Who Said Insurance Was Dull?
Interview by What's On (BBC) September 2001
WO: How did you get involved in Armadillo?
JF: I was out in LA doing auditions and was sent the 'Armadillo' script. It was absolutely brillant. I came home immediately to meet Sue (Birtwistle, Producer) and Howard (Davies, Director) and told them that they couldn't give the part to anyone else.
WO: Tell us about your character, Lorimer Black.
JF: He's like a private eye, think "Ipcress Files" because he's obsessed with detail. Objectively he's quite disturbed - a psychatrist would have a field day with him. He's a guy who lives alone with a collection of antique helmets; who almost never relates to anyone; a man who has changed his name and pretends to be like whoever he's talking to. He's a man full of secret parts.
WO: Lorimer is man of many disguises, why does he do that?
JF: He is trying on different versions of Englishness to see if they fit. All the other characters chave chosen their identity. Lorimer is the only one who's playing with his.
WO: Have you ever lied about your identity?
JF: Yes. I often lie and say I'm not an actor if I'm on holiday or meeting people for the first time because people relate to you differently. People don't trust actors like they don't trust psychiatrists. And when I was in America for a year, I used to pretend I was American because I realised very quickly that if people thought I was British they wouldn't let me into their lives. The more 'like' people you are, the less guarded they are and the less they label you with their preconceptions. This is exactly why Lorimer does it.
WO: London, in all it's guises, plays in important part in Armadillo. What is your favourite aspect of the city?
JF: The best time to answer that is why you've been away for a bit. When I come back frm the States, I always think London's cosmopolitan compared to America which is so radically divided. It is full of people from elsewhere and it's so vast it allows for different pockets and places. There's also a real street-level inventiveness in the way people dress, the things people do. There's an eccentricity, a bravado and sense of humour about London that I miss when I'm away.
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