“We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood.” Like a window into the life of one of the greatest poets of all time, Set Fire To The Stars tells the turbulent tale of Dylan Thomas as he arrives in the Big Apple in blur of whiskey, coughing fits, and taffy wrappers, much to the dismay of poetry professor John Malcolm Brinnin. With Welsh actor Celyn Jones (who co-wrote the film with Andy Goddard) as the rather tumultuous Thomas and Elijah Wood as the bountiful Brinnin, this black and white masterpiece boasts a pretty dreamy cast.
This feels a bit like speed dating.
Elijah Wood: Haha. It does a bit!
There are a lot a chicas in the room next door waiting to talk to you both…
Elijah: It’s good.
Celyn Jones: There’s what?
Elijah: Girls. It’s Spanish.
Celyn: Oh right.
So, Set Fire To The Stars what an amazing film! Celyn you play a brilliant drunk, have you had a lot of practice?
Celyn: Haha, thanks very much. I’ve been drunk plenty of times, yeah. I’ve played many drunken characters on the stage, one in Twelfth Night. I suppose I quite like the freedom or the idea of what it’s like.
Elijah: It’s good, you make it look easy.
Ceyln: Haha.
Elijah: No you do! It’s not easy; I’ve played drunk a few times and it’s difficult. There is that freedom, a looseness to it which is less rigid. If you can lock in to that, there’s something fun in it. It creates a sense of possibility in your performance.
Ceyln: Just say, “I’m not drunk!” in you head, “I’m completely sober”. If you say that you feel like you’re drunk.
So tell me about how you first got involved with the project. Celyn I know you co-wrote it, Elijah what’s your excuse?
Elijah: Haha, what’s my excuse? I read it and wanted to be a part of it. But, yeah his relationship has been much longer.
Celyn: It’s been the fruit of twenty years. I’ve always wanted to play him. Originally I was going to do something on stage and then on television. But then I met Andy Goddard and we became great mates. We wanted to write the script together and thought, “what is the most interesting part that intrigues us and lends quite cinematically to the telling of what Dylan could have been like as a guy?”
Were you nervous about putting words into the mouth of one of the greatest wordsmiths of our generation?
Celyn: Haha. Yeah, yeah, but there is a lot out there. And, you know, Dylan’s letters are full of life and humour and humanity. His stories are the same, and his poetry is something else completely. There’s a lot of anecdotal material. And then growing up in Wales, you meet these characters in small towns who all live together but lead very different lives. I can understand where the humour comes from and the compassion. Was I nervous? A bit, but I was also excited to see the next level, what great actors do to the words. It’s the trampoline that actors come and bounce off and take to new heights. Elijah was like another writer on the set, he’s a filmmaker himself…
Elijah: It was very collaborative.
And were you familiar with Dylan’s poetry as well?
Elijah: I wasn’t actually. I mean I knew who Dylan was pop-culturally. I understood his significance. But I wasn’t familiar with his work. Reading the script was my introduction and then ultimately the book which John Malcolm Brinnin wrote while Dylan was in America, which deals very specifically with this particular time period and ultimately the week in which our film takes place. It provided me with a lot of information on who this person was, who he was in relation to John, who John was, a certain gleaning from the way he thinks of this man gave me a lot of information.
How would you describe your character? Dylan is obviously a melancholic, boisterous, and very difficult character but John is rather enigmatic…
Elijah: I suppose so; enigmatic in the sense that he’s very closed off. In doing research about John…it proved to be very difficult outside the book he wrote about Dylan. He was very private.
Didn’t he say that he was ”as well known as I deserve to be”?
Elijah: There’s not very much biographical information out there about John and he probably wanted it that way. To a certain degree there was a bit of a fallout after the book was released. He took a lot of criticism for writing so openly about someone. It was almost perceived as tawdry or tell-all. It hurt his reputation and I think he cowered away from the spotlight after that and became more reclusive. He continued to write poetry but he was very private about who he was in terms of his interior. And that made for a very interesting character. For someone who would go to great pains to bring someone like Dylan Thomas to the United States and put himself in a position of vulnerability with this man -who was a mad man – whom he realised was a far greater responsibility than simply just bringing a poet over, it got deeply personal very quickly and I think that John was very averse to that – having to open up to another person, even then
Do you think if you were do it all again, you could play each other’s part?
Elijah: I wouldn’t. I don’t know, I couldn’t.
Celyn: I couldn’t.
Elijah: Haha, I wouldn’t.
Celyn: I wouldn’t.
Elijah: I wouldn’t want the pressure. I don’t know if I would be suited to it, to be honest.. Cel has been living with Dylan for his entire life. He’s had a pre-existing relationship to the man and the material. I don’t think there is anyone more perfectly suited to the role.
Celyn: Ah thanks, man.
Credits
Text Tish Weinstock
Film Set Fire To The Stars