Man and Boy

Man and Boy
Well I've been watching this for the past few days now and I must say that this is probably my favourite Ioan project yet. It just reminds me so much of the relationship my dad and I had when my parents were divorcing/split up including the Star Wars bit. Like Pat, I was obsessed with Star Wars, lol. I spent most of my time with my dad when I was 3 till I was 5, but before then I had spent most of my time with my mum. It was only till my mum intervened that I had to go back to her and even that was hard because my dad had bonded with me and didn't particularly want to let me go but he ended up having to. The similarities between Pat's story and mine freak me out sometimes. But enough of my life story, I just love Ioan's acting in this. My favourite scene is the one where he gets all the messages from Gina on his answering machine and then she rings him. I don't know why but I like seeing the vulnerable acting side from Ioan. It breaks my heart every single time, it's probably because I like it when characters from dramas become humanised and you can relate to them. Like when he leaves Pat at Gina's house at the end, that bit breaks my heart as well because I can relate to it. Personally I think this role suited Ioan well and it actually seemed to me like he had an actual proper ‘bond’ with the son. Which, from what I’ve seen in other dramas, is pretty hard to. I just wondered what everyone else thought about this drama?

Hi reverie I thought his performance in Man and Boy was brillant aswell he played the role so naturally and was very good at dealing with all the different emotions and situations Harry was faced with. It's good that you can relate to the story on an indvidual level especially in so many ways I love it when you can really relate to films/tv series. I also thought it has prepared Ioan for being a dad he will make a great Father one day.

I just watched Man and Boy yesterday. I was very moved by the story as it unfolded. I don't know about anyone else, but because it was so realistic, I cried!! Needed the box of tissues............ I had read reviews that critisiced Ioan's performance as a father and that he didn't relate well to the little boy. However I thought the opposite. The whole point of the story to me was that Harry was forced to develop a relationship with Pat bexause his wife left. If she had stayed he may never have had that opportunity to bond with his son. All in all, beautiful and very touching. A stunning performance by Ioan in a role that as yet he has no life experience of and that makes it all the more remarkable as a performance!! I'd love to hear what others thought too! Susie D. PS: I think he'll be great Dad too one day!

This is still one of Ioan's movies that I would like to see one day. I've heard a lot of good things about it,too. Glad you got to see it!

I'm glad you got to see Man & Boy, Susie. I was also very moved by the story and cried a lot while seeing this movie, as I really felt it tells a story as if it were from real life. I think Ioan was very natural and related well with the boy: it was the role that required that he was awkward with the boy at the beginning and increasingly at ease as the story developed and Harry bonds with his son. A stunning performance by Ioan in a role that as yet he has no life experience of and that makes it all the more remarkable as a performance!! In fact, as being a good actor is about being credible even in roles you have no life experience of, Ioan's performance in Man & Boy proves he is really a good actor.

Yes, I cried too! I thought it was a very realistically flawed relationship and that Ioan did a grand job. That sudden flood of emotions that Harry has no idea existed, that almost swamps him. Someone once told me that you never really understand your parents until you have kids of your own, and Harry's relationship with his Dad examines this brilliantly. I know Ioan was criticised at the time for being 'too emotional' for a father, but to me that view just perpetuates the stereotype of men as strong and distant - hah!

In fact, as being a good actor is about being credible even in roles you have no life experience of, Ioan's performance in Man & Boy proves he is really a good actor. Couldn't agree more! :applaud: Frances, have you seen any interviews Ioan did about Man and boy? Also, Stevie i agree with you...........men should be allowed to cry and show emotion! Ioan does this beautifully in "Man and Boy". By self confession in interviews, he admits he is a guy who cries and boy,there ain't no shame in that! It just shows a male in touch with his feelings. Why does society label that as being a sissy? I heard a snippet on the news recently that said that men who show emotion and can express their feelings cope much better with marriage breakup then men who bottle it up. They are far less likely to suffer depressive illness as a result. We girls sure know that a good cry is therapeutic so keep passing those tissues please!! Think I'll go watch "Man and Boy" again. :wink: :love: Susie

