Tom Sturridge Fan

The German website, Film Reporter, caught up with Tom and Talulah Riley during their European press tour for The Boat That Rocked/Pirate Radio/Radio Rock Revolution/Whatever-they-marketed-it-as-in-your-country. The interview is pretty lengthy and I translated it myself from the original German. So for all of you German readers: I apologize in advance for butchering the translation.

**This was translated from the original German completely and originally by the site. If you use this translation and post elsewhere (like locked Livejournal communities) please do the professional thing and credit as well as link back. Thank you**

Here is a bit of the interview:

Ricore: When was the last time you saw Robert Pattinson?

Sturridge: He’s my best friend. We see each other often. I’m proud of his success with Twilight.

Ricore: Would you be interested, in the future, to work with him? It’s planned for you two.

Sturridge: I spend so much time with Rob already, I can’t work with him, too [laughs].

And after being asked about the free love of the 60′s:

Sturridge: My definition of ‘free love’ isn’t that you sleep with a dozen people every night. It’s that, for example, I can meet a girl here in Germany, fall in love with her, and I’m allowed to marry her. Before, my parents would’ve eventually said, “No, you have to marry a nice, English girl!” It’s not about mass-orgies.

Read the rest after the jump!

At 23 years old, Tom Sturridge and Talulah Riley are fledglings in Richard Curtis’ Music-Comedy “Radio Rock Revolution” [Pirate Radio/The Boat that Rocked] next to established actors like Philip Seymour-Hoffman, Nick Frost, and Bill Nighy. In the interview on the occasion of the Germany premiere in Berlin both appeared to be on opposing teams: Tom is the wild child, while the rather dignified Riley drinks no alcohol, is engaged and wants to marry soon.
Ricore: How do you like Berlin?

Talulah Riley: Fantastic. I am still a little tired, because we went to bed around three in the morning.

Tom Sturridge: Wow, you were really honest about that.

Ricore: How did you like the music in “Radio Rock Revolution”?

Riley: I really liked it, Tom likewise. We discussed it a lot. It’s so diverse. There are so many influences coming together. What do you think, Tom?

Sturridge: This music is the definitive music of our time. One can rarely hear a band of the present without making references to the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. That is damn great because young people in the 1960′s hardly listened to the music that was made 40 years earlier. People didn’t dance to music of the 1920’s. If you go to a club today, the chances are good that you’ll hear “Gimme Shelter” or “Come on” by the Stones, or, not as often, a song of Van Morrison’s.

Ricore: In your generation is there an equivalent to pirate radio? A rebellious movement?

Sturridge: I think the MySpace-concept. Naturally, it’s also rebellious in some ways: there, young people from young people can exchange their opinions of music quickly and over large distances. In London and also elsewhere where young musicians became enormously successful without the aid of the music industry. They reached that in that they made advertisements of themselves at other young people over the Internet. They built up a fan base first and then the music industry paid attention to them.

Ricore: Where do you see disadvantages in the new services like Facebook or MySpace?

Sturridge: I think they’re great. When you look at “Radio Rock Revolution,” where 25 million people listened to one and the same radio program, where one man played one song. People were united and the next morning at school or at work everybody talked about the same thing. Through that came a change from the past- if everyone is united. Today everything is split up by different media. If you ask young people in school today, you’d probably get even more different answers, which is also great, in its own way. What do you think about it, Talulah?

Riley: The ban on pirate radio was interesting. Today you’re allowed and you can hear or see everything. So you can’t rebel as much. Also music as a product was so new and awesome then. Like Tom already said, today Rock and Pop is everywhere.

Ricore: How did you rebel against your parents?

Sturridge: With hard drugs.

Riley: He’s only kidding!

Ricore: What experiences have you had with drugs?

Sturridge: The family background which I come from is very liberal and rather left focused. So it’s damn hard to rebel against my parents. Being nice is kind of rebellious [laughs].

Ricore: Why did Director Richard Curtis pick you?

Riley: [answering for Tom] Because he is wonderful! Look at him, he’s great. I’m sorry. I’ll let you answer that yourself.

Sturridge: Why did he pick you?

Ricore: The question is for both of you.

Sturridge: I don’t know. The difference between us and the other actors from “Radio Rock Revolution” is that they’re already well-known and established. Richard Curtis sought them out and then phoned them. With the two of us it was the reverse. We had to persuade him. I had so many auditions. Maybe he picked me because he had already met me so many times and felt like now he had to take me.

