Friday, June 09, 2023
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We've all seen how fame can lead people to breakdowns - it's not often we see a breakdown lead someone to fame. But that was the case with Geoffrey Rush. He'd been toiling away as a stage actor back home in Australia for decades. He worked himself hard. Then one day, he'd reached his 40s - he was gonna be a dad. He'd hit a wall in his career: he could not make the break into film.
Geoffrey started having panic attacks, and spiraled into a breakdown. But he managed to do what many people in similar circumstances can't: he found a way through it. And that's lucky for him (and us), because it was around that time that he got the lead in a film called 'Shine'.
Geoffrey played the real-life pianist David Helfgott, a former child prodigy who suffers a nervous breakdown. Not surprisingly, he brought a real depth of feeling to the role... and won an Oscar on his very first try.
Since then, Geoffrey has shown a killer instinct for great roles. He poured himself into the role of Peter Sellers - another disturbed genius. He played The Marquis de Sade as if he were Viagra in human form. And he went toe-to-toe with his mate Colin Firth in 'The King's Speech'. He also appeared in some low-budget indies about pirates who hang out in the Caribbean.
Geoffrey's latest film, 'The Eye of the Storm' - which is playing at the Toronto International Film Festival - takes him back to his roots: he plays a struggling stage actor who returns home to Australia to face his dying mother.
Check out the rest of this week's guests right here.
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