The actor on his new novel about an irascible director, his faux-feud with Christopher Eccleston and his ‘secret’ marriage
Blackpool-born David Thewlis, 58, studied acting at Guildhall school of music and drama. His breakout role was the lead in Mike Leigh’s 1993 film Naked, for which he won the best actor award at Cannes. Subsequent film credits include The Big Lebowski, Wonder Woman and I’m Thinking of Ending Things. He played Professor Remus Lupin in five Harry Potter films and, on TV, was Emmy-nominated for Fargo. His second novel is now being published.
Your new novel, Shooting Martha, is about a celebrated film director mourning his dead wife. Where did that premise come from?
Originally it was a screenplay idea. But when I was making a film called Guest of Honour with [Armenian-Canadian auteur] Atom Egoyan, we formed a lovely friendship. He read my treatment, we went out for dinner and he said “You know what? It’s a terrific idea but I think it’s a novel.” I went home that night and started writing in my notebook straight away. Turning it into a novel freed me up to invent a broader world than a low-budget film. It also became much more humorous than I’d envisioned this serious Hitchcockian film to be. I’m naturally drawn to things with a darkly funny vein running through them. Life is at once tragic and comic, so I find black comedy is honest and real.
