These Residents Liven Up ‘Notting Hill’

Actor Rhys Ifans is very matter of fact as to why he’s such a scene-stealer in the Hugh Grant-Julia Roberts hit romantic comedy, “Notting Hill.” It has to do with his underwear.

“I challenge anyone not to stand out in a pair of underpants like that,” Ifans says by phone from London, referring to the minimal gray briefs he wears while posing and flexing his rather puny derriere in front of a horde of paparazzi.

“They are magic pants,” Ifans adds, laughing. “They are Hugh Grant’s and he handed them to me on the first day and said they would bring me luck.”

Really?

“I’m joking,” he quips. “But I shall wear them in every film from now on.”

Since it opened to mostly rave reviews and sensational box office (nearly $28 million over the Memorial Day weekend), “Notting Hill” seems on the mark to become the date movie of the summer. Though Grant and Roberts make a delightful romantic pair in the story about a shy British bookstore owner who falls in love with a beautiful and famous American actress, it’s the supporting cast who provides some of the film’s biggest laughs.

Ifans plays Spike, Grant’s naive, unkempt roommate; Emma Chambers plays Honey, Grant’s sweet and wide-eyed sister. Hugh Bonneville, who appeared in Kenneth Branagh’s “Frankenstein,” plays Bernie, his overweight friend who has the worst luck with women. Gina McKee, currently in Mike Figgis’ “The Loss of Sexual Innocence,” is Bela, a friend of Grant’s who is now a paraplegic. Tim McInnerny, who was in “101 Dalmatians,” plays her loving husband, Max.

These vivid characters sprung from the imagination of writer Richard Curtis, who also surrounded Grant with equally funny and memorable co-stars in his 1994 Oscar-nominated romantic comedy, “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

Curtis, says Chambers, writes characters with heart. “He writes very well for essentially very nice people who are eccentric,” she says in a telephone interview from London.

The problem with a lot of contemporary romantic comedies, Ifans says, is “the film is often consumed by the main protagonists. What Richard does is give them a world to live in and that world is inhabited by interesting people.”

“Notting Hill” marks Chambers’ first motion picture. She was urged to audition for the role of Honey by Curtis. “I do a sitcom in England that is penned by Richard Curtis, ‘The Vicar of Dibley,’ and he said, ‘I would like you to go up for the film.’ He’s very English and rather sort of shy and he said, ‘You probably won’t get it because you look absolutely nothing like Hugh.’ ” After several “excruciating” auditions, she landed the part.

Ifans, who appeared last year in the British independent comedy “Twin Town” as well as “Dancing at Lughnasa” with Meryl Streep, worked with “Notting Hill” director Roger Michell two years ago in the National Theatre production of Dylan Thomas’ “Under Milk Wood.”

“Quite disturbingly, when Roger read Spike, I sprung to mind,” Ifans muses. “It was sort of half a compliment and half an insult.”

The actor acknowledges that though Spike was essentially an easy character for him to play, it would have been equally simple for him to get Spike totally wrong. “I hope I achieved in giving him a bit of life, a reality,” he says.

“It would have been so easy with Spike to play a dope-smoking hippie,” he says. “I really didn’t want to play him like that. I could have played him as an uncaring parasite who was taking advantage of Hugh Grant. But I don’t think he is that. I think he was oblivious to domesticity.”

In fact, Spike has a good soul, Ifans believes. “Spike is just domestically challenged. Every gooseberry has a flaw. When he sees a pile of washing up [dirty dishes], he doesn’t recognize it as washing up. He just think it’s an interesting shape. He thinks he’s an artist.”

As soon as he put on those now-famous skivvies, Ifans says, Spike came to life. “I always work from the pants up,” he quips. “Some actors do shoes, I do pants. The first scene I shot was the scene where I leave the front door in my underpants. After that it was pretty easy. It was quite liberating. There isn’t a lot of room for vanity when you play a character like Spike.”

Both actors worked hard to get the right look for their characters. Chambers’ blond hair was dyed a brassy, orange-red for the film. She and the makeup artist then worked weeks before production started. “We went through endless images,” she says.

“Everybody else seemed to be checking out Gucci shops,” Ifans says. “I just went to charity shops. I have known a lot of Spikey people. He has accumulated his wardrobe through hundreds of flats he’s lived in and was asked to leave. It was a magpie’s wardrobe.”

Chambers would be interested in coming to the U.S. if “something turned up and it took my fancy. But I would never come and do the thing of schlepping around everywhere. I am not a demon for hitting America.”

Besides, she has more than enough work in England. She stars in two TV series and recently completed the film “The Clandestine Marriage,” with Nigel Hawthorne. “I am very grounded here,” she says.

Ifans, who is primarily known for his theater work, has four more movies due for release this year including “Heart” and “Rancid Aluminum” with Joseph Fiennes.

“They are all very different movies and parts,” he explains. “I would be very concerned if ‘Notting Hill’ would be my only picture this year. I have a real diverse body of work still in the can.”

The actor did make a visit to Hollywood before “Notting Hill” opened. “I thought I should go over just to prove to casting directors that I wasn’t actually as disgusting as I look in ‘Notting Hill.’ I thought they should see me fully clothed and clean-shaven. Maybe, I will get an action movie next.”