Danny Lee Wynter plays Joe Dix
Danny Lee Wynter had just come out of drama school when he was recruited for the life-changing job of playing one of the leads in not one, but two major new films written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. The young actor can scarcely credit it!
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Stephen has always been an idol to Danny, who headlines as the concierge Joe in both Capturing Mary and its companion piece, Joe's Palace.
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"Stephen is a true visionary, and working with him on this has been an unbelievable privilege," opines the 25-year-old actor, who is passionate about his profession and worked for five years as an usher at the Royal Court Theatre in London while he was studying at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art).
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"Stephen's work is both very specific and very special. Because he is so unique, he is one of very few people who has been given the chance to write and direct his own TV dramas. He does it with enormous verve and good taste. Every character in his films has a life of its own, and every actor I know wants to work with Stephen."
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The actor continues: "Stephen's great skill is writing about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Ever since I was a child, that is a subject that has inspired and excited me. I still remember the thrill I got when I first watched Julie Walters star in Educating Rita. Stephen's films have had the same impact on me."
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Danny has also taken huge pleasure in being directed by Stephen. "If you have someone there giving you hints all the time, 'that line was meant to come out like this', it's incredibly helpful.
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"He's so, so precise. You just have to listen and try to incorporate all the advice that has been bestowed on you. He is the person who has envisaged this world in his mind. It sits there so comfortably in his head, and it is our job to bring it to life."
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The writer-director has also really aided Danny in the development of the character of Joe, an outsider who helps other people come to terms with their problems.
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"Stephen has a peculiar connection with the world of the overlooked. He writes as an outsider himself, and I feel there's a lot of Stephen in Joe. Joe's a very bright character who, viewing things from outside, has an acute understanding of what's going on."
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Danny carries on: "In all of Stephen's work, there is a deep sense of loneliness. A teacher gave me a copy of one of his early films, Caught On A Train, and I was fascinated by the relationship between Peggy Ashcroft and Michael Kitchen's characters. She's essentially a very lonely woman asking a stranger to connect.
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"In the same way, Michael Gambon in Perfect Strangers and Bill Nighy in
Gideon's Daughters are just lost people searching for a connection with others. They have so much to give but they want to receive as well. These themes run through the wonderfully imaginative mind of the man who wrote all these dramas."
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Danny found the story at the heart of Capturing Mary utterly riveting:
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"Mary is a woman who's been wronged. To Joe, it's black and white what Greville has done to her is plain wrong. That's the beautiful thing about Joe, he's very direct and very passionate. Even though Mary is a complete stranger to him, he's prepared to fight her corner. Her heartache and regret run so deep that he absolutely connects with her and wants to right those wrongs."
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The actor says he completely identifies with Mary's story: "I find it so, so relevant I can see it in lots of my friends. It's the tale of a young person who's been manipulated and had her confidence battered by a jealous older person. So she has never quite made the mark in life that she should have done. It's an extremely compelling story that everyone can relate to."
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What Danny has relished above all else about Capturing Mary has been the opportunity of working at close quarters with Dame Maggie Smith, one of the undisputed all-time greats of British acting.
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"It's such a honour," he beams. "Working with people who are very, very good at their jobs has been the best part of this whole experience and no-one is better at their job than Maggie!
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"In a scene with Maggie, you forget all about yourself, you just watch and learn. I've spent the last three years being taught about acting at college.
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"But you're not always able to adhere to your training because you're so busy running around like a headless chicken trying to get to your classes on time that you forget to listen. But working with Maggie, you can't do anything but listen. It's been the most fantastic experience for me."
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The young actor goes on to outline Maggie's most priceless attributes: "Without even thinking about it, she can effortlessly convey the most complex emotions. She can conjure up the bitterness and the absurdity of life through a single gesture."
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He gives an example: "Maggie's very precise. There's a moment in Gosford Park which I love. Ivor Novello is boasting to her about some new film he's written, and he says to her, 'I couldn't possibly tell you what it's about'.
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"But she merely replies, 'don't worry, none of us will ever see it'. Then she turns away from him with a face that says, 'aren't I clever?' That moment says it all about her character. Maggie's such a terrific actress, in fact, frighteningly so!"
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Danny closes by underlining just how much he has always admired Maggie: "I've always been a huge fan," he enthuses.
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"I saw her years ago in David Hare's The Breath Of Life, and she was wonderful. Afterwards I went backstage and she signed my programme. She doesn't know this but, to this day, I've kept it as one of my most treasured possessions!"
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