We became great friends for a long time, until he got married again and lived somewhere else – he went to live in Kenya for a bit. We made another film together, White Mischief. He just stole the film and I think that’s what made him film-famous. I can’t explain what it was… he was just such a good actor, such a presence, even though this part he had was really quite small. In my mind he had always stuck out, from the moment he played Richie Rich in A Man for All Seasons. Was there a certain film or performance that caught your eye? At the same time, he had that sort of desperate look in his eyes. He was so scrawny in those days and so unhealthy looking. He was the person who had to play Winston Smith. Hurt ended up just saying yes, and that’s how we met.
I only did that once again, with Il Postino with Philippe Noiret. It’s the kind of thing you wouldn’t say now, but I did at that time. I just went up to him and said, ‘Look, would you play Winston Smith in 1984? And by the way, if you don’t want to do it, I won’t make the film.’ And I actually meant it.
Radford: I bumped into John Hurt at some awards thing. LWLies: John Hurt was supposedly your first and only choice for the part of Winston Smith.
Here, Radford talks candidly about his memories of working with Hurt, and what it means when the Two Minutes Hate can be telescoped into a Twitterstorm.
With the recent passing of lead actor John Hurt and the swearing-in of Donald Trump as President of the United States, both 1984 the film and novel have returned to the forefront of popular discourse, as well as the bestseller list. The timing also linked the film indelibly with how the digital age successfully sold the public slavery through promises of freedom: 1984 also marked the release of the first Apple computer, an event promoted with a Ridley Scott-directed advert also inspired by Orwell’s novel. Radford was able to find locations that were barely standing, easily doubling for bombed-out landscapes. Choosing to make 1984 in the year 1984 was no gimmick, but an inspired decision by a filmmaker working at the height of Thatcherism, and before London was gentrified beyond recognition.
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