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00:00So, yeah, I was brought up in Cumbria in the north of England, and so it's mountains and
00:16shepherding communities. And I worked on farms when I was at school and after I left school.
00:25And so I wrote the script set there originally, and we tried to get it off the ground, but
00:30we struggled to get the finance. And then we had this opportunity to shoot in Ireland.
00:34So it was really important to feel that it was the authenticity was, you know, that we
00:41moved it there, that it felt like it belonged in that in that space. So myself and the producer
00:46went over and we spent two weeks just traveling around Ireland, meeting different shepherds
00:52and farmers and talking to them about the story and talking about the way that we saw
00:57the shepherding process. And it was exactly the same. And, you know, the conflicts that
01:02we were talking about, similar stories existed in those communities. So it felt like it was
01:08a perfect place to set the film. Originally, when I like bringing the narrative together,
01:14it was using the landscape as a location that I think I feel is underused. Then this
01:22idea of shepherding and the parable of the good shepherds. And then around 2013, there
01:29was a spate of rustling in Cumbria and Derbyshire in England where people were taking the hind
01:36legs off sheep and just letting them bleed out in fields. So gangs going around because
01:40you can sell them, you know, you can sell like an organic leg of lamb for like 40 quid
01:45or two is 80 quid and you don't have to deal with the rest of the sheep. It was really
01:49brutal and barbaric. So it was using that as a and then sort of expanding it into something
01:57which was a little bit more industrial. But yeah, like in sort of agricultural crime is
02:04huge in the UK at the moment. Lots of armed gangs stealing combine harvesters and tractors
02:09and all kinds. Imagine someone coming after you in a tractor. Couldn't take them seriously.
02:14You'd be like, yeah, I'm here.
02:19It was, yeah, of course, it was scary and like, you know, trying to act in another language
02:23and, you know, and still make it feel like you're not just saying words in another language,
02:31like have them have a mean something. But you know, it's just it's really sort of like
02:34academic, the approach for that, you know, it's like it's like I was like studying, you
02:40know, for a test, like in school, you know, so it's sort of tedious. But you sort of go
02:45you sort of go through that. So then you can arrive on set and feel free and be able to
02:51play, really. So, yeah, it was just just some work.
02:54You're doing a great job, by the way. I've seen it last night. And yeah, you are amazing.
02:58Oh, thanks, pal.
02:59Honestly.
03:00Is that the first time you've seen it?
03:01Yeah, yeah. First time.
03:02So just to give it a timeline, I think you got your Oscar nomination for Banshees while
03:08you were working on this.
03:09I did that day. It was quite, you know, the pressure then getting that nomination and
03:15going back to set being like, yeah, I've got to perform here now. Everyone's looking. But
03:23I remember that day. That was a lovely, lovely day. And we were near the Sugarloaf Mountain.
03:29Yeah, Sugarloaf.
03:30Yeah, I always remember that. Yeah. Well, I grew up in the city in Dublin, the inner
03:36city, so that world is is far from me. But in Ireland and in a lot of rural places, you
03:43know, there's always this less said mentality. And you know what I mean? It's you know, people
03:51don't vocalise it an awful lot. And with Jack, I just wanted to kind of portray, you know,
03:58him trying to impress his father and, you know, some sort of confusion there as well.
04:03And just, you know, going through just just going through that kind of that stage in his
04:08life as well, where you're figuring yourself out and and having to put on a front and stuff.
04:14But yeah, I wanted to wanted to convey all of that and a lot of it through, you know,
04:23the body language. And that's what Chris done quite well was was, you know, he doesn't write
04:29a whole lot of dialogue for you. And I kind of I'm in favour of that animalistic approach
04:35or, you know, the slight look here or, you know, how you can, you know, say a lot without
04:40saying it. So.
04:42Well, that made me really curious when you guys have that confrontation over the two
04:47missing sheep in the beginning and you're shoving him.
04:52Yeah, it's sort of like the sheep thing, like it's like the ram, like, you know, and I wanted
04:57to kind of mirror that thing. And, you know, it's all from behind as well, which which
05:02was I love that, you know, you don't get to see all of this and it's like all of this,
05:06but, you know, you don't get to see it. And it's like, it's just, you know, everyone wants
05:12to see it, you know, but it was like, it's I'm always, you know, Darren Aronofsky's movie,
05:18the rest. I'm always I'm a big fan of that movie because it's always on the shoulders
05:22of Mickey Rourke and, you know, how we can convey everything true, true, true to body.
05:27And so I'm always trying to put that force before I even say anything.
05:31No, it's I mean, the confrontations in in, you know, it's it's written, but just my job
05:39is to create the the environment. You know, they've got the script and these guys are
05:43incredible physical performers, you know, so it's just setting the right tone and giving
05:48them make giving a safe space that they can that they can go at each other and they can
05:52find a way of like being physical with one another and being in character. They're not
05:57worried about, you know, there's no consequences, you know, no one's going to get hurt. So they
06:02can push and, you know, push and pull as much as they like.
06:06Oh, I mean, also with that scene, you know, me and Barry are in there with a load of rams,
06:10you know, so it's hard. You can't really like choreograph the physicality because you're
06:13having to deal with, you know, they're like the other actors in the scene as well. You know? Yeah.
