And frankly, when I started the movie, a kind of amazing thing happened because I just discovered that - it was like I knew it. And so he kind of versed me in those, so I knew the technicalities and felt confident in that. And although Michael Caine wasn't known - you know, he hadn't been just discovered he was absolutely unknown - he did know a lot about the technicalities of filming. In fact, as two young, out-of-work actors, I was sharing digs with Michael Caine. You must have had to learn a lot on camera. Terence Stamp, this was your first role in a movie, and it's the leading role in a prestigious film. GROSS: That's Terence Stamp in a scene from "Billy Budd." But he lied foully to my face, and I had - well, I had to say something. If I'd have found my tongue, I would not have struck him. STAMP: (As Billy Budd) I bore no malice against the master-at-arms. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Was there malice between you and the master-at-arms? Here you are in "Billy Budd" being interrogated by the ship's officers. He dies from a head wound when he hits the ground, and then you're court-martialed. After he sets you up to take a fall for a crime you're innocent of, you try to defend yourself verbally, but your speech impediment prevents that. And you're the epitome of decency and goodness, whereas the master-at-arms is a sadist and very villainous. You play a teenager who's impressed to serve on a British ship during war with France. So let's go back to your very first movie, "Billy Budd." This was made in 1962. I'd like to do, like, a film retrospective with you. STAMP: With bad actors, you can't tell anything. I mean - well, you're talking about good actors, right? ![]() ![]() GROSS: Do you think you could tell the difference on screen between relationships on screen that are just acting and relationships on screen where there really is some passion beyond the acting? I mean, if you're interested in your co-star, then you have a good idea of whether it's going to lead to real passion because it's so kind of intimate. But I think you have a good idea during a love scene. It's like - you'd have to be a real exhibitionist to get real passion - I mean, actual passion. STAMP: Well, it's never passion-passion because, you know - because everybody's there. TERRY GROSS: (Laughter) Is it ever embarrassing when it really is passion? I think the great Warren Beatty once said that the way to get stars in the movie is to find out who wants to shag who. It can be absolutely acting, and it can be absolute passion. TERENCE STAMP: Well, it can be either, you know. Terry asked Terence Stamp if love scenes often are arousing or if they're just work. Stamp is the leading man the husband is worried about. He's afraid that she will fall for one of her handsome leading men. Terry talked with him in 2002, when he was starring in the French film "My Wife Is An Actress." The film is about a young sportswriter who is married to an attractive actress. He also was in the films "Wall Street," "The Hit," "Star Wars: Episode I," "Red Planet," "Bowfinger" and several others. After his return to the screen, Stamp made the "Superman" movies, playing the villainous General Zod. And in "Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert," he played a transsexual on the road with her lip sync club act. ![]() In "The Limey," he was an ex-con out for revenge. He made a great comeback in the '90s, playing two very different kinds of characters. He first made it to the screen in 1962 in the starring role of "Billy Budd." Later in the '60s, he starred in the movies "Far From The Madding Crowd" and "The Collector." His talent, along with good looks and eye for fashion, made him one of the icons of London in the 1960s.īut at the end of the decade, he dropped out of acting for a while. Stamp plays the Silver Haired Gentleman who was a patron of the Toucan Bar. I'm David Bianculli, professor of television studies at Rowan University in New Jersey, sitting in for Terry Gross.īritish actor Terence Stamp, who became an icon in London in the 1960s, is now in the film "Last Night In Soho," a ghost story that takes place in part in 1960s swinging London.
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