On Friday, I covered the early excerpts from Henry Cavill’s Man of the World cover profile. The quotes got widespread coverage, mostly because most actors/movie stars do not openly admit that they’re not JUST doing movies for the art, that there is a financial aspect to it and traveling first class is amazing. So, I got a chance to read the full interview over the weekend, and I thought there were some additional quotes that deserved another post. I do have one correction – when Cavill was making a reference to how he didn’t get a chance to go to college and have college experiences, it was not in reference to how he’s dating a 19-year-old university freshman. He was just talking generally about having missed out on the college experience, and there is no reference to Tara in the piece. You can read the full interview here. Some additional highlights:
On the poor box office of The Man From UNCLE: “It didn’t do badly, but it should have done better, because everyone I’ve spoken to loved it. Maybe it should have been marketed slightly differently so people went in feeling that it was something else. I snuck into the Odeon to see it on High Street Kensington, and all the trailers beforehand were for these explosive action movies. They were being set up and prepped for a sort of Mission: Impossible-type film, and it’s not — it’s a tongue-in-cheek spy thriller with some genuine comedy to it.”
His favorite movie: “It’s tough to say now, but Braveheart. It’s got everything you need. It’s got war. It’s got horses. It’s got romance. It’s got blood and guts, and it’s set in a time which is, you know, great to look back on. It’s just wonderfully directed and performed. It’s a staple.”
On #OscarsSoWhite: “It’s the issue right now as far as the entertainment industry is concerned. I honestly believe that every year there are people passed over who should have been nominated, and that there are people who shouldn’t have been nominated who are. And I don’t think anything has ever changed in that respect. It’s subjective. I watch movies with my girlfriend all the time, and I will sit there and say, ‘That was sh-t!’ and she’ll go, ‘Really? I enjoyed it!’ But, that said, this year in particular, there seems to be a serious lack of black guys and girls being nominated. Maybe the solution is to have more diversity in the members. But does that mean we are saying that to have more black academy members would result in more black nominations? Is that not racist itself?”
[From MOTW via Henry Cavill News]
Re: The Man From UNCLE… I have an unpopular opinion, but I really did enjoy it. Cavill and Elizabeth Debecki gave the strongest performances, the costumes were fantastic and it was easily Guy Ritchie’s prettiest film (as in, the shots and locales were gorgeous). I thought Armie Hammer did a sh-t job though and Hugh Grant sort of phoned it in.
Re: #OscarsSoWhite… ugh. At this point, I kind of think British actors should refrain from commenting about internal racial politics in America, because those Brits end up sounding kind of daft. The “black guys and girls” comment came across as patronizing and the “logic” that Cavill uses for “is that not racist itself?” sounds positively Charlotte Rampling-esque.
Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of Man of the World.
Black guys and girls?? Is he talking about children or adults?? I can’t. Headache coming on.
LOL. He is such a dumbass. And of course “Braveheart” is his favorite movie, OF COURSE. Because, blood and guts, war, and romance…
Lol! These celebs exhaust me I swear 😩
And don’t forget the horses!
@Kitten, Didn’t you know that Braveheart is a “great time to look back on?” When women were property and regularly stolen and raped? Like, the first act of that movie is the wife being raped as a right of the Lord. F off Cavill. I’m done with you. What a “great time” for women.
I think it’s fairly common slang to call adults guys and girls. If my obsessive Brit TV watching is any indication.
Idk.. Is he speaking slang in any other part of this interview? You could be right. But I find the wording very weird. I don’t like it.
That is true. It’s weird when I hear a 30-year old say she met a cute boy last night, but it happens fairly often on British TV.
Thanks, Betsey and Locke. I don’t know much about British TV so this helps me see it from a different standpoint.
It isn’t out of the way language to use. As I said below, it comes off as vaguely patronising to me, but that’s probably cos he’s using matespeak for a serious issue. If he actually had a clue, he wouldn’t do that. But I think we have pretty much established by now that he doesn’t have a clue about much! The intent seems good though.
