Ever since I first saw In the Name of the Father with the ever brilliant Daniel Day-Lewis in college, I’ve been fascinated by Kilmainham Gaol. This old prison is an important part of Irish history—many Irish rebel leaders were locked up and executed there. It’s also a famous movie location, used in some of the best films about Ireland’s past. So when I finally got the chance to visit the museum during Damian’s mini-tour, I was beyond excited. I was also proud that I knew almost all the movies our guide mentioned: In the Name of the Father, Michael Collins, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and of course—The Escapist. So shall we talk about that one?
“You know the one thing you’ve got going for you, Frank? You’re too old to die young.” – Rizza
The Escapist is a prison escape movie. But not your typical prison escape movie. It is a healthy combination of an action movie and an art house movie giving you the grim prison life. You feel the brutality. You feel the daily presence of threat. You, in fact, live the violence without even seeing it. You feel very disturbed by the place.
An Ireland-UK co-produced ensemble piece directed by Rupert Wyatt, the film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival to critical applause.
Frank Perry (a BRILLIANT Brian Cox for whom it turns out Rupert Wyatt wrote this role!) is in prison for life and he has made his peace with the fact that he will never see outside life again… Until he gets a letter, the first one in 14 years, that his beloved daughter is a drug addict and, following an episode of overdose, she is critically ill. This makes Frank to think about escaping. He plans his escape with fellow prisoners Lenny Drake (Joe Fiennes, a Guildhall class mate of Damian’s!), Brodie (Liam Cunningham), Batista (Seu Jorge) and Lacey (Dominic Cooper). These five “good guys” make the movie poster.
A tagline for the movie is: Five Men. Four Walls. One Plan.
Oh wait! There is a sixth man.
The prison is an overcrowded and understaffed place where dangerous men take over and violently rule over their fellow inmates. Rizza (Damian Lewis) is the dangerous man that rules the prison. He is THE ONE, and not the prison authorities, who gives Frank & Co a hard time about their escape plans. This seemingly clean-cut, soft-spoken man gives you the creeps.
And he gives you the creeps to the point that even having a cup of tea looks like a vicious exercise in Rizza’s hands!
Damian elaborates on Rizza:
“I see Rizza as the evil centre of the prison. He’s a self styled prison boss, he’s running the prison from the inside. He has to control his younger brother who’s a loose cannon.
Rizza is an unusual kind of figure in the prison: the prison and the people inside the prison were his boys and that’s how he wanted it to be. He never wanted his authority challenged; he’d do anything to maintain that status quo. It’s quite an effeminate role and that ties in nicely with the brother. There’s malevolence but effeteness at the same time.”
He particularly enjoys playing the moral ambiguities of his character:
“He’s very affectionate about his brother – he’d do anything to protect him but he’s utterly ruthless. You have to be to remain at the top in this setting. He does business daily through violence and intimidation, but I liked the idea that there was something effeminate about him – something preening and self-regarding. He’s a thug but also a weird feminine sophistication.”
And he seems to be happy about avoiding typecasting. From a 2008 interview with The Guardian:
“The big bugbear for an actor is typecasting, but I think I have managed to avoid that. Rizza is a repellent character. He’s a mincing, camp villain.”
Here is the movie trailer. Please pay attention to the prison and the way Rizza moves.
When Damian talks about how he prepares for his roles at New Yorker Festival, he cracks up the room:
“I am Damian Lewis. I am not Daniel Day Lewis.”
Haha. You know Daniel Day-Lewis is known for method madness in preparing for his roles. He is known to have stayed in a prison for two days and nights without food and water for his role In the Name of the Father, my all-time favorite prison movie along with Papillon (Steve McQueen alert!) and Cool Hand Luke (Ha! Wouldn’t Damian make a very cool Luke Jackson?) And, believe or not, In the Name of the Father and The Escapist were filmed in the same prison. Director Rupert Wyatt explains why they chose Kilmainham Gaol, formerly a jail and now a museum, in Dublin.
“I knew of it already because it had been used for In the Name Of The Father. And in the original Italian Job when Noël Coward’s coming down the stairs, that’s where they shot it. So Adrian Sturges, one of the producers, and I took a trip out to Dublin to see this prison, and that was actually my first time in Ireland. The prison is pretty extraordinary. There’s a very operatic feel to it because it’s built with the idea that if you’re a prison guard you can see at any point any part of the prison at any one time. And that’s exactly what I wanted for the film because I wanted to create a very enclosed world, but a world very much of our making, so you’ve got different levels and different hierarchies.”
