Recently, Mr. McDowell has finished filming half of his part in Mirror Wars set in Moscow, with some Crimea-based scenes left. At a press-conference, held August 17, 2004 in Moscow, Mr. McDowell spoke at length on the new film, as well as some of his past roles and his life in the movies in general.

On Mirror Wars

If it looks a bit like a James Bond film, great. We don't have all the explosions of a James Bond film but I think it's a very good script, it's not simplistic story, not your usual Hollywood. What interested me is that it's more character-driven, and also - I don't know how Oleg (the producer) has pulled this off but we have some secret aircraft that we use and as I understand is that Americans would like to get hold of this plane, and in real life - I'm not talking about the movies - but it's an amazing prototype that we saw and it made me smile because a few years ago I would not be sitting on a top secret airfield with a laser rocket fighter jet a few inches away from me - and if I had been, then, of course, I'd probably be in some jail cell somewhere at the invitation of the KGB.
    Well, it's not surprising that I'm playing the bad guy. One does get, to a certain extent, typecast, and you have to ask Oleg why he has offered me this part and not the good guy part. The good guy, anyway, is a young Russian pilot and I don't think I'd be able to pull that one off.
    Now, as far as this film goes, Mirror Wars, I think it has an excellent chance of crossing over. It's being shot in English, because, you know, that's the standard that you have to adhere to, you have to shoot in English: the Americans don't like to see dubbed films or films with subtitles, they're not used to it so, of course, they won't see it. At least that's what they always said until The Passion of the Christ, the Mel Gibson film, where they don't speak any English at all but it made $500 million. So go figure that one.
    But what's great with shooting in Russia from a producer's point of view is that your dollar certainly goes a lo-o-ong way, compared to Hollywood. If you tried to make anything like it in Hollywood it would cost you $80 million just to get the hardware alone, it would be millions and millions of dollars, you couldn't shoot a movie like this in America, it's like doing Top Gun. So I think it's very smart to be able to come here and do a film like this here - because it's a hell of a movie. And I guess the Russian cinema benefits as well, with all the technicians getting work, and hopefully the film will cross over and be an international film and they'll be able to sell it all over the world.

On Working with Russians

Shooting a film is pretty much the same whether you're in Hollywood or Moscow, it's the same feeling: somebody says "Roll! Action!" and you do your stuff, it's the same. It's very similar.
    Even though I've been to Moscow before, in 1990, to film a movie, things have changed dramatically since then, and this is now a different country and a different city. When I was last in Russia, I think it was only one or two films a year made at Mosfilm, and at this time it's absolutely full. So I think the Russian film business seems to be in good health, and I'm very pleased to hear about it.
    I love coming here. The first time I was here, I loved it just as much, perhaps for the different reasons, but I've said it then and I'll say it again: I find that the Russian people are very similar to Americans in that they're very generous, warm-hearted people, in general, and they always make me feel very welcome here - and you really can't ask for any more than that. And let me talk about the Shakhnazarov film I did here, The Assassin of the Tsar, as it was called in English. I think it's one of the best films that I've made in my career. It's certainly in the top ten. And I've done over a hundred, so that's saying something. It was such a great privilege to do that film, I regret it very harsh that it was never really released in America.

On Being Typecast as the Bad Guy

Well, either I accept the work or I stay at home and retire. And that is not on my agenda. I am a working actor. As for bad parts...What's a bad part? Is Alex in A Clockwork Orange a bad part? No! It's an incredible part for an actor to play. Or Caligula? It's a wonderful part! So because they're not, perhaps, pure as a driven snow, doesn't make them bad roles. If you start your career early on and you're in a fantastic film like A Clockwork Orange, then of course you're always asked to play the same bloody part every time you're doing a new film, and most of the parts I've played are of bad guys. However, occasionally someone comes down and offers me something different to play and obviously you've never seen any of those films or they didn't leave an impression on you.
    I am a very sane person. The characters I play don't haunt me or change me. But playing them is enormous fun. And I always try to bring depth into my characters, make them more vulnerable and less one-dimensional. It's an amazing job that I have - getting paid for doing something that is so much fun!

On Traveling Into Space

No, never! And I can imagine nothing worse than being a fighter pilot. All that G-force...I remember when we were filming Blue Thunder with Roy Scheider, there was a scene where my helicopter had to fly really low over the city. After the scene was completed, I went into a bathroom and threw up violently. But when I watched that same scene on tape, I looked like this cool, smooth helicopter pilot. Amazing.

On His Rumored Conflict with Director Tinto Brass

There was no conflict as such. What happened was that the film (Caligula) was produced by Bob Guccione, a pornographer. Bob Guccione was the publisher of Penthouse magazine. So when I spoke to my friend Gore Vidal about this, he said: "Try to think of him as Warner Brothers." But two years after the movie was shot he inserted some real pornographic scenes into it, so badly made they didn't match with the rest of the film, lights and all, it was such a crude job. It was done out of purely commercial interests - to make stars appear in hard porn.

Looking Back

I grew up in England; I grew up really in Liverpool - that is known for a certain foursome. And of course as a young man, when I was seventeen or eighteen, I remember going to The Cavern club and seeing this group called The Silver Beetles, and I was amazed because I never heard anyone use profanity on the stage before, and John Lennon was really using profanities.
    I thought that early on I knew that I wanted to become an actor but I kept this information to myself. Because in Northern England you didn't broadcast that you wanted to be an actor, or they thought you were a little strange. And I leave that to Her Majesty.
    The chance to play Alex in A Clockwork Orange was an amazing piece of luck and great opportunity for me. To work with such a great director as Stanley Kubrick on one of the major films of that period...I can only say: Thank you! And the truth is, if I really wanted to play other kind of parts, I would go back to the theatre - but I'm living in California, I have a ranch, I have dogs, I have children, and I have no time. So that's why I'm doing what I'm doing.
    In an ideal world I would like to return to the stage. I think that any actor would prefer to work in the theatre. But with all my commitments I cannot afford at least a year off. But that is the price for living in paradise.

Archived w/o permission 2005-08 by Alex D. Thrawn for www.MalcolmMcDowell.net