SIG: As someone who nearly had a career as a musician, you have been quoted comparing the thrill of performing live music to that of acting on stage. That kind of live performance and authenticity is something So It Goes cherishes. What do you think makes an authentic experience in TV and film?
CM: I think authenticity is something very important overall and particularly in this acting game where so much is superficial and so much is about anything but authenticity. I’ve tried to plough that furrow and stick to my instincts, stick to what interests me and to the reason I got into this in the first place. Theatre fits into that because you’re very exposed on stage. It really is just the actor. What I love about theatre is the sort of implausibility of it, the absurdity of it: at any point it could all go terribly wrong. Someone forgets their lines or the lights break, the curtain doesn’t go up, somebody in the audience misbehaves. I like that, I love the fragility of live performance. I always have done, from when I was playing music and now similarly with theatre. Film, however, has so many different layers, and the actors are very much down the ladder in terms of creating the end result, because we basically just give the performance and pass it over to the director and the editor. Then the marketing people and all of that take over. In theatre, you’re exposed but you’re also empowered. I like that combination.
SIG: There is a huge variety in the characters you’ve played – can you put your finger on what you find attractive in a part?
CM: In terms of live performance, I am always interested by people in jeopardy, situations where the stakes are raised. I’ve always liked the idea of the everyday man in extraordinary situations. I’ve also liked the idea of exploring the slightly darker side of the psyche. It generally appears to be the case that most people who carry out acts that we would find disturbing are trying to do the right thing. Particularly with this character I’m playing right now, Tommy Shelby, who was a gangster. He was acting according to his idea of the greater good, an idea that requires him to carry out these acts. I’m not interested in shows that would portray those acts and then have no consequence. I’m interested in the consequences.
SIG: The clearest example of a character working for the greater good is Damien in The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Watching that film elicits a whole range of emotions. Did you find it a difficult part to play?
CM: Well, the thing you have to realise is that I never saw the script, so I never knew which way the character was headed. Ken Loach shoots chronologically and gives you the material on the day or the day before. I knew there was a civil war, I knew there was going to be a split and I was aware that I was a doctor but… What it does is avoid the intellectualisation – it’s all based on instinct. One of the greatest lessons I learnt working with Ken was to throw away all of that. You can get your script and spend months and months and months finding all these layers and colours and complexities. The camera doesn’t care if you have a million different reasons for why you’re behaving like that; it just wants the truth.First thought, best thought. Particularly shooting the kid, I didn’t know that was going to happen. Very cleverly he’d had us spend a lot of time together. We’d got very close, me and that kid.