Theatre VG
Jonathan Rhys Meyers | Brian Slade
"It's funny how beautiful people look when they're walking out the door."
Rhys Meyers plays Brian Slade, high-stepping, young hotblood of the glittering London rock scene.
Rhys Meyers' other credits include Michael Radford's forthcoming B.Monkey(released in US in September), Stephen Poliakoff's The Tribe and Tim Hunter's The Maker(released the same date as Velvet Goldmine in UK). He also featured in Neil Jordan's Michael Collins, Sue Clayton's The Disappearance of Finbar(released the same date as Velvet Goldmine in UK) and Suri Krishnama's A Man of No Importance. More recently, he starred alongside Minnie Driver in The Governess, directed by Sandra Goldbacher, and in Spring 1998 began on shooting Ang Lee's To Live On(which is called Ride With The Devil now, I believe).
Christine Vachon explains the casting of Jonathan Rhys Meyers:"Our casting director[Susie Figgis] introduced us to Jonathan and he just had this incredible look, sensual as well as cold and it turned out that he was a good actor as well, so he was just perfect."
"[about letting Jonathan sing in the movie]With Jonathan, who had to sing numerous songs in a much more controlled, theatrical stle with a great deal of flourish and technical ability, I didn't plan on having him sing. I cast him for all the other reasons, but he said, 'I can sing, and I'd really love to make a demo.' And not knowing what he sounded like, I had to be very guarded about that decision. I was also worried about too many voices singing too many Brian Slade songs, that would be something that is difficult to pull off iwthout distracting the audience. In the end people accept the many voices pretty readilyl; all you have to do is listen to someone like David Bowie over a span of four years and you hear the change in voice and style according to what's required by different songs. So Johnny made a demo over Christmas '96, at a studio in Cork, Ireland - that included him and his brothers singing three Bowie songs and one Velvet Underground song, and it was amazing. We were all blown away by it. He has a beautiful voice and an incredible command of the songs, so that ultimately he wasn't just singing the songs, he was performing them with his character's image. He sings 'Sebastian', 'Tumbling Down', 'Baby's on Fire' and 'The Ballad of Maxwell Demon' - all so beautifully."
"Jonathan understood the role of Brian intuitively. He tried very hard to do something of his own and not simply to play a famous person. He is really just incredible. Being 19 is a full-time job as it is, and here he is, playing this role that demands so many different aspects: vulnerability as an actor, transforming completely from era to era in Brian's life, performance skill and singing ability," say Haynes.
"Fact Sheet": Brian Slade
Date of Birth: 2 January 1949(in the movie, it's 1948!!)
Name: Thomas Brian (Patrick - in the movie, I think) Stoningham Slade
Place of Birth: Birmingham, Great Britain
Grew Up: Suburb Birmingham
Mod or rocker: Six of one, half dozen of the other.
Name Change: 16 March 1971[Brian Slade]
23 October 1979 [WITHHELD in the movie(Would this be Tommy Stone?)] Thanks Curly for the pic!
Brian in full Maxwell makeup
Wife: Mandy Slade(Met in Sombrero Club, New Year 1969, got married in the same year, divorced in 1975)
Father: (his name is not mentioned in the movie) Owned a small tiling business in suburban Birmingham.
Aunt: (name not mentioned in the movie) A figure of some ill repute in the Slade family, married a cockney in the
'entertainment field' and followed him off to Deptford.
Uncle: (name not mentioned in the movie) Fat, with mustache
Manager: Cecil - discovered him in Sombrero Club in 1971("three years later" to 1965!!)
Jerry Devine - "won" over him in 1972 at Conference Arena, Record Studio
Band: The Venus in Furs
AKA: Maxwell Demon - space-age superstar, rock and roll messiah.
Rhys Meyers says: "I read the script and it stayed with me, it's a very exceptional movie. Brian is a lover. If love is a size 8 shoe, he's a size 9. He wanted anything but where he came from. It was all about newness and doing things loudly. It's been a little taste of being a rock star. Every night I was really tired, but I woudl have a smile on my face knowing I was coming back to work the next day."
Some of the material above is taken from the booklet inside the UK DVD and the screenplay. Thanks Carrie and Curly for the pictures.
The Cast
Back to Theatre VG
Back to VG Office