Frances, have you seen any interviews Ioan did about Man and boy? I can recall seeing one, but it was ages ago, I should dig it out of my Ioan clips archives. I'll look for it and let you know if I find it. A web search resulted in this interview dating to when Man & Boy was released (Spring 2002): it is not about M&B only, but it is nice. ********** Question time: Interview Ioan Gruffudd - Ioan my son Sunday Mirror, Mar 24, 2002, by DAPHNE LOCKYER You must be the busiest actor in Britain at the moment... It might look that way at the moment because a lot of the projects that I've worked on are all being shown together. There's the Hornblower two-parter which is on this weekend, the BBC adaptation of Tony Parson's book, Man And Boy next week and The Forsyte Saga the week after that. By the end of it, it might seem that I'm never off the TV. I hope people don't get fed up with me. I'm sure they won't. Hornblower looked like a lot of fun to film... We filmed it in Menorca and it was the best fun imaginable. To me Hornblower is the ultimate boy's own adventure. I used to jump out of bed every morning because I couldn't wait to get on set. Hornblower was nominated for eight Emmies in the US and you were voted the world's third most eligible bachelor by People Magazine. Did that turn your head? Well, I was extremely pleased about the Emmy situation. But as for being the world's third most eligible bachelor - who makes that kind of stuff up? (laughter). Tell us a bit about your character, in The Forsyte Saga, Bosinney. Isn't he a bit of a romantic hero? He does have a romantic quality. But, like all the characters in the drama, he's an unclassifiable mixture of good and bad qualities. He can be pompous, he's selfish and he's capable of trampling over people to get what he wants - none of these traits are too attractive. On the other hand he has great charm and he's a rebel, which draws people to him. He's also completely in love with Irene (Gina McKee) and that accounts for a lot of his behaviour in the drama. Many will remember the original Forsyte Saga from the 1960s. Did you worry that the new version would pale in comparison? No, once I'd read the script and screen tested with Gina McKee I felt sure it was going to work. You play a lot of blokes in britches and period costume: Hornblower, Pip in Great Expectations and now Bosinney. It must have been a relief to get your jeans on for Man And Boy. Yes, it was a great opportunity to prove I can do the kind of role where I'm just playing a normal man living in the here and now. Also he's a bit older and a father, which I've never played before. So it was new territory all round. How did you get into the role? Well, obviously I read the book first, and I loved it. People think I'm an intellectual kind of actor but that's more to do with the roles I've played. I'm not a great reader or anything and yet I found I couldn't put this book down. I really felt for the man and - though I don't have a child of my own - I could definitely imagine how you'd feel if your marriage was breaking up and you were in danger of losing everything - including your son - as a result. I didn't find it hard to get my head around that. Did playing a dad make you broody? I didn't think: "I must have a child tomorrow". But I'd love to be a father one day and I wouldn't want to leave it too long, either. I'd still want to be able to kick a ball around with my kids and do all the stuff that my dad did with me. But at 28, I do have some time left. Any likely mothers in sight? Well, I don't know about that. But I think everyone knows that I've been going out with the actress Alice Evans for a few months now. We're very happy together. We met on the set of 102 Dalmations, over a year ago now. But at that time she was with someone else (Olivier Picasso, grandson of the artist, Pablo), so I didn't consider it. We stayed friends and the relationship deepened. We kept quiet about it, partly because I'm not the type that blabs about who I'm seeing. I'm an actor but there are boundaries beyond which I don't want to tell people everything about myself. Also Alice was officially with Olivier and that had to be sorted out. But now we're very much together. You are a couple of years younger than Alice. What's the appeal of a slightly older woman? The fact that Alice is 30 does make a difference, I think. Women I've met over the last few years who've been my age or a bit younger all seem to have had issues, probably because your twenties are a time for trying to discover who you are and what you want. By 30, women seem to have come through that. They're more themselves, less trying to impress, more sorted. Is it helpful that Alice is in the same business? At the beginning of my career I didn't want to be involved with another actor. But now I do feel that only another actor can understand the nature of the beast. It's mutually supportive. You grew up 30 miles apart, Alice in Bristol and you in Wales. Will you go back to that neck of the woods one day? If I ever have children I'd love them to be brought up in Wales. I still love the place and feel like a Welshman to my boots. Also, my own childhood was very happy, so I can't think of a better place for children to grow up. Are you very close to your family? Incredibly so. My sister Siwan is at medical school in London so I see a lot of her and my mum and dad often come and visit too. My younger brother Alun works for the Welsh national assembly - a proper grown-up job. I tend to catch up with him whenever I go back to Wales. You and your siblings have all gone into very different professions. Why is that? Because we were encouraged by our parents to follow our hearts. My father was a headmaster and my mum was a teacher so, obviously, education was very important to them. They could so easily have told me to go to university, but instead they were cool enough to tell us all to follow our dreams and our hearts and to do exactly what we wanted to do. And that's how I ended up at RADA. I'll be eternally grateful to them for that. Yours was a strongly chapel background. How much does your upbringing still influence your life? My dad was a deacon in the church, so I was raised with a strong Christian belief. I still have it, although I only go to chapel when I go back to Wales. I'm a bit out of touch with the church, but the beliefs I was raised with are strong and I still hold the same values I was given as a child. At the heart of it I believe you should treat other people as you'd want to be treated and those are the kind of values I'd want to pass on to my own children. What about the church's views on sex before marriage? I do part company with the church on that issue. I certainly don't take sex lightly, but I don't believe it's at all immoral to sleep with a woman that you love before marriage. You obviously love Wales, but is London a second home to you? Very much so. I first came to London as a RADA student and I haven't really left since. I now own a flat in Kilburn that I share with my best friend and fellow Welshman, the actor, Matthew Rhys (from TV drama Metropolis). I do feel very much at home in London. The friendship with Matthew goes back a long way, doesn't it? It does. We went to the same junior school and the same high school. But Matthew was in the year below me so we weren't mates at that time. Then he came up to RADA and we shared a student flat together and we got on so well that, even when we started earning proper money, we carried on sharing - only in much nicer flats. Like me, Matthew comes from a chapel background and when we're at home we speak Welsh because it's a first language for both of us. I've got lots of very good mates but Matthew's definitely my best friend. Is the flat like something out of Men Behaving Badly? No - it was put together for us by an interior designer and it looks amazing. You won't find socks beneath the sofa cushions or piles of empty beer cans in the lounge. We've been incredibly well brought up by our mothers, I'm afraid. We're more Men Behaving Beautifully.

