Okay, here's the transcription. The interviewers were Louise Minchin (LM) and Nicholas Owen (NO):
It started off with a clip being shown from the series, before the interview began.
LM: Well, here's Rufus, aka Aurelio Zen.
RS: Hello.
LM: Great name, the surname. Just tell us a little bit about sho he is, what he's like.
RS: Well, he's a cop, he's a murder detective. Um.....he's.....middle-aged, as it keeps on saying in the script - I try to take all those bits out
(gesturing), but they---
LM: What, is 42 middle-aged?
RS: Um...yeah, well, so the script keeps saying! "Do we have to describe him as middle-aged every three pages?" But, yeah - they insisted. And, um, what I like about him is the fact that he's not
really at the top of his game, he's kind of.....he's.....had a bad divorce, he's living with his Mum, and he's kind of trying to quit smoking, he's, um.....he keeps on kind of.....being honest, when politically that he probably shouldn't, so he's not, he's kind of at a desk job again - you know.
NO: And it's all shot in Rome.
RS: We shot it in Rome, we're in Rome for four months.
NO: And a---
RS: Not a bad little gig!
NO: Lovely way to work.
RS: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
(clip shown over next section)LM: And what's interesting, actually, 'cause you listen to the soundtrack and as soon as you hear it, you
know it's Rome, just by the sound of the cars, and the---
RS: Well, yeah - well, that was one of the big decisions when I met Andy Harries, who's the executive producer. Uh, the first thing I said was
(slight sigh) "Do I have to do an Italian accent?" because it's very easy to come across as kind of silly - you know. And so we decided that all the main actors were going to speak with their own accents.....and we could just have the background people be Italian. So I'm sounding like I'm from Hounslow East or whatever, and everyone in the background is
(sing-song voice) "rad-dat-da-da-da-da!", you know, and hopefully that gives it enough flavour, you know.
NO: And you've played a lot of bad guys.
RS: I have, yeah. I went through a spate, a spate of bad guys.
NO: What's it like to be the hero, for a change?
RS: Well, it's quite nice for me, you know, as long as, you know, the idea of playing someone who's.....100% good is just as boring as playing someone who's 100% bad, but hopefully I could end up, after a few years, playing, you know, people who are like
real people. But at the moment, it's a real pleasure to play someone who's not on a horse, and being evil.
NO: It's a real curious name, isn't it, Aurelio
Zen? We don't know where---
RS: I don't know where it comes from.
NO: ---'cause Michael Dibdin, don't know where he got it from?
RS: Well, you know, every time it's mentioned in the series, people go "that's a weird name" and um.....you know, you just asked me where the name.....- I've got
no idea where it come...- Michael Dibdin might've just made it up. But his idea is that it's a strange Venetian name, but I don't know if that's accurate.
LM: And so why does the role, why did the role appeal to you? 'Cause he's slightly.....as you say, he's not on the career ladder, is he?
RS: Yeah - no, I quite kind of like, you know, I
like the fact that he's got a kind of slightly tattered past.....a tattered future, you know, and he's not 100% good, 100% bad. For me when I read it, he's just like a real bloke, and that's .....what I really liked about it, that he's flawed and he's got a sense of humour - that was the most.....important thing for me reading it. If, you know, if there's a future to it.....not to be stuck playing someone who doesn't get a joke.
NO: Now your co-star, Caterina Murino...
RS: Mm-hm.
NO (to LM): I mean, um, I mean, you're enjoying having Rufus to interview, I know.
LM: You're very disappointed she's not here, aren't you?
NO: Well, I was a
little disappointed, I must say - there's a scene in the first episode that we've watched---
RS: Uh-huh---
NO: ---we've watched this, and uh, there's a kissing scene in the lift---
RS
(giving an arch look) : In the lift---
NO: ---which I think is just about, certainly the
lengthiest kissing scene, and possibly the
best, I've seen in a long time.
(LM doubles up with laughter)RS
(with another arch look and a grin): Why, thank you very much! Um.....
NO: Did you have to practise that an
awful lot?
RS: No - no practising. Um, and also she did have a plane to catch - that was one of the, the memory of that.....is that we had
one take
(same clip as before shown - not the kissing scene!), because we had to get it in one take, because she had to be in a car,
in costume - she was going to change in the back of the car.....
LM: Right.
RS: Don't know how
that went.....Um.....and then get straight on the plane, so we had
one take. And there was no rehearsal. No, you don't rehearse things like that, no.
NO: This business about policemen
always having dysfunctional lives, I mean,
every single one that we can think of, haven't they - Wallander.....oh, the whole lot - Morse.....now yourself.....
RS: Yeah, yeah. What I---
NO: Is there not scope for a policeman who actually got a happy home life?
RS: Yeah - probably, but
I don't wanna play him!
(Laughs) You know. There probably
is. I don't know how much scope for a future series there is, in kind of someone whose life's going
(goofy look and voice) "fine, thanks" - I mean, you know.....there's not a lot of story in that. I prefer it to be all slightly rubbish. Not in my own life, obviously - that's all---
LM: No, obviously not.
RS: ---perfect.
LM: And just as.....it's obviously a British project. You've had loads of Hollywood movies - is it nice to be doing something...from---
RS: You know, if I---
LM: ---in Rome, but from the UK?
RS: Yeah - I.....you know, if I could work more in England, I would, I'm.....I'm completely up for it...you know.
LM: People want to go the other way - how come, how come it's worked like that for you?
RS: Well, basically, as far as I'm concerned, I'll go where the good work is, you know, and at the moment, well, it went through a period where every job I was offered in Hollywood
was to play a kind of 18th century bad guy on a horse, and....some of those are good - not
all good - so for
me, you know, to be offered something like this.....you know,
anywhere.....For me, it's a great role.
NO: Well...Rufus Sewell...very grateful to see you---
LM: Um, and just, no, just---
NO: ---indeed---
RS
(amused): Oh, he's trying to get rid of me, and you've got one more question!
(RS and NO laugh) LM: No, no, he wants you, too. One of the things, which is
hilarious, is that Catrina - Caterina....
RS: Yeah?
LM: .....who plays your love interest - I've got some brilliant quote from her. She has actually a massive crush on you! So what's it, so she's a Bond girl---
RS: No, I think she.....she used to, before we worked together.
LM: Oh, well, before she met you?
RS: Yeah, yeah.
LM: And then it all came out---
RS: Like when she saw Dangerous.....Dangerous Beauty, as it was called in America, or The Honest Courtesan - which is, you know, about 15 years ago, so.....no, a thing like that would make it very very awkward - but
no, um, years, years before.
LM: Okay, fine - so it's all over now.
RS
(laughing): Oh, yeah, absolutely.
LM: It's lovely to meet you, and that's out soon - Zen starts on Sunday evening, doesn't it - 9 o'clock on BBC1.
RS: Yuh.
LM: Thank you very much, lovely to meet you.
*******************
Rufus was very relaxed and smiley throughout. he didn't get a comfy sofa to sit on, like the last time he was on this show - instead he had to perch on a bog-standard office chair.
Oh, and I wonder if those flea(?) bites are still troubling him - he kept on scratching his legs!!
(To be fair, though, he does that a lot anyway!)
(Cazbaz, I will try to take some pics, but it doesn't usually work as the screen tends to flare)
Give me a bit of time, and I'll get a transcription up.
Give me a bit of time, and I'll get a transcription up.
(To be fair, though, he does that a lot anyway!)
! Thanks for that lovely transcription, GE2! Does this program ever end up on iPlayer?
etc )