By James Mottram
“I don’t believe in chasing anything,” actor, Matthias Schoenaerts, says at The Venice Film Festival when asked if he pursues and fights for his film roles. “I seriously don’t believe it. It comes your way or it doesn’t come your way.” That strategy is obviously paying off, as the roles have certainly been coming the way of Matthias Schoenaerts lately. The Belgian-born performer has appeared in high profile American and European flicks like Rust & Bone (opposite Oscar winner, Marion Cotillard), Blood Ties (with Clive Owen), The Drop (with Tom Hardy), Far From The Madding Crowd (with Carey Mulligan), A Little Chaos (with Kate Winslet), and The Danish Girl (with Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander).
Now he stars opposite more impressive names in A Bigger Splash, from director, Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love). Set on the ruggedly gorgeous but socially unstable Italian island of Pantelleria, this sexy chamber piece circles around rock star, Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton), who is recovering after potential career-ending throat surgery, along with her documentary filmmaker boyfriend, Paul (Schoenaerts). Their idyll is disturbed, however, by the arrival of big-talking music producer, Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes) – a figure from both their pasts – who has also brought along the sullen, nubile Penelope (Dakota Johnson), the daughter that he never knew that he had.
Though seemingly the most normal and grounded of the characters in the film, Schoenaerts’ Paul is quietly battling his own demons. “Six months before the film starts, he was ready to abandon life,” the actor explains. “He’s coming off a suicide attempt that went wrong, and all of a sudden, he has to continue with life. He has to rebuild himself, and he has to find new joy in his life. That’s why he moves out to the island with Marianne…just to step away from the madness and experience some kind of silence, and freedom. As you see them in the beginning of the film, they’re permanently naked, and they hardly speak to each other. They go out there to rebuild themselves, and then we have this crazy devil coming by, stirring up stuff.”
When the issue of the film’s copious nudity is brought up, Schoenaerts shrugs nonchalantly. “It was alright,” says the decidedly in-shape actor. “We’re all human. We all know how we look when we’re naked. There’s nothing to mystify or hide. It’s okay. I don’t know if I’ll be saying that in fifteen years, but for now, I’m okay with it.” It’s all part of the process for the actor, who has made a habit of appearing nearly unrecognisable from role to role. “I like to play around with my physiognomy,” Schoenaerts says. “I like to switch it around. I like to gain weight, lose weight, go bald, wear a wig, put on a hat…it’s like being a kid – you have to be very playful. It’s like when you paint on a moustache with your mum’s lipstick, and then the wig and the hat…I love that. It is absolutely a game, but not to be mistaken, I’m taking the game very seriously. We actors play and we pretend, but within the pretending, we’re very honest and authentic. But in the end, we are pretending.”
“It is absolutely a game, but not to be mistaken, I’m taking the game very seriously.”
Acting, however, isn’t the be all and end all for Schoenaerts. The son of actor, Julian Schoenaerts (Matthias made his debut opposite his dad in the 1992 Oscar nominee, Daens, at the age of thirteen), this imposing screen presence has also been a longtime dabbler in graffiti art. “I’ve been doing it since I was fourteen,” he explains. “I used to do it vigorously. I was obsessed with it. If you’re stupid, you’re arrested regularly. If you’re smart, you know when to do it and when not to do it. Of course, I ran into that kind of stuff. Then life changes, and you get on another path. Now it’s more of a meditation for me. I do it in the day time,” he smiles. “I don’t do vandal stuff, let’s be clear. I don’t tag around or go on people’s property. I just see a lost wall somewhere, or the side wall of a house, and then I go ask people. I want to paint comfortably. I want to enjoy myself. All this street cred stuff…that’s for teenagers.”
Tagged the “Belgian Brando” (“That’s too much of an honour, honestly,” he shakes his head) after his brooding, hulking turn in his breakout film – the powerful 2011 drama, Bullhead – Schoenaerts isn’t about to use his increasing fame irresponsibly. “If the restaurant’s full, I’ll walk out,” he says when asked if he’d pimp his fame for a table. “I don’t want to be that kind of person. I hate that. I don’t want anyone to stand up for me and leave their table. I’d feel bad about that. If you get into that zone, it’s because the wrong things have gotten a hold of you. You need to keep a connection with real life and real people and the simplicity of life. Don’t get stuck in your own head and your own glorification of yourself. That’s ridiculous. If one day you see me like that, you can slap the shit out of me, I promise.”
A Bigger Splash is released in cinemas now.