To say that Michael Sheen has led a prolific acting career might be the understatement of the century.
A Welsh legend of the stage and screen, he’s gained renown across the globe for his performances in productions including Good Omens, Frost/Nixon and Masters of Sex.
However, one of his biggest roles in The Queen – the one that he credits for changing the trajectory of his professional life – almost didn’t happen, all because he initially rejected it.
On the first day of the Edinburgh TV Festival, Metro was in the audience at an illuminating talk held between Michael and Jane Tranter, TV producer and CEO of Bad Wolf, who serves as the event’s advisory chair this year.
During the conversation, the 56-year-old looked back on a point in his career when he was living in Los Angeles shortly after playing Tony Blair for the first time in the 2003 film The Deal.
‘The extraordinary thing about that was that no one had done anything like that before,’ he said of the Channel 4 production.
‘At that point, if people made something about contemporary, particularly contemporary political figures, it was always satire or it wasn’t taken seriously. Since then, many, many things have been done. It was a massive risk.’
Even though The Deal ‘went down very, very well’, with David Morrissey playing Gordon Brown, Michael originally turned down the opportunity to reprise his role as the former British Prime Minister in the 2006 follow-up film The Queen.
‘I remember being in Los Angeles, and I was committed to doing a play at the National Theatre, but it turns out that this film, The Queen, was going to clash with this play. I said, “Well, I can’t do this. I’ve given my word,”’ he said.
However, The Queen director Stephen Frears wasn’t taking no for an answer, and chased after Michael to get him on board with the movie, which went on to make approximately $125,000,000 (the equivalent of £92,000,000 today) globally at the box office.
‘I remember getting a phone call whilst I was in a supermarket in LA or something from Stephen Frears. It all got worked out, and I did that film, and that was life-changing for me,’ Michael recollected.
‘Living in America, living in Los Angeles particularly, and suddenly being in something that was doing very well, you realise how much living in Los Angeles is dependent on how well you do.
‘So I’ve gone from sitting in diners reading Stephen King novels on my own completely, to then having a very different life and opening up all kinds of opportunities, back here as well as over there, and suddenly having a bit of choice. That was transformative.’
During the interview at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Michael also opened up about the importance of supporting young people across Wales who aspire to careers in acting, having recently launched the Welsh National Theatre company.
He explained how his family always supported his ambitions when he was growing up, and how he’d never questioned the possibility of making it as an actor, as he’d witnessed Richard Burton and Sir Anthony Hopkins, who also both hailed from Port Talbot, soaring to stardom.
‘One of the things I’ve realised as time has gone on is how important it is to see where you come from, represented on the world stage, and to know that it’s possible,’ he stated.
‘I never questioned whether you could be successful as an actor, because Burton and Hopkins were and they came from this town.’
‘It does worry me that, for young people who might want to get into this, if you are relying on the bank of mum and dad or… it’s really tough to even just go and move to London, or move to wherever these places are. That’s why it’s so important to get stuff out of London and around the country.’
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