10 Quick Questions for Jonathan Pryce

Do you have a favorite character you’ve portrayed over the years?

I’ve got many favorite characters. The character that I was the most privileged to play was Pope Francis. And the experience of working with Tony Hopkins while playing Pope Francis was something I’ll cherish for a long time. It was just a wonderful moment. And yeah, I took things from him that’ll stay with me. I’d like to think that [Pope Francis] maybe watched The Two Popes and he thought, “Oh I could do that.” It was great.

Did you have a back-up plan if your acting career didn’t work out?

When I started, it was in the ’70s. It was an easier time in every respect. Also, I’d come to acting [but] it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I went to art school, and then I trained to teach art, and that’s what I was going to do. [At] the college I went to, you had to do a subsidiary course. And I was told that the easiest course to do that required the least amount of work was the drama course. I signed up, because that sounded like me. And then somebody saw me act and said, “Have you ever thought of being an actor?” And [I said “no”] and [he said] “Well, I think you should. And I think you should go to RADA, Royal Academy [The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art].” And he’d been an actor, and he filled in the application form and coached me through two audition speeches. So then I went and I got a place at RADA and never had to teach. Although I would have enjoyed teaching, I think.

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What advice would you give your younger self?

I would say something to the 14-year-old, the 15-year-old. I could say maybe work a bit harder at school. But if I’d worked harder at school, I wouldn’t have gone to art school. I’d have been doing something else. I’d have been overqualified to act.

Do you have any plans to retire and pursue other interests?

No. As long as I can remember lines … I’ll just work less, that’s all. I always find something to do. I still paint and I still draw and occasionally I try and make things out of wood.

What’s next for you professionally?

Well, I have this ongoing TV series called Slow Horses on Apple and that goes on into next year. I just started doing the sequel to Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, with Mark Rylance, who plays Cromwell. I play Cardinal Wolsey. I’ve been demoted. I’ve gone from a pope to a cardinal. But there’s a few things coming up — a big series that opens on Netflix in March called 3 Body Problem from the writers of Game of Thrones. 

Looking back, do you have any career or life regrets?

How long you got? [Laughs.] No, I regret nothing. I’ve had a very fulfilling career. I got lucky very early on with my very first job going to work with the right director in the right theater, where I stayed for two years. And it just snowballed from there. I’ve been very fortunate.

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How do you feel about turning 80 in four years? Do you think about it much?

Ask me in four years’ time. Please God, I’m here to tell you. No, you don’t think about it. I think if I think about it too much you tend to categorize yourself and [think], Should I be doing this at this age? I sometimes do it when I’m halfway up a ladder trying to fix something. I tell myself, you’re 76. I don’t think you should be doing this. But I don’t want to have that approach to life in general. I have a family that keeps me young. … [And] I work with Tony Hopkins. He’s past his 80th and he’s got as much energy and intellect as he ever had. You have those people as a role model a bit ahead of you. It’s a good thing to have.