What Were the Challenges of Portraying J.M.W. Turner?
Director Mike Leigh’s films are famous for the amount of work involved in developing the characters, and Mr. Turner is no exception. Leigh first told Spall about his idea for the project in 2007. From the very start, it seemed like Leigh wanted Spall to play Turner, but it wouldn’t come up again until three years later when Leigh told Spall that he was trying to prep Mr. Turner for 2013. Financing hadn’t been secured yet, but Leigh told Spall that if he was still interested, he should start learning how to paint.
For the next two and a half years, Spall worked with teacher and artist Tim Wright at his Clerkenwell studio, learning everything he could for the role. They concentrated on oil painting, but Spall’s education would also cover acrylic and water colors as well as speed drawing and life drawing. Special attention was also paid to Turner’s methods and how they evolved over the years.
During this time, Spall read two authoritative biographies on Turner as well as a half-dozen supplemental books, after which rehearsals began, lasting for six months. Rehearsals in general are considered a luxury in commercial filmmaking, and holding them for six months is especially rare. (It was even longer than the shoot itself, which lasted for four months.)