BETWEEN TAKES

EDDIE IZZARD THE DOCTOR JEKYLL STAR ON DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, SLEEPING ON SET, AND SCOOPING CAKE OFF A BEACH…

What is the first thing you do when you arrive on a film set?

Check the script and shooting [order]… you hope you’ve got some scenes which will help you get your feet under the table before you get into the heavy-duty scenes. I remember doing The Choir with Dustin Hoffman. The first scene I had was the farewell scene at the end of the film. That’s tough, to emotionally be at the end when you haven’t started.

Between takes, I like to stay on set, to be inside that space, that time, wherever we are. I know that Daniel Day-Lewis has a holding set built for him where he can still be in the room, even though he’s not in the room. I can understand why he’d do that, because it’s good not to have to drop down into the scene, and then come back out, like some sort of diver going down into the reality of the underwater, and then you come back out, then you go back down.

Do you have any superstitions?

No, I push back on nearly all superstitions. I try to analyse when I’m doing one, and say, ‘Right, don’t do that, because I don’t think it’s real.’ Some are kind of logical. ‘Don’t walk under [a] ladder’ – there’s probably someone up the ladder doing something, and they can drop something on your head.

Do you sleep on set?

Yes, I can do power sleeping. Apparently you can do anything from five minutes to 45 minutes, and it will reset you. Some people are better than others at doing it. But don’t go more than 45 minutes because that will go into deep sleep. I found that in five minutes, I can reset things. It’s really hard but it’s a great thing to have for all walks of life. So if they say, ‘We’re filming – oh no, it’s been delayed, it’s been delayed, it’s been delayed,’ I just go to my trailer and relax.

Have you stolen anything from set?

Now, you see, I’m going into politics, and I always knew I was going into politics – or I have for some time – so that didn’t seem the right thing to do. If you’re on a very big film set, I suppose, a high-budget one, it wouldn’t matter. There are one or two props that I’ve kept. I’ve said, ‘Can I keep this?’ or ‘Can I buy this?’ I did that with costumes: ‘Can I buy this off you? For a reduced price? Because, my God, it’s been tailored to me.’ I kept the crutch from Treasure Island. It was beautifully made. I learned to use it. I got really quite skilled.

‘I KEPT THE CRUTCH FROM TREASURE ISLAND. IT WAS BEAUTIFULLY MADE. I LEARNED TO USE IT’

Did you enjoy being on the Doctor Jekyll set?

What was interesting was to emotionally change. You can’t tell who’s driving me. There’s certain behavioural things that change, but you can’t really tell if it’s Dr Nina Jekyll or Rachel Hyde, until the point where Rachel really takes hold, and you know what’s going on. It was a challenge. It was more tricky than enjoyable. I just wanted to get it right.

What’s the best wrap party you’ve ever been to?

It wasn’t an official wrap party but it may as well have been because it was a few days before we finished, on Treasure Island. We had a five-person birthday party. We’re filming in Puerto Rico, so it’s already pretty fun. And Elijah Wood is there. And there’s some local Puerto Rican actors in there. And there’s British and American actors. My birthday was in there. I think Elijah’s birthday… and a number of others. We had a cake made. We’re out on the beach. So there’s the water, a beach, swimming. This big guy brought the cake. He tripped and the cake went up in the air, and landed face first in the sand. But making a positive out of a negative, I said, ‘Don’t worry. It’s fine. The bottom of it is all good. You just have to look out for the sand. Just reach in with your hand, and take a handful.’ So we all did this. We ate cake from the sand.

DOCTOR JEKYLL OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 27 OCTOBER.