Exclusive: Pirates of the Caribbean Star, Kevin McNally talks about his 40-year career and life as an acting teacher and screen director. 

Over the Shoulder recently sat down with Pirates of the Caribbean Star, Kevin Mcnally to talk about his career and his directorial debut “Lipstick.”

Let’s dive into it …. 

Congratulations on your recent directorial debut “Lipstick”. Did you always want to direct at some point? 

It was about 10 years ago, and I had started teaching in Richmond Virginia. It was during lockdown and a guy said that he had written a short film and wanted to do it in the classroom. I loved the script so much that I thought, lets raise some money and direct it properly. I hadn’t really considered it much before then. I was so happy with the experience and with the outcome.

Lipstick has a supernatural theme, are you drawn to that genre or was the script the main attraction? 

Not specifically, I do like genre though. I feel that if you have a sci fi, horror or supernatural, it’s really something for an audience to cling on to! I think films are entertainment and these are the most entertaining stories.

Did you find directing as challenging as acting? 

I don’t know whether challenging is the word because obviously you go into everything well prepared. I felt confident, because I’ve worked with a lot of directors, and I learnt more from the bad ones than I did from the good ones. 

I really enjoy it.  I’m quite good at thinking on my feet. How long that will last in a shaking brain, I do not know!  There’s something that sort of hits the old megalomaniac in me, that I’m in control of everything.

I get the look of the film, the feel of it, the sound of it. I can help the actors. I have all these people with skills who can do things that I ask them to do, so I really enjoy that.

You began your career in theatre, what was the transition like from stage to screen? 

There have been several transitions because when I left drama school after having started in theatre, the television that I went into was very different from the television today. It was multi camera shot in studios, it’s almost unwatchable now, that style.

In the early 80s, as people started to shoot on film it became more like filmmaking and that was the interesting transition. To learn how you do a performance in small pieces and trust that it will all cut together well and will be a coherent performance. So really the early 80s was the changing point. 

It’s quite amazing to see that there were many actors who were quite successful in the 70s and didn’t make the transition because they weren’t used to that way of filming.

And then of course, there’s the transition to actually shooting big films on the big screen. 

Were you ever starstruck at the beginning of your journey? 

I think a lot of actors will tell you this, I get starstruck over rock stars.

Who are your favourite rockstars? 

Pete Townshend from The Who.  I also had a bit of banter with Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd. I’ve not managed yet to meet anybody from Led Zeppelin, I’d better hurry up because they’re dropping like flies!

You were in the classic TV miniseries I Claudius, which some people think is one of the best programmes ever. What was your experience like? 

Well, interesting, as I was mentioning earlier of what shooting television was like in the 70s, this was a totally different experience. 

There’s a scene in the Colosseum and a marketplace in Rome that I did with Derek Jacobi that you think is an exterior, but it’s not. It’s shot in this huge studio at the old BBC Centre, the performances are great, and I remember when it came out being amazed. 

I agree with people, I think it’s certainly of that generation the best TV that was ever made in that genre. It still stands up to this day.

What is the difference, if any, acting for TV or Feature films? 

There’s not a lot of difference nowadays, apart from maybe, time and money. Many of the feature films that I shoot will be low budget and they feel very similar to shooting television. 

Over the last 20 years, and the franchise that I was involved in is partially responsible for this, the industry has been overtaken by big franchises such as the Marvel Universe. The real sort of human stories is now getting told streaming on these long 10 episodes of television. I think the real storytelling is now done on there. It’s very hard to get a budget for a serious emotional movie nowadays.

You shot to international fame, playing Gibbs in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Were you surprised at its global success? 

I almost didn’t go to the audition because I got really fed up with five years going up for American feature films and never getting them.

Even playing a game I would predict who gets the role. I remember going up for a role for Spiderman and saying, “William Defoe will get the Green Goblin,” and indeed he did.  For Pirates, I nearly didn’t go. It was my birthday, and I was sitting in my back garden, and a friend of mine said “you’ve got an audition tonight”.

I said, “But it’s for an American movie, I’ll never get it!”

She said, “well, it’s a poker in the fire, go along and have a bite! “

I said, “it’s my birthday. I’ve been drinking now.”

She said, “It doesn’t really matter. It’s for a pirate. It doesn’t matter how drunk you are.” 

So, I went along and got the job! I’d grown up on pirate films from the 50s and the 60s but there hadn’t been a successful pirate film in 30 years, so I thought it was unlikely to be successful.

One day, I got a phone call from my agent saying, it’s the highest grossing film ever. I was absolutely stunned.

What did you make of the Sequels? 

Making the second one was an interesting experience because we knew we had a hit on our hands and my part was nicely written in that film and I think that movie is quite good. 

The third film is a sort of a series of big flash events and I’m not so sure the story’s that good. The fourth film’s quite nice, and back to storytelling. The fifth one I think was a little incoherent, shall we say, so I wasn’t that keen on it.

There are rumours of another Pirates movie. Would you be keen to reprise your role? 

My bank manager would love it!

 I think it’s unlikely because I think Johnny’s not keen to work with Disney again. They’re talking about Austin Butler but then that would be a prequel with younger characters. They’re talking about Margot Robbie. If they had a cameo for me, it would be great. 

It is the ambition of many actors to play King Lear at some point. You did it in 2017 at the globe. Did you enjoy the experience? 

I did very much. It wasn’t really my ambition playing King Lear even though I trained classically.  I’ve done very few Shakespeare and I’m not really that interested, particularly in my later life when I’ve really got passionate working for the screen.

However, there’s still a Pinter play I want to do, but it would take up all my time and I want to get filming projects together.

You are giving people the benefit of your massive experience by offering Acting Classes. This must be so rewarding? 

I always tell my students that I learn more than they do which is the interesting thing about taking up teaching after 40 years in the business.

I don’t try to teach people to act, they can either act or not, but I certainly want to teach them the skills that I think would help them. That’s where I come from really.

*Miss Austen Cast

What are your future projects?

I’ve got several short films coming out. 

I’ve got a horror film coming out on Paramount called Apartment 78, it’s a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby, the 1960s famous horror film. 

Also, I’ve got a nice part in a show called “Miss Austen”, which is about why Jane Austen’s sister, after Jane Austen died, burnt all her correspondence. I play Jane’s father. It was so enjoyable. I filmed it in January, and it is coming on BBC. 

Thank you, Kevin, you have continued your teaching with helping this journalist develop stories and interviews that reflect the wonderful world of performing arts. 

Your time was really appreciated, and we hope that Over the Shoulder welcomes you back soon to find out any new projects you have. 

If any reader is interested in getting the benefit of Kevin’s acting classes, please find the email below. 

Kevinacting1on1@gmail.com

2 Comments

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