Stephen Fry

And yes, I feel great pity and sadness when thinking of what happened to him.

And yes, he has so much meaning for me.

professional meaning as well.

I mean, to have played him in a film, to play a lead role, if you look like me, is not something you expect.

I mean, I've never been, I hope, either unduly, absurdly modest about my attainments and physical appearance, but nor have I been particularly vain.

I was always aware that I was never gonna get the parts that Brad Pitt had just turned down.

So when I was offered to play Oscar Wilde, it was an extraordinary feeling for me.

Amazing.

Yeah, really amazing.

Well, thank you.

Thank you so much.

I mean, aside from everything else, one of the miracles of doing a film like that is, firstly, we had Merlin Holland, Wilde's grandson, as a consultant.

Just to stand next to him, to shake his hand, and to see the fingers, not exactly like the Max Beerbohm cartoons, I mean, not really fat, but a certain pudginess, which is clearly a genetic Wilde marker that is just so identical.

And that face, the soft face, and that was extraordinary.

And also with Jude, say, to scenes at Magdalen College, Oxford, walking along a little sort of ditch-like river that goes along the side of the Deer Park and then towards some balustrades and stone walls.

stone pillars and things, that there is a photograph of Wilde and Bosie, Lord Alfred, in exactly that position.

So we were standing just where they were and my hand was on the same baluster that Wilde's hand was on and the skyline was identical.

And those things have a kind of almost mystical effect on one to feel so connected.

Hello, and thank you for inviting me to a room, not a Zoom.

Oh, can we talk all right?