Your new movie A.S. - in a
few words, what is it about, and what can you tell us about your character in
it?
Mike
Brown is a local politician but he has Aspergers. My character is
able to focus on improving the lives of the people within the community
but I face personal challenges in supporting my own family. In A.S.
you get
to see my public life and private life. My daughter struggles to cope with
my condition but does her best to keep me happy. Whilst my son tries to
keep us all together.
What did you draw upon to bring your character to life, and what
can you tell us about your preparation and research for the role? I
did a lot of research and learned that although there may be common traits
for people with Aspergers, many have unique experiences too. As a child, I
was diagnosed with hyperactivity, speech problems, lack of coordination
and placed in a restraint jacket. Although I don't have Aspergers I
could see that there were some things that were similar to Aspergers. So
as an actor I took some of the research I did and gave my character some
of those traits. Playing
someone with Aspergers Syndrome, in what way does that influence, maybe
limit, the choices you make as an actor? As
above I had a difficult time as a child and I understand that in our
society we tend to use ADHD to sometimes describe a hyperactive person,
although there are many other aspects of ADHD. Taking on the role
was something I wanted to do because of my own experience. The director,
writer, and I did a lot of research as well as lots of discussion about how
to do justice to the role. I did find through my research of Aspergers
certain things that were similar to my own. I believe that the
Liverpool Film Initiative and myself did justice in portraying someone
with Aspergers in A.S.
photo
by Graham Smillie |
How did you get
involved with the project in the first place? As
an actor, I wanted to do something locally to my home. The
Liverpool Film Initiative is a company that brings together local creative people that
work in many disciplines in the industry such as writers, directors,
producers, filmmakers, actors, etc. We met as a group and one of the
projects was A.S., which was about mental health. I was drawn to this. What can
you tell us about A.S.'s
director Alex Movinsky, and what was your collaboration like? He
was a brilliant director and editor. I loved his enthusiasm and how he was
adamant to get A.S. right. He allowed me so much freedom to explore the Mike
Brown character. Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? We
had such fun working on A.S., there was a brilliant atmosphere and everyone
worked together.
photo by Pauline Power
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Any
future projects you'd like to share?
At present I am on Amazon Prime in an
award winning film called For Love's Sake playing Colin Jarvis who is head
of social services during the early 80s. I am directing A Midsummer
Night's Dream and playing Oberon. My wife and I also run a charity called
The Power Foundation For Young People that helps young people gain skills
in acting by giving them opportunities to work with professional actors. Your website,
social media, whatever else?
thepowerfoundationfyp.com
spotlight.com/9738-1271-3804
Thanks
for the interview!
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