Why Andrew Scott Likely Won't Play A Villain Again After Spectre
While Andrew Scott has a myriad of roles to his name, most fans will be familiar with the actor from the many villainous performances he has turned in since the start of his career. Of course, most famous among these is his star-making turn as the sinister Jim Moriarty in the BBC's modern-day reboot of Sherlock Holmes, "Sherlock."
However, as is often the case for actors who hit it big playing villains, Scott has, to some degree, found himself typecast as an antagonist. This was almost certainly the case with his character, Max, in "Spectre." Riffing heavily on his work as Moriarty, the film features Scott as a schemer hiding in plain sight and has him working as the secondary antagonist to Blofeld (Christoph Waltz).
Scott seemed to see this same connection between the two characters when he spoke to GQ about his career. "If I'm honest, it's not a territory that I feel like I would want to go over again," he admitted. "Now, I know who I am a little bit more, [and] I feel like the work that I'm just interested in doing is more in the grey areas," he went on. "I suppose it's just that I didn't think... I just maybe wasn't that good in it."
Luckily Scott has had the chance to take on different kinds of roles
While many 007 fans would likely argue that Andrew Scott was perfectly adequate in his role as Max in "Spectre," it's easy to see why the actor may be frustrated with doing something that feels so derivative of his most famous role as the villainous foil to Sherlock Holmes.
Of course, Scott has also had the opportunity to flex some different acting muscles over the years since he landed the breakout role. Most notably, the actor played The Priest (commonly referred to as "Hot Priest") on Phoebe Waller-Bridge's acclaimed comedy series, "Fleabag," and is the narrator for the British children's series "School of Roars."
Still, even if the actor isn't necessarily interested in playing villains as often anymore, he has found himself once again cast as a bad guy as Scott plays the titular role of Tom Ripley in the upcoming miniseries adaptation of "Ripley." Fans of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" will recall that Tom Ripley is a murderous social climber with a penchant for wrapping his troubles up in blood-soaked solutions, and there's no indication that Scott's version will be any less evil.
Scott's latest movie let him try something new
All the same, the actor worked on something different in another recent project, "All of Us Strangers." The surreal film follows Scott as a man who returns to his hometown and rekindles his relationship with his long-deceased parents, who appear to still be alive and the same age as when they died. While a project like that may seem like a pretty big swing, it sounds like it was rewarding for Scott to take on the role. "I think that's maybe why this feels so gratifying and cathartic," he says. "Because I did have to bring so much of my own pain into it."
"All of Us Strangers" deals heavily with Adam (Scott) navigating the complexity of his sexuality before he ultimately comes out to his parents years after their deaths. Scott, who is gay himself, seems to have found the role extremely personal. "There's an inevitable pain that you have to go through when you have to take a risk telling your family something about yourself."
As for Scott's own childhood, he revealed that he was fortunate enough to have friends and family who accepted him after coming out. "That's a real feeling of love that you get confirmed at a very young age, that actually some people who aren't queer don't get," he explained. "I mean, some queer people aren't so lucky."