I heard his whole oscars-so-white quote in a Derek Zooklander voice.
LMAO!! Oh my god I’m dying over here…
Bahahaha, that fits perfectly. He really is not the smartest.
Yeah, at least when Charlotte Rampling weighs in on the subject it’s by someone who’s been nominated for an Academy Award and may yet win one. Unless they create an Oscar category for looking good in a tux it’s always going to be a theoretical issue for Cavill.
I’ve been saying this with each new article but I NEED him to stop talking
Ugh. SHUTUP SUPERMAN.
Seriously. I hate how Chris Rock reduced the controversy to just being about white people vs. black people. As a person of color, I was so annoyed that there was almost NOTHING brought up about various other underrepresented races. And here we go with Cavill spouting nonsense and being reductive as fk.
AGAIN – SHUTUP SUPERMAN.
Also, I loved Man from UNCLE. I thought it was great and SO beautifully made.
Turns out he’s a twat.
Haha. You are correct.
As if I needed any more reasons to dislike the guy.
I loved Man from U.N.C.L.E. I wish it had done better. I’ll buy it on DVD.
As for his comments on #OscarSoWhite, I thought he was miles ahead of Charlotte Rampling. What I got from his statement is that it shouldn’t take having more POC members for more POCs to be recognized. The last bit questioning if it would be racist if that’s the only way for it to happen is naive, but definitely not as offensive as others.
LOVED Man from from U.N.C.L.E. I was not expecting it to be good, & it was such a surprise.
I think his statement of #OscarSoWhite it’s badly phrased like I understand what he’s trying to say & I get it but he could’ve said it better. What Charlotte Rampling said was not at all close of what Henry said.
I enjoyed Man from UNCLE as well (not putting the points because it’s annoying)
I was going to comment that I thought his #oscarSoWhite comment made some sense but got confused as to what he was referring to as being racist. But its not make much sense to me anymore.
I don’t think liking the Man From UNCLE is an unpopular opinion at all. Most people I know who saw it really did and it will play forever on TV. I have the reverse opinion though, I liked Armie Hammer’s character a lot more than Cavill’s. It made over $100 million worldwide but that’s not enough on its budget. One and done I’m afraid.
Are we still framing diversity as just a Black/White issue? No one else missing from that conversation? Sigh…I will see myself out.
Just posted about this – annoyed that it’s been reduced to a black/white issue. It’s every other non-white race that is underrepresented and should be accounted for.
They love MUNCLE on tumblr so I don’t think it’s an unpopular opinion either. I was kinda meh about it. Funny thing is that the advertising worked on me exactly like he thought it should have. I expected a funny, tongue-in-cheek spy flick but ended up being quite bored by it. It sure looked nice and the costumes were great (I also liked Hammer better) but it was so… uninspired. It was dripping with cliches, not in a good satirical way either and it felt like a movie I had seen a hundred times before.
And yep, fully agreed on the Black/White issue.
I really disliked UNCLE. I went to a private screening. I was the only person dumb enough to buy a ticket.
I come from a country with virtually no racial diversitiy and even I understand what is problematic with Hollywood’s race issues. Him being from Britain isn’t the problem. Him being very posh and priviledged might be. Not being the sharpest tool in the shed doesn’t help either.
I mean, maybe openly criticising your employer isn’t the smartest move, but then say no comment and be done with it. Don’t do this.
Can I ask where you’re from? If English is your second language, I’m quite jealous because I cannot take to Spanish (which is supposed to be an easy language to learn), so it just sounds like I’m butchering it.
I’m also trying to learn Spanish! I find the pronounciation easier than in English. They roll their r’s (we do too, but not as much) which is easier to say than the incredibly diffiicult way r’s are pronounced in English.
