EOIN MACKEN | INTERVIEW
Carl Marsh speaks to this many-talented Irishman, who got his first break as a model but is now equally comfortable behind or in front of the camera. His latest director’s credit, Here Are The Young Men, is a coming-of-age film about two best friends, Matthew and Kearney.
Having watched Here Are The Young Men, it left me thinking, “What would I do?” It must have been hard, writing and directing the screenplay, to get this moral dilemma to work.
I’m really glad you got that from it because that was the idea behind it. For me, the film grew as I was writing it. What became one of its most interesting facets was – aside from the music and the visuals and all the characters and the general story – I wanted you, the viewer, to look at that fundamental question Matthew asks at the end: would you do the same thing?
I found myself fascinated thinking about – what if it was my friend that had done this? What would I do? I wanted to do a movie you’d have a conversation about afterwards and go, “Well, would I do this?” I always remember talking to my mom when I was in my teens and we’d watch movies – she’d always talk about the moral dilemma. And I remember being like, “What are you talking about? Let’s just watch the movie!”
Also, one thing you know – now you’ve seen the film – is that you’re not entirely sure what Kearney has or hasn’t done.
With Kearney, Finn Cole’s character, you don’t know how much of what you see on the screen is all in his head. You start to think about his mental health issues. And then it makes ‘us’, the viewers, wish that Matthew, Dean-Charles Chapman’s character, went about his actions in a different way. There’s doubt there.
Well, exactly, and the way that Matthew did go through with it, he didn’t approach having a conversation about it properly. He ended up doing the exact same thing that Kearney did, but he’s got a different justification for what he’s doing. So they end up becoming this mirror of each other, and both go down a certain road, and you’re like – hang on, which one is more justifiable? Which one is correct? And which one makes it okay, or not?
The film is based on the bestselling book by Rob Doyle. When you read it, did you instantly see this as movie material and get to work on the screenplay straight away?
When I read it, I didn’t have any idea of making it into a film – I just read it. And I found myself having a very visceral reaction to it because the book, you know, is quite strong and quite powerful. What the character of Kearney does and how his friends react to him I found very interesting, because you’re dealing with Rob Doyle’s very pulpy use of language while you’re getting into these characters’ heads.
It became this weird, dark, fascinating movie about these kids coming of age – in inverted commas – whereby these terrible things are happening. In the book, Kearney is even more deplorable, but I didn’t want to go down that road entirely; I wanted to explore the fact that what was real wasn’t real.
Finn Cole is also known for his role in Peaky Blinders; Dean-Charles Chapman for 1917. You’ve also got Anya Taylor-Joy (Glass), Emmett J. Scanlan (Hollyoaks), Travis Fimmel (Vikings) – even Noomi Rapace has a cameo! Who was the first to sign up, and did that influence the others to show interest?
Dean was the first person to cast, and then Finn. I wanted to cast people that fit for the film first and then build it around who it was. People started to respond to the script. I’d worked with some people before, like Noomi, who loved the script and wanted to be part of it. Travis loved the script – we’d have long chats about it, and he wanted to be involved. The same with Anya. People just responded to what it was.
Here Are The Young Men is released via all digital platforms on Fri 30 Apr, and on DVD on Mon 10 May. Info: instagram.com/herearetheyoungmenmovie
words CARL MARSH