In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to director Nick Rowland about his feature debut, adapted by Joe Murtagh from Colin Barrett’s novella Young Skins.
Ex-boxer Douglas ‘Arm’ Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis) is the faithful and violent right-hand-man to the drug-dealing Devers clan, ready to dole out beatings at the whim of his best friend, and the family’s unpredictable protégé, Dympna (Barry Keoghan).
Arm’s struggle to find his place in the world has consequences on his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Ursula (Niamh Algar) as she strives to find a better life for herself and their young son Jack.
Calm with Horses is released digitally in the UK & Ireland 27th April 2020.
Amongst the conversation, Gemma and Nick discuss
- getting into film
- the evolution of the film
- working with the screenplay with Mayo writer Joe Murtagh
- the balance of brutality and violence and softness and melancholy in the film
- working with the actors
- setting an urban movie in rural Ireland
- the look of the film with production designer Damien Creagh, DoP Piers McGrail and costume designer Sharon Long
- in the edit
- working with Benjamin John Power on the score and sound designer Matis Rei
Nick Rowland is an award-winning directing graduate of the National Film and Television School. Even before graduating, his work as a director had already earned him a Royal Television Society Award for Dancing in the Ashes (2012), and he has since been nominated for a BAFTA for Slap (2014). His TV credits include Hard Sun, Ripper Street (BBC) and Cuffs. Calm with Horses is his debut feature.
Film Ireland Podcasts
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