Theatre directors take note – the Shakespeare character Rupert Everett most wants to play is Shylock: “he’s only on for about three scenes, but he really cleans up!”. This response demonstrates the deadpan humour and gentle self-mocking typical of Everett, on ample display throughout the Union’s fast-paced Q&A session on the 28th October.

Given the diversity of his past work, Everett’s wish might well come true. Some of his most memorable roles have been as Prince Regent in The Madness of King George, the gay best friend in My Best Friend’s Wedding – and, of course, his crossing of the gender divide as naughty headmistress Miss Fritton in the St Trinians series. On 11th November, Everett will return to Cambridge to play the part of Oscar Wilde in The Judas Kiss, currently touring the UK. The play, written by David Hare, imagines two moments of Wilde’s life which Everett describes as “inexplicable”. One is the moment when Wilde missed an opportunity to escape, despite having been sentenced to trial for acts of gross indecency. The other is when he and his lover – the same whose father had put Wilde on trial in the first place – finally ended their relationship.

In fact, Wilde has been a recurring presence in Everett’s career, from successful roles in the film versions of An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, to his current starring turn. Unsurprisingly, critics have jumped to compare the two men, noting their similar satirical attitudes towards current affairs and their shared love of life in the limelight. When this topic was broached at the Union, however, Everett was quick to denounce the association as lazy and “stupid”. In “our X factor world”, he claimed, the urge to compare everything to something from the past risks dwarfing the desire for innovation. When asked what actors he admired when starting out, he defiantly declared that he wanted to forge his own path and be his own person. (Though this did follow an instinctive blurt of “Elizabeth Taylor!”).

The conversation continued to bounce between these poles of frivolity and seriousness. Everett fondly recalled recording the voice of Shrek’s Prince Charming: “you only have to go to the studios about three times in the course of two years. The pay is great, and there’s a glamorous world tour. The problem only comes when you arrive in somewhere like Venezuela, where your voice isn’t even in the film at all. It’s a Spanish person instead! Then you begin to ask, why am I even here?”.

Not all of Everett’s work has been so light-hearted. The first of his two-part memoir documents the harsh side of show-business, while his latest book focuses on middle age and death. From the AIDS panic in the 80s, to the more recent loss of his father, grief has become familiar to Everett. Some of his most tragic losses have been drugs-related, and when the debate regarding legalisation was broached, he managed to add sensitive insight whilst maintaining his characteristic humour: “My view on drugs is that I don’t do them...anymore. But I used to do a lot of them!”. Ultimately, he argued in favour of legalisation, stressing the potentially positive impacts on poverty, as well as control over production. Not to mention the financial benefits – what better way to “get us out of a recession!”?

Everett is a rarity in Hollywood, having come out extremely early in his career. Asked whether he believes this openness harmed his chances of being a Hollywood “leading man”, he replied “absolutely, in some cases, but it has also helped me to get others”. Perhaps most unexpected were his comments on the future of the film business. He laments the loss of the bohemian 70s mentality, when people truly focused on their craft rather than “leasing their name to whatever perfume company would pay”. He sees today’s actors as bland, brand spokespeople manoeuvred by film companies and PR agents. “Anyone can do anything these days” he said, “but the glory will only last two minutes. There are loads more products, but there are loads more actors too. It has all become a lot more competitive”.

Everett’s approach, though, was not all doom and gloom. He finds inspiration in the least likely of places: Eastenders. He praised Britain’s soaps for giving actors the ability to express “the A to Z of emotion” in each scene: “one minute your dad has died, the next minute you are giving birth!”. He also stressed the possibilities for British actors in America, where hits like Breaking Bad – a personal Everett favourite –  approach cutting-edge issues with imagination, and allow actors to develop “a deep character”.

This optimism has led Everett to another calling besides acting – journalism. Though he fears that people in the future will not be able to get an accurate impression of nowadays – “no one tells the truth, not newspapers anyway” – Everett aims to combat this in his own articles for Vanity Fair, and in his developing novels and screenplays. Given the warm applause his honesty and sass generated from the Union audience on this rainy Sunday night, it is likely that he will have every success. Even if he has to butt heads with a few reporters along the way.