Ricore: The film talks place in the wild sixties, where free love was practiced. What do you think of this concept?

Sturridge: Uh, well Talulah is getting married soon.

Riley: Yeah, I’m engaged and will be married soon. I have never tried ‘free love.’ But I think Tom can tell you more about that [grins].

Sturridge: I’m not really sure what you mean by the concept of ‘free love.’ You could call what exists today ‘free love.’ You can be with anyone one you want and say to that person “I love you” and hope that they reciprocate. Aside from that, I don’t know what you mean by ‘free love.’

Ricore: I mean that Woodstock/Hippie thing.

Sturridge: I’m familiar with the image of free love that you mean. In principle free love is the fact that someone can love whomever they want, right?

Ricore: Isn’t it more about sex?

Sturridge: A person can have sex with whomever they want, as long as the other one agrees to it. In the 1960’s and in my parents’ time, the more conservative 50’s, that was impossible. You weren’t allowed to have sex with the person you loved, because they were from another social class, family, or race. That’s the advantage of living in the 21st century. We can love and sleep with anyone we want.

Ricore: Isn’t that also sad, because relationships aren’t worth as much as they used to be?

Riley: No. For example, I’m engaged. Every person can do what he wants.

Sturridge: My definition of ‘free love’ isn’t that you sleep with a dozen people every night. It’s that, for example, I can meet a girl here in Germany, fall in love with her, and I’m allowed to marry her. Before, my parents would’ve eventually said, “No, you have to marry a nice, English girl!” It’s not about mass-orgies.

Ricore: What did you learn from the established actors in “Radio Rock Revolution”?

Sturridge: I learned that it’s a myth when people say: It’s disappointing to meet your hero. These are outstanding people. The great thing in particular about Bill Nighy, but also Richard Curtis and Philip Seymour Hoffman is that they are really upstanding people. I mean in the sense of moral integrity. I learned less about how to act in front of the camera, but much more about how a person should behave as a human being. I seldom use the word, but I’d call it dignity.

Ricore: What do you think of that?

Riley: Tom summed it up well. Richard Curtis chose enormously talented people. Who are not only good actors, but also good people. That is important for teamwork. We laughed and played jokes both in front of the camera and behind it.

Ricore: Have you gotten to know any new music through the film?

Riley: I liked the music of the 60’s beforehand. It’s a little bit like with Christmas songs. Even though you only hear it once a year, you know all the lyrics by heart. I knew all the songs although I hadn’t always known who sang what. That was what was impressive about Richard Curtis; he knew every single song and everything about every band. He said then: that’s the so-and-so and they released the song in 1963. That was very interesting.

Ricore: What is your favorite music?

Sturridge: Van Morrison. I have an obsession with him.

Ricore: Also his older stuff?

Sturridge: More so, although I also like one from his new compilation. “Astral Weeks” and “Veedon Fleece” are my favorite albums to listen to, which are also his oldest.

Ricore: After the music of the 1960’s, I’d like to know your opinion on the colorful clothes that you had to wear in the film.

Riley: I thought they were awesome, although I wouldn’t want to wear them every day. The people would give me strange looks. I had this great coat with big arms that was very short and pretty.

Ricore: After this whole press thing do you have free time in Berlin?

Riley: We have one hour.

Sturridge: Yesterday we all went on a boat tour together. I liked Berlin’s modern architecture.

Ricore: Which of Berlin’s Clubs did you go to yesterday?

Sturridge: The premiere party took place in Titty Twister. We were in the VIP-section, which I thought was kind of stupid.

Ricore: Why?

Sturridge: How can someone party when they’re separated from
the crowd? We eventually overcame it. We didn’t want to feel different from the others.

Ricore: You wouldn’t want to be a famous actor?

Sturridge: No!

Ricore: How hard is it as a young person, to become an actor? How do you set yourselves apart from the others?

Riley: You shouldn’t compare yourself to others. That’s very dangerous. You should just go to lots of auditions. Naturally there’s competition, but that’s okay, right Tom?

Sturridge: Yeah. It comes down to what you want from life. What concern is money, I must say, when right now I don’t have any kids and only need enough money for rent, food, and beer. I don’t have to earn money and can wait until I’m offered the right opportunities.

Ricore: From this position, would you also not take rolls in cheap action films or animated films?

