Soon to star in Benediction, the actor talks to Simon Brew about the highs and lows of his career. 

The April 2022 issue of Film Stories magazine has an extensive interview with Peter Capaldi, making the actor, director, writer and musician its cover star.

Launching off the back of his role in Terence Davies’ Benediction, where he plays the elder version of the wartime poet Siegfried Sassoon, the interview takes Capaldi through various aspects of his film career.

As well as his famous television roles, as the foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker, and the time-travelling Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi has enjoyed a varied film career as an actor and a director. He’s also won an Oscar too!

The interview takes the star right back to the early days of his career, when he appeared in Local Hero (1983). He recounts the accidental meeting which introduced him to director Bill Forsythe:

“Bill happened to be in the flat one night when I came back from one of my gigs. I’d had too much to drink and dyed red hair, and was all dressed in black. I must have given them 20 minutes on something – and that’s how I ended up in the film!”

They also discuss his oscar win for the short film Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life, and the highs and lows of his brush with Hollywood:

“A year after the Oscars, I was standing in a muddy field in Rickmansworth directing a dog food commercial. I thought ‘that’s funny… that’s how this business works’. I was doing well, and then I wasn’t, and everything vanished. I neglected my acting career, so I didn’t have anything to go back to.”

It’s a great read and there are even a few hints about what he might be up to next!

Film Stories

The Film Stories project is 100% independent and publishes two magazines, Film Stories and Film Junior, as well a website and a weekly podcast.

This month’s issue of the Film Stories magazine also includes a piece on two decades of digital filmmaking, James Moran’s writing clinic and interviews with Downton Abbey’s Jim Carter and Tom Goodman-Hill. Plus a piece on terrible movie tie-in toys, reviews and more…

• You can find out more at the Film Stories website (where there’s currently a £1 subscription offer for UK readers currently running).
• Oh, and here’s the trailer for Benediction which is out in the UK on the 20th of May: