Premier Magazine Interview

by Matthew Todd

"There were a lot of frightened pigeons in Trafalgar square that night," laughs 30-year old Steven Mackintosh on the experience of tottering around London togged up for his role as a male-to-female transsexual in this month's Different for Girls. "As soon as I stepped out of the cab, three woman wolf-whistled me and it never stopped all night long. It has to rate as the most terrifying experience of my life." And one of the least expected. "I couldn't believe it when they offered me the part. I've got quite a hard-looking, aggressive face. After we finished I went off and played a serial killer in Prime Suspect."

Growing up in Cambridge, school plays sparked a passion for the boards, with Mackintosh's first professional role coming in Allistair Crowley's The Name of the Beast at the Bush Theatre. "I had to run around the whole time screaming 'fuck' and 'cunt' at everyone. It was an incredibly weird introduction to the business for a 13 year old."

By 17, he'd had his first major break in the form of the secret Diary of Adrian Mole, playing Mole's

best friend, Nigel. Numerous TV, film, and theatre roles followed, most notably in Hanif Kureishi's The Budda of Suburbia as a trashed glam rock star. "I begged Hanif for the part," says Mackintosh," it was amazing for all of us who were involved."

Directed by Richard Spence, this month's Different for Girls plots the development of a relationship between two male school friends who meet up after 20 years, one of whom has become a she. As well as the physical rigeurs of prosthetic appliances and hair extensions, Mackintosh spent numerous evenings in a transsexual counseller's living room in high heels and a pencil skirt. She'd make me walk around and tell me off when I got too butch," the actor says. "With most roles there's something of yourself you can bring to them, but with this, there was nothing."

Transexuality, as he points out, has not often been seriously adressed in mainstream cinema, and he was determined to avoid campy, comical cliches. "The character is not a female impersonator. She's a woman who was born into the wrong body. The film is about her standing up for who she is and I wanted to do it justice. Kissing Rupert Graves was tough, too. After our love scenes, we would pull apart and make gruff macho noises and talk about power tools and football."

Mackintosh can next be seen in David Leland's Land Girls, with his friend Anna Friel. "I've been lucky to play a range of different characters recently. I'm very happy, especially now that my daughter has just about accepted that her father isn't Lily Savage."