Actor Ben Whishaw tells the story of "British scandals": sex, lies and homosexuality

On January 20, 2018, local time, in San Francisco, USA, thousands of people participated in the first anniversary of the "Women's March", calling for political participation, voting, respect for women's rights, anti-Trump administration, anti-sexual harassment, etc. (Source: China News Service)

The news that Jeremy Thorpe, the former leader of the British Liberal Party, was on trial on suspicion of murder was a sensation in the late 1970s. British actor Ben Whishaw, who plays Thorpe's secret lover Norman Scott in the BBC's new drama The British Scandal, tells the author of this article, Andrew Anthony, about the sex, lies and experiences of being gay at that time.

Gunshots on the wasteland Are the survivors of the yin and yang

Actor Ben Whishaw was born in 1980. The year before he was born, Britain experienced the most horrific political scandal and judicial trial of the 20th century. Former Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe appeared at London's Central Criminal Court on murder charges, a "legal drama" with all the catches: love, sex, betrayal, conspiracy, power, blackmail, pay-perpetuating, well-known politicians, murder (dogs), attempted murder (people), partial judges and John Le Mesurier – we're talking about a Welsh carpet dealer, not a welsh carpet dealer. Actor of Dad's Army.

Whishaw, like many of his peers, had never heard of Thorpe, nor had he ever heard of Norman Scott, who was accused of attempting murder, let alone the dog named Rinka, who knew nothing about the storm at least when he was invited to appear in "A Very English Scandal."

British Scandal is a three-part miniseries directed by Stephen Frears and produced by the BBC, based on the work of journalist John Preston.

"I don't know anything about it," Whishaw said when I met at a hotel near Liverpool Street station in London, "the whole thing was amazing, but I was drawn to the humanity involved, such as the bizarre situation in which the person is located and the possessiveness of both parties in love." ”

For those born in the 1960s and earlier, the mention of the name "Linka" is enough to evoke memories of this unusual event that took place in that strange and distant era. The Great Dane named "Linka" belongs to Scott, the character played by Whishaw in the play.

In 1961, Scott, 21, was a groom on a farm in Devon, and later met Thorpe, 32, a spirited Liberal MP. The latter often wore elegant three-piece suits, with stylish soft felt hats and bracelets. One of Thorpe's friends happened to be Scott's boss, and he introduced the two to each other, but it wasn't long before Scott fell out with the boss. Later, the young man was admitted to a mental hospital, and after being discharged from the hospital, he began a relationship with Thorpe.

Although they lived together for some time at Thorpe's apartment in Westminster, the two had a sneaky relationship because homosexuality was illegal in England at the time. Scott, who suffers from mental illness, is increasingly frustrated by this "underground romance". When Thorpe grew tired of Scott's endless complaints and whimsy—Scott often pretended to know strangers he had never met—he gradually let Scott move out of the apartment and refocused his mind on his career. In fact, Thorpe did try to help his lover. In a letter that was later made public, he mentioned helping Scott find an errand on the Continent. "Baby Bunny can (and will) go to France," Thorpe wrote in his letter, and "Baby Bunny" was his nickname for Scott.

Having said that, Scott, like the mistresses of other lawmakers, felt that he had been left behind after being used. Unable to find a fixed job, he began threatening to expose Thorpe. "Norman has been a devout Catholic since childhood," explains Westshaw, who plays a character who struggles with his sexuality but feels it is Thorpe who destroys him. "If you grew up in a religious family, you would believe that homosexuality is sinful. I can understand his behavior. ”

Even though Thorpe was a notorious adventurer, he was worried. Scott's threats against him continued intermittently for more than a decade, during which time Thorpe had become leader of the Liberal Party and had a family. In the mid-1970s, there were rumors that he might form a coalition government with Edward Heath and could even become prime minister. Homosexual behavior was legalized in 1967, but remains a restricted social taboo. If Thorpe is declared gay or bisexual, it will destroy his political future. In fact, this is exactly what happened later, but it was not Scott's intention.

In October 1975, a professional killer and part-time pilot named Andrew Newton carried Scott and his dog to a corner of exmoor. He shot Linka in one shot, and then tried to kill Scott, if it weren't for the blockage of the barrel, I am afraid that the latter would have died a long time ago. Newton, who was sentenced to two years in prison for gun misuse, remained silent during the trial and serving his sentence, but when he was released in April 1977, he claimed that he had been hired to get rid of Scott. The incident caused an uproar among the public and the media, and the deliberately delayed police had to launch a full investigation. Two years later, Thorpe stood before the judge and was charged with hiring a murderer.

Ben Whishaw: "Hiding your heart is torture"

A few weeks ago, Whishaw starred on stage at London's Bridge Theatre in "Julius Caesar," directed by Nicholas Hytner, in which he played Brutus. Whishaw is undoubtedly one of the most talented actors of his generation, but has also been tortured by hiding his sexuality. The same experience was tragic for Thorpe and ultimately destroyed him in a dramatic way.

