‘Mr. Burton’ Exclusive Interview: Toby Jones

Toby Jones as Philip Burton in ‘Mr. Burton’. Photo: Icon Film Distribution.

Opening in UK theaters on April 4th is the new biopic ‘Mr. Burton’, which was directed by Marc Evans (‘Hunky Dory’) and focuses on the early life of legendary actor Richard Burton. The film stars Toby Jones (‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’), Lesley Manville (‘Phantom Thread’), and Harry Lawtey (‘Joker: Folie à Deux’) as Richard Burton.

Moviefone recently has the pleasure of speaking with Toby Jones about his work on ‘Mr. Burton’, his first reaction to the screenplay, what he learned about Burton’s early life, Richard’s friendship with mentor Phillip Burton, working with Harry Lawtey and director Marc Evans, mentors that have helped Jones along the way, and the legacy of Richard Burton.

Toby Jones as Philip Burton in ‘Mr. Burton’. Photo: Icon Film Distribution.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and how much did you already know about this point in Richard Burton’s life?

Toby Jones: I knew nothing about it, and so as a result, I was astonished by what I read. It felt like I was reading a 19th century novel, this idea of a man effectively adopting a son in this way, felt incredible. Then, my first meeting with Mark Evans, I was just keen to verify all of that. Not because it bothered me whether it was true or not, but I couldn’t quite believe that it was true. But it’s shocking in the film and I’m pleased at how shocking it is in the film. Because I think it’s also what makes, what could seem like a very traditional biopic, much darker, and suggests a darkness that might well have partly explained some of Burton’s more erratic behavior in his life.

MF: Through being part of this project and doing research into his life, did you learn anything that changed your perspective on Richard Burton’s life and career?

TJ: Yeah, it really did. I mean, I knew that he’d come from a working-class background. He was almost the most famous of a whole generation of British actors, including my father, which is why it’s so personal to me, who through a mixture of education, inspirational teaching and the economic climate of the time were able to escape the precariousness and the inevitability of their lives and through acting to achieve stardom. I mean, extraordinary celebrity in the case of Richard Burton. So, I found that fascinating. There’s a big debate in our country, there has been for the last 10 years that we don’t produce as many working-class actors as we used to. By working class, I mean people who aren’t able through their economic circumstances to go to drama school, which is the traditional way into the profession. Because the access points aren’t there, the scholarships aren’t there. So, this film, in a way, highlights how there used to be access in the most unlikely way and how education brings freedom.

Harry Lawtey as Richard Burton in ‘Mr. Burton’. Photo: Icon Film Distribution.

MF: How would you describe Philip and Richard’s friendship in your own words?

TJ: I think that Richard Jenkins (Burton), however wounded he was, was smart enough, and naturally clever enough, to realize that Philip was a channel in which he could realize who he was. It wasn’t an easy channel, and I think we see this in the film because there was such a strong culture of masculinity in the mining towns of those Welsh valley towns. Yet there was something about how Philip Burton was able to channel the power of literature, and the power of Shakespeare, specifically, but the power of words and education. It tells you something about Richard Jenkins’s sophistication that somehow, he was able to. Yes, Philip helped him, but I think Richard was a survivor and was able to realize that this was a way out and that he could. It was an escape route, and I think that was their relationship in that sense. It’s very moving for me. There are two different kinds of masculinity going on. But there’s at the same time, a joint love of learning that they both have, and Richard Burton had that for the rest of his life. You know, he used to carry bags of books around him, wherever he went. He was able to recite poetry off the top of his head, and all the roots of that are here. For all the famous, rambunctious alcoholic years later, he never lost that love of literature and that love of the spoken word. You see that in the interviews he did on TV, and the root of all that is here in this chemistry between the two men. For Philip, it’s a complicated situation because he’s a single man and I think he glimpses for himself a way out as well. Because after the events of this film, Philip comes out and he goes to America. He forms a drama school, lives in Florida and doesn’t have any kind of pathetic life at all. He flourishes in later years. I think Richard was the source of that strength to do that in a way.

MF: What was it like creating that relationship on screen with Harry Lawtey?

