PLUME: It seems that Mr. Bean was really not so much about what he thought of the world, but what the world’s reaction to Bean was…
ATKINSON: Yeah! Because he doesn’t really care what the world thinks about him. He just does his thing. But as you say, what you’re looking at – the camera, as it were – is the rest of the world looking at him. I feel as though the camera is almost a kind of voyeur in Mr. Bean’s life, and you just watch this bizarre man going about his life in the way that he wants to.
PLUME: It’s almost like a scripted reality series…
ATKINSON: Yes! Yes!
PLUME: Stick Bean on an island with a couple of contestants…
ATKINSON: Yes, exactly. We once did a… did you ever have a show here called Blind Date, or something like that?
PLUME: Yes…
ATKINSON: We had the same thing in Britain, although I think it’s about to come off. For a charity night, we did this sort of Blind Date with Mr. Bean as one of the guys…
PLUME: This was the Comedy Relief bit, right?
ATKINSON: That’s right, yes… Have you seen it?
PLUME: Yes…
ATKINSON: Well, that was rather a fun idea, where it’s just this very anarchic, kind of weird presence in the middle of a very conventional format.
PLUME: And it’s almost more about how everyone reacts to his insanity…
ATKINSON: Yes! Yes! Exactly. And indeed, it’s something that translates. When I was doing Bean more than I’ve done him in the last few years, I did strange things – like appearing on chat shows in character as Mr. Bean. I remember going to a book signing as Mr. Bean – it was a Mr. Bean book – and I signed it as Mr. Bean. I just wrote “Mr. Bean” in the book rather than Rowan Atkinson. I was there in costume and in character for the entire time – from arriving in the store till leaving it at the end of the book signing – and it was a fantastically kind of freeing experience, because I could just submerge myself in this character and just behave however I liked. And I didn’t care what I did or what I said to anyone – I just became this other person, and it was a wonderful sort of freedom. A wonderful kind of fantasy, where you could just be this thoroughly rather unpleasant, selfish man for an hour – in a totally real context rather than in a fictional context. It was rather extraordinary, actually, and something that I found rather pleasing and rather relaxing.
PLUME: A lot of performers will try and distance themselves from certain established roles in order to avoid pigeonholing…
ATKINSON: Yeah…
PLUME: Has that ever been a concern of yours, when deciding not to do anymore Blackadders or Beans?
ATKINSON: No… no… I’ve never avoided a role. No, definitely not. What I like is, I like variety. I like to move on, but I don’t – in any sense – ignore the old. I mean, I’m someone who tends to return to characters quite a lot. Like, you know – I could easily have left Mr. Bean as a TV series, but when the notion of making of movie was put forward, it kind of interested me. Because I thought, “I suppose that could be fun.” Even though we’ve talked about the compromises we had to make, but nevertheless, the idea of returning to the character was fun. I would return to the Blackadder character if the opportunity came up. I have no qualms about that at all. The only problem with The Blackadder is that it kind of represented a particular comic consensus amongst a group of creative people at a particular time in their careers. And I think it would be very difficult to replicate that atmosphere – to replicate that consensus – at a later stage, when all the writers and producers and actors and everyone else have moved on into so many different areas, and have become probably more choosy about what they do, and less flexible, let’s say, at accommodating other people’s whims and wishes.
PLUME: Was it difficult to pull together Back and Forth?
ATKINSON: It was very difficult, and in my opinion not wholly successful. I don’t much enjoy Back and Forth. I mean, I think it has its own particular qualities, but I think it’s inferior to any of the half-hour ones we did.
PLUME: It seemed a bit strained…
ATKINSON: Yeah… Yeah, it’s strained. It was one of those classic things, really – it was made to a commercial brief, really. It was the Millennium Dome Authority in Britain wanting something to raise the profile – and I suspect attempting to glean a lot more respect from the population for their whole Dome enterprise. I thought it was misjudged, really… the whole thing.
PLUME: There’s no better character to give respect to a venture than Blackadder…
ATKINSON: In a very inverted kind of way…
PLUME: Almost ironic…
ATKINSON: Yeah… yeah, absolutely – being the least respectful man in the world.
PLUME: Have there ever been thoughts of a Blackadder film?
ATKINSON: There have. Ben Elton – one of the cowriters of The Blackadder – came up with an idea about 5 years ago, and it never got anywhere. I think it was one of those things when it became a victim, as I say, of people being not sure that they wanted to do that kind of thing. It was set in the Russian Revolution. It was rather a good idea. Blackadder and Baldrick are members of the secret police for the Tsar in 1916 – and then the Russian Revolution happens in 1917, and you follow the Russian Revolution. And then at the end of it, they’re in exactly the same office with the same typewriter, but now they’ve got red bands around their caps instead of blue. Plus ça change, as it were. It was rather a fun idea, actually. It was a nice context. You could see… I mean, The Blackadder always worked well when there was a hierarchy – the Elizabethan Court or the army. Places like that are great for The Blackadder, because he’s so cynical of people who are above him, and he’s so rude to those who are below him, and it’s nice if you’ve got that hierarchy for him to play in.
PLUME: Would you say that he always needs a ladder to climb?
ATKINSON: Yes… he’s got a ladder to climb, but he’s so cynical about climbing it. And he’s also cynical about those who are climbing up towards him. He’s just a fantastically cynical man.
PLUME: So he’s always looking for the escalator…
ATKINSON: Yes! Yes! Exactly… He wants the fast track, and yes – he’s trying to get up there… or at least to get out. Move sideways so he doesn’t have to go up or down at all – just get out of there.
PLUME: Or get Baldrick to carry him…
ATKINSON: Yeah, but the escape routes are limited.
PLUME: If the character were to be reincarnated, would your preference be via film or another TV series? Bean as well, for that matter…
ATKINSON: We did quite seriously talk about a fifth series set in Colditz, in the Second World War – in a prisoner of war camp, which I think would be rather a nice context. It’s kind of claustrophobic, and it’s hierarchical, and I think it would be a very interesting context in which to set another series. But we talked about it, and absolutely nothing has happened.
PLUME: What is your reaction to the fact that there’s a fanbase out there clamoring for new Bean and Blackadder?
ATKINSON: It’s a flattering thought, and I’m well aware of the popularity of it – but then, of course, there’s always a little bit of you that thinks, “Well, could we really replicate what was special about it?” Blackadder Back and Forth wasn’t a very good omen, I didn’t think. We’d have to have a much more professional and rigorous – and sort of genuine – approach to it. We couldn’t have the instigation coming from outside commercial sources. It’s got to be those who are involved in it saying, “You know what would be good? It would be good if we did this… It would be nice if we did that….” There’s got to be a genuine creative impetus – which there isn’t at the moment, I’m have to say.
PLUME: I know how involved you get in the production of just about every creative venture, including Johnny English – how difficult is the creative process for you?
ATKINSON: I don’t know… I’m not really a writer, so my main problem always is finding the writing talent to write something of the caliber that you would like to do. I’ve been very spoiled over the years by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton doing The Blackadder, then the Mr. Bean stuff with a very good writer named Robin Driscoll who wrote most, I think, of the TV show that we did. So that’s always the creative problem for me. I think I am a creative person, but I’m slightly more kind of visionary… I prefer to guide writers, than to claim to be one of them. But the creative process is great – particularly the early stages. The “Blue Skies thinking”, as they say, when you just sit around in a room thinking, “Wouldn’t it be fun if we did that?” or “Wouldn’t it be marvelous if we did that?” That’s such fun. And then there’s this sort of horrible bit when you have to make it work in front of a camera.
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