Frances, that's lovely! A blast from a more innocent time, I'm afraid. Now I have to go watch Hornblower again (such purgatory :roll: ) as i have been reminded how adorable he was back then!

Ahhh,yes! Those good old days,but they're still fun to revisit from time to time. I just got a very inexpensive VHS of POLDARK!! ------------I was not at all familiar with the story,and found it kind of fun to watch. Ioan looks so blatantly charming and even "pre-Hornblowerish", that I found myself not even criticizing the fact that I found the plot of the film rather weak---and the ending,shall I say,much too "open".--------Even back then though, one can see a definite potential emerging from the Welsh Fox.

Nice interview. Whatever happened to the actor? :razz: People think I'm an intellectual kind of actor but that's more to do with the roles I've played. :happy ...I'm not the type that blabs about who I'm seeing...I don't want to tell people everything about myself. Wished he had stuck to that tought. ...or a bit younger all seem to have had issues, probably because your twenties are a time for trying to discover who you are and what you want. By 30, women seem to have come through that. They're more themselves, less trying to impress, more sorted. :rotf: There's a comment on my lips, but it's TOOO obvious!! If I ever have children I'd love them to be brought up in Wales. I still love the place and feel like a Welshman to my boots. Ah, those lovely childhood-dreams. When I was younger, I wanted to 'never get married, just have lots of lovers :naughty ', no kids, an expensive house, lots of travel.... Lucky, I still have my fantasy.... and I would not want to lose my girl for the world. Like me, Matthew comes from a chapel background "..... We've been incredibly well brought up by our mothers, I'm afraid. We're more Men Behaving Beautifully AWWWW!! Why don't I really believe that? :wink:

A blast from a more innocent time, I'm afraid. However, it is fun to revisit from time to time, as Shipmate said. Incredible how people change! (I wonder if it is happening to me, too... I guess it is...). I just got a very inexpensive VHS of POLDARK!! ------------I was not at all familiar with the story,and found it kind of fun to watch. Ioan looks so blatantly charming and even "pre-Hornblowerish", that I found myself not even criticizing the fact that I found the plot of the film rather weak---and the ending,shall I say,much too "open". I also watched Poldark and found that Ioan was very sweet in it and already showing a great acting potential. I rather liked the movie, too, but I agree with you that the ending is much too open. . An explanation of the abruptness of its ending is that Poldark was thought as part of a series of movies, adapted from the 8th to the 11th Poldark novels by Winston Graham (adaptations of the novels from 1 to 7 were made in the 1970s), but only that first episode was filmed, while the others were never produced.

Oh! Alright then, now I get it.......didn't know that,makes sense now----------still kind of like it tho'!-----------------LOVE Ross Poldark's eyes ,too!!! :faint

Thanks for the interview Frances. I had read it before but always fun to go back and look at them again cos you see things you didn't notice before.

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