{"id":262794,"date":"2026-02-01T18:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T18:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/262794\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T18:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T18:09:11","slug":"jonathan-pryce-does-ricky-gervais-watch-his-own-work-he-shouldnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/262794\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Pryce: \u2018Does Ricky Gervais watch his own work? He shouldn\u2019t\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jonathan Pryce<\/a> slept through his own death. Not his real one, evidently, but that of the High Sparrow, his malevolent zealot in HBO\u2019s sex-and-swords smash Game of Thrones<\/a>, who was incinerated in a spectacular sequence that used CGI to ape medieval pyrotechnics. When it aired on TV, \u201cthere was this really slow build-up to it. It went on for ever,\u201d the star of Brazil and The Crown<\/a> recalls, \u201c… and I fell asleep.\u201d <\/p>\n

The following morning, he met his son Gabriel for breakfast at a caf\u00e9. The waiter took their order. \u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d the young man joked, \u201cit won\u2019t be green.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pryce looked up at him, mystified, and chuckled politely. \u201cGabe said to me, \u2018You don\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about, do you, Dad? That\u2019s how you died.\u2019\u201d The green in question \u2013 as any Thrones fan will tell you \u2013 is wildfire, the magical, highly volatile liquid deployed by Cersei Lannister<\/a> to torch her enemies confined within the Great Sept of Baelor. \u201cSo I made a point of watching it again that night,\u201d says Pryce.<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t seen the heavily divisive finale of Game of Thrones, either \u2013 the one that ripped up the narrative arc of the previous 72 episodes and left millions nursing a sense of personal grievance. A lot of actors don\u2019t watch their own films or shows, I say. \u201cWell, when you see the work, you know why,\u201d he returns. \u201cDoes Ricky Gervais<\/a> watch his own work? I bet he does.\u201d He laughs; the zinger is coming. \u201cHe shouldn\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n

We\u2019re in a hotel room in central London, a few hours before Pryce is due at a screening of Under Salt Marsh, a gripping new crime series that launched on Sky on Friday. Claire Oakley\u2019s six-parter is about a fractured Welsh community forced to confront buried secrets when a young boy is found drowned just outside the remote coastal town of Morfa Halen, reopening a three-year-old cold case. Two hundred people will be watching at Bafta HQ. It\u2019ll be the first time Pryce has seen it, too. Obviously.<\/p>\n

Game of Thrones? It\u2019s a genre that doesn\u2019t interest me<\/p>\n

At 78, the actor cuts an unshowy figure \u2013 silver goatee, high-domed forehead, blazer worn over a slightly rumpled sweater, and expressive eyes that can shift from sardonic to warm in the space of a sentence. If he was once more cautious in interviews, coming across as a little saturnine, he\u2019s looser now, illuminated by flashes of wry humour. His voice is textured and melodious; he has an avuncular air, asking about my name and Irish roots (he has a son called Patrick, one of three children with his wife of 43 years, the Irish actress Kate Fahy). When I mention having a headache, he fishes two loose orange pills from his pocket. \u201cNurofen,\u201d he announces. \u201cWell, I hope they\u2019re Nurofen.\u201d <\/p>\n

There\u2019s none of this playfulness in Solomon, his character in Under Salt Marsh. The script describes the town\u2019s retired minister as \u201ca tall, powerful figure\u201d, but in Pryce\u2019s hands, he\u2019s sombre and contained \u2013 until Rafe Spall\u2019s detective gets under his skin and a volcanic rage erupts from within. \u201cI enjoyed that scene,\u201d Pryce says, his eyes crinkling slightly. \u201cIt\u2019s generally quite nice to get to shout at people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Homeward<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Homeward bound: Pryce shot new series \u2018Under Salt Marsh\u2019 near where he grew up in Wales (Sky)<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s not exactly a dearth of new British crime drama serials, Oakley\u2019s series has a sepulchral atmosphere that sets it apart, with Yellowstone star Kelly Reilly terrific as detective-turned-teacher Jackie Ellis. There is more than a whiff, too, of Scandi-noir whodunit The Killing, as the ensuing investigation unites police dysfunction, small-town suspicion, and climate-crisis-abetted natural disaster.<\/p>\n

For Pryce, the series marks a homecoming of sorts. It was shot across Anglesey and along the North Wales coast, down to Barmouth \u2013 territory Pryce knew intimately from his adolescence, though he grew up further east in Holywell, on the banks of the River Dee. \u201cYou could see Liverpool in the distance,\u201d he notes. As a teenager, he cavorted with what he describes, with careful understatement, as a gang. \u201cThe majority of them were older than me, so they all had motorbikes, and I was the pillion rider.\u201d They\u2019d head out to pubs along the coastline \u201costensibly to drink, but really we were looking out for Welsh girls\u201d.<\/p>\n