"Trying to hide something is torture," Whishaw, who wears his back and a rough beard, exudes the gentle temperament of his personality, "people want to be honest with each other, it's easier." In 2013, Whishaw came out publicly, acknowledging that he and Australian composer Mark Bradshaw were same-sex partners. Previously, he had been hiding the secret to the world that he was gay. He felt that being a gay actor would limit his career choices and influence the public's impression of him. It wasn't until recent years, he said, that "people's open attitudes towards sexual orientation have turned to inclusion." ”

Until then, he had avoided embarrassing questions and paid no attention to his private life. It was this experience that gave him a unique insight into the situation in which Thorpe and Scott were. "It's not hard to imagine that people in the 1960s could only suppress and bury this emotion. After that, things will slowly get out of control, and you will start to behave abnormally. ”

The screenwriter of "British Scandal", Russell M. Russell T Davies, who wrote "Queer as Folk" and contributed to the successful re-broadcast of "Doctor Who," sympathized with Thorpe and Scott's plight. Davis said: "I saw the evolution of this story in the news when I was 16 years old, and since then I have had the desire to create. It was probably the first gay story I heard. ”

Thorpe is played by Hugh Grant, a high-cold "British lover", who is his third collaboration with Whishaw. Previously, they co-starred in Paddington 2, with Grant playing the villain and Whishaw (voiced Paddington Bear) both desperate and simple, a comedy that can be seen as a foreshadowing for British Scandal. Grant loves to play small, while Westshaw is full of unpretentious natural atmosphere, and the two seem incompatible at first glance, but they actually complement each other. Whishaw describes Grant as "a brilliant comedian" and casually quotes a few lines created by Davis, many of which are laughable.

There's also darkness in the comedy section, especially Thorpe, played by Grant, seducing a crying little Scott while the former's domineering mother is next door. This scene is full of details in the court trial, and the people who hear it blush and beat their hearts. The film crew uses the lights to turn Thorpe into a predator, while Scott is a delicate prey. If one looks at the show through the prism of today's society, many of the scenes in Thorpe and Scott's story are familiar, such as the sexual exploitation of younger and vulnerable people by the powerful. In fact, Thorpe, a graduate of Eton College, was the pro-establishment figure, with extensive connections and patronage, while Scott was poor and mentally ill.

However, Whishaw finds the characters in the play to have more complex relationships. It was Norman who approached him, not Jeremy who approached Norman. Norman went on the offensive against Jeremy, and according to the book, he kept telling the people in the village that he had a relationship with Jeremy Thorpe. So Norman had fantasized about Jeremy Thorpe long before it all happened. ”

#MeToo之前, sexual harassment is the way of the world?

Whishaw said that when they filmed the tv series, the #MeToo (anti-sexual assault) movement had just begun, and although there were many echoes of the movement in the show, it was not the topic of discussion in the show. "My feeling is that the two have established a relationship on an equal, voluntary basis, and they have also found each other's charm. I don't think Norman was Jeremy's victim, I feel like he knows what he's doing. ”

Whishaw, a young actor, has not been sexually harassed, though he adds, "I know other people have, mostly women. Before the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal came to light, people seemed to think the world was the way it was, or that it was the way it worked. People are angry, of course, but at the same time they can only shrug helplessly. Today, Weinstein's sex scandal has set off a huge anti-sexual assault movement in the West, which is remarkable. ”

Of course, Scott has other strengths in addition to being "young and beautiful", that is, he has information related to Thorpe. In those days, this information was extremely explosive.

By the end of the 1960s, Thorpe was already one of Britain's hottest politicians. In 1968, he decided not to swallow Scott's "blackmail" anymore. He confided in peter Bessell, an old friend of liberal mps and methodist preachers. Bethel testified that Thorpe had told him he wanted to kill Scott. When Bessel objected, Thorpe replied, "Peter, this is no worse than killing a sick dog." ”

Acting is not imitation, nor is it acting yourself

Whishaw is the kind of actor who can fully immerse himself in the character and act as if that's his own life. He played Hamlet at the age of 23 at the Old Vic theatre in London, making him famous as a 13-year-old. Charles Spencer, then a theatre critic for the Daily Telegraph, wrote: "The performance that night made it a legend. ”

Born and raised in Bedfordshire, Whishaw and his twin brothers did not come from a theatrical family, his parents were in the IT and cosmetics industries. His experience of theatrical charm in his youth opened the door to another world, and he decided to continue his studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (Rada). There is also a class divide hidden in British Scandal, and there is a social gap between Thorpe and Scott, and the same sexual orientation bridges this gap.

