Acting:
“At times I do have a rather short fuse, and I find a movie quite a pressured situation. There are so many different perspectives going into it, and sometimes you also have to fight your corner.” Showtime, December 2001
"I've never encountered anything so fulfilling and frustrating and ephemeral. However, before I sound too pompous, let me add it's also a lot of fun." Cincinnati Enquirer, 1999
"Particularly in movies, it's tempting to read a script and say, 'I see exactly how I want to do it. But you can never plan how things are going to be when you arrive on the set. The lighting will never be the way you imagined it, there won't be a chair or a doorway where you hoped there would be. So you have to prepare in other ways that allow you to be able to do anything that's required." Christian Science Monitor, 1999
"I suppose...I'm a good reactor, rather than a good actor. I suppose that's why it works." Examiner, 1996
"It might be safe for one to sit back and endlessly replicate the performance that one's given in the past. But I just want to try a variety of roles and continue to grow and change and hopefully improve as an actor. That's the bottom line." Entertainment News Service, 1997
"I dream of being in the subdivision of acting where people think anything is possible for you." Unknown Source
"I want to be part of stories that relate to the common human experience." Unknown Source
"I’m technical and academic rather than emotional. I’m an interpreter rather than a creative person. I’m quite rigid and precise, not laid back and spur of the moment." Unknown Source
"I like to think, maybe kid myself, that in each one I've played a different character and maybe done it in a different way. One is fighting a sort of genre typecasting. It is tricky and I've tried to do plenty of other things too, but you can go round like a mouse on a wheel if you're not careful." Unknown Source
"I like the business of being an actor less and less. The amount of time one actually spends acting – as compared to all the other things that need to be done – becomes a smaller and smaller fraction." Journal News, 1999
"I am drawn, I have to admit, to the abstract and the complicated. I like density of character - not just a reduction of motives to one simple thing." W Magazine, 1999
"I'm usually happiest when I'm working. I love acting." British Elle, 1999
"I'd like to think that I'll be one of those actors who will be working into my sixties and seventies, someone who doesn't just get a good five or ten years. I'd like to have a career that spans decades." Movieline, 1997
American actors seem very easy with the camera,and they know what works for them, and they know how to use it. I don't know any of those things. I can't bear to go to the dailies. I can't stand watching myself when I know I can't change anything because it's already on film. But maybe that's something you learn with time." Movieline, 1999
“I’ve never felt like a member of a club. You still feel like you’re a hire-and-fire artist—you luck out or you don’t. And it doesn’t feel smooth. It never feels smooth.” 1997 Article
Co-Workers:
"Technically [Gwyneth Paltrow] is brilliant, but she was also a lot of fun to play with. There were wonderful subtleties -- sidelong glances, physical interactions -- that made working with her exciting." Examiner, 1996
"[Sandra Bullock] is as nice as she seems. Just around the set, she had time for everyone. Always time for a smile or a chat with an extra or a grip." Vicki Lawrence Interview
"I think I’ve been very intimidated by them at times [his female co-stars]. I made my first film at 32, so it’s strange working with people when your only knowledge of them is what you’ve seen on screen. Then you realise they’re only flesh and blood like the rest of us.” Unknown Source
"[Sharon Stone] is wickedly funny and very smart." British Elle, 1999
"[Cate Blanchett] has this breathing intelligence most actors have to strain for. She's just alive in a very understated way. She's also very married." British Elle, 1999
"[Steven Spielberg] is an incredible enthusiast and frighteningly knows everything you've ever done." Unknown Source
"Very daunting [to work with the woman dating Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow]. Enough to make you want to wear a paper bag over your head and start taking anti-aging vitamins. Or just become entirely reclusive and make sure you have reasonably smelling breath or something."
Unknown Source
Various Subjects:
Asked what his favorite Hitchcock film is:
"It's a tie between 'Psycho' and 'The 39 Steps,' which covers the wide
range
of his work, really. I remember the scene in '39' where the couple is
handcuffed
together in the Scottish croft -- it has this charming, illicit quality
that
suggests sex without showing it. I can't think of any movie of that period
that
is made with such dexterity. And 'Psycho' is one of the great movies of all
time. Everything counts in that movie." Saint Paul Pioneer Press, August 2003
On Wardrobe:
Sometimes, if I'm feeling bold and the sun's hot, I'll wear a sorong--but only in the privacy of my own home. I love things that get better the more you wear them." GQ, October 1999.
On seat preference in the movie theater:
"It depends on the size of the screen. Some of these cinemas you go to,
it's
like being in someone's living room, and, if that's the case, I like to be
close
enough to the screen to be enveloped by it. I want to know I am at the
cinema
and not watching TV." Saint Paul Pioneer Press, April 2003
When asked, 'What is your most vivid memory of Sept, ll?' JN responded:
"I remember being so physically dumbfounded, just emotionally dumfounded to
the point of physical shock in a way I`ve never felt before. I had a strong
sense that for my generation, this would be the equivalent of the Kennedy
assassination, one of those moments where you`ll never forget where you were when it
happened. It was this collision of the personal and the global in one
protracted moment, which I found totally debilitating." The Journal, September 5th 2002.
