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FROM THE SMALL TO BIG SCREEN, HERE ARE YOUR APRIL ON-SCREEN ESSENTIALS ON THE BOX
A Class Act LOCAL HERO WITH ROLES IN BELGRAVIA AND THE CROWN UNDER HIS BELT, JONATHAN RHODES LOOKS FORWARD TO LEARNING EVEN MORE, HE TELLS MIRIAM BALANESCU
I first started, I’d be so keen and full of collaborative instincts that I would bring to working with independent filmmakers. It makes me hungry for more. “I spent four hours improvising with Richard Gere,” Jonathan continues. “We found all the comedy in the scene that wasn’t there. There was a wonderful moment when the director came over to shape the scene and Richard just put his hand out and said: ‘We’re actors, let us play.’ I was like: ‘Oh, he means me.’” From Life’s Too Short, co-directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, to The Crown , Jonathan has had a myriad of experiences. “ The Crown was a behemoth. One of my days on that, we were on location at a huge building in Holborn and there were 100 extras, period vehicles and a punch that had to be managed.” Together with Nick Scott, whom he met in 2007 at the Berlinale International Film Festival, Jonathan has worked on several of his own projects – Big Society follows a war veteran with an unhealthy obsession with littering, while School Portrait is about a begrudging photographer. “You put a pompous, straight character in a situation where the rug is pulled from under his feet, and the comedy is in his downfall. That’s the kind of character I naturally play very well.” Jonathan’s first television role on children’s hit M.I. High had a comedic bent, although he didn’t take it any less seriously. “It was all pretty high stakes, undercut by silly moments, of course, like running into a pile of manure. All the crew were just as committed to shooting that as any adult programming. “Having funny bones gives your drama work a certain edge,” he says of his upcoming appearance on Stonehouse with Matthew MacFadyen, with whom he has much in common. “He’s my age, grew up in Norfolk and we both have a son called Ralph. We were like: ‘Nobody’s called Ralph – wow!’” Proving there’s always more to learn, Jonathan has started going back to acting workshops: “That’s kept me sharp. I often feel like I’m at the beginning of my journey, even though I’m 22 years in.”
rowing up in St Ives, Jonathan Rhodes, an actor who has bagged parts in big-set productions – among them Breaking the Bank,
Misbehaviour and MotherFatherSon – began his career relatively clueless. He knew that theatre was his passion, but didn’t know where to take it: “I thought – this is where it’s at, but none of my family are in the business at all.” Jonathan enrolled at Dartington College of Arts, followed by a master’s in Birmingham. “The industry was this huge monster that I didn’t know how to navigate,” he says. Forced to throw himself into it, over ten years he worked on 35 shorts and 18 independent features, while working in events and hospitality. It was after this period of honing his craft that Jonathan broke into bigger shows. “I discovered very quickly I am a creature of set,” he says. “I love everything about it, how things materialise out of chaos. All the preparation that you’ve done as an actor can get condensed down to five minutes if they run behind – so learning how to save energy is important.” Jonathan has recently worked as a day- player on multiple grand-scale productions. “The time they allocate to your character is done in one or two days,” he explains. “You’re exposed to the top end of the industry, but you’re in and out. When
SCREEN AND STAGE With 22 years in the acting business, Jonathan has experience of multiple platforms, across TV, film and theatre – from big-budget hits to indie shoots
26 MAY 2022 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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