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ZOO Magazine 2014

An Interview with Rutger Hauer for Gaastra

There’s something deeply alluring about a character that is somewhat tricky to pin down, shrouded by a dark and ever-shifting aura. Rutger Hauer is a case in point, and not just on screen – Hauer’s personal existence has proved even more capricious than the eclecticism of his career in acting. But before all that came to be, Hauer was a sailor – a past life resurrected as he boards the ship for Gaastra’s latest campaign. So with the sea air still fresh in his lungs, what’s next for Rutger Hauer? 

REBEKKA AYRES: As an actor, you’re perhaps best known for your portrayal of the darker side of human nature. What is it that enables you to embody eeriness so successfully?

RUTGER HAUER: The characters I play reflect each project. It depends on the story how lovely or less lovely they act. My craft is to create part of an illusion and make it appear as believable as possible. 

RA: While there’s surely a certain spirit to every character you assume, the essence of each differs wildly, making for an eclectic career that seems impervious to typecasting. What do you think about when choosing a role?

RH: Variety and possible layers. It's crucial to try not to do the same thing twice. My compass decides if the work needs me more than any of my colleagues. And if it makes sense.

RA: To what extent do you relate to the characters you play?

RH: The challenge is to make their ‘skin' invisible. It drives the story forward and lets the audience in – they complete it. It is the invisible part of my craft. Some of my characters have bigger egos than I do. Mine is in the parking lot and the meter is running. 

RA: From the roles that you’ve been offered, are there any that come to mind that you imagine would have taken your career in an entirely different direction if you had been to accept them?

RH: It raises too many questions which don’t have many answers. It would take a book to map out all the coincidences that guided me. The work that I never did created the work I ended up doing. It is magic.

RA: Undoubtedly, with Blade Runner was born a legacy that, more than 30 years later, resonates still. Did you consider that it might engender such a heritage at the time?

RH: Blade Runner fascinated me from the moment I laid my eyes on the screenplay. Ridley wanted me and I wanted “Roy” badly.

RA: How do you prepare for a role? Were there any that were markedly more demanding than others?

RH: Nothing compares really. I like that. And it’s true, there is little method to this madness. I don’t know of a day that is the same in my life – it keeps things fresh. Finding the difficulties in each role is a big surprise – sometimes shocking. And funny. I read each screenplay a hundred times and secretly fantasize about the possible underlying subtext that could add texture to the character’s sketch. I bring that to the director to decide. As you know, a film is a bunch of “moments” puzzled together and I see what I do as sketching.

RA: And before you decided to be an actor, you left school to become a sailor, which journalists have commonly described as “running away from home to join the Navy”. Was it ‘running away’, and what were you running away from?

RH: The sea was always in my mind from a very early age – it’s in my blood. Schools were silly and boring and so uninspiring. I wanted to discover the ocean rather than the teachers, who were dead fish. I was so happy I could run away from it and my parents helped me to go. As a teenager I had no idea what the hell to do in life. The year out sailing across the world prepared me for the future. The world was so much bigger than me, and so fascinating. It opened my eyes to all its grace and ugliness. It taught me some discipline and a lot of respect. If I was running it was possibly towards my future. To me, it felt different. It was as if I was pushed by a hand wasn’t mine.

RA:  You’re the star of Gaastra’s recent advertising campaign which, incidentally, is inspired by the Flying Dutchman. How was shooting on board the ship?

RH: Once in a lifetime…Sailing one of the last wooden, most beautiful 90ft schooners singlehandedly? As a fifteen year old, this was my dream. I was drawing this schooner every day for hours with such passion. Where did that come from? The one grandfather I ever met when I was five years old was a captain. Long after my mother passed away, I learned that her family had a long line of sailing men over three centuries. So that one day spent off the Californian coast where I earned respect from the ship’s crew was a spectacular experience. I was all ocean and wind, which most sailors are...

RA:  As legend has it, the captain of the ship was thought to be in league with the Devil for his ability to make distance with disconcertingly swift time. Did you call upon your sinister side?

RH: I blame my imagination. 

RA: You also foster a strong relationship with the sea through your activism for environmentalist issues. How did you come to be involved with such causes?

RH: It’s about my nature and all nature I grew up in. The world is such a beautiful place and the human race does so much damage to it as we learn more about what our world is and how we, as humans, collectively think we can get away without paying some serious respect to it. I realised, after I had made a name and passed fiftysomething, that life is more about giving than taking. Who needs boots or a handbag made from crocodile skin? Have they completely lost touch with reality? That idea is deeply sinister in the real world...I would prefer it if they would just carry their own skin around, okay? So I looked for places where I felt I could be helpful. I founded my AIDS charity in Milan. I founded training programs for filmmakers and had a short film festival, also in Milan, giving back to my peers. And I found other charities to support. I connected with the captain of seashepherd.org, Paul Watson, twenty years ago and felt a deep bond – we are great friends. And he did for more than thirty five years what I would have done had I not been colorblind. To me, all this is not being an environmentalist or an activist but it is just about being human.

RA: Your parents ran and taught in an acting school. Did this pave a natural progression into acting for you?

RH: My mother wasn’t really that crazy about acting, so this was much more my Father’s DNA. His career was bombed by World War II and the German occupation. He could either work for the pleasure of the Germans or stop, so he stopped. I suppose this cost him five years of his prime as a “jeune premier”. He was a stunning, sensitive and most handsome man. I picked up where he had to leave. My film career was lost on him as he died before it really started. But I know he would feel mighty proud.

RA:   You once said acting was “last on your list” of career prospects – what else was on there?

RH: Honest and fair navigating my life. The Gaastra day-sail put me back where I belong. The wind blows my mind – literally empties it. Emptiness or Zen or whatever else can you call it. Not such a great career move, but life is so much more. Becoming a pilot or a captain was on my list, but I’m color-blind – it wrecks ships and planes. A modern dancer? Too much blood and sweat. And pain…A singer in a rock band, like Mick J…I can’t sing like that, but all of the aspirations on my list were careers of adventure and discovery, widening horizons. Thank god I got lucky finding this chance where I can just pretend all of the above, and more…

RA: And what’s next?

"This is Houston.Do you read me?"

"Yes Houston. I read you loud and clear!
"What’s Next?"

"Yes Houston. That would be:
W-I-N-D.”

WIND!

How delicious.

And a smile of good fortune.