Ian McShane’s latest role is a far cry from his turn as “Deadwood’s dastardly villain, Al Swearengen.
The cast of '44 Inch Chest'
In “44 Inch Chest,” the actor plays Meredith, a rough and tumble type who rushes to the aide of a devastated friend (Ray Winstone) who just found out his wife is sleeping with another man.
It makes no difference that McShane’s character likes the gents, not the ladies.
“[Meredith] is a gay man presented as what he is, self reliant, self assured,” McShane explains. He’s also the most confident, snug in his own skin character in the lot, a group which includes a fiery gangster played by John Hurt and the equally vicious Mal (Stephen Dillane).
McShane says he approached the role as he would any other character from his lengthy career.
“It’s another extension of your own personality combined with a fictional one,” he says. “Every actor has to love and loathe the character he plays.”
McShane can’t wait to see the DVD version of his newest film.
The seven-week shoot included four epilogues for the key characters in the movie, material he promises is both outrageous and fatal for one of the main characters.
“Chest,” now playing in Washington, D.C. and select cities (and expanding to more on Feb. 5), is one of several new projects for McShane.
Last year he lent his gravelly pipes to “Coraline,” and he recently wrapped the miniseries“Pillars of the Earth,” an adaptation of Ken Follett’s historical novel concerning the construction of a massive cathedral.
But to American audiences he’ll forever be linked to HBO’s “Deadwood,” the foul-mouthed, critically hailed western.
McShane broke bread recently with the show’s creator, David Milch. Nothing got hammered out, but the actor made it clear the pair will be working together on a future project, in part because he wished “Deadwood“ had gone on a bit longer than its three-season run.
“I loved every second of it,” he says.
Christian Toto is a veteran journalist and film critic whose work appears in The Denver Post, The Washington Times and PajamasMedia.com. His movie reviews are heard on WTOP radio and "The Dennis Miller Show," and he blogs on film at What Would Toto Watch?
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