Culture Whisper Interview: Jack Reynor and Gerard Barrett
INTERVIEW: Gerard Barrett, director of new film Glassland, talks with Irish actor Jack Reynor (Transformers) about alcoholism, growing up in Dublin and working with Oscar-nominee Toni Collette.
'Transformers' and 'What Richard Did' actor Jack Reynor stars in director Gerard Barrett's 'Glassland'
Glassland, which won a Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival for Jack Reynor's performance, tells the story of a young taxi driver (played by Reynor) who goes to all possible lengths to save his mother (Toni Collette) from a steady decline in alcohol addiction. As the situation becomes more desperate, Reynor seeks out his contacts in the Irish criminal underworld for a job that pushes him to the extremes of human behaviour.
Director Gerard Barrett's first feature film, Glassland is a story of family sacrifice, the dangerous grips of addiction and its psychological effects. The film also stars Will Poulter, 2014 BAFTA rising star best known for his performances in We’re the Millers and The Maze Runner.
Reynor's performance in Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did earned him critical attention when it debuted at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival. He's also set to play Malcolm in Kurzel's much anticipated Macbeth, starring Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender.
Gerard, what was your inspiration for the film?
GERARD: I come from rural Ireland and then I moved to urban Ireland, up to Dublin, and I suppose I saw a lot of addiction around me for the first time in my twenties. A lot of the new friends I made just happened to be dealing with addiction with their families, so I used that.
Quite a cast. How did you begin working with Jack?
We met up in Dublin and I told him I had this project and sent it to him and that was it, he was on board. And then he got Transformers, and he asked me to wait a year.
JACK: It wasn’t quite like that!
GERARD: It was quite like that. So he asked me to wait a year, and actually, Toni was on board the first time we got together as well. She was top of my list when we were talking about it.
Jack Reynor as Shane Dyson in Transformers
You've just filmed a blockbusting Macbeth, alongside Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, which comes out later this year. How was it playing Malcolm on screen?
JACK: It was brilliant. It was a great but it was intimidating, obviously, to go out, having never done a period film before, and throw myself into it. Justin Kurzel, the director, hadn’t heard my accent, he hadn’t heard me recite verse, he just went “that’s the guy, just get him.” I’d known Michael Fassbender prior to it, so he and I had a kind of common terra firma that we could hang out on and talk on. It was just a brilliant experience. That was another film where everybody was s****ing themselves so much they all just went and got on with it.
Gerard, what about your upcoming film Brain of Fire with Dakota Fanning?
GERARD: It’s a really cool project to get. To get to work with her and Charlize Theron is awesome. And Will Poulter is in it as well, and a few more people we haven’t announced yet. It’s all going to start coming up pretty soon. It’s an incredible book about a girl who’s diagnosed with a mysterious illness. I suppose all my stuff is about isolated and lonely people, and this is the ultimate isolated event.
Glassland is out in cinemas on 17 April.
Macbeth is currently in post-production and due for release November 2015.
Brain on Fire is due to be released in 2016.
Director Gerard Barrett's first feature film, Glassland is a story of family sacrifice, the dangerous grips of addiction and its psychological effects. The film also stars Will Poulter, 2014 BAFTA rising star best known for his performances in We’re the Millers and The Maze Runner.
Reynor's performance in Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did earned him critical attention when it debuted at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival. He's also set to play Malcolm in Kurzel's much anticipated Macbeth, starring Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender.
Gerard, what was your inspiration for the film?
GERARD: I come from rural Ireland and then I moved to urban Ireland, up to Dublin, and I suppose I saw a lot of addiction around me for the first time in my twenties. A lot of the new friends I made just happened to be dealing with addiction with their families, so I used that.
Quite a cast. How did you begin working with Jack?
We met up in Dublin and I told him I had this project and sent it to him and that was it, he was on board. And then he got Transformers, and he asked me to wait a year.
JACK: It wasn’t quite like that!
GERARD: It was quite like that. So he asked me to wait a year, and actually, Toni was on board the first time we got together as well. She was top of my list when we were talking about it.
Jack Reynor as Shane Dyson in Transformers
You've just filmed a blockbusting Macbeth, alongside Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, which comes out later this year. How was it playing Malcolm on screen?
JACK: It was brilliant. It was a great but it was intimidating, obviously, to go out, having never done a period film before, and throw myself into it. Justin Kurzel, the director, hadn’t heard my accent, he hadn’t heard me recite verse, he just went “that’s the guy, just get him.” I’d known Michael Fassbender prior to it, so he and I had a kind of common terra firma that we could hang out on and talk on. It was just a brilliant experience. That was another film where everybody was s****ing themselves so much they all just went and got on with it.
Gerard, what about your upcoming film Brain of Fire with Dakota Fanning?
GERARD: It’s a really cool project to get. To get to work with her and Charlize Theron is awesome. And Will Poulter is in it as well, and a few more people we haven’t announced yet. It’s all going to start coming up pretty soon. It’s an incredible book about a girl who’s diagnosed with a mysterious illness. I suppose all my stuff is about isolated and lonely people, and this is the ultimate isolated event.
Glassland is out in cinemas on 17 April.
Macbeth is currently in post-production and due for release November 2015.
Brain on Fire is due to be released in 2016.
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