Vivian Oparah thinks she’d enjoy the challenge of portraying The Joker
Vivian Oparah wants to play The Joker.
The 27-year-old star – who was nominated for the Leading Actress BAFTA for her work on Rye Lane – has always been “obsessed” with the late Heath Ledger’s depiction of the DC villain in ‘The Dark Knight’ and thinks she’d enjoy the “challenge” of taking on the iconic role.
“I’m obsessed with Heath Ledger’s performance,” she told Rolling Stone UK.
“But I feel like playing a heightened comic book villain who somehow still feels normal, but has the weirdest physicality, would be a real challenge. I’m often described as ‘the Trickster,’ like, that’s my archetype. So, I think I could slip into it really well,” she added.
And the Dead Hot actress is also keen to take on more “fantastical” roles or a sci-fi project.
“I can definitely see myself stepping into more fantastical worlds like the ones Yorgo Lanthimos creates. They still feel super grounded. I’d step into a Star Wars-like universe because I’m a sci-fi and fantasy geek at heart. But I also enjoy the intimacy of human-to-human connection and grounded, quiet stories,” she said.
Oparah is also keen to step behind the camera in the future.
“I’ve been writing a lot. Stories were my first love. Maybe directing when I get a little bit older. I’m still a baby,” she revealed.
And that’s not all, because after releasing the song “FOUL” as Vivian Forever in 2023, the I May Destroy You actress is also keen to work on more music.
“I’m finding the time to make it. Music has been more of an anchor for me the past year than something I’m working on career-wise. The dream is to write, star in and do the score for a film. We’ll see how that all pans out,” she said.
Rufus Sewell’s “feelings of distaste and horror” about Prince Andrew’s behavior are “quite clear.”
The actor portrays the disgraced royal in Scoop, a movie documenting the prince’s infamous “Newsnight” interview with Emily Maitlis about his friendship with late pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, and while he hasn’t made any “final judgments” about Andrew himself, he hopes his thoughts are clear in his performance.
“I haven’t made any final judgments about him as a person when I’m doing it. My feelings of distaste and horror about things that he may or may not be guilty of and my own personal feelings in the performance are quite clear. But I’d rather my performance speak for me,” he told Rolling Stone magazine.
Rufus felt his “discomfort” in playing the role had to be “different” from that experienced by the prince.
“My discomfort has to be different from Andrew’s discomfort. So much of his discomfort is about having to disguise the fact he feels betrayed and wounded and afraid.
“Though I can’t speak with any authority, I believe the fact that he feels tremendous guilt about certain things but also a tremendous sense of victimization,” he said.
The actor was fascinated by the “misdirected truths” told by Andrew in the original interview.
“One of the things that was most interesting is how often he was telling the truth. And a lot of what he’s trying to do is re-explain. There’s a lot of misdirected truths there.
“So you can say, for example, ‘I have no memory of someone.’ And that might be true, but not for a good reason,” he said.
Rufus joked he was happy to take on the role because he knew he wouldn’t be recognized in any of King Charles’ honors lists.
“I came to peace with that a long time ago. So, I may as well play Andrew,” he said after being asked if he has made peace with the fact he’s unlikely to be offered an honor now.