Total Film 1998
Steven Mackintosh England daring World War Two wasn't sexy. Not unless powdered eggs, air-raid sirens, kids with padding-bowl haircuts and Arthur Lowe blustering around a village hall turn you on. But then there's the mucky roll in the hay that is The Land Girls... "The Land Girls sees you get off with three beautiful women. What initially attracted you to the part?" Steven Mackintosh laughs, smiles knowingly and then executes a quick professional parry. "All those 'elements' are very nice indeed, but initially my interest came from meeting the director, David."
This "David" is notable British helmer David Leiand, who managed to pull off one of the most impressive feats of modern British cinema: making Emily Lloyd a star with Wish You Were Here. He's a film-maker who, as Mackintosh rightly points out, possesses "a distinctive comic touch." The aforementioned "elements" are Braveheart's Catherine McCormack, Stealing Beauty's Rachel Weisz and Brookside's Anna Friel. A trio that Mackintosh, unsurprisingly found "a bit daunting." It's not difficult to see why Leiand was so happy to cast him.
As farmer's son Joe Lawrence, he takes a difficult, underwritten character and creates a peculiarly conflicted Englishman of whom Trevor Howard would be proud. With roles in Blue Juice, House Of America, Twelfth Night and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, it's becoming difficult to conceive of a character-driven British film without Mackintosh. Not that he's swayed by any of his press ("Most of the time I just feel very ordinary").
At the moment he's far more interested in describing the exciting career opportunities which The Land Girls afforded him. Like learning how to plough. "It was graft. The ploughs are very heavy and it's about having a rapport with the horses too. The guy who was teaching me, he made it look effortless. He just had to make these strange little noises." He shakes his head, the inner mysteries of pre-mechanised farming still beyond him. "It's always the way with special skills. You have to learn but never master."
The talent he acquired from this year's Different For Girls would have been as useful as a lisping Tourette's Syndrome sufferer trying for One Man And His Dog. In this todger-lopping comedy Mackintosh convincingly plays a post-operative transsexual. But, he says,"l can't watch it" Other family disapprove a little more strongly: "My daughter was very young at the time when we were shooting and I think it was quite confusing for her. I had long hair extensions and I wore long nails for about six weeks. It was very sweet, because at times she'd look at me and go: 'Look at your beautiful hair!' and then she'd say: 'I'm not sure that I should really enjoy your beautiful hair.' In other words, she was saying: 'Dad you are really freaking me out'." Mackintosh remains the dedicated family man, contending that telling his wife "I'm off to the country for a couple of months to make a film" is the most difficult part of starting a new project It's probably why he waited until he was halfway out the door to do The Land Girls before blurting: "Oh, by the way I have to be intimate with three women..."
