Post by Jen on Jun 6, 2010 14:36:42 GMT -5
**Ian talks about playing Jimmy Kerrigan in "Midnight Man"**
Ian Puleston-Davies plays a tough talking tabloid newspaper editor who tips off journalist Max Raban about a story which has potentially lethal implications in Midnight Man.
“As an editor of a tabloid newspaper Jimmy employs Max to root through bins of rubbish for any scandal or any hot story that might be found through the rummaging.
“Jimmy and Max were mates at university. They both moved into journalism, but Jimmy worked his way up to become the editor, and is now in a position where he’s giving Max work. There was a certain amount of rivalry between the two, but Jimmy came out on top, and Max has been left among the bins.
“Jimmy is one of the few editors that still employs Max. Some of the work he gives is very much a hand out for old time’s sake. Max is in such a state because he can’t work during the day due to his illness, there is a certain conscience that Jimmy feels he should keep Max employed.
“However, unbeknown to Max, Jimmy has never forgiven Max for his betrayal of a mutual friend, Helen, by naming her as a source for a story he wrote, which led to her tragic death.
“On the surface they have an amicable relationship. Max is reluctantly grateful for the work that Jimmy doles out to him. Jimmy is very much aware that Max is very useful, and very good at raking the bins.
“But there is that underlying resentment that Jimmy has towards Max. There was competition between Max and Jimmy.”
Jimmy tips Max off about a story involving a government minister and an erotic dancer. This leads him to uncover a much bigger scoop about a terrifying conspiracy reaching the highest echelons of power.
Ian says the drama shows how powerful the press can be in exposing the terrifying truth of what is really happening in the world’s leading institutions.
“I am of a generation, probably the last generation that did believe that the Government never told lies. The generation below me are completely understandably and rightly sceptical and untrusting of the government. Everyone has a right to whistle blow. I think the press has a right to whistle blow.
“If this script had come along as recently as five years ago we would probably have thought it was fairy tale stuff; make believe. But we are now prepared to believe a story like this, which not so long ago would have been taken as pure fantasy and a good thriller.
“Not so long ago conspiracy theorists were just labelled as being fantasists. But in a very short amount of time we can now believe because conspiracy theories have come true.
“I think we are becoming a lot more aware, because of the advent of the internet. The amount of knowledge we gain at the press of a button we are able to uncover information at a quicker pace and we are all a lot more alert to theories.”
Ian has his own experiences of aspects of his personal life being revealed in the press when he made the drama Dirty Filthy Love for ITV. The drama was based on his battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette’s Syndrome.
“I put myself on the line when I came out as a sufferer of OCD and Tourette's.
“It was the first time I had ever talked about me. I wasn’t hiding behind a character and that was a bit nerve wracking to think I had no costume or programme to hide behind.
“It was unnerving that it was me talking about a person who suffers from a mental illness. That was a double whammy for me. I felt incredibly vulnerable because I thought I am talking to the press for the first time not about the role, but about me and about me with a mental illness.
“I didn’t want people to think I was using my illness to get publicity. I thought I should not be selfish, and that I should think this film might actually help people who are fellow sufferers.
“It was a cathartic experience, coming out like that, and I felt for the first time that I wasn’t ashamed of it any more. It is known as the secretive disorder because people keep it a secret, partly because they don’t know what they are suffering from and partly because they are ashamed of it.
“People’s perception of me didn’t change as a result. You do think if you have a mental illness that people are going to run away. But people are bigger than that and more caring. No-one said they didn’t want to hang out with me any more.”
Dirty Filthy Love was critically acclaimed and encouraged Ian to devote more time to writing, while continuing to act.
“I had put the idea of a writing career to bed in the 1970s. I failed academically and I believe that tainted my personal belief in my ability to write. I left school with one ‘O’ level. I felt inferior and felt I wasn’t capable of writing. Thank god I overcame that in later years.
