Revisiting 'Brideshead'

Twenty-seven years after the celebrated miniseries, Charles, Julia, and Sebastian return to the screen

Hayley Atwell plays Julia and Matthew Goode is Charles in the "Brideshead Revisited" remake. (Wiqan ang for the boston globe)

Actors in a remake have two performances to deal with: their own and that of the actor who preceded them. That's especially true when the original was a very big deal, as the 1981 miniseries of "Brideshead Revisited" most definitely was.

When it was announced that Hayley Atwell would be playing Julia Flyte in a new film version of "Brideshead," which opens Friday, she soon heard from the previous Julia, Diana Quick. "Good luck and you have my blessing," Atwell recalled Quick saying.

Matthew Goode, who plays Charles Ryder, gleefully chimed in upon hearing this. "I've heard [expletive] from Jeremy Irons!" he guffawed.

"Brideshead" launched Irons on a major career. It did not launch Anthony Andrews, who played Sebastian Flyte - Ben Whishaw in the movie. (Quick largely concentrated on stage work.) Neither Atwell nor Goode, who were in Boston last week to promote the movie, needs much launching. Each drew considerable attention with a major part in a Woody Allen movie, Atwell in "Cassandra's Dream" and Goode in "Match Point."

Bookended by a World War II segment, "Brideshead" is sumptuously set in the '20s and '30s in Oxford and Venice, and on the Flyte family's magnificent ancestral home, Brideshead Castle (played by Castle Howard, in Yorkshire, in both screen versions). Charles and Sebastian's friendship is tested by the Flytes's devout Catholicism - as will be Charles's relationship with Julia.

The British press likes to compare Atwell to Keira Knightley. They're roughly the same age (Atwell 26, Knightley 23) and very beautiful. Atwell's looks are sultrier and more exotic, though. More important, she's already amassed an impressive resume. Educated at London's Guildhall School of Acting and Drama, she's acted with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and Britain's National Theatre, as well as doing significant television work.

"The great thing about theater," Atwell said last week, "is that in film there's this thing about not having good parts for women as you get older - but, my God, in theater, there still are. So you can have a career going into your 70s, as we know from Denchie, amongst others" ("Denchie" being Dame Judi Dench).

Atwell joked that as a film actress she's at her hiring peak now, whereas, Goode (who's 30) will be at his in 10 years. Hearing this, he rolled his eyes in friendly disgust.

"You're going to look beautiful in 10 years," Goode said. "Are you kidding me?"

Atwell, he added, "happens to be an actress who's also beautiful rather than just some [expletive] who doesn't know what the [expletive] she's doing. That's true about Ben [Whishaw], too. It's so nice to be around people who don't just know their lines. There's a distinct difference between that and someone who's very pretty."

Like Atwell, Goode has done a fair amount of television in Britain. Roles in films as diverse as "Chasing Liberty," "Imagine Me & You," "Copying Beethoven," and "The Lookout" indicate his wide range. Where Atwell was businesslike and composed (finding a pad of paper on the table in front of her, she took occasional notes during the interview), Goode managed to seem languid and energetic all at once. Often profane and flippant in a charming way, he also spoke of his feeling for Evelyn Waugh's novel "Brideshead Revisited," the basis of the miniseries and film, which he read at 12. "Much of it went over my head, of course, but I really loved it."

There was a nice chemistry between Atwell and Goode. They weren't so much deferential to each other as complementary. Complimentary, too. One subject they were as one on was their co-stars, Michael Gambon and Emma Thompson, who play Atwell's parents, Lord and Lady Marchmain.

At the mention of the older actors' names, Atwell and Goode simultaneously bowed, nodded, and grinned. Nothing fake about it, it was awe marbled with affection - or vice versa.

"Gambon has the loveliest fingers in the world," Atwell said, "and these wonderful pink and baby-blue stripey socks from the Garrick Club. And Emma was wearing turquoise toenail polish. You focus on things like that to make them human!"

Goode, who did a spot-on imitation of Gambon's magisterial rumble, added, "You want to work with the best. It does raise your game. At the same time . . . they dispel all your worries because they're just normal people who like to have a laugh."

Atwell recalled how "the first time Gambon saw me on set it was in my full Julia get-up. He came up to me and he went, 'You look like a lesbian. That's good. I love lesbians.' " She and Goode collapsed with laughter.

Let the record show that Atwell does not look at all butch in the film. Still, there is a long tradition of women playing Hamlet on the stage. Given the choice between Sebastian and Charles, which would Atwell rather play? Sebastian, a teddy-bear bearing alcoholic, is by far the showier part.

Quite uncharacteristically, she was at a loss for words. While she fumbled, Goode beamed. "Good question!"

"That's hard," she finally stammered. "It really - that's hard to say." Goode kept chuckling.

"I think I would say Sebastian because he's very different from myself. If I was a bloke, my more obvious casting aptitude would be for Charles. So I think I'd find Sebastian more of a challenge."

Goode stopped laughing when asked if playing a period piece differed much from being in a contemporary film.

"It's kind of like someone saying this is a serious drama rather than a comedy. You just try to find the truth. There are certain things that are given to you. You walk into Brideshead [Castle] and half the job is done for you, really, in terms of what kind of class you're amongst. Suddenly you're allowed to smoke in every scene, which is a joy, since I love props. The costumes hold you in a certain way. Whether it's more enjoyable, I don't know. I do think you get taken more seriously as an actor in a costume drama."

Goode paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "It's just work, really. Considering that what we do is a most enjoyable form of cowboys and Indians, we're very, very lucky."