GENEVIEVE PARLEY indulges in a Q&A with popular Deadwood alumni and admittedly average soccer player IAN MCSHANE, about his reasons for joining the cast of Paul ‘Alien Vs Predator’ Anderson’s DEATH RACE remake.

Ian McShane was born in Blackburn, England, and his father Harry McShane, was a professional football player for Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers. His career began in the ’60s with small roles on the television series Police Woman and Matt Helm, and in films like, If This Is Tuesday This Must Be Belgium, Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You and Battle of Britain. During the mid-‘80s he bought the television rights to Jonathan Gash’s Lovejoy novels and then produced and starred in six seasons of Lovejoy for the BBC. After that he returned to the stage before hitting it big on screen once more with the likes of Sexy Beast, Shrek 3, and The Golden Compass, simultaneously scooping innumerable plaudits for his portrayal of the villainous cad Al Swearengen in the HBO series Deadwood.

In typically ironic style, McShane now gets to play a ‘good guy’ long-term prison inmate and mechanic in Death Race – British director Paul W.S. Anderson’s remake of the David Carradine-starring ‘70s grindhouse flick Death Race 2000. As the character Coach, McShane trains protagonist Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) – an innocent man imprisoned on Terminal Island, a futuristic penitentiary home to the lethal game show Death Race – to turn a Mustang V8 into an over-the-top mobile weapon of smash-‘em-up destruction…

GENEVIEVE PARLEY: So why did you choose to do Death Race?

IAN MCSHANE: I’ve never done a big action movie like this, full boys’ own adventure, and it fitted in perfectly with my schedule. It was fun to do. The timing was right and Joan [Allen – as Terminal Island’s Warden Hennessey] I knew from before, Jason I’d met, a good guy. Yes, it was fun. Plus, we had a director with a very strong partner, in Jeremy Bolt [Producer], and the two of them know how to make this type of movie. They’ve been doing it for a while, so it was a pleasure to do.

GP: Are you into cars?

IM: No way!  Oh God, no. I’d much rather have a good line. A spoken line, I mean! It was kind of like doing the character you’ve seen before, the wise old soul who’s gone into prison. No one knows why he’s there – he’s probably forgotten himself! He’s crazy but he certainly grounds the project. I think that’s the role of my character and Joan’s. She’s great in the film; in fact I think she nicked a few of my lines. She gets to swear most of all in the film!

GP: You’ve worked with a lot of great directors. What impressed you most about Paul W.S. Anderson?

IM: I think he’s very smart. He does the kind of pictures he wants to do: action, very entertaining. This is one of those tent-pole movies. Everybody goes to see it. And I think if you look at the moral message behind it … they attempted one at least, although you’d be hard pushed to stretch it … everybody’s impressed, but it’s death on the internet, gladiators, so what are we trying to say? That society will allow anything? I think in real life we’ll get to the stage where somebody dies in one of those Ultimate Fighting things and they’ll probably get a fine for watching it on TV, ban it for six months, then it will come back. The film feels a bit like Rollerball in that sense, it’s a grim future ... but it’s a very big Hollywood movie.

“If I’d been a footballer I’d have been retired 35 years ago by now, so maybe I chose the wiser profession.”

GP: You said Jason Statham was a good guy…

IM: Yes, a very good guy. And I think that this is the kind of movie that will break him through, because the other ones, I haven’t seen, Crank, or Transporter, but they’ve done okay. Yet I think this is the one that’ll bring him through. But Jason is a fit guy. He’s an ex-champion diver, a very big guy. But he’s down to earth. Again he knows the score. He started on one of those Guy Ritchie movies and he’s the one that’s gone on. I’ve heard him called a British Bruce Willis. Well, they’ve both got extremely short hair! I’m not saying anything else. Just extremely short hair. Jason doesn’t smirk as much as Bruce, does he?  He’s a good kid, and we had a good time with him. And Tyrese [Gibson – as bad guy Machine Gun Joe], of course.

GM: Lastly, did you inherit any of your father’s football skills?

IM: Yes, I inherited the football brain but not the physical prowess! I was okay. I played well when I was young. When I was nine or ten I was playing with two kids who went on to be professional. Although, even then at that age they were always a yard quicker. I love the game, but if I’d been a footballer I’d have been retired 35 years ago by now, so maybe I chose the wiser profession!

DEATH RACE opens in cinemas Thursday [MA15+]. Check WIN STUFF of Rave for a special movie pass giveaway.

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