“I would imagine
that working with
Chaplin must have
been exhausting and
thrilling, and working
with Sacha must be
like working with
Chaplin at the height
of his career.”
he inimitable Sir Ben Kingsley, looking
more like an affable literature professor
than the guy who portrayed Gandhi, is
tucked away at a back table in the gold-accented Peacock Alley lounge of Manhattan’s storied Waldorf Astoria, wearing a
plain gray shirt and casual slacks. He’s in
town filming the latest Sacha Baron Cohen
political satire, The Dictator, and he has
chosen to stay at the hotel—a landmark
building that spans an entire city block—
for a very specific reason.
“I deliberately chose this ambience
because I love Old New York,” Kingsley says, running his finger along
the swanky placemat on the table in front of him as piano music fills
the air. “I love the architecture of New York—when it vertically shot
out of the granite into the sky. I love New York’s energy, its architec-
ture. I find it very elegant.”
Elegant is also the perfect word to describe Kingsley, who at 67 has
appeared in nearly 100 films, including Gandhi, Schindler’s List and
Sexy Beast. He is sophistication personified: perfect manners, a calm-
ing voice that could soothe even the most colicky baby and a speech
pattern that eschews “ums,” “likes” or “ya knows.” Every word he says
is deliberate. Every answer he gives is thoughtful. He is graceful and
respectful. He’s never heard of TMZ. They don’t make movie stars like
Sir Ben anymore.
So what in the world is such a stately figure—a distinguished actor
who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2002—doing in a movie with
the guy who created the neon green singlet-wearing, “Sexytime” spe wing, gross-out character Borat? The short answer is that although Kingsley couldn’t be more serious about his acting and the projects in which
he chooses to appear, he would never dare to take himself too seriously.
To him, a good script is a good script.
“Sacha is very intelligent, and I like him very much,” he says. “I
would imagine that working with Chaplin must have been exhausting
and thrilling, and working with Sacha must be like working with Chaplin
at the height of his career. Where he’s full of brilliant ideas, he’s very
persuasive, he’s not a control freak but has exquisite comedy taste, and
knows exactly how far to push things and when to pull back. He’s a very
gracious man.”
In the film, which is directed by Larry Charles (Borat, Bruno), King-
sley plays the minister of security to Cohen’s ruthless dictator. “I am
also his procurer of women,” he says with a chuckle. “It’s a dual role. I
can’t say too much about the story, but my role is quite nasty.” It’s also
a role that allows Kingsley to improvise, which he loves. “I don’t impro-
vise vocally, I don’t improvise verbally, but I will improvise physically.
I’ll change tone, or add a certain irony. I love playing. I really do.”
Kingsley and Cohen also got to play together on the set of Hugo,
Martin Scorsese’s first family-oriented movie, in which Kingsley
plays real-life filmmaker George Mélìes, who, after World War I, was
assumed dead until he was discovered in a toy shop by a young boy
named Hugo.
“What’s very appealing about my character is that he did exist,”
Kingsley says. “And there are hours of footage of his films, which
he made from the early 1900s to about 1940 when the First World
