Acclaimed actor Mark Rylance has said that he currently struggles to know where to get news from, as he feels the government has too much influence on the BBC.
Speaking in this week’s Radio Times magazine for View from my Sofa, when asked what makes him switch off, Rylance said: “I’m afraid the news, I find it very difficult to know where to get news at the moment; I just feel the government has far too much influence on the BBC. When it comes to climate change, they’re not reporting it strongly enough.”
Rylance has been outspoken on climate change, recently telling The Guardian that he was a “bit despairing of government” when it comes to creating a greener economy but feels that the arts can tell “stories to awaken compassion, to awaken people to make a change”.
He also appeared last year in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, an allegory for climate change in which a meteor heading to Earth is downplayed by the media and utilised for political and commercial purposes.
Don’t Look Up is nominated for four Oscars but in his interview with Radio Times, Rylance said that he won’t be attending the ceremony.
The actor – who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2016 for his role in Bridge of Spies – said: “I don’t think awards are a serious marker of what the greatest or most inspiring things are, but it’s nice to be celebrated. I won’t be going this year. To be honest, [whispers] they’re actually really boring…”
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Meanwhile, Rylance went on to say that his favourite things to watch include MasterChef and Grand Designs “because Kevin McCloud is such a character, he makes us laugh so much”.
Rylance is currently starring in The Phantom of the Open, a comedy-drama about golfer and hoaxer Maurice Flitcroft.
The Phantom of the Open is in cinemas from Friday 18th March. Mark Rylance also stars in Song of the Reed, airing Monday 21st March at 2:15pm on BBC Radio 4.
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