A Punk's Progress:
From a teenage love of Sex Pistols clobber to showing off Vivienne Westwood's new collection, actor James Frain has really come a long way.
by Alison Jane Reid - 2001
The face seems familiar. It is handsome and exotic, framed by jet-black, curly hair, with the most changeable grey-blue eyes. But the name doesn't quite conjure up the kind of recognition that accompanies those of fellow British actors Jude Law or Ralph Fiennes.
However, James Frain, star of Elizabeth and Hilary and Jackie, only has himself to blame for that. In an age obsessed with celebrity, Frain is a rate commodity - a leading man admired by his peers who remains elusive to the general public.
Frain, 33, is currently on our television screens in the ambitious BBC1 adaptation of William Boyd's comic novel, Armadillo, the conclusion of which is screened tomorrow night.
He has every reason to have relished this return to the BBC, having just spent more than 12 months filming his first studio picture, Reindeer Games, with the legendary film director, John Frankenheimer, and a gentle, romantic drama, Where the Heart Is.
Frain says he did the former because "it might open some doors somewhere down the line" and the latter because "it had an incredible cast {Sally Field, Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman} and it's about real people's lives." He adds that there was a bonus: "I got to snog Natalie."
Seven years ago, a casting agent for the BBC recognised Frain's genius for playing the darkest literary heroes. Then, there he was, the repressed Duke de Trevenick in The Buccaneers and, most memorably of all, Maggie Tulliver's disgraced lover, Philip Wakem, in The Mill on the Floss. Frain can
be shortly seen in Disney's re-make of The Count of Monte Cristo, playing Villefort, one of the most fascinating literary villains of all time, with sexy, swashbuckling bravado.
But let's get one thing clear. None of these roles represents a career breakthrough for this hugely versatile actor. James Frain has enjoyed a prolific and successful career from the moment
Lord Attenborough cast him in the role of the disaffected Oxford undergraduate in Shadowlands in 1993.
One moment the was struggling to pay his way through drama school, the next he found himself cast in three films, but without the hype that would launch Ewan McGregor's career some years later.
"After Four Weddings and Trainspotting, young British actors suddenly had all these extraordinary opportunities which didn't seem to exist in the same way before. I have watched my contemporaries
deal with sudden fame and enormous success. The pressures that come with that are hard."
One of the most interesting devices in Armadillo is how Frain's character, Lorimer Black, uses clothing to disguise his true intentions, a trait the actor relates to. "When I was a kid, I was a punk.
I wouldn't spend more than 30 pence on an outfit. I had to go to jumble sales, I had to rip it up, I had to make it interesting and I was obsessed with the Sex Pistols. One year I was a punk and the
next I was a mod; I was always dressing up as one thing or another."
"There are very detailed inad intense descriptions in the novel Armadillo about how people project their personality or their class or their identity through clothes; it was a pleasure to read and it felt
familiar. We had a lot of fun putting together different looks with the costume designer."
"We had a couple of Hackett suits made up, with pink shirts and red polka-dot ties, for when he wanted to come over a bit posh, but stupid. And then there were other times when I had to deal with these dodgy builders.
He gets to wear a sheepskin coat, only it's Versace sheepskin, so he appears slightly overdressed and very expensive, but kind of street."
Earlier, Frain had made a passing comment about his teenage years in Leeds in the Eighties. "I hated everything that was happening to the country politically and materially. I was strongly opposed to what was happening.
The new writers at that time were very politically motivated and the theatre was very focused on those issues. Those were the elements which first attracted me to acting."
But instead of going seamlessly from school to university, Frain cultivated the romantic idea that he could educate himself while doing a very mundane job.
"I thought I could just earn enough money to live, but you don't have time to do anything because doing a menial job is exhausting and depressing."
At the same time, Frain knew he wanted to become a writer or actor, but he had no idea how to go about it. "It was more of a fantasy; I didn't realise it was a possibility. I wonder if that isn't different now
because of the is celebrity culture. Also, everything has become insecure now, so it is not such a stupid idea to have a shot at that kind of career."
Eventually, he gave up martyrdom and took a place at the University of East Anglia. Frain's love of acting was evident, and he was finally persuaded to audition from the Central School of Speech and Drama. He got in
despite what he calls a "crap audition."
"It was pure indulgence because I had used up all my grant at university, so I really had to work to pay my way through drama school. I remember I was skint all the time. I would be doing great stuff during the day and then
in the evenings I would wait on tables or work as an usher."
When Frain was in his final year, Lord Attenborough offered him the role in Shadowlands. "I did the film and paid off all my debts in one go - boom. It was the last thing I expected."
Success followed, yet the conundrum remains. Just as James Frain is set to reach a wider audience, his next project will see him behind the camera.
"I did a play at The Royal Court called Other People by a young American writer called Christopher Shinn. It had a very short run and I thought it was a brilliant piece of writing, really powerful
and compassionate. I decided to try and raise the money to make it into a film."
Cameras start rolling later this year. Juding by Frain's recent performances, thought, he might find it impossible to hide behind the director's chair.
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