From Film Review, June 1993
 Mean 'n' moody actor Bruce Payne, co-star of Passenger 57, reveals his lighter side to Anwar Brett IT
may be the curse of the British actor in Hollywood to constantly be
cast as the well-spoken heavy opposite the wholesome all-American hero
- Alan Rickman, Joss Ackland and Steven Berkoff are memorable examples
- but Bruce Payne is one actor who plays that particular Hollywood game
rather well.
Last seen in Blake Edwards' cautionary comedy Switch, as a
delightfully wicked Satan, Payne portrays an altogether more topical
villain in his latest film, Passenger
57; international terrorist Charles Rane. What makes Rane that
little bit different from many a real terrorist, however, is that he
doesn't follow a cause, he bombs aeroplanes for pleasure.While he is being transported to justice by federal agents, Rane breaks free and takes the 200 passengers and crew hostage. It is left to airline security chief John Cutter, by coincidence a passenger on the plane himself, to save the situation as the tense power play between the two men unfolds. Eyeball to Eyeball "I think Wesley and I approached our roles in a similar sort of way," explains Payne, "and we developed an understanding. It's always great when you get down to it with somebody who's a like-minded spirit. "We went eyeball to eyeball at the reading, sure, but it wasn't a threatening situation at all. When you work on a script, a lot of people either sit the actors round a table and get them to do a read-through together or sometimes they'll break you off and you'll work together, depending on your involvement in the film. "But it's always like tennis, you can only be as good as your partner, and if your partner isn't making an effort to return the ball, then you're not going to have a very good game. I think Wesley and I just had a strong mutual respect for each other and got down to it. For a bystander it might have looked a little worrying, but if you're into the work then it's par for the course. I think Wesley and I were both saying 'I want to do this if you want to do this', so that's where that came from." Borderline Psycho "I found playing Charles Rane a very hard thing to do, because a terrorist who has a cause would be so much easier to identify with, you'd try and identify with their cause. A terrorist who's just in it for his own survival isn't as easy to get into, because you try and think what motivates this guy, what could possibly have happened to him in his life to get him to this point. "Maybe he is borderline psycho, maybe he just sweeps through life and thinks that everybody else lives like this. But those are questions that I didn't need to find the answers to. I just like to find out the question. There's a lot of material available on terrorism, which is what I was fascinated by. Obviously a lot of that is 'back story' and sub text for me, and I found it a very interesting phenomenon, but a very scary one as well. "There are actually examples of situations where hostages have fallen for their captors. There was a story in one of the books that I read where the hijacker was convicted and this woman hostage began writing to him in prison. That's very strange, isn't it?" Absolute Beginning Clearly enjoying the lifestyle of LA - "I have fun," he smiles - Payne has worked non-stop since relocating there. Prior to the move he was perhaps best known for the TV series Yellowthread Street and his visceral performance as racist teddy boy Flikker in Absolute Beginners. "That film was judged on things other than its merits as a movie," he sighs. "One magazine wrote an article entitled 'Thirteen Reasons Why Not To See This Movie'. I mean, thanks! We were only three weeks into shooting the movie when that piece came out. It's like your wife's just about to give birth and the doctor says, 'If I were you I wouldn't go through with it'. "But the funny thing is in America the film did very well, and I got to audition for Martin Scorsese on the strength of it. I think one of the problem was that the director, Julien Temple, was an unknown quantity and had been given a lot of money, and both he and producer Steve Woolley represented a very young talent that I think people felt they had to constantly knock. It's very sad." Base Reactions With his most recent success putting such disappointments even further behind him, Payne seems to play such memorable bad guys that you feel he must get some reaction when people recognize him in the street. "A lot of people see movies, which is obviously good; and when you're dealing with a character like Flikker, who has a very powerful impact on the audience, then I suppose that sometimes the reactions can be in the form of base emotions. People might want to walk the other way very quickly or have a go. But I don’t ever go out as anyone other than myself. "If I went out as an act-or, then sure I might get noticed, but there are ways of living your life without having to do that. You don't need to stroke your ego to get through life. That hasn't happened for me because most of the time, unless people have a really long hard at my face, then they don't recognize me. "These roles are pretty fun to play, you just bring whatever you can to the piece, and if they take it, film it, edit it and put it in the movie, certainly it's enjoyable. For those darker characters there are less taboos to worry about because they are so lawless." Charles Rane certainly embraces a taboo or two, and Payne's performance should ensure he gets courteous and efficient service from the crew the next time he has to fly anywhere. Chances are Passenger 57 won't be the in-flight movie being shown though. "We went on a press junket to New York and one of the flight attendants asked me if he should see the film, and I asked how long he'd been flying, and he said he'd been doing the job for 17 years, so I told him it wouldn't a problem. If someone has only been in the business for a short time I don't think they'd enjoy the film. "If it was me working in the airline business, then I don't think I'd like to see a film that about terrorism," he laughs heartily, "but then I don't like flying anyhow, so it doesn't matter." Copyright 1993 Film Review  Bruce
Payne as the psychotic airline hijacker in action-thriller Passenger 57
|
Passenger 57 Review from Film Review
PASSENGER 57
Gratuitiously violent action-thriller in which an anti-terrorist
expert battles with an international terrorist Passenger 57 is not exactly Die Hard, or even Under Siege, But taken on its own terms it is an enjoyable enough action-thrill- with all the cliches of its genre neatly in place. Wesley Snipes plays an anti-terrorist expert lamenting the loss of his wife who was shot dead in a random holdup he could not prevent. Needless to say, he feels guilty for his wife's death. And we're meant to feel sympathy for him. English actor Bruce Payne plays a world-class terrorist who visits plastic surgeons like other people frequent health farms, And Payne doesn’t believe in pain killers. We are meant to feel revulsion for him. Taken prisoner for the bombing of four aircraft in a year, Payne is escorted onto a jumbo jet headed for Los Angeles. There, he will await trial if he arrives. And, sure enough, he kills a few people, takes over the plane and sets about securing his escape. But he hadn’t bargained on Snipes being on the same aircraft...  Coincidence
is the rule of the day, and Snipes and Payne battle it in the air (and
on the ground), as their co- stars drop by the wayside. Snipes,
in spite of a sullen air, makes a refreshing hero, while the laughs,
(gruesome as they are) are left to Payne’s chilling asides (a flight
attendant, resisting his sexual advances, warns him: "You'll have to
kill me first.” Whereupon, straight-faced, Payne replies: “ No, Marti,
I’m going to kill you during."
It's that kind of movie.James Cameron-Wilson
Bruce Payne's dead cool chat-up...
Copyright 1993 by Film
ReviewA copy of this article is provided for the benefit of fans who have no access to this magazine. No violation of copyright is intended. Our copy of this magazine was bought from Visual Imagination, Ltd., London |