art.

thestar.com

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