2013.06 - Audio interview by Nahtlos at Chantilly - Interviews 2013-2015 - Video Library

2013 June - Audio interview by Nahtlos at Chantilly

Simon: Hi, I’m Simon.

Now you’ve been here, of course, at the race course last year. Did you bet?

Simon: Yeah, actually I think I came out about 5 Euro ahead. I’m not a big gambler.

SB: I mean the exciting part is to have, what’s the term they use, skin in the game.You know, just a little, but not too much.

That makes you care.

SB: Not a whole carcase, just a little bit of skin. Yeah, well it just makes you care. Just makes it a little bit exciting. I like the interaction too, and the great thing about last year is where they had, in the tent that I was in, where you bet, you could also order a drink. So it was sort of a two for one.

Okay. Did you fall victim to that now?

SB: No. No. Of course not.

You didn’t spend your winnings on booze, did you?

[In original transcript but not on tape – SB: Drinks were free for me.]

Were there people that given your role on television on The Mentalist that ask you that you could tell them who would win?

SB: Yeah, there was one or two. That wore a bit thin pretty quickly.

Okay. So you said, no, I’m not a medium. I’m just playing someone with abilities on TV.

SB: What is interesting is that at the lunch, and you know the dinner last night, there’s a lot of people that are involved in the horse racing industry so you get a lot of tips, a lot of very varying tips, so it depends on who you listen to I guess. And I’m sure some of them are going to be right and some of them aren’t.

So you’ll be betting today too?

SB: Yeah, absolutely. I like to have a look at the horses. That’s a nice thing about going to the races. I don’t go to the races very often, and I like the celebratory approach to it and the little sort of pattern that you develop where the horses come out and they’re paraded around, and you get a little glimpse of the horses and the jockeys and the names and the girls and, you know, all of that sort of stuff, and then you make a decision and put, well I’m not a big better, so I put about 5 Euros on it.

So apparently you had a great time last year and you decided to come back this year. What is it you like about the horses in particular, because you told me about the girls and the drinks and the betting?

SB: What do I like about the horses?

What is it you like about the horses?

SB: Well, I mean there’s nothing ... it’s just something about, you know, horses full flight, whether it’s 1 horse or 10 horses. It goes through you, no it’s sexier than that, it’s amazing, it’s just kind of a sexy, powerful, the idea of the horses, they’re such incredible animals, and these race horses are so finely tuned. So when they parade them around, you can see that they’re just on the edge and ready to go all the time. It’s probably sometimes a little bit more like acting at times. You know? Sometimes. Not all the time. Sometimes acting can be quite dull and boring and waiting. The idea of all the preparation that’s gone into these horses for, you know, a race lasts 2 minutes and it’s like a coiling spring in these horses, and then when they go, and the sound of their hooves on the grass is really exciting. And when you can be that close, I don’t know, you get that sense of it and then when the big race comes and everyone sort of flocks down to the barrier to watch. I don’t know, it’s just, the effort that’s gone in, into the training of the horses, the preparation of the jockeys and the selection of the jockeys, and then just the effort that everyone puts in to dress up. Hats. I love seeing all the women with their hats. Where else do women wear hats anymore? That whole element of fashion is sort of non-existent unless at the horses.

Now do you ride yourself?

SB: I wouldn’t say that I ride. I don’t ride regularly, but I can ride.

Did you grow up with horses?

SB: I didn’t grow up with horses. I learned to ride on film sets. I was taught by a couple of different Hollywood wranglers that…the first guy I learned to ride with, his name is Rudy Ugland. He taught Marlon Brando to ride. He taught Steve McQueen to ride. I mean, he was a second generation wrangler. His father did all the John Ford westerns. So you get the privilege of having to ride horses on film. You get the opportunity to spend a lot of time around horse wranglers, and they’re obviously very different to race horses. But I’ve done a bunch of films where I’m riding horses, and then you go away and…I did a film once, an Ang Lee film [in original transcript but not on tape - called, Ride with the Devil, like the end of the 90s. I think it was like 98 or something. I’m getting old. Frightening], and we shot for 6 months, but for 4 weeks leading up to it, I rode every day for 3 hours a day, and then for 3 weeks whilst on location, we had like a rehearsal period where as a company, we rode every day for 3 or 4 hours with jumping, and so we did most of our own stunts.

SB: Jumping. So I can ride a horse, and I’m quite comfortable just to sort of get on a horse, which is kind of incredible because as a kid I was horrified of them. They’re powerful, they are very powerful.

[in original transcript but not on tape - So you don’t own a horse now?

SB: I don’t own a horse, no.

What do you say about the whole atmosphere here? It’s elegance. It’s fashion. It’s beauty.

SB: Well, an aesthetic. Whether that is an appreciation of a good experience and the effort that goes into that. The appreciation of that effort and that’s what I like about this race,]

this festival of racing , the Prix de Diane Longines, I just appreciate the amount of effort that everyone makes and whether you sort of succeed in being the belle of the ball or not

You are. The beau of the ball.

SB: The beau of the ball , but I think the effort is appreciated by everyone and it’s, at the same time, it’s not really dwelled on, like everyone dresses up and then they go and have a great time, and it’s sort of dealt with in that way. So, what my idea of elegance is, is really…it’s a balance of making an effort and being appreciative of what you have and what you don’t have and appreciating the effort that other people make as well.

Now what is, these couple of days are all about time, what is your favourite way of wasting time if you have a chance?

SB: I hate that word wasting.

Choose another word, spending time if you have the free way of choosing.

SB: Taking up time. You know, my favourite way of doing it, it’s like sort of, I don’t know, I really like spending time with my kids. And whether that’s just something as ridiculous as sitting and watching some cartoons with them or playing basketball or going for a swim with them. Just to hang out with them and just be around them is my favourite way of spending loose, random time, unorganized, free-form.

You’ve got a good way to spend the waiting time during your films as well?

SB: Good way of spending the waiting time? Well the internet has been a saviour for that.

SB: Yeah, you know, you can have kind of everything available to you, so you can read. I like podcasts.