Terence Stamp Interview, Get Smart

MoviesOnline had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with veteran actor Terence Stamp recently at the Los Angeles press day for his new film, “Get Smart,” which opens in theaters on June 20th. We also chatted about his upcoming projects and his continuing adventures in real life as the incomparable General Zod, one of the greatest super-villains of all time.

In “Get Smart,” Stamp plays notorious KAOS arch-villian Siegfried who, along with his long suffering sidekick, Shtarker (Ken Davitian), schemes to cash in on their network of terror. Stamp drew inspiration from Malvolio of “Twelfth Night” in making Siegfried “a pompous and pretentious figure, always looking down his nose at everyone. To him, everyone is an underling.” Stamp continues, “Pete (director Pete Segal) liked the way I approached the Zod role in the ‘Superman’ films so I aimed for that kind of laconic delivery with Siefgried.”

Terence Stamp made his motion picture debut as the title character in Peter Ustinov’s “Billy Budd,” the 1962 adaptation of Herman Melville’s classic novel, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination and international attention. Following this success, Stamp collaborated with some of the cinema’s most revered filmmakers including William Wyler (“The Collector”), Joseph Losey (“Modesty Blaise”), John Schlesinger (“Far From the Madding Crowd”), Ken Loach (“Poor Cow”), Federico Fellini (“Toby Dammit”), and Pier Paolo Pasolini (“Teorema”).

His subsequent film credits include Alan Cooke’s “The Mind of Mr. Soames”; Richard Donner’s “Superman” and Richard Lester’s “Superman II,” as Kryptonian super-villain General Zod; Peter Brook’s “Meetings with Remarkable Men”; Stephen Frears’ “The Hit”; Richard Franklin’s “Link”; Ivan Reitman’s “Legal Eagles”; Michael Cimino’s ”The Sicilian”; Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street”; and Pilar Miro’s “Prince of Shadows” which garnered him the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Stamp also starred with Guy Pierce and Hugo Weaving in the comedy “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” for director Stephan Elliott.

In 1999, Stamp’s lead role in Steven Soderbergh’s “The Limey,” which debuted to widespread critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, earned him nominations for Best Male Lead at the 2000 Independent Spirit Awards and Best British Actor at the London Critics Circle Film (ALFS) Awards, and introduced him to a whole new generation of moviegoers.

Stamp will be seen next starring opposite Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy in Timur Bekmambetov’s “Wanted,” and with Tom Cruise in “Valkyrie,” for director Bryan Singer, based on the real-life plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He recently wrapped production on the comedy “Yes Man,” opposite Jim Carrey.

Terence is a fabulous guy with a great sense of humor and we really appreciated his time. In fact, we kneel before Zod! Here’s what he had to tell us:

Q: Terence, you did a wonderful job in this. Could you talk a little bit about the fun that you had and what attracted you to the role?

TERENCE STAMP: Me? I’m always rather flattered when I get approached about doing funny stuff. I guess it’s just unusual for somebody as devastatingly good looking and possessing wisdom and sexy that I guess people think I can do comedy so I’m always very flattered. I didn’t know about Get Smart. I guess, I don’t know, I didn’t see it. So when I went in to meet the production team and Pete (Segal), it was just kind of like a chat. You know what I mean? I hadn’t really seen the script. I didn’t know anything about it. And then when it got serious, I did a bit of research into it and I just thought it was one of those characters that I could kind of do something with. You know, somebody who is rather pretentious and looks down his nose at absolutely everybody. I thought I could get fun out of that. And in truth it was just such a great troupe really. It was such a great team of people. So I did have a lot of fun doing it even though I have to make a fool of myself which I don’t like. [laughs]

Q: Can you talk about your upcoming projects and what you have coming out?

TERENCE STAMP: Tom Cruise and I were trying to blow up Hitler in Berlin for a long time and then I’ve just finished something called “Yes Man” with the wonderful Jim Carrey. And although I’m like ‘no smoking in the auditorium,’ it was like a real wonderful week to work with him. He’s on fire all the time.

Q: So Valkyrie is finished?

[Terence Stamp makes a funny expression suggesting otherwise; laughter]

Q: Are you finished?

TERENCE STAMP: I’m really finished, but the opening has been postponed. Maybe I’d better not say any more. [laughter] Do you know what a rave is? Well I’ve been invited to a Cruise party but it’s like a rave. I don’t know the address until the last minute. So I’ll probably know more by next week.

Q: Can you take a friend?

TERENCE STAMP: I don’t know. I’m not sure. I wouldn’t even like to ask. If we meet next week, I may know more about Valkyrie.

Q: Terence, all of us fan boys are really happy to hear our Zod reference today. How big of a deal is that for you still?

TERENCE STAMP: There are certain films that change your life. I hadn’t worked for about 10 years when I got the Superman offer and I was very nervous because it was apparent that they just wanted like an ugly and I had the feeling that they were going to just like me ugly and dress me ugly and give me ugly stuff to say. And I had a friend at the time, he was a Baron, a Dutch Baron, he was called Frederick von Pallandt and he was a very wise guy. He was a bit older than me. And I said, “I’m having doubts about this.” And he said, “You shouldn’t really have doubts about it because for loads of kids, Superman movies will be the first movie they ever go to see. And by the time they grow up, there’ll be more people who want to be like Zod than Superman. So you really shouldn’t worry about it. You should just be as ugly and as horrible as you can be.” And it kind of came to pass, you know.

I’m just thinking of a funny example. We didn’t have a bathroom when I was a boy, so I became a clean freak very early and if I can get into a steam bath, I do, and especially after a jet flight. So I was taken to a steam bath in New York and I walked in and I undressed. And it was just all guys, you know. And I said to somebody, “Where are the loin clothes?” They said, “Oh, they’re at the front.” So I walked to the front. Very little loin cloth, like a little towel. And I’m not…a lot of guys in the steam bath, they go there to be nude, you know. [laughter] I’m walking back towards the steam and I see in front of me three enormous guys, two of which are black, and they’re just kind of staring at me and I revert to my East End spiv mode. So I just walked straight towards them and as I got close, one of the black guys said, “Are you that Zod guy?” And I said, “Smile when you say that!” [laughter] And there were these three big grins. So whenever I see big, fierce guys staring at me, I know they recognize the General.

Q: There was a trivia night where that was a question.

TERENCE STAMP: Oh yeah?

Q: It’s always good for getting a lift when you’re stranded too, right?

TERENCE STAMP: I get lots of lifts in L.A.

Q: What about in Montreal in the middle of the night? In Canada?

TERENCE STAMP: Exactly. I was billeted in a hotel. I live in hotels so I’m very class seasoned about hotels. When I walked in, I just didn’t like it. So I left the hotel. It was about midnight. There wasn’t a sparrow on the street and the guy who’d helped me with my luggage was gone so I just had this great big suitcase. There wasn’t anything. And then suddenly a big, black SUV comes barreling down the road and sort of screeches to a halt and a guy looks out the window at me and he said, “You’re General Zod” and I said, “I am!” [laughter] He said, “What are you doing here?” I said, “I’m looking for a taxi.” “Where do you want to go?” I said, “I want to go to the Vogue Hotel.” “Get in! Get in!” He gets out. He puts my suitcase up. We drive. He says, “Can I have a photo with you?” I said, “Anything.” [laughter]