Leaving Wales at 18 for Edge Hill college in Lancashire, then Rada at 21, Pryce has remained tethered. His two sisters still live in Holywell, along with his nephews and nieces, and in recent years he\u2019s become vice-president of the local choir, which allowed him to sing alongside his old geography teacher. Most old schoolmates remain in contact, he says, \u201cbecause they see me on TV, so there\u2019s that connection\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Tour<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Tour de force: Pryce won Best Actor at Cannes for his portrayal of the writer Lytton Strachey in 1995\u2019s \u2018Carrington\u2019 (Studio Canal)<\/p>\n

Under Salt Marsh is the latest television foray of a man who is widely regarded as one of the great stage actors of his generation, with two Oliviers and two Tonys to his name, including one of each for his originating role as The Engineer in Miss Saigon. <\/p>\n

On screen, over five decades, he has walked the line between movie star and character actor, often cast in parts that imbue him with authority: celebrated writers (1995\u2019s Carrington, for which he won Best Actor at Cannes), religious leaders (1998\u2019s Stigmata), IRA bosses (1998\u2019s Ronin). There\u2019s a watchfulness to how he performs \u2013 whether as a cardinal or a spy, a Bond villain or a Shakespearean lead \u2013 that makes him compelling even in stillness; a facility for hinting at entire interior worlds with just the smallest shift in his expression.<\/p>\n

By the time he\u2019d reached 60, he\u2019d already accumulated an impressive body of work \u2013 from Brazil (1985) and Glengarry Glen Ross<\/a> (1992) to Evita (1996) and the first three Pirates of the Caribbean<\/a> movies (2003-2007). I mention 60 for a reason. He\u2019d told an interviewer that he\u2019d retire by then. \u201cI was probably about 40 when I said it,\u201d he admits now. So what changed? \u201cWell, there are few others in my age range, so there\u2019s more parts for fewer people. I just still enjoy it. If I didn\u2019t enjoy it, and if I wasn\u2019t doing work at the level of Slow Horses<\/a> or The Crown [in which he played Prince Philip], it would be very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Royal<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Royal treatment: Imelda Staunton and Pryce as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in \u2018The Crown\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n

Slow Horses, the Apple TV+ espionage thriller, has transformed Pryce into something of a cult hero among a discerning subset of viewers. Its shabby world of failed spies crackles with wit, showcasing performances that are calibrated to perfection. \u201cThe good thing about it, and [the writer] Mick Herron will tell you this, is that it\u2019s character-driven and not plot-driven,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n

He plays David Cartwright, former head of MI5, whose grandson is Jack Lowden\u2019s to-the-manor-born spy River Cartwright. Crucially, Pryce hadn\u2019t read Herron\u2019s novels before filming began. \u201cI didn\u2019t know [David] Cartwright\u2019s story, so in the first series, there wasn\u2019t an indication. And I\u2019m glad that I didn\u2019t know.\u201d The character\u2019s gradual cognitive decline revealed itself to Pryce at \u201cthe same time as the audience learnt about it\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

\"Perfectly<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Perfectly calibrated: Pryce plays David Cartwright in the critically acclaimed \u2018Slow Horses\u2019 (Apple TV+)<\/p>\n

The dementia element reverberated beyond the show. For Pryce, the ripples began when he appeared on stage in Florian Zeller\u2019s The Height of the Storm; people would congregate at the stage door afterwards, wanting to share their own experiences. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the first time I had an awareness of the power of drama, getting a message across,\u201d he says. \u201cMost of them were people who would say it was the first time they\u2019d felt it was a problem that was shared, the first time they\u2019d been able to cry since their relative had died. Some\u2013 a few men especially \u2013 had given up their job to go and look after their parents.\u201d When I mention that my partner\u2019s father has dementia, he nods. \u201cThe comfort [for carers] is that [their loved ones] aren\u2019t in distress and anxious themselves,\u201d he says. \u201cThat distress is never going to go away from a carer. That\u2019s the worst thing about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cartwright joins a growing list of memorable late-career performances for Pryce. Witness his scene-stealing portrayal of Cardinal Wolsey in Wolf Hall<\/a> (2015), or his pampered turn opposite Glenn Close in The Wife (2017) as a novelist whose spouse has all the talent. This renaissance peaked with his Oscar nomination for The Two Popes (2019). \u201cIt was absolutely brilliant,\u201d he says of the experience. \u201cWorking with Tony Hopkins was so enjoyable, great director, great producers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

In good company: Anthony Hopkins and Pryce in \u2018The Two Popes\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n

Game of Thrones reminded audiences how good an actor Pryce is, but he originally turned down the pilot. \u201cIt\u2019s a genre that \u2013 [I was] going to say didn\u2019t interest me; it still doesn\u2019t interest me,\u201d he admits. \u201cI started to look at [the script], all these weird names, and I was flipping through, and I was like, \u2018Not for me.\u2019\u201d Then, of course, it became the biggest television phenomenon in history. \u201cSo I waited until it was a hit. Season five, I think it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pryce based the High Sparrow on someone entirely unexpected: Pope Francis, who\u2019d only recently been installed in the Vatican \u2013 and whom, ironically, he would later portray in The Two Popes. \u201cHe was doing all the things the High Sparrow was doing \u2013 washing the feet of the poor, feeding them. And I played [the High Sparrow] as quite a noble character.\u201d Then he received the scripts for series six. \u201cAnd I was like, he does what? He\u2019d turned into a complete homophobic, racist, horrible monster. But if I\u2019d known that, I wouldn\u2019t have played him as a good guy, which is what he presented to the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

