“Shortly after Notting Hill, I went up for a little film part. He attended the Dragon School and then Abingdon School, where he was chief chorister. With its fantastic all-star cast, and an outstanding soundtrack, it really is the Ultimate Romantic Comedy to enjoy again and again. What, the shouting? But fate intervenes - and minutes later William collides with Anna on Portobello Road.
The snowballs may not succumb to a slushy ending, but writer James Wood is saying that in a world of flaky alliances, true friendship is beyond price, and hard work.“You don’t go on stage because you hate applause,” agrees Bonneville. Guess where I was today! Biografía. It just festers away. You’ll find a lot of people saying, ‘I always knew so-and-so, always knew he’d go far.’”Friendship is the thing, then. There was one great moment, wasn’t there, when you just turned up on my doorstep, smoking.” Bonneville says he doesn’t remember the smoking. Hollander was born in Bristol, the son of teachers, and was raised in Oxford.His father is descended from Czech Jews who converted to Catholicism and his mother is of English background. I lead the same life as I did when we first knew each other.” Were there suddenly three people in the friendship when Bonneville married Lulu? Not necessarily. Very insider, too, with Alan Yentob appearing as Alan Yentob. It has to be if it is worth anything. Introduce Yourself! Being well spoken and very English, they had one foot in the virtual world of Richard Curtis films. Half an hour later, he rang back – his agent couldn’t get him seen because his films didn’t gross enough. He even moves into their house after claiming that his life is in danger from a slighted thesp, and instantly gets his PA to buy them superior bed linen. Which is fine by me. Early life.
“I live in Sussex.” “He’s married,” says Hollander.
She is even more emphatic than her co-stars about the false appearances of their profession. Hollanderian Discussion. “It was never as tight as that.”There are two and a half of them in their childless marriage, as the diminutive and chronically needy Leon has clasped both of them to him – Matt through the moral imperatives of old friendship, and Elizabeth through the ties of trade. It’s a place of imagined security where it’s marvellous and always sunny.”Friendship, they agree, is different. The whole thing is a brutal kind of excuse-me dance between empire-building agents and terminally insecure actors.
Center Stage. It turns out that it was his idea to do something about a deracinated Hollywood star struggling with the English climate (work as well as weather). Freezing (developed from a one-off on BBC Four last year) is no safe haven for Bonneville and Hollander, though, as their own long and intense friendship is one of the reasons they were cast here as a pair of inseparable chums.
So it’s not even as though it’s about acting talent, just your position in the marketplace at a particular time.