What Others Say About Jeremy:
"I cast Jeremy not particularly because he‘s British but because he‘s one of the few leading men who is also a character actor. We needed those two things in the person who played Morgan Sullivan because he does transform so dramatically through the course of the film. I think if people who haven‘t seen the movie were shown a scene from the beginning and then a scene from the end I don‘t know that they would recognise Jeremy, because he really did disappear into the role. I was very lucky to get him, he did an amazing job." Vincenzo Natali, Director of Cypher
“Jeremy’s able to take on roles that require a lot of movement, emotionally speaking. He’s not made to be a straightforward, bland leading man.” Michael Apted, Director of Enigma
"I just wanted him so bad. I
went to him and told him, I didn`t know why, but I desperately
wanted him to play this role. He was one of the first people I cast.
There`s something about him. He`s tall and he`s slender and rather
aristocratic. To me, he looks like a Colonel. There`s something
about his body language and when he speaks French. All of a sudden
he would become very French in his body language and in his
pronunciation of certain French words." Norman Jewison, Director of The Statement
"Jeremy Northam was off of Emma. I thought he was really really
great in Emma and I thought he was the kind of actor that could do
really small things really beautifully."
Mark Illsley, Director of Happy, Texas
"It's hard for me to keep a straight face around Jeremy `cause every
time I have emotional scene or anything, he's making these faces and
making me laugh all day. Then whenever I look at him during a scene I
just start laughing."
Ally Walker, co-star, Happy, Texas
"He's completely charming, so good looking. He's got this great
mellifluous voice. There's something compelling about Jeremy – it's
quite easy to watch him."
William H. Macy, co-star, Happy, Texas
"I just loved dancing with him. He's a tall drink of water. It was a
little rough on the do-si-do's `cause he's about 3 feet taller than I
am."
William H. Macy, co-star, Happy, Texas
"Jeremy kept going `I'm not a comedian, I'm not a comedian' and we
were saying `thank goodness. We just wanted a really good actor and
you'll play it funny' and I thought he did a good job."
Mark Illsley and Ed Stone, director and writer of Happy, Texas
"I was expecting Jeremy to be like, really, kind of a stiff, you
know, British thespian and he wasn't like that at all. He's very
charming; he's really funny. If he could not have done an American
accent, honestly, we would have rewritten the part to explain why an
English man is in a Texas chain gang."
Mark Illsley, Director, Happy, Texas
"The way I describe Jeremy is he is a master of listening. He
understands that the time that you spend listening to your fellow
actors in a scene is just as important as the time you spend
speaking."
Mark Illsley, Director, Happy, Texas
"Jeremy's performance is such that once you've seen him do this you
really can't envision any other actor in the world doing this role"
David Levy, Gosford Park
"It's hard to imagine any other actor doing any of these roles, but
him especially, for me. It seems almost impossible. He is Ivor."
Stephen Altman, Gosford Park
"I think this performance by Jeremy Northam is one of the, really,
best performances I've ever seen in a film. And it doesn't get
noticed because he doesn't have a real plot place to go. He is part
of the color; he is there; you believe him. No one considers it to
be serious acting but it is probably some of the best acting in the
piece."
Robert Altman, Gosford Park
"Jeremy Northam ... made such an excellent Ashe. I just felt that
they [JN and Jennifer Elhe]… just conveyed the weight of the times,
the Victorian era and I believed them as writers and as people who
were challenged by their lives and the choices that they made."
Neil Labute, Director, Possession
"He [Jeremy] is one of those actors who has such a melodious voice.
He reminds me of Richard Burton in a number of ways. He's such a fine
actor and a deeply moving one. Particularly in this part he is so
warm and great."
Neil Labute, Director, Possession
"He was really adept at creating the spirit of this guy without even
having the other actor to work with. He was just very moving. When
we went to shoot this [the final scene when Ashe meets the daughter]
I think it was a big culmination for his character as well and he
really showed the weight of what had happened from the first time he
met Christabel until this moment with the way he dealt with this
little girl."
Neil Labute, Director, Possession
“I love Jeremy! As well as being a refined Brit, he’s got this sweetness and vulnerablility, and he just so takes care of you.” Ally Walker, 1999
“He's an actor who does wonderful things in a close-up. In the smallest ways, he tells you so much.” Director Mark Illsley (Happy, Texas). W, Magazine 1999
"I think he's a really
interesting actor; a lot more depth and range than people are
aware of. He carries something quite secret around with
him on screen. And he's getting older, too. There's
something rich coming in there." Oliver Parker, director of An Ideal Husband, June 1999.
