00:00I play Pa, who is father to Buddy and Will and husband to Ma, played by Catriona Balfe.
00:09And I think Pa is ultimately a really good person trying to do right by his family.
00:16And he's, like everyone in Northern Ireland at the time, is sort of forced into this very difficult position
00:23of trying to make big life decisions that benefit the family
00:26and try to get through these very severe times that are happening around Belfast in 1969.
00:37But ultimately, he's trying to do the right thing for his young family.
00:42And so he works in the building trade as a joiner, and a lot of his work is bringing him over to England already.
00:49So then when there's the opportunity to escape all the troubles that are happening in the north of Ireland,
00:54he takes that opportunity and tries to help his family.
00:59I sort of didn't base him. I mean, you know, I have the luxury of being from Belfast
01:03and having a father from Belfast and uncles from Belfast and, you know, lots of, you know,
01:10men in my life and my mates' fathers.
01:14And, you know, I feel like I've got a pretty good grasp.
01:18I mean, there's definitely elements of his character that I kind of associated with people
01:23that have been in my life in some way growing up.
01:27And, yeah, I felt like I had a little bit of a head start with that in terms of shaping Pah
01:33because I know what a man from Belfast is pretty well, you know, so that was helpful.
01:38I get a sort of text from my agent saying,
01:43Kenneth Branagh would like to talk to you about something.
01:46Are you free tomorrow?
01:47It's like, you don't get those texts very often, you know.
01:52And I was thinking, great, he wants me to be, you know, an extra in a movie or something.
01:57And I'll definitely talk to him about that.
01:59So they sent the script, I think, maybe even that evening.
02:04It all happened very fast.
02:05And then suddenly I read this script.
02:07As soon as I saw the title, Belfast, I thought, oh, hold on a second.
02:10This could be something really, really interesting.
02:13Not very often you get a script sent, then the title is your hometown
02:19and it's with such esteemed people involved in it, like Ken.
02:24So I read the script straight away and I think the next day I spoke to Ken on a sort of FaceTime call
02:33and just instantly, as I imagined I would, was sort of connected to him
02:41and saw how much this material and being from Belfast meant to him.
02:46And obviously being from Belfast means a lot to me also.
02:50So being able to riff off him in terms of talking about what that feels like, you know.
02:57I felt a lot of pride, you know.
03:01Ken's amazing at sort of bringing out all the core goodness of people from home, you know.
03:09And no matter what side of the divide you're on
03:13and no matter what people have gone through back home, we have always, I think, slightly biased,
03:21but I think we are in the north of Ireland, you know, we sort of insert humour into everything
03:28and we try to see the best in every situation.
03:31I think maybe in all of Ireland it's like that too, you know.
03:34It's an island that has gone through a lot of pretty rough situations over centuries
03:41and hasn't always been treated that well, let's say, and haven't treated each other that well, let's say that also.
03:47And I think we've had to sort of use humour to sort of combat that and get through those situations.
03:51So I think Ken really drew out that humour from the people there, which I really respected.
03:59But it's a joyful script in many respects, considering the, you know, the very troubling aspects of what's happening
04:07and the backdrop of what is starting to happen in Belfast at that time
04:13and the fractions that are starting to occur and the division and the uproar and the violence.
04:20There is still humour and there's people trying to live their lives and make these decisions.
04:26I mean, I think it's quite a, in the best way, it's difficult to describe.
04:31I think it is kind of, Ken and I were talking about this on set the other day,
04:34about how, you know, I think it's going to serve so many people.
04:38You know, I do think, like, everyone in the family could watch this and get something from it.
04:44Again, because it's joyful, but it's, you know, there's heartbreak in there.
04:50There's big themes, there's big decisions, there's leaving a life behind.
04:55But it's also funny. I think it's funny.
04:57You know, I think there's loads of humour in it, you know.
04:59And, yeah, I think it's sort of got this strain of, like, this very relatable sort of empathy throughout it,
05:10you know, and these decisions that are being made that I think any family can imagine themselves
05:16in these situations trying to make these decisions that are really tough
05:20and leaving a whole life, the only life you know, and leaving that behind.
05:24I mean, it must have been brutal to make those decisions then.
05:27So, not only have I not really worked with an actor as a director before,
05:31I've never worked with an actor who's such an actor, such a powerhouse of an actor,
05:36such a respected, you know, lauded actor.
05:39And I've loved every second of it.
05:42And the benefit of that are so many and plentiful.
05:48But my favourite aspect of working with an actor as a director
05:52is he is so mindful of where your head's at at all times as an actor.
05:57The day before a big scene, of course, the day of a big scene, the day after a big scene,
06:03he's so cognizant of where you are in your head.
06:05Because a lot of us as actors, we're often in our head about stuff
06:08and we're worried about how things are going to play out.
06:11and, you know, the day before, I mean, we had a relatively complicated scene
06:16and the day before Ken was sort of, I mean, how do you want to play it tomorrow?
06:19Would you rather we started wide and came in, worked up towards your close-up
06:22or would you rather just straight off the bat do your close-up
06:25and get that when you know she's fresh in the morning?
06:28A director's don't ask you those sort of questions a lot of the time.
06:30You know, you just sort of turn up and they're doing it their way
06:32and you just follow the line, you know?
06:35So that aspect of it, I've loved.
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