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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. How do get involved with Inside I’m Dancing?
A. I’d worked with the casting director, Wendy
Brazington, a few times before - she’d cast me in Bright
Young Things.
I met up with the director, Damien O’Donnell, and we had
a bit of a chat. He brought up another actor Steven Robertson,
whom he’d already cast in the role of Michael, to Manchester
where I was filming Shameless, and we had a three and half hour
audition together. It was amazing.
Beforehand, I had said that I’d like to play Michael, but
when I did the audition with Steven, I knew that he’d be
far better playing Michael and he made me a lot more comfortable
in playing Rory.
That audition made me want to do the film. Before I wasn’t
sure it would work. After seeing the dynamic I had with Damien
and with Steven, I was confident that it would be good.
Q. Were you worried, given the subject matter, that the
film might become overly sentimental?
A. We tried our hardest to avoid any sentimentality.
We were fighting against that, both within ourselves and within
the script, because the tendency is to play for sympathy.
What I found in researching and also working with a couple of
guys who had Duchenne muscular dystrophy was that the last thing
they want is pity.
You’d rather be ignored than pitied. It’s something
that is put upon you and somebody feels very good about giving
you and it does absolutely nothing for you - it actually makes
you feel worse.
If there is sympathy in the film, it’s hopefully because
it should be there and because the audience are feeling it, not
because we’re telling them to.
Q. Did you feel under extra pressure because you were
a non-disabled actor playing a disabled character?
A. We didn’t set out to make a film about the disabled
community - we made a film about these particular individuals
who happen to be disabled. I think you have to approach it like
that, otherwise you end up with cliches. And I don’t think
the film is about the disabled community - it’s about growing
up, and first loves and mortality, things that everyone feels.
And it’s very funny. It’s a cautionary tale for everyone
- we all feel trapped and feel that we can’t grow anymore,
until we meet somebody who can open our eyes to the world around
us.
You make different types of films as an actor. Sometimes you make
a film about an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances,
like a man being thrown into World War Two. This isn’t that
- Rory and Michael are not representative of the disabled community
- they are exceptional people, they are not everyday people you
will meet. That’s what’s exciting about them.
If people say ‘I don’t know if a disabled person would
do that’, I say well that is Rory. That’s hopefully
why people will enjoy watching this, because Michael and Rory
are slightly off the scale!
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Q. How difficult was it to
play a character, who’s a wheelchair-user?
A. The fact that Rory was a wheelchair-user gave
me half the character, because that informed his psychology so
much. I kept thinking, what would it be like to have once been
able to walk around and have memories of doing that and then have
to use a chair?
My experience was nothing compared to somebody with Duchenne muscular
dystrophy, but I was in it 12 hours a day because nearly every
scene was with me and Steven.
You start to get minor symptoms of somebody who’s a wheelchair-user
that starts to open your mind a bit. The point was I got to walk
away from it every night, and live the rest of my life - for somebody
in Rory’s position, they can’t. It made me very humble.
You have to lose your ego in playing a role like this. There’s
a bigger story here - you have to respect the story and the people.
Q. Did Damien O’Donnell have a particular directorial
style?
A. He was very free - he’s very keen to play with
things and let things grow and develop and then there comes a
point where we lock it, and he says, ‘We have to stop playing
now, we’ve got a job to do it.’
He knows that you have to get it all done as well as create something
beautiful. He has a great capacity to let things wash over him-
in a way i’ve never seen a director do before.
Making a film is tough work - there are a million different pressures
coming at you.
If you’re the director, you’re like the pillow that
people beat up, when they can’t sleep at night. You’re
under pressure from actors, producers, financiers, and Damien
has an ability not to let that affect him and to get on with the
film.
He also gave us five weeks rehearsal time in Dublin, which is
exceptional on a low-budget film: without it I couldn’t
have managed . He made us feel safe and secure and listened to
us when we had suggestions about the script.
During those weeks we worked with people from disability groups
such as Muscular Dystrophy Ireland, and Disability Ireland. They
were tolerant of us and very generous.
Q. What’s next in your career?
A. I’m filming The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,
in New Zealand for Disney, playing Tumnus the Faun, which will
be a seven month shoot. It’s one of my favourite books from
when I was a child.
Hopefully, it’s something I can one day show my kids when
I’m older. Up till now my work has always been quite dark,
I’ve been dying,or getting shot, or shooting somebody else.
This will be about telling stories to a different type of person.
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