He's a very busy actor and most of the time he plays the baddie,
above all Boromir in the Lord of the Rings, Alec Trevelyan in
007
Goldeneye. With North Country things seem to have changed, he's
not
playing a baddie anymore, but instead a very positive character
at
the centre of a story in which men are certainly not shining.
Born in Sheffield in the UK, Bean is also among the protagonists
of
Silent Hill, based on the famous videogame and directed by
Christophe Gans (Le pacte des loups).
After Flightplan you've finally become good on screen: in
this
movie, despite a certain ambiguity, you bring to life a positive
character...
He's a man who has evolved compared to his co-workers. His
sensitive and compassionate nature enabled him not to give in
to the
collective blackmailing of the whole community, and instead listen
to his own conscience.
I think that North Country is an excellent chance for me to break
with what I've done before and show another side of my acting.
And
it was very interesting to explore a true story in which the
women
become the victims of a series of harrassment and shame perpetrated
by their male colleagues.
You have worked in the steel factory of your father before
becoming an actor. Did this movie bring you back to that time?
In a certain way yes. Sheffield was a city that heavily relied
on
the steel business. My father was a supplier and so - after school
in the early 70s - I stopped by at his office to visit and work
a
bit to learn the job. It was a male environment: there weren't
any
women, and when a woman walked by there was a lot of whistling
and
calling, as if they'd never seen one before...but it was innocent.
When I went to Minnesota for the movie I recognised many traces
of
behaviours I had experienced in my youth.
The difference is that - now - there are also women
Exactly. Something that thirty years ago would have been unthinkable
in Great Britain. Obviously not because it was wrong, but simply
because no one could have foreseen that women would have been
able
to do those jobs considered strictly for men, sometimes even
better
than them.
North Country is then also very intersting from a socio-historical
point of view
In a certain way, although very dramatic, it's the story of a
cultural innovation. And it's known that people are afraid of
transformation and change. And on top, this was happening in
a
very cold industrial region. But despite the fact that some of
these
people have commited grievous wrongs, I have a lot of respect
on the
human level for the people who live in those lands. They know
what
survival is - and most important - they have a great sense of
humour. There's a great warmth there, similar to the one in my
hometown.
What do you think of the discrimination?
What worried me most was the cynicism of those who pretended
to be
protecting the women, when behind their backs they would encourage
the harrassment and the hostile atmosphere. These are shameful
behaviours, but it would be wrong to assume that they're limited
to
certain kinds of jobs. This kind of situation is not uncommon
in our
world. These are things that happen in Hollywood as well, but
they
are more sneaky and willingly hidden.
How much courage is needed to "break" the silence
and stand up?
A lot. And it really depends on how much motivation one has.
Of
course life is much simpler if you keep your mouth shut, but
the
strength of the movie is exactly this. The most dramatic scene
of
the movie is the one when the women testify not in favour of
their
colleague, but against her. This gives a sense of a much deeper
and
intense drama than what first meets the eye, in which the victim
-
out of fear and desperation - becomes the tormentor...it's the
dramatic representation of the banality of evil.