Malcolm McDowell, age 79, has had an acting career that’s spanned more than 50 years. When speaking to Variety, McDowell said that you never stop learning, and while he can pretty much do most things, some things are more difficult than others. And it’s the more difficult things that he wants to do.

McDowell particularly enjoys working with younger directors who are “at the start of their journey.” According to McDowell, every director is different and requires different things. Some don’t say much at all. As an example of the possible contrasts, McDowell listed his first director and one of the most famous directors in history.

“I’m not playing just the regular stuff. I’m looking forward to doing this Western early next year – and that should be fun, I’ve never done one – and then I think I’m doing a vampire movie. This year, I’ve played serial killers, rapists and old grandpas.”

When it came to the cross-generational acclaim of A Clockwork Orange, McDowell said that nobody could have predicted that. Decades after it was released, it’s still being talked about. McDowell could not think of another film with that kind of reception where young people find it and call it their own. He also shared why he thought so many people still find the Kubrick-helmed film timely.

“My first director, Lindsay Anderson, was very much from the theater. He loved discussing the characters, and all the rest of it, which made one feel very secure. Stanley [Kubrick] didn’t care about that. He was more interested in the camera, the lights, the sounds, all the techniques of filming. He was a brilliant technician and his films show that.”

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“At first it was the shock of the violence. […] Now, what’s important is the political element, the right to choose and having Big Brothers stay out of your life.”

McDowell’s Other Acting Ventures

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When speaking about his work with Italian cinema, McDowell seemed glad that some things had changed for the better. According to the actor, there was a period about 30 to 40 years ago when Italian cinema thought that they had to make movies in English. Even though he was the benefit of this and received parts he enjoyed doing, McDowell called that “a terrible mistake” because “Italian movies should be in Italian.”

Since the early 90s, McDowell has been lending his voice to several video game productions. His first two big games were Wing Commander III and IV, which he enjoyed doing because kids played them. “It’s important to have an audience of younger people, my contemporaries are all dying off.” While not a player himself, McDowell said that he’s still fascinated by good video game scripts such as the one for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

“That’s the beauty of it, [it has] a different rhythm to any other language. I can’t even imagine a Fellini movie in English, it doesn’t even compute. […] Thank goodness, that didn’t last long.”

“I didn’t even see it [the final result of Call of Duty: Black Ops II.] I think I gave it away to some young people.”