Same, @LockeLamora. It’s just the film industry didn’t think they had an issue till now that they have seen all the backlash with #OscarsSoWhite. I don’t understand how they can say something so simple like “I believe that all actors should have the same equal opportunities” & if they’re feeling cheeky “I think diversity has been an issue in Hollywood for a long time & now we have come to a point where we can make a difference”. Anything along the lines of that would’ve been fine. Seriously don’t know how a lot of them mess up with this, but maybe it’s what they really think which is disappointing in some cases (Meryl Streep, Matt Damon, etc.)
I don’t get that either. What you said is what they should be saying, yet so many of them really mess it up and end up saying a mess of things.
Locke – I think you are probably right. It’s like a vanilla version of the Cumberbatch “coloured” disaster. I say it all the time on here, but I’m not sure Americans really see how totally exclusive and insular the 1%/Old Money elite in Britain actually are. They don’t mix in the same way. All their assumptions are archaic. But they don’t see it: their self image is one of progressive values. Ludicrous as that sounds and obviously false as it is to the rest of us. And then they get upset when critics pierce the self-image and point out the underlying problems in the stuff they say.
The sad thing is, this is probably him trying his hardest to use the RIGHT language.
I think Kitten’s definition of him as the British version of a frat boy is the right one.
” I watch movies with my girlfriend all the time,”
Do they ask her for ID if the fillm is X-rated?
We get it Henry. You’ve got a GIRLFRIEND. No need to keep mentioning her 10 times per interivew. We get it.
They probably ask if he’s her Dad to make sure she has parental permission to see the R-rated ones.
Between this and that jiffy pop faux engagement to Cuocco, I think he’d probably do better to just drop the whole publicity girlfriend thing altogether and let the public make whatever assumptions they want.
I like that he’s being honest.
As a black woman, I’m more than willing to educate him or any other person who doesn’t get it.
We could descend on him in this comment section and call him racist etc but truth remains that he’s just ignorant. I never got it till a year ago myself and yelling and calling names never helped anyone. Except maybe my mom.
@MKAYY. Make that two black women who could educate Henry Caville. He is just an ignorant, privilege rich guy whose head is dug into the sand along with these rich white people. Hollywood and the rest of the 1% just don’t get it. It is no use to quarrel.
Was I the only one expecting out and out horrifying buffoonery? I was honestly readying myself for it. Compared to that his comments were mild. I’m ‘almost’ impressed he at least did better than 75% of the white individuals interviewed about it.
Omg, I’m laughing because I was thinking the exact same thing!
What he said was still stupid, but how sad is it that when we see quotes from white celebrities on diversity, we have to prepare for the worst?
I really dislike this guy (see above) but I will say that “black guys and girls” is probably his attempt at striking a matey (Britspeak for friendly) tone. It comes off as patronising to my ears as a Brit but um… more good intent but clueless than anything else. But “guys and girls” is something you’d hear this side of the Pond often, not used in an infantilising way usually.
So yes, he could have done worse. Still can’t stand him though.
Eh, I have no problem with what he said regarding #OscarsSoWhite. St leadt he didn’t reference black people as “the coloreds” like that Cucumber dude.
“It didn’t do badly, but it should have done better, because everyone I’ve spoken to loved it.”
Do your farts smell like roses too? That movie FLOPPED, own it.
Talentless, boring, dumb, and arrogant.
I think the second part o the sentence is the best… it’s the best kind of logic- everyone tells me I’m smart, so therefore I am
Eh, of all the things he said this comment is actually fine. It made like $110 million worldwide. On a $40 million dollar budget that would have been solid…unfortunately the budget was $70 million. On the other hand compare that to Chris Hemsworth in the $70 million dollar Blackhat making $19 million worldwide. Worldwide!!! Or Heart of the Sea which made it to $90 million on a budget of $100 million. And don’t get me started on Pan! Yikes.
Cavill’s an idiot but he’s not wrong here.
I think it’s like that Jon Hamm character on 30 Rock. OF COURSE everyone he’s spoken to loved the movie, they were staring dreamily into his eyes while they talked about it with him!
Nice to know white people skill refuse to acknowledge other PoC: Latinos, indigenous people, Asians, Middle Easterners….
I guess the rest of us just don’t matter in the white narrative.
