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,'li'' '# "Are you kidding?!" she nearly shrieks. "Do you think Rupert 'Daaaahling,' would let a moment like that p ass? " she says, imitat- ing his lofty accent, "I thought you were such a bitch before.' " Two and a half minutes later, by her estimate, they were the 'ultimate best of friends. "He said I was his fag hag,' " she announces,bursting with pride. "I adore him." As audiencesare learning to do all over again. In his first major film since almost disappearing into the woodwork after his international career frzzled (his only notable work sincethen being The Comfort of Strangers,Ready to'Wear andThe Madness of King Georgel, Rupert Everett is back with a vengeance. Lighting up the screen every time he makes an entrance,the dizzyingly charming actor nearly hijacks HEN RUPERTEVERETT My Best Friend's'Wedding from his better-known Yankee co- was a boy he used to wander from his parents' house in the stars.As the gay book editor who gets unwittingly tangled up in south of England to a secludedspot among the trees and rolling author Roberts' schemeto sabotageher best friend Dermot meadows, fall to his knees and pray for the Virgin Mary to ap- Mulroney's wedding to an heiress(Cameron Diaz), Everett pulls pear. Aware of his burgeoning homosexualiry he wasn't, as off the nearly impossible task of providing the filrn with a heart might be conjectured, seeking divine intervention from the and consciencewhile still managing to be hysterically funny. It's BlessedMother to make what was bound to be a difficult life a 180-degreeturnaround for this former model, who until now easier.In fact, he had an altogether different mission. was known mostly (if at all) for his remote, brooding characters. "I was determined to have my f---ing apparition," the actor "If theret any justice in the world, Rupert will soon be her- laughs now, basking in the sun on the patio ofhis favorite hotel alded as the comic geniusthat he is," gushesRoberts. "People in Miami Beach,"so that any minute there'd be, like, this huge, think of him in a very stuffy, British way, where he wears ties hideous basilicabuilt there." Why? \7ell, he says,without the and [his] jaw only movesever so slightly.But now there'sjust a least bit of embarrassment or apology, to ruin his parents' whole new point of view. " favorite view, of course. "I'd be very surprisedif this didn't changehis career," says The 38-year-old scene-stealer in My Best Friend's Wedding My Best Friend's Wedding director P.J.Hogan (Muriel's Wed- has always been something of a spoiler.Breaking into British ding),whohad, to explain to unknowing studio executiveswho ;9 film in the mid-'8os as the star of two of the decade'smost pow- Everett was. "I've never seenthe side of Ruoert that he un- Stranger ('85), Everett at once captivated his countrymen with "I LOVEIT DOWNHERE BECAUSE OF THE \7IND," SAYSEVERETI ,.6 aZ his talent while repelling them with his outr6 behavior. He was walking along Miami's South Beach, where he keeps an apart- T-f, z.- an openly gay actor years before others would dare make the ment (he also has homes in England, Paris and New York). "It - just @ her first meeting with Everett years before, when their situations apartment on the seedyedge of town, where the few remaining were decidedly reversed. At the time, she was a struggling pensionershave been pushed, along with the surf bums and day JO actressbrought to his Paris hotel room to discussworking on a laborers who work at the hotels. Facing the ocean, with enor- movie, and he was a sensation, on the verge, everyone agreed, mous bent palms in front, the apartment is simply one small of becoming an international star. room with a fridge, couch, dresserand a futon on the floor - not "I had just circumnavigated the globe," recalls Roberts, "and to mention a Kurt Cobain poster on the wall, emblazoned with =.jj I was exhausted and discombobulated and certainly had no the words I HATEMysELF AND I rgANTTo DIE,an unearthly dime- a1 businessbeing in a fancy hotel in Paris at that point in my life, store portrait of Jesus("My cuteJesus") on the dresserand dry- =-.= and there was Rupert," shesays, suddenly stopping asif losing ing underwear draped over everything,including the refrigerator. &z her breath all over again, "splashedcasually across this chaise, "Jerry? You asleep?" Everett whispers to a prone body Jerry? =9 looking divine. I was so intimidated that he thopght I was - with bright orange hair - lying listlessly across his bed, as aloof, and he was so chatty and relaxed that I thought he was he enters the apartment. This is Jerry, a longtime friend from =H conceited. It wasn't a great first impression." London who flew in from Paris last night to visit. They stayed e! Years later they would meet again in a Chicago hotel room up all night talking, and Everett decidesto let him sleep. when he arrived for his first day of work on Wedding-butthis Back out on the beach, where graffiti adorns the abandoned => time he came to her. And did he bring up their initial encounter? lifeguard stand, Everett flops his lanky frame down in the sand -=

