Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • Services
    • Aircheck for Actors
    • Demo Reels
    • Audition Prep/Self-Tape Reader
    • Mailing Labels
    • Contribute
    • Industry Links
    • Advertise
    Daily Actor
    • Acting Tips
      • Actors on Acting
      • Advice Columns
      • Acting Quotes
      • Audition Tapes
      • How To Become An Actor
      • How to Memorize Lines
    • Monologues
      • Monologues from Plays
      • Monologues from Movies
      • Monologues from Musicals
      • Comedic Monologues
      • Dramatic Monologues
      • One Minute Monologues
      • Monologues for Women
      • Monologues for Men
      • Monologues for Teens
      • Monologues for Kids
      • All Monologues
    • Acting Resources
      • Acting Resume
        • Acting Resume Template
      • Acting Classes
        • Los Angeles Acting Classes
        • Las Vegas Acting Classes
        • San Diego Acting Classes
      • Acting Schools and Colleges
        • Los Angeles
        • New York
        • BFA Acting Schools
      • Casting Websites
      • Headshot Photographers
        • Los Angeles
        • New York City
        • Headshot Printing
      • Acting Techniques
        • What is Method Acting?
      • Stage Directions
      • Demo Reels: Everything You Need to Know
    • Interviews
      Featured
      Casting Director Interview - Brett Benner and Debby Romano

      Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk ‘Shrinking’, Finding Actors and More

      Recent
      Casting Director Interview - Brett Benner and Debby Romano

      Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk ‘Shrinking’, Finding Actors and More

      March 6, 2023
      Jeremy Davis Olaf in Frozen Interview

      Interview: Jeremy Davis on Playing Olaf in ‘Frozen’, Costume Mishaps and Making the Role His Own

      January 19, 2023
      Casting Director Kim Coleman Interview

      Interview: Casting Director Kim Coleman on ‘Five Days at Memorial’, Self-Tape Tips and Portraying Real People

      January 11, 2023
    • Actor Blogs
    • Reviews
      • Movies
      • Theater
      • Books
      • Products
    • Actor Services
      • Airchecks
      • Demo Reels
      • Website Design
      • Mailing Labels
    Daily Actor
    Home » Actors on Acting » Eddie Izzard on Creating a Character: “I should be able to come off script and improvise”
    Actors on Acting

    Eddie Izzard on Creating a Character: “I should be able to come off script and improvise”

    Rebecca FullerBy Rebecca FullerOctober 19, 2017Updated:September 16, 2018No Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Actor Eddie Izzard

    “The better you researched it – the better you are into the character before you land on the set, the easier it’s going to be. ” – Eddie Izzard on Preparing for a Role

    Eddie Izzard has enjoyed a long and varied career. Starting out in the U.K., he first made a name for himself as a stand-up comic before branching out into acting roles. Now, he’s enjoying success on both sides of the Atlantic, with roles in a wide range of movies and gradually, he’s making the move into more dramatic roles. That’s not to say the comedy has gone completely, of course. Also, in the U.K., Izzard is known for his sterling charity work, including running 27 marathons in 27 days, as well as his politics. Could we one day see Izzard taking up a seat in the Houses of Parliament? Well, never say never, but right now we can see him on screen playing an historical Royal figure; Prince Albert, eldest son of Queen Victoria.

    Victoria and Abdul sees Dame Judi Dench returning to the role of the monarch that she played in Mrs. Brown. Izzard plays the Prince, who was always known as Bertie, a role that gives him the opportunity to star alongside his close friend, Dench. Speaking with Den of Geek, Izzard says he has no trouble switching into character even though he’s working with friends, and in fact, he thinks that an actor should be confident enough in the role to slide into character whenever, wherever:

    “Well, if I’m getting it right, I feel that I should be able to come off script and improvise, even though that’s not actually going to happen. I feel at least I’m moving around, I go and eat, and have lunch and you say [falling into Bertie] ‘yes, I want one of these’, and you just walk round and you talk to people in a way where you stay in the character.

    “It helps you to be able to… when I was doing The Riches, I’d stay in the American accent the entire time, and in fact I got a ticket for jaywalking, and I realized it was my passing out ceremony, because I went up to the guy and I said [in an American accent] ‘was that jaywalking, I didn’t realize’. So I was talking to the policeman, and he says, ‘you got any ID’, and I was giving him my California license, and then I thought, ‘actually, I’m British’, I should just go, [in a very plummy accent] “I’m so sorry this happened, this will be a lot of paperwork, I suppose, because I’m British”.

    “I should have done that, and brought out the other license, and I blew it because I was too American.”

    As for preparation, while Izzard clearly does prep thoroughly, it’s also a process that he doesn’t seem to think about too much; it’s more something that he just gets on with:

    “I’ve never measured it, say, this role is that, you just do what you feel you need to to get in. Also, sometimes coming into a role there might be a different length of time to prepare, but the more you can – I have noticed a reluctance in earlier years to know exactly where to start with research. Maybe it’s a laziness or lack of confidence about which way to go into it.”

    “The obvious thing that came into my head, or that I realized, was the better you researched it – the better you are into the character before you land on the set, the easier it’s going to be. You’re just going to be fully formed, I mean, obviously Daniel Day-Lewis does this to a huge extent, and that’s what I want to do, that’s the direction I want to head to, so that when I’m there, getting to the set, I know where I am, rather than a week into it, getting the hang of it.

    You get scared at the beginning of film acting, because ‘lock it up, OK, camera’s rolling’, huge camera next to your face, people measuring things, doing things, turning things, the focus puller. And I can’t even see it now.”

    Related

    Previous Article21 Ways to Find Acting Work Without an Agent
    Next Article Billy Eichner on His Unsuccessful Past as a Child Actor: “I was too tall. I was too this. I was too that”

    Related Posts

    Jeremy Strong in Armageddon Time

    Jeremy Strong: “There’s infinite ways really to play any part. So you have to discover what feels necessary”

    March 14, 2023
    Christina Ricci

    How Christina Ricci Chooses Her Characters and Why She Loves ‘Yellowjackets’

    March 9, 2023
    Casting Director Interview - Brett Benner and Debby Romano

    Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk ‘Shrinking’, Finding Actors and More

    March 6, 2023
    Add A Comment

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Daily Actor Facebook Daily Actor Twitter Daily Actor Instagram Daily Actor Pinterest Daily Actor YouTube Page
    Popular Pages
    Become An Actor | Acting Tips | Acting Quotes
    Acting Resume | Resume Template
    Headshot Photographers
    Los Angeles | New York
    Print Your Headshots
    Acting Schools & Colleges
    Los Angeles | New York
    Monologues
    Movies | Plays | Comedic | Dramatic
    Men | Women | Teens | Kids
    • Contact
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Resource Listings
    • Write A Column
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy

    Disclaimer: Daily Actor at times uses affiliate links to sites like Amazon.com, streaming services, and others. Affiliate links provides compensation to Daily Actor which helps us remain online, giving you the resources and information actors like you are looking for.

    © 2023 Daily Actor

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.