Peaky Blinders Movie Director Talks Barry Keoghan’s Unpredictability & Role | Interview
ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man director Tom Harper about the new film that serves as a conclusion to the television show. Harper discussed the reasoning for making a film, the spiritual side of Tommy Shelby that gets explored, and working with Barry Keoghan. The film begins streaming on Netflix on March 20.
“Birmingham, 1940. Amidst the chaos of WWII, Tommy Shelby is driven back from a self-imposed exile to face his most destructive reckoning yet. With the future of the family and the country at stake, Tommy must face his own demons, and choose whether to confront his legacy, or burn it to the ground. By order of the Peaky Blinders…” reads the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Tom, a lot of TV shows that get film adaptations usually lean into fan service, but I don’t think anybody expected that from you and Stephen. This is definitely not that type of film. Instead, there’s meaningful character development. There’s a lot of finality. There are some deaths. Can you speak to your point of view coming into this? Because it seems like the whole creative team didn’t want to do this unless you really had something to add, since we already had a very good series finale.
Tom Harper: Yeah, I think that it felt like there was something else to say about the life of Tommy Shelby. I think that Steve always from the very beginning wanted to tell the story of Tommy Shelby between the two World Wars. Between the First World War, where Tommy’s life is fundamentally thrown off course, and to stretch through the period of time as he starts to take back control over his life and try and fight for his family and his people. He wanted to take that up to the Second World War. So that was almost the bookend because the history repeating itself. So I think it was always in Steve’s mind that he wanted to take it to this point, and to tell this chapter in the life of Tommy Shelby.
Cillian Murphy gets so much to work with in this film. We’ve always seen this spiritual side of Thomas Shelby, but we see a lot more of his gypsy beliefs explored in this film. There’s also this seeking for atonement, which is relatively new for Tommy. What was most interesting about exploring those two themes for you?
I think Tommy’s obviously always had a connection with ghosts and with the other side, with the spiritual world. But I think that as he has got older, as Kaulo says to him in one of the scenes, “You live in a house full of ghosts that died because of you.” He’s more deeply affected. He’s had more loss. He’s lost his daughter, he’s lost Polly, he’s lost family members. I think he’s now in this place where he feels very close and where it would be almost a relief for him to pass over himself.
So he’s sort of he’s interested in the afterlife. He’s almost studying the afterlife. As we find it. He thinks he’s onto something. He’s sort of twisted and living with the ghosts until Kaulo comes and almost takes him back in a seance to help him bring him back to the world so that he can save his son and Britain in one combined act.
Tyler Treese: The Peaky Blinders movie focuses a lot on Duke, Tommy’s son. Can you speak to the recasting and getting Barry in for this role? Because what really impresses me about Barry is that he’s always able to show that he can snap at any moment, but he also feels overwhelmed. You feel the pressure in his performance, where you never know which way he’s going to go. So, can you speak to why Barry was the right choice for this role?
Tom Harper: Yeah, I mean, I think there’s an unpredictability to Barry that is that is really interesting, isn’t it? But I think the thing that I always thought would be great for Barry about this role is that he is a very powerful, has great strength, and is very charismatic. So he has that power, but at the same time, he’s just under the surface. There’s this vulnerability, and you can feel that vulnerability in everything he does.
That is essentially what this story is about. It’s about a son that’s been abandoned or feels abandoned by his father. This is a story about a father and a son. I think that there’s not very many people in the world that have that strength, but with that vulnerability so close to the surface.
You’ve directed fantastic episodes of the show, so what did it mean for you to be the one who was approached to wrap up this series with the Peaky Blinders movie?
It felt really lovely, you know, like having enjoyed my time working on Season 1, building relationships with Steve and Cillian and with many other people. I’ve worked with the cinematographer, George Steel ever since, and obviously a lot of the other cast members, Sophie, Packy, Ned. There’s plenty of people who I really loved working with.
So to come back felt like a really lovely, it felt like coming full circle. It felt like we started something off, and then it took off to become this amazing thing that we never really dreamed it would become. Then to come off and tell this part of the story felt a really lovely thing to be able to do.
How was it filming the shootout in the stables? I thought that was such a perfect experience, especially for Tommy and his connection to horses, to finally have a shootout there.
It was great. It feels like a proper Western. It’s actually got one of my favorite shots in it when Tim Roth turns up as Beckett, and it just takes its time. There’s a sort of a slow burn to it, but it’s full of tension because you know that it’s all going to go off. Then to have it in a mortuary with the horses and the funeral wagon, and then just to shoot the shit out of it is, it was really… it was really fun, but also like it’s two worthy adversaries.
That’s actually what makes it. A fight when one person is so clearly going to win. I don’t think it’s particularly interesting. But when you have, you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen. And particularly, the additional element of that, it’s not just in terms of the action, but also in terms of the conversation. They’re sparring both as characters as well as with the gunfight.
Thanks to Tom Harper for taking the time to talk about Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Source: Comingsoon.net