by FilmInk Staff
Oscar and BAFTA winner Jim Broadbent smiles when he’s told that he’s often thought to be like some of the characters he plays – a grounded, down-to-earth type of person.
“You never know how you’re seen by other people,” he says, “but I suppose from the films I get offered, I begin to glean that I’m perceived as one of these kinds of characters.”
That, he adds, is what made playing the part of idealistic dreamer Kempton Bunton in The Duke such a pleasure.
“Kempton Bunton, when he came along, just seemed fresh in so many ways,” Broadbent recalls. “I thought, ‘I’ve never played anything like it’ and it’s exciting for me to take on this character, particularly the comedy in him, which I adore.”
The real-life Bunton, who went on trial in 1965 accused of stealing a priceless Goya painting of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery, had plenty of charm, even if in The Duke, his lack of steady work is frustrating his wife Dorothy, played by Helen Mirren.
“Kempton may be misguided in some ways, but he likes and supports people, including his family. He’s got humour and wit, and he brings that to everything. Even Dorothy finds that irresistible. He does use that charm to his own ends, but basically, he’s a good chap,” Broadbent says.
The Duke, directed by Roger Michell, unites Broadbent with Dame Helen Mirren alongside a supporting cast that includes Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk), Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey) and Anna Maxwell Martin (Line of Duty).
Despite Mirren and Broadbent’s decades-long screen careers, they’d never performed any scenes together until they were put together for this film.
Critics commented on their familiarity on-screen from the moment the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and Broadbent describes the chemistry as ‘just so easy’.
“The script is so lovely, so it was no trouble trying to make those lines live. Roger (Michell) was an exemplary, perfect director who let everything grow organically and we just slipped into it very easily,” Broadbent says. “When the script is so good, and you’re so easily directed there’s no problem with it at all. We just had a lovely time. No stress, no arguments; it just flowed naturally.”
The real-life disappearance of the Goya painting from the gallery made front-page headlines, as there hadn’t been a theft from the National Gallery in 138 years. But Broadbent feels The Duke’s writers (Richard Bean and Clive Coleman) got it right when they focused on Kempton and Dorothy’s family life instead of making a classic heist film.
“I loved the family scenes and the way Roger structured them,” Broadbent affirms.
“Their house was created in the studio, but it was small and cramped, and it really felt that way when we as the family were in the sitting room watching the TV. Helen’s character is the heart of the family and the rock of it. Everyone acknowledges the strength of Dorothy’s character. I love the bickering and the in-jokes and the banter between them. There’s a lovely feel to them.”
The Duke vividly brings the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne outside the family home to life as well, although Broadbent says that the film feels like it’s set earlier than 1961, the year the painting went missing.
“Roger wanted to make the era 1955 because Newcastle was so far behind London at the time. Newcastle, right down to the fashion, is post-war and industrial,” Broadbent explains.
“It feels like an earlier period. There was huge poverty in post-war Newcastle, and they demonstrated it in all sorts of ways in the film, including showing children being pretty much shoeless, which you might not have seen in London at the same time.
“At one point, Kempton comes out of a shop and 40 people or so come past on pushbikes because the factory shift is finishing. I wasn’t expecting that to happen, but it absolutely puts it in a moment in time for me. I remember that well growing up in Lincoln in the 1950s. Everyone still had bikes and there were a lot of the same factory jobs.”
The Jim Broadbent of 1961 was a happy twelve-year-old boy, he recalls.
“I was at boarding school. I was quite a happy child and fairly naughty. I loved going home in the holidays, and I was happy at school.”
Back then, the actor confesses he had a fascination for comedy rather than drama.
“I was deeply fascinated by and loved watching comedy on TV. I used to go down to my grandmother’s and enjoy the comedy shows with her, as we didn’t have a television when I was a young boy. When I was starting out, I thought comedy would be the bedrock of everything I did; I thought of myself as a comedic actor. Sometimes that has been the case, but latterly not so much. So, this part was very appealing for the strong elements of comedy.
“To get comedy right, something needs to be at stake, and in The Duke, there’s something at stake in every scene. If the writing is accurate and true, the comedy will follow.”
There was also plenty of comedic potential for the scenes which would have taken place at London’s Central Criminal Court in 1965 when Kempton Bunton went on trial, accused of theft.
“Some of it is transcribed from Kempton’s own words during the trial,” the actor confirms.
“It’s Kempton’s big chance to say what he’s got to say. He’s got a pulpit and a captive audience. He makes a few jokes; they laugh and he’s away! He’s a natural stand up. They were lovely scenes to do; great scenes for an actor.”
The Duke director Roger Michell died in September 2021. Broadbent had worked with Roger Michell previously on another film, Le Week-End and expresses his immense sorrow at his passing, describing it as a massive loss.
“The two films I made with Roger were just the best experiences I’ve ever had,” he says.
“He was such a well-prepared director. He knew exactly what he wanted and when he had got it. He was inspiring in the most understated way. He was sublimely skilled at letting it all happen without ever being dogmatic or bossy in any way, there was no stress or anxiety in the whole process. He was beautifully creative and imaginative.
“Everyone who ever worked with him wanted to work with him again, whether it was in film or in theatre. We’ve all lost a lot. He would have gone on and done more amazing films, and this is one he was very proud of.”
Jim Broadbent was born in 1949 and is one of Britain’s great character actors, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2002 for his role as John Bayley in Iris. He also won a BAFTA for Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film Moulin Rouge and he won a BAFTA again in 2007 for Longford.
Broadbent worked mainly in television before a breakthrough film role in Mike Leigh’s Life is Sweet in 1990. His other film roles include Vera Drake, Little Voice, Topsy-Turvy, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Bridget Jones, Hot Fuzz, Paddington and Another Year. He will appear in the English language version of the French hit series Call My Agent in 2022.
The Duke is in cinemas March 31, 2022