Post by althea on May 25, 2010 16:26:20 GMT -5
British ELLE February 2005
THE NAME'S JAMES...
He dated Gywneth, is set to sweep Reese Witherspoon off her feet in Vanity Fair and is tipped to be the new Bond. Kerry Potter tries to resist the charms of James Purefoy. Photograph by Hamish Brown.
The thing about James Purefoy is that he... '...dates a lot of actresses. Was that what you were going to say?' sighs the man himself as he pours me a cup of tea. Good guess. 'Well, you've got to date somebody! What do you expect me to do - sit at home and twiddle my thumbs?' We're sitting on a sofa in a photographic studio in London. He leans towards me and tries to look cross, before breaking into a roguish grin. 'Sugar?'
James Purefoy has a rough-hewn, handsome face - frequently garnished with a mischievous smirk - that you recognise but can't quite place. Over the past decade, he may well have visited your living room via IV period dramas The Tenant of Wildhell Hall and The Mayor of Casterbridge, the Catherine Cookson adaptation The Tide of Life, as a rapist in BBC1's gritty Calling the Shots or in the guise of yuppie-fraudster Darius Guppy in The Prince. He might, too, have provided the accompaniment to a popcorn binge via his roles in the underwhelming A Knight's Tale, the equally underwhelming Resident Evil or even the entirely underwhelming Maybe Baby. Now, though, at the grand old age of 40, James Purefoy is finally set to become a household name, thanks to a star turn opposite Reese Witherspoon in the new film adaptation of William Thackeray's 19th century classic, Vanity Fair.
But first, we must talk lady-killing, for Purefoy, impeccably mannered, gently flirtatious and worn-around-the-edges sexy – is a renowned authority on this subject, with fellow thespians his area of specialist knowledge.
'Actresses tend to be bright and beautiful and talented,' he explains. 'And a little bit mad - and that's really attractive.'
He's currently dating a non-actress ('It's a first! It's good. She's much younger than me and takes the mick out of me endlessly' is all he'll reveal), but past girlfriends include Cold Feet star Fay Ripley ('my first "wife," although we were never married') with whom he spent 11 years after they met at acting school; TV drama actress Holly Aird (his ex-wife and mother of his seven-year-old son Joseph); Coyote Ugly star Piper Perabo and, for a brief moment in 2002, Gwyneth Paltrow.
Remember when Gwyneth famously complained that only two British men had asked her out during an extended stay in London? Purefoy was one of them. He's cagey about discussing his A-list catch. 'We went out on a few dates,' he says, covering his ears and shouting, 'I can't hear you!' in response to further questioning. 'Anything you say about anyone that famous gets magnified out of all proportion. And she is so famous. Plus she's a married woman now.'
Gwyneth, at the time, said of her two British suitors (the other remains anonymous), 'They were both very charming. I only go for toffs.' Purefoy is indeed charming - and a bit of a toff. He looks the part - in cords, a sensible wool jumper and a stripey scarf knotted around his neck. He sounds the part - every word is meticulously pronounced, in a thespian baritone that betrays no trace of hisWest Country roots. And he certainly went to the right school - Sherborne in Dorset, a £20,000-a-year establishment. But that's where things go a little 'off-message' in the toff stakes...
'School wasn't the happiest time of my life. I was asked to leave when I was 16.'
'Why?'
'I was, um, caught out with girls.' Feeling like an outsider among his fellow schoolboys, Purefoy used to while away his time at the nearby girls' school, 'smoking a lot and drinking gin'. He'd be regularly caned as punishment, but when this failed to act as a deterrent ('As my arse was smarting from a beating, I'd be inhaling another Marlboro Red'), he was expelled.
He did stints working on a pig farm, as a hospital porter and at a log-splitting plant – that particular job lasted all of one day before he was fired for falling asleep on the job. He'd been up all night after being dumped by a girlfriend: 'It always comes back to girls!' he sighs. Then, at 18, Purefoy went travelling around Europe with a group of male friends. They spent a month living in a teepee on a nudist beach in Greece, soaking up some stunning scenery. 'The beach was full of bright young things. In fact, I spent the first few days standing in the sea, unable to get out because of my, um, erection...'
Back in England, Purefoy returned home toTaunton to take A-level drama before leaving for drama school in London. Inspired by his left-wing teacher, Purefoy carved out a sideline in political activism, selling Socialist Worker outside Brixton Tube station and going to demos and on marches.
What on earth did his dad, a Tory Party agent, think? 'I've had some fiery discussions with mv father about politics: he says. His father separated from his businesswoman mother when James was four. 'He lived at the other end of the country, but we'd go to visit him.' How did the split affect you? 'Jesus Christ!' he grimaces. 'I think that's between me and my analyst'
Despite this upheaval and his unhappiness at school, Purefoy's abiding memory of childhood is a happy one. 'I had a bucolic, countryside upbringing, spending summer holidays rambling around the fields. It was idyllic in many ways,' he says. 'I was brought up by my mother and my two older sisters - which is, in part, why I love being in the company of women.' He breaks out that grin again. 'They're just delightful to be around.'
It's a sentiment with which James Bond would certainly agree. And with Pierce Brosnan's time now up as the cinema's legendary suave spy, Purefoy has found himself in the running once again, having tried out for Golden Eye in 1995. 'It would be an honour,' he says. 'I might be just slightly over the hill for it.'
For now, his focus is on Vanity Fair, in which he plays Rawdon Crawley, the rakish, ne'er-do-well husband of spirited social climber Becky Sharp (an Oscar-worthy Reese Witherspoon). The pair work brilliantly as a passionate but ultimately doomed couple, their on-screen chemistry perhaps helped by Purefoy's habit of whispering dirty things in Witherspoon's ear before a take. He won't reveal his exact words, saying only, 'Reese is a very well brought up Southern belle, so frankly you don't have to be too saucy to crack a smile out of her.' Did he fancy his co-star?
'It was impossible not to - she's pretty, smart and has enormous grace and elegance.' He pauses. 'On the other hand, she's married and was heavily pregnant during filming. But to daydream about? Yes, why not!'
A car arrives to whisk him across London to pick up his son from a friend's house.
'What do you get up to when you're not working?' I ask, as we put on our coats before heading out into the evening.
'Shoot smack and beat my child,' he winks.
'I'm putting that in my piece,' I say.
'Please don't!' He pleads. 'It'll really upset my mum.' That's the thing about James Purefoy, you see - he always has women's interests at heart.