Q: How were you attacked politically?
MC: We were attacked on all sides. For starters, we were attacked by the socialist press. Because there was an implied criticism, inasmuch as these are working class people. And they’ve been in power for 12 years. I mean, we didn’t blame anybody. We just made it as a wakeup call. You know, have a look at this.
Then the London Times called the picture odious. But don’t you understand, we made the picture because the odor is coming from what you did, or didn’t do. So we never got the message across with them, though mostly we did.
But my wife hates violent films, she really does. And she won’t watch any of my violent films. But my daughter loves them, she sits and watches all of them. But my wife did agree to watch the film, when I told her we could leave in the middle if she wanted to. And she watched the whole thing. She said, “I liked what I saw, but I didn’t enjoy it.”
Q: What about the inclusion of references to Northern Ireland, that Harry is a veteran who was stationed there during the conflicts, and a suggestion in the movie that these gangsters are being compared to the IRA?
MC: Well, Harry did say that at least with the IRA in Northern Ireland, they had a cause they were fighting for. These children are doing it for fun.
Q: How about having Emily Mortimer as the female cop who is on to you?
MC: I did think at first that she was a bit delicate for the role, and that they’d do better with somebody more butch. But Emily could be both icy, and have sympathy for this old man all the way through.
Q: You’ve never done anything this violent before, have you?
MC: No, no. I mean, I have played killers and shot people. The thing is, there’s never been a Harry Brown who went out and shot a lot of boys. There have been vigilantes before, like in Death Wish. But he played a guy enjoying himself. And I always played my vigilante as a victim. You know, it was a justice suicide. He lost his wife and best friend, and he had emphysema. So if he got killed, it didn’t matter. And he says to a guy in one scene, “Go ahead. Shoot me.” But a lot of these real gang boys were in the movie, and I sat talking to them for hours. And they regarded me as one of them, because rightly I am. But if they didn’t, I would have been scared shitless! And the sum total of what I got out of it is that they all felt that they never had a chance. And I felt, “You have had a chance, but you blew it.”
But I felt they needed a second chance. Everybody needs a second chance. Because you cannot leave them there to rot. Or you’ll have to end up calling the army out.
Q: I hear you want to bring back the draft in the UK.
MC: Yes. It’s a bit corny to say, but then you feel like you belong. Because you’ve done your bit, and you’re here to defend it. Because I defended it in Korea, and I felt, “What the hell am I doing here? You know, defending England in Korea? This is a waste of time.” But me and my friends, we all came out of the army feeling we have a right to be here.
Q: You get a real workout in this movie, and you’re up there in years. How did you pull that off?
MC: Well, I always knock on wood when I answer that question. I’m very fit, because I walk a lot. I walk three or four miles a day. And I’m a gardener, I have a garden on a slope. So I’m always pushing a barrel load of manure up a hill. And, God has been kind!
Q: Will you ever retire?
MC: I consider myself retired, unless I get a script that I absolutely can’t refuse. But the movie business retires you, you don’t retire from the movie business.
Q: What about Sean Connery?
MC: Well, the movie business retired him, because he didn’t want to play small parts about old men. And they weren’t offering him any young parts in romantic leads. So he was gone! But I got a script, and I sent it back. I said, “The part’s too short.” And they sent it back to me and told me, “Don’t read the part for the lover, read the part for the father!”
Q: What’s next for you?
MC: I have no idea. I just bought a book at the airport, coming here. I was reading it yesterday and last night, and this morning I rang up my agent and said, “I’d like to do this book. It’s just a fascinating thriller, and I’d like to do it.” So we’ll see.
Q: Do you think Harry Brown could hurt tourism in London?
MC: No, London isn’t dangerous. Unless you go over in that area. And you aren’t going over there, I promise you!