Premiere Magazine

With his Gaelic name and thick-as-Guinness accent, actor Ciaran Hinds leaves no doubt that he hails from the Emerald Isle.  But onscreen he's a cultural chameleon.  Whether playing a Russian president (The Sum of All Fears), a Jewish assassin (Munich), or even Julius Caesar (HBO's Rome), the 54-year-old Belfast native influences each role with a rugged authenticity that has made him a favorite target for directors seeking someone to play, well, just about everybody.  In February's Amazing Grace – directed by Michael Apted, who helmed the first three episodes of Rome, Hinds costars as 18th-century British lord who is against abolishing England's slave trade. "Michael said, Would you mind playing this rather bigoted and small-minded man?" the actor recalls. "Somebody's got to do it. So I said I'd Love to." – Jason Motloff

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Scene Stealer: Ciaran Hinds

"Hinds, who stars in 2007’s 'Margot at the Wedding' and 'There Will Be Blood,' discusses his roles in ‘Munich,’ ‘The Sum of All Fears,’ and several other films." by Jason Matloff

The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Hinds had only two weeks to learn a new language for this political thriller.
CIARAN HINDS: “I told the director, Phil Alden Robinson, that I didn’t speak Russian, and he said, ‘If we send you over a couple of tapes, find yourself anybody vaguely Russian, start with that, and come to us in five days.’ And they had this gorgeous Russian girl called Natasha who just worked with me all the time. I also worked with the tapes at home, and in fact, strangely enough, my daughter was learning the piano and the man who came to tune it was Russian. I said, ‘You wouldn’t mind going over this with me, would you?’ And he didn’t at all.”

Road to Perdition (2002)
Hinds has a small but pivotal role in this acclaimed gangster movie, but what he found himself most often asked about (especially from women) was his iconic costar.
“When I came back from making this film, people friends—women, like the housekeeper—would ask me, ‘What was Paul Newman like?’ Well, he was just brilliant, still had that old charisma. On set, he would say, ‘What’s keeping me here? I want to go home and work for Formula One racing.’ ”

Calendar Girls (2003)
In this true story, Hinds plays the husband of an Englishwoman who sheds her clothes for a good cause.
“I read something in the newspaper about these ladies from the women’s institute up north getting their kit off to make a few bob for a cancer charity. And I thought, ‘Oh, how wonderful.’ What was great about being involved with the film was meeting the actual people. I met the character I played, and he was lovely. We shook hands, and he said, ‘Well, you’re not too ugly.’ [laughs] It’s that great northern humor. So we had a few jars together, and it was very easy. It was, in a way, like being welcomed into the village.”

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
For Joel Schumacher’s adaptation of the enormously popular stage musical, Hinds put a lot of faith in his director . . . and his own vocal chords.
“I got a call out of the blue from Joel, and he said, ‘Ciarán, I’m with Gerard Butler, who I know you know.’ I said, ‘I do.’ Then Joel says, ‘Well, he’s going to be my Phantom, and I think that you’ll be great as one of the opera managers.’ And I went, ‘Well, I don’t know The Phantom of the Opera. And I don’t sing.’ He says, ‘Oh, we’ll fix that.’ ”

Munich (2005)
A scheduling conflict nearly made Hinds miss out on making this powerful film about the Israeli reaction to the 1972 Olympic massacre.
“The other four in the group had been cast, and Steven [Spielberg, the director] was looking for the fifth, and I was asked if I could get over for a weekend to meet with him. So I asked the producers of Rome, and they said, ‘We’re very sorry, but we are finishing in ten days, and we need you because you’re in most of this episode.’ We were in Egypt at the time. So I said, ‘Okay, I mean it would be two days but I understand.’ But then [Spielberg’s people] said, ‘Could you come as soon as you’ve finished?’ And I said, ‘Well, if I’m done and they let me go, sure.’ So that’s what happened. I literally finished on a Friday evening, got back home on Saturday, and headed out on Sunday. Steven and I talked for 45 minutes, and I just thought, ‘What a pleasure to meet this extraordinary man.’ Lo and behold, four or five days later, he said he was just mulling things over and he’d let me know by the end of the week. And then suddenly the call came.”

Miami Vice (2006)
In Michael Mann’s sleek police thriller, Hinds plays an FBI man with a memorable name.
“Michael had named my character Agent Fujima. And I wasn’t going to do some ridiculous Asiatic accent, so we talked about it. He said, ‘Well, I’m rather attached to the name Fujima. I don't know why.’ I said, ‘Agent O’Connor doesn’t touch you anywhere?’ He just said, ‘Let’s stick with Fujima and see [how it goes].’ So I was Agent Fujima.”

 

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