'*". Lq ).- ?:-\ With a scene- sleonnq, l, turn ln Julia Roberts' new mouie, this British hnd boy #" qr*+ is sure to br:come euer.yone'snetlt best.friend lly'1i,,t, ()'\eill ,'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 getsunwittingly 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- <a erful English dramas, the boarding-school period pieceAn- leashedin this. Never." z ,:i *2 other Country ('84) and the moody passionplay Dance V/ith a ?> 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 <q same claim, and his uncensored relationship to the press he comesoff miles and miles of ocean,and it's so clean." Trailed -= teasedabout a possiblepast as a prostitute - coupled with his by his dog, Mo, who follows him everywhere,the 6-foot-4, shirt- reputation as an increasingly difficult actor, ultimately put off less actor cuts a striking figure strolling among the hordes of his contemporaries and audience.Much as it would a young tourists and wannabe models moving en massealong the beach American actresswho met him at the time. of this thriving, glitzy community. But he doesn't come for the 3i "I thought he hated me, didn't he tell you this?" asks glamour. In fact, he maintains that that's the least attractive part Julia i;F Roberts, the leading lady in My Best Friend's'Wedding, about of Miami. And he proves true to his word when you arrive at his >@ 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 -= 66 US AUGUST1997 q f * %*e trdM \ r&# 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.