“The writing is as busy as the acting. I couldn’t do one without the other now. It is a good balance they look after each other really.
Ian Puleston-Davies plays a tough talking tabloid newspaper editor who tips off journalist Max Raban about a story which has potentially lethal implications in Midnight Man.
“As an editor of a tabloid newspaper Jimmy employs Max to root through bins of rubbish for any scandal or any hot story that might be found through the rummaging.
“Jimmy and Max were mates at university. They both moved into journalism, but Jimmy worked his way up to become the editor, and is now in a position where he’s giving Max work. There was a certain amount of rivalry between the two, but Jimmy came out on top, and Max has been left among the bins.
“Jimmy is one of the few editors that still employs Max. Some of the work he gives is very much a hand out for old time’s sake. Max is in such a state because he can’t work during the day due to his illness, there is a certain conscience that Jimmy feels he should keep Max employed.
“However, unbeknown to Max, Jimmy has never forgiven Max for his betrayal of a mutual friend, Helen, by naming her as a source for a story he wrote, which led to her tragic death.
“On the surface they have an amicable relationship. Max is reluctantly grateful for the work that Jimmy doles out to him. Jimmy is very much aware that Max is very useful, and very good at raking the bins.
“But there is that underlying resentment that Jimmy has towards Max. There was competition between Max and Jimmy.”
Jimmy tips Max off about a story involving a government minister and an erotic dancer. This leads him to uncover a much bigger scoop about a terrifying conspiracy reaching the highest echelons of power.
Ian says the drama shows how powerful the press can be in exposing the terrifying truth of what is really happening in the world’s leading institutions.
“I am of a generation, probably the last generation that did believe that the Government never told lies. The generation below me are completely understandably and rightly sceptical and untrusting of the government. Everyone has a right to whistle blow. I think the press has a right to whistle blow.
“If this script had come along as recently as five years ago we would probably have thought it was fairy tale stuff; make believe. But we are now prepared to believe a story like this, which not so long ago would have been taken as pure fantasy and a good thriller.
“Not so long ago conspiracy theorists were just labelled as being fantasists. But in a very short amount of time we can now believe because conspiracy theories have come true.
“I think we are becoming a lot more aware, because of the advent of the internet. The amount of knowledge we gain at the press of a button we are able to uncover information at a quicker pace and we are all a lot more alert to theories.”
Ian has his own experiences of aspects of his personal life being revealed in the press when he made the drama Dirty Filthy Love for ITV. The drama was based on his battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette’s Syndrome.
“I put myself on the line when I came out as a sufferer of OCD and Tourette's.
“It was the first time I had ever talked about me. I wasn’t hiding behind a character and that was a bit nerve wracking to think I had no costume or programme to hide behind.
“It was unnerving that it was me talking about a person who suffers from a mental illness. That was a double whammy for me. I felt incredibly vulnerable because I thought I am talking to the press for the first time not about the role, but about me and about me with a mental illness.
“I didn’t want people to think I was using my illness to get publicity. I thought I should not be selfish, and that I should think this film might actually help people who are fellow sufferers.
“It was a cathartic experience, coming out like that, and I felt for the first time that I wasn’t ashamed of it any more. It is known as the secretive disorder because people keep it a secret, partly because they don’t know what they are suffering from and partly because they are ashamed of it.
“People’s perception of me didn’t change as a result. You do think if you have a mental illness that people are going to run away. But people are bigger than that and more caring. No-one said they didn’t want to hang out with me any more.”
Dirty Filthy Love was critically acclaimed and encouraged Ian to devote more time to writing, while continuing to act.
“I had put the idea of a writing career to bed in the 1970s. I failed academically and I believe that tainted my personal belief in my ability to write. I left school with one ‘O’ level. I felt inferior and felt I wasn’t capable of writing. Thank god I overcame that in later years.
“The writing is as busy as the acting. I couldn’t do one without the other now. It is a good balance they look after each other really.