This is why I despise the term POC, I don’t understand how you can lump so many different ethnicities into just one big homogenous group of “non-white”. Even white people aren’t all the same! And this divide always end up making everything black and white specially when it’s an American problem, like the #OscarsSoWhite.
Yes, because Henry freaking Cavill and the rest of the idiotic Hollywood actors speak for the millions and millions of white folks.
There are so many things I really don’t understand about the American perspective on race. Since when is Latino a person of colour? As far as I know the definition of Latino is someone who lives in the US and who comes from or whose family comes from Latin America. I’m sorry, but I know “Latinos” who are whiter than me…
There are only 3 main races: Black, White and Mongolian. These can be sudivided into 30 different categories, we call ethnicities.
If you looked at my family, my mother is blond, blue-eyed, 2 of her sisters, according to the US categorization of skin complexion would be Middle Eastern, since they have dark hair, olive complexion and dark eyes…
All this labelling is really too weird for me…
I think he was referring to the assumption that new black academy voters would all just vote for black actors and directors with the ‘isn’t that racist’ comment there. Which isn’t a brilliant thing to say, but not Charlotte Rampling ‘reverse racism’ level.
He is so obviously gay to me that all he says it’s just a cover for his homosexuality.
I loved the Man from UNCLE. To me, it had all the wit and style of the earlier Bond movies.
I’m giving him the benefit of doubt here. Why? Because the debate about racism is discussed in different terms in other parts of the world and sorry Americans, sometimes – if not most times – the rest of us live with both a different language and different experiences than you and thus we speak of it differently.
As for the #OscarsSoWhite – where are the Asians? Where are the Hispanics? The lack of Asians and Hispanics are totally ignored.
I loved Man from Uncle and both guys give good performances. They pitched it perfectly. The PR campaign for the film was sh*t.
Does Henry’s or WB’s PR not care about all the dumb stuff he’s saying while promoting the film as they already know it’s going to make a lot of money regardless of what the actors do? Or is Ben’s PR team paying Henry to come across like a d-bag so that their client looks better in comparison? Or perhaps this is Henry’s true personality finally showing through?
Regardless of the reasons at this point I would prefer Henry to say nothing at all.
Stop talking absolute shit and go to an acting class Henry
its soooo funny because….. it just further shows…
you can be trans, you can be gay, you can be whatev …. hollywood loves you and stand behind you full forces
but getting the entertainment community to really get involved in a comprehensive discussion on RACE and WOMEN issues…… ghost, silence, daft commentary, out-of-touch sound bites, just dumbness
…… o what is it to be a POC, a woman, ….. gasps a POC WOMAN (shakes head)
He seems like he is really into his girlfriend. I find it so sweet. I wish I had a boyfriend like that. I really liked the part where he said he hates when people hit on him when her girlfriend is there because it is disrespectful to her. I don’t know I rather date a guy than 10 years older than me but treated me like a queen than a guy my age who is a prick.
There are more options, I hope.
“They were being set up and prepped for a sort of Mission: Impossible-type film, and it’s not — it’s a tongue-in-cheek spy thriller with some genuine comedy to it.”
Very silly film (not clever humour at all) and Guy Ritchie is really into those daggy camera movements that mark him as an advert director more than anything else.
On UK actors commenting on racial diversity: it’s like their vocab is stuck in the colonial period. Remember when Cumberbatch used the word, “coloured” sometime last year? Who even uses that outside of an historical point of interview context anymore?
What is it with Henry? I mean he is quite entertaining to watch on screen but none of his phisical charm transforms into photos. He looks creepy to me in photos there is something perverse about him.
Have the same feeling. Like one of the ladies said in another post, he looks all square and built by legos.
He believes in diversity and equal opportunity. He’s willing to date a range of racially diverse teenagers.
hahahaha 😛
No but seriously, who cares about the opinion of a man in his mid-thirties who dates 19yr olds lol lol
Sounds dumber every interview he gives. Where are his PR people to muzzle him?