A version of this story about Timothy Spall first appeared in the “Dark Horses We Love” feature in The Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.
“It never upsets me to not be the cool guy,” said Timothy Spall of his role in “Denial.” “I very rarely am. I’m usually the antagonist, or the insignificant guy.”
In the Mick Jackson drama based on David Hare’s play, Spall’s character is decidedly not cool or insignificant. He plays real-life historian David Irving, who in 1996 sued professor and author Deborah Lipstadt for labeling him a Holocaust denier.
Spall’s Irving is a brash, egotistical fighter who must defend his controversial views in court–and while Spall has no chance of making the guy likable in a film that takes Lipstadt’s point of view, he does give depth to a man who could be a cartoonish villain.