My most compelling movie characters often stemmed from reality, Hans Gruber was loosely based on Andreas Baader of the West German Terrorist group Red Army Faction and Professor Severus Snape took his cues from my school teacher John Nettleship while Bruce Willis in Die Hard drew inspiration from some discarded planks of wood left outside a construction site.I came to movies quite late, i was 42 when i got my break in the Die Hard movie, before that i was running my own graphic design business and one day after i was just about to turn 30, i thought blow this and dropped absolutely everything and signed up for acting classes which didn't do a lot for my financial security so i supported myself by working as a dresser for other actors which is literally helping them put their clothes on but i did meet some big names but any interaction was limited to 'fetch me my codpiece, boy'.
This went on for a decade then finally i was cast as one of the leads in the stage version of the book Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The play was a hit and was soon adapted by Hollywood as Dangerous Liaisons and everyone involved in it became internationally famous, except me, because they replaced me with John Malkovich.
However, it did get me considered for Four Weddings and a Funeral but Hugh Grant pipped me for it as he was better looking and then i got the offer of the villain in some action movie with some TV actor named Bruce Willis. Something about a bunch of terrorists taking over a skyscraper but as much as the budget went on Bruce Willis wages, i was hired because i was cheap and that is how one of the most distinctly English-sounding actors alive was hired to play a German.
That led to a career of playing villains and it all started with Die Hard, a film where a person sneaks around a tower at night trying to avoid me and ended with Harry Potter, a film where a person sneaks around a tower at night trying to avoid me.
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