06:20It's sort of like a lonely life, you know, he's sort of especially in the beginning,
06:24you sort of see him doing his job and he's just sort of out in the fields for, you know,
06:29hours upon hours on the day with with his dog and sheep. So, you know, I would assume after
06:35years of doing that, you know, you tend to sort of become like sort of a quiet man, you know,
06:42and, you know, there's a lot of time to, I'm sure, sort of ruminate on, you know, past traumas and
06:48stuff. But it's, you know, it's sort of a meditation in that way for me. So I think,
06:56you know, it was nice to then have a few moments to sort of, you know, let the steam out of those
07:04scenes. But you, if you sort of, you know, you keep a top on it for a long enough, eventually
07:09something's going to explode, you know, and it's sort of it's more gratifying when there's like a
07:15slow build to that kind of stuff. Well, from a practical point of view, it's, you know, we've got
07:20the real sheep doing sheepy things, you know, and that was, you know, hard to come to 100 in the
07:28fields, you know, it's like 100, 110. We lost a couple here and there, it's not like they're still
07:34alive, they just like escaped and found like wandering around a few days later. And then it
07:47was, we had some two kind of sort of hero puppet sheep, one which was like a beanbag, one which
07:53Chris carries and we sort of move around. And then one which is this kind of puppeteers, animatronic
08:02you, which has got his legs cut off and can move his ears and VFX. So it was like,
08:09we did a lot of embellishment to give it bellowing of its stomach and breath and life in its eyes.
08:15And then we had, the sound is what I find the most sort of compelling, especially in the scene with
08:24Barry, you know, that's like, we don't, we see so little, but we feel so much because it's the way
08:29that he plays it is so extraordinary. Did you play that sound so that you could? No, we didn't have it,
08:36they didn't make, we got one bleep in five weeks, the sheep didn't say anything. So we, and it was
08:42really difficult to source it. So all the sounds in that massacre of the sheep and dying is me
08:51lying on a sofa in Belgium with a microphone and just making sheep noises.
09:08Yeah, it was, I mean, for me it was, you know, I got to handle them and I'm really appreciate
09:14and respect them as well because, you know, you've to really get physical with them. And
09:19I've got a massive German shepherd and I'm always, you know, physical with him and wherever,
09:24like he's a big dog. So it's sort of like that, but these can give you little butts and little,
09:30you know, and you really got to hone them in. But for that, that cutting scene and the taking
09:37the legs off, I mean, yeah, it was quite gruesome. We did have real sheep there, but we obviously,
09:43we didn't, you know, cut their legs and wherever, but. It was really important that they, that,
09:47you know, for the audience to believe that these guys are shepherds is like, they have to be
09:52comfortable around the animals. You know, if they have any fear, the animals respond. So,
09:57and both had, we set out a full day for them to do shepherds training, but they did it in like an
10:03hour. Both of them were so physical. They just were really confident with the animals. They
10:07worked it out. They saw what to do. And it was like an hour each. And the resistance of all,
10:12you know, the sheep going against you or even their arms or whatever, it's, it adds to it,
10:16you know, you don't want it to be easy. You want them to be like going against you, you know what
10:20I mean? But yeah. My favorite bit was just working with that dog. Not my favorite bit of the whole
10:28movie, but I love, you know, that dog was probably my most favorite scene partner in the whole now.
10:35But, you know, but that, I mean, you know, it's on paper, you're like, all right, this is like a
10:40scene that like Michael's walking with this dog and the sheep and you're like, all right, yeah,
10:44we'll do that tomorrow. And then, you know, all of a sudden you start shooting it and it's actually
10:48this massive, you know, beautiful, you know, pastoral. You could watch you for days. I really
10:54mean that after seeing that, you know, you could put Chris anywhere in Ireland. I mean, you have
10:58that Irish look as well. There's a lot of Irish that have this, you know, dark look. I questioned
11:03that at first. No, honestly, I remember I showed you, you know, the kind of Spanish influence and,
11:09you know, stuff like that. But you could watch you all day in that backdrop.
11:13Well, I mean, vice versa.
11:15I don't think so.
11:16Yes. No, but it's true, you know, like it's, you know, they're, I think they're,
11:20you know, Barry, like there's some actors where they don't, whether they have dialogue or not,
11:25you know, it's just like, it's just, it's compelling, you know, and it's, you know,
11:31I think Barry and I are like a little bit similar in terms of like behavior and like, you know,
11:36and sort of there is a physicality to, you know, you can, you can say a lot with gestures and your
11:41body and it doesn't always have to be, you know, hitting home runs with dialogue, you know.
11:46But the dog's your favorite.
11:47But the dog is, I mean, it was a good dog.
11:49He didn't say anything.
11:50I thought, I thought the dog was really great in the film.
11:52No, he was. That was it. That was a really, you know, it was a lovely moment. Not a lovely moment,
11:56but it was a lovely scene when the dog was dying. That was lovely. You know what I'm saying?
12:01Yeah, I know what you mean.
12:02How do I say that without sounding like it was... I should start barking.
12:11Congratulations, guys. This was so much fun having you in here.