Would love to work with Sarah Greene again: Paddy Breathnach

Roddy:

No, I didn’t try to find out who this woman was or what her name was or if I could talk to her. I didn’t feel the need to do that, because I thought telling the story would be relatively easy and it was. It’s relatively easy to imagine oneself in a car with children…I used to have my children, now they are adults, but they used to be babies and toddlers and children. So, I just imagined myself in the car with the children and making phone calls. We are all familiar with making phone calls and waiting for someone to pick it up and answer. It is energy sapping really. It is just a question of making it more intense.  

Roddy:

Yes, but I am not going to tell you about this (laughs).

Paddy:

He said exactly what I am going to say, except, he was much more polite (laughs). You know, for me, the film is not so much about finding hope in a hopeless situation, it’s about seeing how hope come under pressure in a desperate situation. The hope that Rosie has and constantly shows and acts out, begins to become brittler and in jeopardy as the film goes on. I think it’s about saying that that hope we have, the life force we have, if too much pressure comes on it, it’s vulnerable.

Apart from the leads, Sarah Greene and Moe Dunford, you have had to work with four very young actors. How difficult was it?

Roddy:

Paddy was a lion tamer in his previous career (laughs).

Sarah Green in a scene from Rosie

Paddy:

As with most things, if you cast well…we spent a lot of time casting the children under a very good casting director. I wanted to have children, that were able to not just learn the lines and do something that was regimented or pre-ordained. I wanted them to be alive in the scenes and be quick witted and able to respond to things immediately and also that they could gel together. We spent a bit of time trying to make that work.    

Did you explain the whole story to the kids?

Paddy:

No, I didn’t. I gave them the background to it. I wanted them to be alive at minute to minute. So, it was more important to me what was happening for them to know what was happening at that moment in the film, rather than that they knew the whole story. Also, I learnt a few years ago…I used to be very tight while constructing a scene. There were certain shots that I wanted to do and it had to fit the shape that I had already put on it. Now I have changed my views about film-making. I try to create a situation where something can come to life and it’s my job to try to capture that. So, I create the atmosphere and I try and capture around that. The children felt very comfortable, partly because Moe and Sarah helped generate that, but also because of themselves as children and as actors.

Sarah Greene, who plays Rosie, is garnering a lot of praise for her role. How was the experience of working with her?

Paddy:

Sarah is very down to earth, good at cooperating, working, talking discussing…she doesn’t come to you with a big ego or make life difficult for you. She is easy going in her process, but if she doesn’t believe in something, you might have a strong conversation about it. She comes with her own ideas, but it’s always about the things that’s in the middle of the two of you. So, she was great to work with. I think she was very brave because she didn’t try and glamourise herself in the situation and she allowed herself to become vulnerable and not going for very heavy make-up, it was simple and straight and true. So, from my experience, she was just fantastic.  

Are you going to work with Sarah Greene in the future?

Paddy:

I would love to work with Sarah Greene. She is brilliant. I think, she’s very well known in Ireland and this [film] will let people outside Ireland know her. Hopefully her star rises further because she is a wonderful actress.

Roddy:

Not so long ago, I saw her play Alice on stage in Alice in Wonderland and then few years later she’s playing the mother of four children. So, she’s very versatile, extraordinary really! We are lucky to have her.

What about Moe? Share your experiences of working with him.

Paddy:

Moe’s role in a way is harder. He needs to be constant and solid there, but not over pander. He has to be supportive, but he also has to be steadfast and strong. I think he’s great. He brings a certain solidity and dignity to the character very naturally. He has a gentle presence with the children, where he knows them and is intimate and close with them, without having being overly demonstrative. Mo is a very cooperative and generous actor. He will give of himself to the part and he will go to places if you ask him to go.

Roddy:

Just on a social level, they are very very nice, both Sarah and Moe. What is like most about Moe is his body language. When he is leaving his work, for example, in the early scene, he’s immediately a working-class Dublin man. The way he moves, his shoulder, so he’s very much the character. Even though he doesn’t say remotely as much as Sarah, it’s the body language that he uses to communicate.

Roddy, since this was your script, did you have a say in the filming process?

Roddy:

I stayed away. I dropped once or twice to say hello really, but I have had no involvement in this. It’s like a military operation, the director is the boss. Everybody else should be working for the director and I’m quite happy with that. I am a writer. I put words together and I should have no say in camera position and casting…unless I am asked. Then my opinion is as valuable as anybody else’s. It’s a gamble. People have asked me if I find it difficult to hand over my work…it is exciting. Luckily, way more times the gamble has paid off than not. So, you take the gamble or you just stay home and I would rather take the gamble. I knew I was in good hands, because I had seen Paddy’s work and I liked it. I don’t have notions of being more than what I am.