Sturridge: Have you heard of “Watership Down”? That is an animated film and it belongs with the most beautiful films that I know. With a film like that, I’d be very lucky. As far as action films are concerned, I don’t believe that I’d be appropriate for that. Who wants to see a skinny [untranslatable: perhaps guy?] like me in an action film? That would be implausible. I want to make projects that are a good match for me.

Ricore: When was the last time you saw Robert Pattinson?

Sturridge: He’s my best friend. We see each other often. I’m proud of his success with Twilight.

Ricore: Would you be interested, in the future, to work with him? It’s planned for you two.

Sturridge: I spend so much time with Rob already, I can’t work with him too [laughs].

Riley: [dismisses what Tom says] Ah, working together [with Rob] is really fine with him.

Ricore: I want to jump from Twilight to Radio Rock Revolution once more. How was it to shoot on a boat?

Riley: Fantastic. What’s better than shipping off to see in the sunshine? Besides that, the entire time the 60’s music ran and a range of the nicest people that anyone could meet were on board.

Ricore: Was it like the best time of your life so far?

Riley: In some ways, yes. Eventually the good behavior didn’t last all day. I treasure it also, to be able to take a boat trip in Berlin or to ride a bike through Amsterdam, like we’ve done on this short press tour.

Sturridge: [mocking her] I almost had to cry over our good fortune.

Riley: But that’s how it was!

Ricore: The girls in the film only come aboard on occasion, for the pleasure of the men. How was that for you?

Sturrige: Did I have a problem from a feminist point of view? Not really. I think it’s about fun. Eventually it was also so that the men would always show the women the best sites, when they arrived. Naturally, I had a problem as my character, as far as going to bed with just everyone. I didn’t treat the character of Carl like that. But in the end, it was about the sixties.

Ricore: You had a very entertaining sex-scene with Nick Frost. How much alcohol did you drink beforehand?

Riley: I don’t drink alcohol, so I played it sober! Tom on the other hand… [laughs].

Sturridge: What?

Riley: It was very amusing and there are many outtakes of that scene.

Sturridge: Did I really just hear you had sex with Nick Frost?

Riley: No, I had a sex-scene with Nick Frost.

Sturridge: But we already filmed that!

Riley: Then it’s already in the outtakes [laughs]. In the beginning every time we were in bed together we were fully clothed.

Sturridge: They definitely cut that out.

Riley: No, it’s in the movie.

Ricore: You really don’t drink?

Riley: No.

Sturridge: She’s very odd.

Ricore: How important was radio in your childhood?

Sturridge: I was born in the 1980’s. At that time there were lots of different radio stations. Beginning in the 1990’s, I became
aware of radio and listened to it. John Peel was alive back then. That was my closest tie to what happened on the boat. One of my earliest memories in that sense was how important the charts were. Today I listen to other things on the radio. Today I listen to less music and more discussion. With the iPod, everything changed.

Ricore: What was your first record?

Sturridge: [Laughs] My first record was “Gangstas Paradise” by Coolio. I thought I was a little gangsta rapper back them. I don’t remember anymore, why I really bought it.

Ricore: There are worse records.

Sturridge: I never want to hear that song again.

Ricore: And what about you?

Riley: I really don’t know anymore.

Sturridge: Come up with something!

Riley: It would be a lie.

Ricore: “Take That”?

Riley: That was definitely not it.

Ricore: How dangerous is it, as a young actor, to be exploited?

Sturridge: It’s no more dangerous than in any other occupation. I think it’s dangerous that you ask questions where someone then believes that it’s more than just an opinion.

Riley: You’re only speaking for yourself.

Sturridge: I don’t want for someone to think that what I say is important and right. I have neither the background nor the education for that. I think it’s dangerous we people move from their position and think what I say is interesting.

Ricore: You don’t see yourself as an example?

Sturridge: No, I need an example, myself. I have to find my position in life first.

Ricore: Is it true that you always carry a little black book around with you?

Sturridge: Yeah yeah.

Ricore: Is it a day planner?

Sturridge: No. I write little thoughts and things in it. I can’t fit it all in my head. The only reason why I hope that I don’t die soon is the following: I don’t want for someone to find my book and think about what an uninteresting person I really was. Someday I’ll burn this book.

Ricore: Thank you very much for the interview.

Source

Tags: Interview, Pirate Radio, The Boat That Rocked, Tom Sturridge

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