TJ: Harry comes from a generation who don’t know who Richard Burton is, which seems incredible to people like me who grew up with him being so famous. So, he totally immersed himself in it, every night after filming, he’d go back and watch another movie. He’d watched everything once already. He listened to the voice, and he had a very complicated job to do, and part of the complicated gestation of this film was trying to find an actor who was old enough to be able to play Burton in the later scenes, but could also suggest the young, naive Burton, and be able to tell the story of his evolution, the evolution of his voice as much as anything, and how the evolution of his voice almost tells the story of the character emerging. Harry’s sophistication at doing that was great. You hope that you’re going to meet collaborators like that all the time, but the dream is that you learn from younger actors, and I relearned something from Harry about that kind of immersion and it was great just working with him.

Harry Lawtey as Richard Burton in ‘Mr. Burton’. Photo: Icon Film Distribution.

MF: Have you had a teacher or mentor who helped guide you, and have you mentored anyone yourself?

TJ: I’ve certainly been asked to be a mentor, whether I’ve succeeded in that, I don’t know. You’d have to ask people who I’ve taught, spoken to, or chatted with. It’s a complicated relationship because often there’s a certain feeling of unworthiness in it. There’s something about pontificating about acting that I feel a little uncomfortable about. Often with actors who are requiring advice of you, I think, “Well, if you need advice, it’s probably not the best profession for you.” Because normally people are mad, and you must be a certain kind of madcap, confident person, and confident in your own individuality that you don’t listen to it, but you literally pursue your own course. That said, I certainly had a mentor when I trained in Paris under a guy called Jacques Lecoq in the 1990s. He was an extraordinary teacher, and he fed me with enough curiosity about the world and how the world might be used in my work, to last me a lifetime. There isn’t really a day that goes by where I don’t try to honor what I learnt in those classes, not just what I did, but what I saw happening in the classes. Then I was lucky enough at school to have a few great teachers of literature, a bit like Philip, who imbued me with a sort of lifelong love of words, and to not fear words.

MF: What was it like working with director Marc Evans on set?

TJ: He’s a very relaxed director. That’s at least how he appears. He’s very quietly spoken, enthusiastic, very supportive, and very Welsh. He’s extraordinarily humble for someone who is an experienced filmmaker. He’s very keen to solicit our views on things, but has a very interesting poetic eye, and an understanding of the landscape of poverty, because that’s the culture that spawned him. So, he’s the ideal translator of that world, really. I absolutely adored working with him. He’s got nothing to prove and as a result, we’re able to talk very frankly to each other.

Harry Lawtey as Richard Burton in ‘Mr. Burton’. Photo: Icon Film Distribution.

MF: Finally, for a younger generation not familiar with Richard Burton and his work, which of his films would you recommend?

TJ: Well, you can see online his ‘Hamlet’, which was extraordinary. It was directed by John Gielgud and the battle that he had with Burton about how to play Hamlet has been turned into a play. It has been made into a play that’s going to be on Broadway called ‘The Motive and the Cue’. It’s a very interesting play, but you can see the whole performance. on YouTube, which is just great. I loved his last performance in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ with John Hurt. I thought he was amazing in that. I enjoyed ‘Equus’ on film, and even the old films like ‘Alexander the Great’ and ‘Cleopatra’. They are kind of camp, but camp in an interesting way. Even the schlock that he did like “Where Eagles Dare’, there’s always a wonderful gravitas about him. But it’s interesting, his voice, which was almost unlike anyone else’s voice, it’s fascinating now because there’s something so unapologetic about the joy of speaking that you don’t get in actors now, and that itself dates him a little bit.

‘Mr. Burton’ opens in UK theaters on April 4th.

What is the plot of ‘Mr. Burton’?

In the Welsh town of Port Talbot, 1942, Richard Jenkins (Harry Lawtey) lives as a wayward schoolboy, caught between the pressures of his struggling family, a devastating war, and his own ambitions. However, a new opportunity arises when Richard’s natural talent for drama catches the attention of his teacher, Philip Burton (Toby Jones).