The Dance of Death

Rupert Graves in 2002 interview in Evening Standard (via jaynedolluk)

“Well, that might be upsetting to you but it doesn’t upset me. Just because you don’t want to fuck me any more it doesn’t upset me.”

Nailed it.

Tagged: Rupert Graves, ageing, i love that man, for so many reasons.

(via gaffsie)

Classic, classic interview (by Andrew Billen, London Evening Standard, 27 Mar 2002). Always reblog.

So many great quotes, but here’s a fuller version of the passage above:

“But it’s only when your fame dwindles that you start appreciating the expectations other people have. They get angry with you for not sustaining the image they had of you.” Which was? “Well, I did Maurice and I did a couple of gay plays and I think it was because when I was young I was pretty and I was a pin-up for a lot of gay people. It’s interesting when you’re in your thirties and you’re not the same pretty boy that you were when you were 21. I think people’s anger at themselves getting older is projected on to you because you become a symbol of that.

“I’m a middle-aged man now. I mean, someone, not working on the show [The Elephant Man, Broadway, NYC] but around the show, said something to me the other day. And I just said, ‘Well, that might be upsetting to you, but it doesn’t upset me. Just because you don’t want to fuck me any more, it doesn’t upset me.’

“I just think the older I get, actually, the better I feel. It’s given me the strength to say, ‘If I get older and you don’t like me any more, fuck you!’ I’m kind of happy with that. Much more happy, much less vulnerable. As a young actor I felt like prey because I didn’t know the business. I have much more confidence to be obnoxious now.”

(via exponential63)