Malcolm McDowell Will Keep Working Until ‘the Fun Goes Out of It’: ‘I Just Love It!’

Whether he’s playing a villain or a hero, you can bet that scene-stealing British actor Malcolm McDowell is having a good time. His more than 275 film, stage and screen credits include the iconic A Clockwork Orange, H.G. Wells in the adventure romance Time After Time, and the man who finally bested James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. Malcolm recently costarred in the comedy Thelma and plays Pop on the CW’s family comedy Son of a Critch — which is scheduled to return for a fourth season in 2025. “I love the work. I will do it as long as I am having fun,” Malcolm, 81, exclusively tells Closer. “When the fun goes out of it, then I won’t be doing it. But right at the moment, I am in good shape! I just love it!”

Tell us a little bit about your most recent film, ‘Thelma.’

It’s a very charming story that uniquely stars a 95-year-old actress [June Squibb]. How many times do you see that? It’s her first leading role. She’s a lovely lady and a rock-solid professional. I am so very proud of the fact that I am in it. It’s a brilliant movie.

You’ve been starring on the CW’s ‘Son of a Critch.’ What drew you to it?

When I read the scripts, I just knew that it was something really special. I’d been playing too many serial killers and, you know, I’m really just a comedian at heart. I love doing a more family kind of show. And I just absolutely loved the writing.

You play the main character’s grandfather.

I am not playing his grandfather exactly, as his grandfather died when he was very young. I am an amalgamation of friends that came over to his house growing up. In my mind, I am playing my aunt and my mother: two sisters, Vera and Edna. I always have them in my mind, because they have the same attitude as [my character] Pop — very opinionated. Those two women were the salt of the earth. I have wonderful memories of them. This amazing strength that they had. And they were hilarious to be around.

They must have made your childhood feel magical.

Well, with an alcoholic father, it wasn’t all magical, but they were great and told amazing stories. I remember my aunt had lost her apartment. I was about to leave Los Angeles to do the movie Time After Time, so I said to her, “Auntie, why don’t you stay in my house while I do this movie? And then we will get you set up with your own flat when I get back.” Well, I never got back! I fell in love, married Mary [Steenburgen], who I met on the film, and didn’t go back to London! She lived in my house for 18 years!

You still work so much. What compels you to take new projects?

Well, I could do without the travel, but I love what I do. I’m originally English. I started off my career in the theater, as all English actors do. There’s this great camaraderie. A TV show is the nearest thing, really. You don’t get the live audience, but you get the family thing. It’s all very
intense relationships while you are working, like brothers and sisters. And it’s doubly stronger in Newfoundland [Canada, where Son of a Critch is filmed] because everything is magnified there.

You’re in a bubble and people are so damn nice. Are villains more fun to play?

I like them all, I can’t really pick one over another! I love Critch because he’s this wonderful, scatty, nutty old fella. He is quite dogmatic and often wrong, which is also very human.

Did you have any idea that ‘A Clockwork Orange’ would be as revolutionary as it was?

I knew it was something very special making it, and I knew I was kind of walking a plank in terms of pushing boundaries, acting wise. I kind of really did go for it. [Director Stanley] Kubrick gave me the greatest gift. He gave me the permission to be brave and just go for it and make a fool of myself. I came up with things like “Singin’ in the Rain,” which was never in the script.

Did you have any hesitation about the violence in it?

Good God, no. This was in the middle of the Vietnam War. If you want violence, switch on the news! [Clockwork author Anthony] Burgess wrote an absolute masterpiece. And because he also loved music, he wove it into the character. The saving grace of Alex is his love of classical music. I mean if you love classical music, you can’t be all that bad. Of course, he also was a murderer, a rapist and an immoral man. But the brilliance is: Is it more immoral for the government to take his mind away? That is the dilemma of the movie.

You also starred in ‘Caligula’, which was X-rated when it was released in 1979. You approved of the new “director’s cut” of the film in 2023.

This is another extraordinary thing that happened. [In 1979, Bob] Guccione, the pornographer, took the film, added loads of pornography and kind of dumped the movie. I went into a big depression when they did that. I found it such a betrayal. [Years later] this guy buys Penthouse Pictures in a fire sale. They transferred Caligula to a computer and edited it properly. So a film that I hated and scorned because of what they had done to it — I saw the new version and thought, “This is the movie we made.” [Co-tar] Helen [Mirren] saw it and said, “Oh, darling, weren’t we beautiful then?” We were really thrilled and happy.