So how did Damian prepare to play Rizza?
Damian admits he is not Daniel Day-Lewis but he feels responsible for representing any story truthfully and honestly. In Rizza, he finds some “feminine sophistication.” But how to bring this out so that the character feels authentic? Well, who knew a women’s thong would come handy? 🙂 Damian shares with us at Times Talks how he used a women’s thong to find the right walk for Rizza:
“Clothing is important and I did wear a thong. Don’t think about it too long… But I did. It was divisive.
I was playing a prison gangster who ran a prison gang. He was leading the corruption within this prison system and he was a nonce which is an English slang for a guy who is bisexual, essentially, and so he had this questionable sexual orientation but he used his sex for control and violence, really unattractive character… and I just wanted to find a walk for him.
I thought this feminacy in him would give a slightly sinister edge to him so I asked for my tshirt to be cut just slightly short so it was almost like sort of a cropped top just above the belt line and I wore a thong and the thong was incredibly helpful for the walk which made me walk… differently. And slightly mincingly.”
Gotta LOVE this guy! 😀
At New Yorker Festival, Damian stands up and shows us THE walk:
“If I didn’t move quickly, it was going to cut me…. I had great fun. You guys have great underwear.”
I imagine you all giggle every time Rizza walks! Well, I do!
Rizza is an exceptional character. Especially in the sense that this is one Damian character I could not bring myself to love. And I am sure Damian does not want us to love him, either. If he calls the fans who loves Soames “Dark Horse” I cannot imagine what he would call the people that love Rizza 🙂
Let’s close with some fun trivia: The Escapist features Irish WWE wrestler, Sheamus, as an inmate called Two Ton and, oh yeah, he has a remarkable fight scene!
And, hey, look at Rizza and Two Ton having a mini-reunion and taking a selfie in spring 2016 at WWE Birmingham.
I finally brought myself to watch this film, one that I’ve avoided for quite some time. But, your throwback and gentle encouragement caused me to give it a go. I’m glad I did.
It is a grim movie, with one particular scene that almost pushed me over the edge. Though I paused a minute, I was determined to finish it regardless of the ick factor.
I like to find ways to interpret a dark film to bring it to a brighter light. I was stunned by the ending, but I view it as a relatively happy ending, granting redemption to Frank. He ended up in a peaceful place. I’m not sure that it was intended, but the chapel itself was symbolic in that it gave the character an escape route toward the peace that he needed and perhaps even deserved. I very much enjoyed the non-linear approach to telling the story.
While I found Damian’s character repugnant, Rizzo’s life is not over. He could also find a path to redemption later in later life, and that’s the hope. There isn’t enough backstory for us to know what happened to him along the way to becoming a cold, ruthless prison boss. But there was just enough behind his steely eyes to suggest that maybe he had a tiny bit of soul left in him. I’d like to think that, by the end of his life, he finds peace as Frank did. I can’t find empathy for the man he is, but I do believe in redemption.
I doubt I’ll watch the film again. Not because it isn’t a good movie. It is beautifully filmed and acted, and I like the theme as I interpret it. Damian is chilling and brilliant, as always. But it is gritty, dirty, and uncomfortable enough that I’ll probably not want to experience again.
This is an excellent review, Lyn! I agree that it’s a grim movie but there’s hope in it. I love your interpretation of the chapel scene… It’s been such a long time since I watched the movie (and exactly like you I will probably not watch it again for the same reasons you list!) that I remembered some parts thanks to you…
Regarding Rizza – he had love for his brother, so he did have the capacity to love. Prisons seem to be the kind of place where – if you don’t want to be harrassed, or violated, or attacked, you need to be the boss. And Rizza has become one – maybe one of the ways to protect his brother who’s definitely a loose cannon.
Because you mentioned the chapel: The chapel at Kilmaingham Gaol is also historically important. Our guided tour to Kilmaingham Gaol started there. James Plunkett who was one of the rebels that was executed after Easter Rising in 1916 married in that chapel only hours before his execution. He was 28 years old 🙁
Oh, my! I just read a little more about James Plunkett. Such sadness. I probably should watch Liam Neeson’s 1996 movie, Michael Collins, which I’ve never seen. I came across that title as I was delving a bit further into the Plunkett story.
Thanks for the recommendations, Bahar! I have put all three on my watch list.