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and nods past the surfersto the huge freighterson the horizon. low thespianHugh Grant, when his name comesup. "I love to look at the ships out there and imagine all the fabu- "Hugh Grant I was kind of with until he said thar getting lous placesthey're going." suckedoff by Divine Brown was - what was the word he used 'Abominable'? Everett is surprisingly honest about his fall from grace in on his big apology tour? " asksEverett, referring '80s. the Of his reputation for being difficult, he acknowiedges to Grant's infamous appearanceonThe Tonight Show shortly that it was well-earnedbut adds that it mustn't be overlooked after he was arrestedfor lewd conduct. "I thought how fantas- that his best performances were given under circumstances tic for him to have beengiven head by Divine Brown and how in which he "was incredibly strident about what I believed brilliant a careermove it was, but the moment he said it was an was right." \fhile his journey to Hollywood after his British successeswas a bust ("I didn't fit into the Brat Pack vibe of the movies they were making at the time" ), , ,t,6 iry"lt.r his pariahlike treatment back at home was dis- rq,ffi.d# heartening.It didn't help mattersthat he'd com- mitted acts of near-treason,like turning down a Merchant Ivory production (the Room tYith a View W'ii'r role that made Daniel Day-Lewis a star); mum- Hi bling through a performance of Noel Coward on 1,,,{ the \fest End (and then sending a fistful of his '#,i ' '::(. pubic hair to a dissatisfiedcustomer); and contin- ,*{,i uing to make outrageousclaims about his prodi- rfl gioustalents. ,gj In fact, the notoriously vengeful British press ui seemedto bc in a competition to seewho could m most ceremoniouslyhang hirn out to dry. "He's ...$ rude, difficult, intolerant,given to the sort of bad behavior that involveswalking out of an interview, a restaurantor a relationship," hissedthe Daily Mail. "lf politenesswere pounds he'd be penniless, ,r-{ ' and if petulancewas pennieshe'd be a wealthy Jll,t man," one-upped the Times. The more conservative Obseruer simply asked, "Will Rupert Everett ever be asgood an actoras he sayshe is?" ,i. 2 "All thoserypes of things,you getover them,don't you?" saysEverett, stretching out in the sand. "It's = like beinga prostitute.The first time out is fine, ar-rd then you get knocked about a bit on your:third ; night of work, and you go back four dayslater with a bruiseand you getknocked about again,but you've got a knife,so you're OI(. It becomessecond nature." i Interestinganalogy, considering the actor has ad- - mitted to, but neverelaborated on, being a member of the world's oldestprofessron. At the time he was a strugglingactor in London i who simply got propositioned outside a subway station one day and " sort of fell into it. " r "I didn't set out to hustle," he explains, "but this guy offered me such a massiveamount of - money, well, it was like a year-and-a-half'spock- et money,and it just camein reallyhandy." abomination, he really lost me. Becausethat poor prostirure, And while to someit might appearto be just an extremeform having to suck his meaty little d--- anyway,why should she be of rebellion against an upper-crustupbringing, Everett saysit roped into his apology? I think that's one of those moments 'If was hardiy anything of the sort; it was a lot more practicalthan when you just say, you don't want me, you don't have to that. "Like a lot of upper-classpeople, I was given no money," have me. That's what I did. I got a blow job - what of it?' " says Everett, and after a little prodding, he admits that once he rWhen it's suggestedthat maybe this was the only way a got the hang of it he had "all sorts" ofclients and basicallyrelied Grant could get back his girlfriend, Eiizabeth Hurley, Everett = on the work ashis main sourceof income for a year or rwo. rolls his eyesand says, "Oh, please!She's like a boomerang, Perhaps,then, this explainshis rather strong reaction to fel- darling, she'salways going to come back."

