Rhys Ifans on Anonymous, Second-Guessing Shakespeare, and the Intimacy of Spider-Man

Every actor from the UK has his or her own relationship with the dominant themes in Anonymous: Shakespeare, royal family, royal politics, class... How did these factors influence the way you approached De Vere, if at all?

I guess, if I was a slave to my politics, I should be a Stratfordian. I should believe that this peasant boy from Stratford went on to pen all these works, and why on Earth shouldn't he? But I can't do that when you look at the body of evidence. I'm not for one second an Oxfordian fundamentalist, and no one will know for certain who penned these great works. But I do think it's our duty as actors and directors and audiences to ask that question. The reason these plays are visited time and time again proves that. Any actor wants to know about the author of the play, and we do in most cases because that enlightens as to why certain characters were written. It can only benefit your portrayal or you understanding of a piece of work. So it's important to ask that question. And I think that all great art never strives to answer any questions; it just asks the appropriate ones at the appropriate time. It's always good to revisit history. I think it's very healthy to do that. And if we call this a conspiracy theory, then I don't think Roland or John have written a conspiracy theory from a place of bitterness or anger or paranoia. I think it's a conspiracy theory that kind of joyous and celebratory and mischievous.

Roland isn't culturally known as an "idea" guy, or a director of actors, so--

No, I don't know. I beg to differ. I think what separates Roland from his big blockbuster contemporaries is that if you look at all of Roland's films, yes: They are set against a huge apocalyptic canvas. But all of these stories are populated by very real people. The stories that are set on this huge backdrop are very domestic and real, and I'm sure Roland would tell you there's a common denominator in all of his films. There's always a father-son relationship. Roland will say it himself. He was very close to his father. The same is true of this with Oxford and his son, and in many ways, the plays themselves are Oxford's children. I imagined, "What would it be like to see your children every day and not be able to tell them you're their father."

That's fascinating. And when you have a character like this, about whom relatively little is known compared to today, how much of your job is to balance ideas like those with the existing historical record?

Actually, Oxford's life is very well-documented in comparison to William Shakespeare of Stratford. Not in terms of his authorship, but his travels in Europe and his life in and out of court, his relationship with Elizabeth... These are all documented. But when that's all said and done, you have to bring something of yourself. You have to supply your own metaphors and your own poetry to tell that story. That's always thrilling and interesting and rewarding.

How did you approach the scene with Vanessa Redgrave? How did you two figure out how to play that?

We didn't figure it out, because [the characters] hadn't seen each other for a very long time. We didn't rehearse. What I did do was... Well, Roland -- luckily, not consciously -- had shot many of the scenes with Joely and Jamie [Campbell Bower], who plays the younger me. All those scenes were pretty much shot before myself and Vanessa started shooting. So I watched those scenes. And when I walked into that room, I had a very vivid visual memory reference, which really moved me deeply. Because what I saw in young Oxford was this eternal optimism -- this youthful optimism that was so seductive and beautiful, and must have been to Elizabeth as well. And what we're presented with gradually throughout the film is the suffocation of that optimism, which I find really deeply moving.

What was the source of that optimism? What was the source of his creative impulse -- at least for you, playing the character?

It would have been not knowing where he was from -- not knowing his father or his mother, and having been moved from pillar to post as a child. He was put in a place where he had to invent a history for himself, so I guess that's where his storytelling may have come from. And also, he was surrounded by a stifling household -- the Cecil household. It would have been a form of escapism. He was a multi-linguist, well-traveled. Some of these plays would have been political weaponry, and others would have been love letters to a queen that he wasn't allowed to see.

Going off-topic: We've seen the fervor growing around the Spider-Man reboot. Are you bracing yourself for the next six to eight months of having that in your life?

No, I just did the gig. If you think about it too much, it just... But of course I'm really proud of it. I haven't seen it yet, obviously. But again, that was working with Marc Webb. Of course it's a huge franchise with a massive budget, but essentially for me it was a kind of father-son story and emotionally very domestic. But in terms of the whole publicity machine and all that, I'm kind of excited.

So Marc bring some intimacy to it? Was that the sense you got?

Absolutely. On paper, you'd think, "Oh, what a strange choice." But it actually makes total sense. He works very quietly with actors, with loving attention to emotional detail. And for a film painted on such a wide canvas, you have to have that forensic-ness to counter the size -- to keep kind of an emotional balance in the piece. Hopefully, I think that's what we've achieved. We'll see.

Anonymous opens Friday in limited-wide release.

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