For decades, Pryce had enjoyed the luxury of moving through the world largely unrecognised. But then, touring China with The Merchant of Venice, he took a boat to a small fishing island off Hong Kong. \u201cI\u2019m coming down the gangplank, and all the locals are pointing at me, going, \u2018Hi Sparrow! Hi Sparrow!\u2019\u201d He laughs. \u201cThey\u2019re obviously watching it illegally, because there\u2019s no way you can watch it in Hong Kong or China. That was weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018There\u2019s<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s no news… like bad news\u2019: Pryce as media mogul Elliot Carver in \u2018Tomorrow Never Dies\u2019 (Universal)<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t his first encounter with big-budget franchises, though. In 1997\u2019s Tomorrow Never Dies, Pierce Brosnan\u2019s second outing as 007, Pryce played media mogul Elliot Carver, who wanted to kickstart a world war to secure broadcasting rights in China. The promotional circus was peak Bond \u2013 private jet to Paris, BMWs waiting on the tarmac, no passport control, straight to the most expensive hotel. He sat there \u201cfeeling very grumpy\u201d about the carbon footprint. The film itself was a \u201cfantastic\u201d experience, he says, though he was resigned to his character\u2019s fate. \u201cThe classic Bond villain moment where I could have killed him, I had my gun on him, for some reason I didn\u2019t. Instead, he killed me, and I\u2019m churned up in this machine thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one performance that Pryce has never stopped thinking about, one in which the breach between real life and make-believe collapsed entirely: his Hamlet<\/a> in 1980, directed by Richard Eyre at the Royal Court. Pryce\u2019s father, a former coal miner, was violently attacked with a hammer while running a grocer\u2019s shop in north Wales; when he died two years later from his injuries, Pryce was performing in New York, and was unable to return home for the funeral. So when Eyre talked him into taking on Hamlet, he began thinking about his dad. <\/p>\n

\"Who<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Who by fire: Pryce\u2019s High Sparrow in \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019 met with a grisly end (HBO)<\/p>\n

\u201cHamlet \u2013 his father died as a result of violence,\u201d he says, \u201cand Hamlet felt guilty because he hadn\u2019t avenged his death, and he had suspicions of his uncle that he\u2019d killed him. And I felt some guilt, I think, that I hadn\u2019t done anything about it, or felt anger.\u201d Then something else happened. \u201cI thought I\u2019d seen my father appear to me. I just saw him standing in the garden and looking at me.\u201d Pryce understood what Hamlet was going through \u2013 the way grief manifests what you most need to see. \u201cI thought he\u2019d conjured up the ghost, knew what his father would have said. And I thought I\u2019d conjured up my father because I so wanted to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n

On stage, Pryce\u2019s Hamlet would speak the lines of his father\u2019s ghost, effectively pleading with himself to avenge his own death. He dredged the voice up from within. \u201cI was doing the equivalent of belly speaking. I\u2019d watched videos of women in voodoo trances and talking in tongues.\u201d Some nights, the audience would respond with nervous laughter. \u201cI could hear them tittering a bit. Then you could almost feel them go, \u2018F***ing hell.\u2019 Suddenly it has the effect that you want it to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cult<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Cult hit: Pryce (left) in the dystopian masterpiece \u2018Brazil\u2019 \u2013 the reason, he believes, he is \u2018still picking up work\u2019 (Universal\/Embassy\/Kobal\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Just as Hamlet emphatically marked Pryce\u2019s arrival on the stage, so Brazil secured his place in cinematic lore. He still does Q&As for screenings around the world, travelling to discuss Terry Gilliam\u2019s dystopian masterpiece with audiences who discovered it decades after its release. \u201cPeople talk about how it changed their lives,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of filmmakers say it was the most influential thing on their career. I think that\u2019s how I\u2019m still picking up work.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, he finds seeing himself on screen has become less fraught. \u201cWhen you\u2019re younger, I\u2019d watch things differently and I didn\u2019t enjoy the experience. And a lot of it\u2019s to do with vanity, I think. You think, did I really look like that? And the older you get, it\u2019s too late. That side of it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d But something else has emerged. \u201cI\u2019ve got some kind of dysmorphia, I think,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I look in the mirror, I don\u2019t see an old person. Except when I go out on the street and I happen to glance in a shop window, and it\u2019s like, who is that old man walking alongside me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Our conversation wraps up. As I stand to leave, he asks if the Nurofen worked. It did. \u201cGood,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cAnd your pupils look fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Under Salt Marsh\u2019 airs on Fridays on Sky and the streaming service NOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-262794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}