US AUGUST1997 69 minds that he doesn't believe in relation- RUPERTEYERETT ships, or at least doesn't have time for them CONTINUEDFROM PAGE 69 (currently, he's not in one, he admits). "I EVERETTWAS BORN THE SECOND OF TV/O SONS have a crashingly huge ego," he's been to a career army officer and his aristocratic quoted as saying, "and when you boil it Scottish wife in a small town in England. down to bones, in the bed and relationships While he wasn't raised in castles, he had a it all has to be about me." But now, as he childhood that he describesas idyllic until, approachesmiddle age, he seemsto be soft- like so many upper-class kids, he was sent ening his anti-relationship stance, well, at away by his family. "When you get left ar least a little. "Maybe homosexuality is bet- boarding school at the age of 7 by your ter casually,"he muses."Maybe it's just an mother, there's a kind of cauterization of extension of buddydom." emotion that numbs you forever. That's some- But Roberts isn't buying Everett's senti- thing all the English upper class have in ments for one minute. He's "completely" common. I wasnt lonely at boarding school," Iooking for love, she says, and "he'll ab- he continues, "but I could never understand solutely find it." Although, she's quick to the rejection you have from the mother add, "He'll never find a greater love than I." when you're just dumped away from For now, his greatest love, by all appear- home." ances, is Mo, short for Moise. Everett Everett was essentially raised by the bought the dog from a champion black- monks at Ampleforth, a highly esteemed Labrador breederin France sevenand a half Catholicboarding school yearsago and dotes on him in the north of England.A like one would a child, or- goodstudent by mostac- "If there's ganizing his travels around counts,he grew restlessat him, evenhiring a full-time about 13,after his career anyjustice "nanny" to take care of ambition changedfrom him when he'snot around. rock star (hewas a classi- The two of them are a cally trained pianist) to in the tuorld, common sight together on moviestar ("I usedto pray South Beach,walking along to be famous").At 15,he I think Rupert the strand or through town, droppedout ofschooland with Mo always 10 to 20 enrolledin London'spres- feet behind. tigious Central Schoolof will soonbe For someone so inde- Speechand Drama.But in pendent, his attachment to lessthan two yearshe was heraldedas the the dog is an idiosyncrasy expelledfor insubordina- that reveals a side of the tion; he then delvedinto comic actor not easily seen on the subculture of the genius screenor even in person. streets and clubs of But it's there. London beforemoving to that he is," Earlier, a daily ritual is Milan and becoming a observed. It occurs after successfulmodel. gushesRoberts. Everett's morning laps at About his youthful life a nearby hotel. "Hang on on the edge, the actor a minuter" says Everett to remainsphilosophical, "It wasvery char- a visitor. "Got to let Mo havehis swim, acterforming in a sense,"he says."Con- too."Hediscreetlyopensthegateof afancy sidering what my background is, if I apartmentbuilding, the pool of which is hadn't been queer and gone into the unoccupied."There'sneveranyonehereat club scene,I'd havelived the most incred- this time of day- dunnowhy," he says(his ibly protected,tiny little existence,and I own crumbling building doesn'thave a think an actor needsto do things,have a pool), and the trespassingdog lumbers life, beexposed." overand divesin. "Thisisamanwithenormoussexappeal," As Mo splashesaround in the crystal saysJulia Roberts."He's handsomeand blue water,Everett watches quietly and cleverand smart. laughs.Just as the basilicawould've ruined "'Wewere dancing in onescene," she re- his parents'viewif he'd had his apparition, calls,giggling, "and hewas beingall sexy the sightof the dog swimmingwould un- with me, sayinghilarious stuff like 'Dar- doubtedlyupset the tenantsof this tony ling, can't you seeit? My last ray of het- apartmentcomplex - and that seemsto erosexualityis shiningon you.' " pleaseRupert Everettas much ashis dog's In the past, Everett has told inquiring own pleasure. r