“Jeremy has a wonderful civilized masculinity. He manages to retain the best of the Old World—courtliness and gentlemanlinees—while at the same time there’s also something very modern and sexual about him.” Emma director Douglas McGrath, 1997
"Jeremy['s] [acting style] is very academic and technical." Mimic director, Guillermo del Toro
"Jeremy's a wonderful actor and a very sweet guy. Our approaches were very different -- he's very schooled in the theater, which is not my background. So that alone provided a lot of stimulation. He's also really funny, isn't he?" Gwyneth Paltrow, Examiner, 1996
Random Facts
Jeremy has been described as the 'Thinking Woman’s Pin-Up.'
Jeremy’s parents are John and Rachael. Both deceased, John, was best known as a premiere Ibsen scholar who taught literature and theater. Rachel taught home economics and made pottery.
Jeremy is the youngest of four children. He has two older brothers, Christopher, who is a professional pianist and Tim, who is a set designer. He also has an older sister, Kate, who is a graphic designer.
An avid reader, Jeremy’s been known to walk around a movie set with a book in his back pocket.
During the filming of “Happy, Texas” costar Steve Zahn got Jeremy hooked on the Nintendo video game ‘James Bond, 007’.
Jeremy has been rumored around the press as potentially the next Double 007.
JN is apparently not "Mr DIY" [ie Do It Yourself: a competent home handyman]. He's said that he's neither very technical nor mechanical. However, when at home in Norfolk, he likes to occasionally take the Austin Healey out of the garage and give it a bit of a wash and polish.
Jeremy has never been married but did date someone for nine years. Why didn’t it work? He says he got “cold feet.”
Jeremy has been seen wearing glasses for long distance.
Jeremy used to reside in Finsbury Park in a two-bedroom flat. He now splits his time between his Marylebone flat in London and a 300 year old cottage in Norfolk, five miles away from the sea with a garden filled with plum and apple trees.
Jeremy’s favorite book as a child was ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ which he read when he was about 13 years old.
Some fashion designers Jeremy’s fond of include Nicole Farhi, Dolce & Gabbana, and Paul Smith.
Many interviewers have commented about how good Jeremy smells, but he’ll only admit that ‘it’s some aftershave stuff.’
As a small boy, JN auditioned for, but failed to get into, a choir in Cambridge. A good friend succeeded, and went on to have a career as an opera singer.
Growing up, Jeremy said his family didn't have a lot of money, but there was a garden to play in and his parents encouraged each of the children to play instruments. Jeremy learned to play the piano and the viola.
Jeremy’s idea of preparing for a date is to shower.
For his primary [aka prep] schooling, Jeremy attended Kings College Choir School in Cambridge.
Jeremy attended Bristol Grammar School from ages 10 - 18. He has said, despite his academically-oriented family, he was a rather lazy student. However, he was a successful sportsman, playing cricket, rugby, and soccer, and was captain of the school's First Eleven cricket team. [He was both a good bat and also a bowler.]
At school, JN learned the now rarified art of verse speaking and was successsful in several competitions.
In his finals at school, Jeremy received A levels in English, Greek and Latin.
As opposed to his character in ‘The Net,’ Jeremy has never had sex on a boat in real life.
Jeremy is often known for his constant fidgeting when being interviewed. This might have something to do with the fact that he hates interviews and describes them as a “public masturbation.”
Jeremy is not riddled with phobias but does admit that he doesn’t like heights.
Jeremy is neither a dog person nor a cat person.
Three adjectives Jeremy uses to describe a perfect woman are creative, intelligent, and sensual.
Sports that Jeremy enjoys include football (soccer).
Jeremy loves to watch cricket and also collects old score cards. He can read them and picture exactly how a long-ago match panned out.
At six-years-old Jeremy pretended that his push-scooter was a horse, and with his cowboy outfit and hat, had dreams of becoming like Clint Eastwood.
When resting at his Norfolk home, Jeremy says he likes to cook a lot of fish.
Jeremy is not a good skier.
Jeremy smokes Camel Light cigarettes.
At eighteen, Jeremy had his only drug related experience. He took two tabs of speed, the verdict: “horrible.”
Jeremy enjoys beer, but has also mentioned a liking for "Pims".
Several years ago, Jer let slip that - in warm weather - he may be found walking around his house dressed in a sarong [by which we assumed he meant a length of fabric, about 2 feet wide, wrapped several times about the waist].
From wearing a sarong in the summer to being a "master of close-ups", Jeremy 101 breaks the mystique of this often private actor using personal quotes, confirmed facts and random, amuzing tibits of fluff that has been documented. Please note all the information on this page has come from individuals who have met him, from various magazines or from talk shows appearances. As such, some of the information may be dated, incorrect, embellished or plain ol' truthful.