"Class distinctions are inevitable," Whishaw argues, "norman himself knows." "He said he had the same social gap in the theatre industry." But I'm a bit like Norman. He created a 'human setting' for himself, able to switch between different classes of languages freely. I had a similar experience. Through drama, you can meet people from all backgrounds, and you can choose whether or not to see everything through class. For me, class is not the first impression that others give me. ”

After starring in Hamrees, Westshaw never recalled the experience. He said, "The last night you stand on the stage, the last moment you end the curtain, it's over." I don't think about it again, it's a thing of the past for me. He claims not to have been impressed by the performance anymore, but his fans are certainly haunted. Whether it's Frankenstein Q, who supplied James Bond with high-tech tools, John Keats, the poet who played Bright Star, or Freddie, the brave and fearless in the TV series "The Hour." Whishaw always leaves his mark on the character in silence.

Later this year, he will star in the sequel to the 1960s classic Mary Poppins. But according to him, his next step was to take part in the film David Copperfield, directed by Armando Iannucci. He was very excited about it because he was a die-hard fan of Ianucci's Death of Stalin.

Given his ability to fully immerse himself in a wide variety of characters, I'm curious if his sexuality has helped him shape Scott's character more accurately. "I thought about it a lot, but it didn't seem to help. I mean, while the character and I are both gay, that doesn't mean I'm able to develop a stronger empathy with him than a straight man or someone with other sexual orientation. For me, acting is not about playing myself. ”

Whishaw said the acting wasn't an imitation either, but he did have lunch with Scott under director Fleurs' arrangement and "got a rough impression of him." Since Whishaw played the younger Scott, he didn't worry about imitating the latter exactly in his performance. The character Bessel in the film portrays Scott as one of the bravest men in all of Britain. So, what does Whishaw say about Scott?

"I think he lived his life," he said, frowning, "and he lived his life the way he wanted it to be." He was charming, funny, and sometimes mean to people, but he was still full of charm and vitality. He didn't look like an old man in his 70s. ”

Good love, the wrong times?

Today Scott lives with eight dogs on a farmstead in Dartmoor. His male partner, an artist, was outraged that Scott had previously been suspected and disturbed by the outside world. Scott told Whishaw that he felt his life had been devastated by Thorpe and was convinced that officials within the government were protective of each other.

Whishaw and Frails asked him if he still loved Thorpe, "He said he didn't love anymore, he said he didn't have any feelings anymore." But I don't believe it, and I can even tell him to his face that I think he is the kind of person who is both true and false, and what he says depends entirely on his mood and situation at the time. ”

So Scott could only listen to half of what he said. However, Scott's life is indeed full of thorns. He later had two children, and his ex-wife committed suicide. According to him, after the divorce, he was only allowed to see his son four times a year, for half an hour each time. Not long ago, Scott told another British newspaper: "Just because I am gay, I have to have a parole officer present every time I see my son, so that he will not be attacked by me." ”

However, the British Criminal Court found that there was indeed evidence of the murder plan against Scott. It also affected another friend of Thorpe's, David Holmes, deputy treasurer of the Liberal Party, best man for Thorpe's wedding, businessman George Deakin, and carpet dealer Le Messuril. On May 8, 1979, four days after Thatcher became Prime Minister, they and Thorpe appeared in court to face charges of appointing Newton to murder Scott.

The trial was a microcosm of an outdated but still functioning class system that received so much media attention that even the well-known journalist Auberon Waugh was present. After the trial, critic Peter Cook wrote an article satirizing the arrogant and arrogant judge Sir Joseph Cantley. Cantley was fair and impartial, slandered prosecution witnesses and praised Thorpe's career and personality as unblemished. In his statement, he described Scott as "a hysterical, twisted and abnormal man, a professional parasite, extremely good at arousing and exploiting the sympathy of others... He was a villain, a liar, a parasite, a mourner. ”

George Carman, a lawyer who took on a major case for the first time, advised his client, Thorpe, not to produce evidence. While this appears to the media as a tacit manifestation of guilt, the strategy works well in court. Even though the prosecution has presented strong evidence of the crime, the four defendants have been found not guilty.

However, Thorpe was destroyed. His political career was over.

Whishaw has always believed that people should not be forced to disclose their sexual orientation. "People talk about it like you should publish your sexual orientation for this case, and I don't think anybody should." It doesn't matter to anyone else. People should also not judge others for this. However, he can understand why Scott wants Thorpe to "get out", and he understands "why some people are forced to murder others, although it sounds crazy", and he thinks the British drama shows this as well. Above all, Whishaw sees the story as a judgement of that period of history, not of the parties involved. He said that the core of the story is that this love may shine in a different era. "Because they lived in that era, the power that should have been used to water their feelings was used to destroy each other." I think it's a love that's bound by the times. ”

One ambitious, one mentally fragile—Whishaw's words may be a romantic interpretation of these two intolerable people, but it ultimately reveals an unchanging truth. After all the shocks, scandals, and madness, the only thing that remains are two men who have loved and killed each other for 20 years.

(European Times UK edition and The Telegraph joint edition Of this article by Andrew Anthony Translator: Hibiscus)

(Editor: Xia Ying)