Interviewer: Hello, everybody, and welcome to our daily program Stardom. Today in our studio, we have Paul Lewis, the famous actor. Hello, Paul.
Paul: Hello. It's a pleasure being here. Thank you for inviting me.
Interviewer: You have recently announced that you are going to retire from acting after the completion and release of Runway, a drama of the 1950s London fashion scene. For many, this is sombre news. Can you comment on your decision?
Paul: Well, in every person's career, there's a time when enough is enough. I've been acting both in film and theatre for over three decades, making Runaway as my last film marks a full circle for me. I'm proud of each and every one of my achievements from winning the 2007 Academy Award for Best Leading Actor to two Best Actor Oscars. Though I've been nominated five times in total, that's enough for one actor, really.
Interviewer: You have always been admired by people. I wonder if you have ever had a particularly difficult time throughout your career.
Paul: No. I had far too easy a time of it in my first year. I'd done very well in Bristol. I joined the repertory company of the Bristol Old Vic, which I'd aspired to from the time I first went to the theatre school. I spent a year in the repertory company playing very interesting parts in good plays. Even now a lot of my mates have been out of work for a year. Imagine what it's like after three years of training. You have such an intense desire to inflict yourself upon a paying audience. Luckily, it has never happened to me.
Interviewer: It's always difficult to ask if there is any particular director whom you really would like to work with.
Paul: Oh, I know. A lot of my colleagues would say it sounds as if you're asking for work. Well, I admire Scorsese very much. Why pretend otherwise? Of course I'd like to work with him, but it's hardly possible now.
Interviewer: Many of your films were shot in Paris. Do you know Paris well?
Paul: I guess Paris always remains a mystery, no matter how much time you have spent there. Last summer, I came back to Paris as a tourist because I wanted to look around, look up for a change instead of looking at my feet. And I did love it. But Paris infuriates me as well, because there's something provocative and tantalizing about it. It makes me quietly dissatisfied with living in London. Though, I've just bought a house in London.
Interviewer: Are you very solitary. Didn't I read that when you were doing one of your films you took a cabin up in the hills by yourself?
Paul: Yes, I did. I don't like to disassociate myself from the people I'm working with, but that was a very particular time. I needed to restore myself. And silence for me is one of the greatest restoratives. And the Blue Ridge Mountains are the most silent place on God's earth.
Interviewer: Do you have friends? Have you managed to keep up with friends from school?
Paul: Well, if ever you're in London, I'll take you to a football match in you cross. You can watch Millwall playing, and then you'll find out. My old school friends are actually doing rather well as amateur footballers now, but in the past, they had a reputation as the most badly behaved supporters in the country.
Interviewer: Do you have certain heroes or role models?
Paul: I have no role models, but there are many heroes. I have an enormous capacity for hero worship. Brando, how can you not worship Brando? I've got many heroines, too, like Meryl Streep or Audrey Hepburn.
Interviewer: Thank you, Paul. It has been a real pleasure talking with you today
