Robert Sheehan

Irish-born TV- and movie actor/producer Robert Sheehan is a multiple BAFTA and IFTA nominee, and has gathered a huge fanbase for his portrayal as ‘Nathan Young’ in the television series MISFITS. In his latest movie THE MESSENGER he gives a mesmerising performance as a troubled young man who can communicate with the dead and tries to help them.

Film-News’ Claudia Andrei caught up with an easy-going and friendly Robert during the Edinburgh Film Festival, where THE MESSENGER saw its World Premiere.

Film-News:
Robert, do you believe in seeing the dead?

Robert Sheehan:
No, I don’t.

Film-News:
What made you accept the role?

RS:
Well, the whole supernatural aspect of the film is dealt with in a day-to-day kind of humdrum. I like the way my character, ‘Jack’, dealt with it – obviously he suffered from some disorder all his life in a way that nobody really understands. The fact that it was supernatural was completely un-supernatural in the performance, you know what I mean?

Film-News:
I don’t really see it as supernatural… more like your character has this certain gift…

RS:
Yeah, it’s not like a ghost story in the traditional sense, but for ‘Jack’ they are there in all their glory. I guess it’s that specific element which makes the performance seem so ‘normal’.

Film-News:
Joely Richardson plays the part of your psychiatrist. Like many psychiatrist in real life – and in the Western world – she tries to find an explanation for your ‘condition’ in a rational way…

RS:
True. Which, if you look at it, is totally bizarre. Take for example astronomers who lead us to big bang theories and take us to other places via quantum physics, you know. The very fabric of reality behaves in a completely unrealistic way. Sometimes psychiatry and psychology, these bastions of logic, completely let people down. So their explanations for things are in themselves sometimes.

Film-News:
Joely’s psychiatrist has the usual remedy to offer in the shape of prescription drugs.

RS:
You should read this book called ‘The Psychopath Test’ by Jon Ronson – I read it recently and it’s fuckin’ great! It’s an easy read actually and it quite anecdotal and funny, it’s about his journey into the madness industry and revolves around this idea called the ‘Hare Checklist’. You know, things to look out for to diagnose someone with psychopathy. Ronson meets all these people who are diagnosed psychopaths and what comes to light is that the inconsistencies in the psychiatric and psychological world are just everywhere, you know. It’s an industry that’s been shamed and embarrassed time and time again by other people who try to disprove the stuff that they’ve set up, you know – reasons to commit someone for the rest of their lives. So yeah, it’s hard to say where reality starts and ends in The Messenger.

Film-News:
Were you director David Blair’s first choice for the role of Jack?

RS:
David came to me after he and myself worked on this BBC series called Accused. That turned out good, so he sent me the script for The Messenger about two-and-a-half years ago. I guess there are similarities in the stories, like paranoia, illusion, what is and what isn’t reality, you know – that sort of stuff. So I jumped on board very quickly because I thought the script was fantastic. Initially it was meant to be filmed here in Edinburgh, it was meant to be Scottish. You know, it is only Northern English because that is the location where we shot it.

Film-News:
So how did you prepare for your role?

RS:
I felt that it wouldn’t have been relevant to see the inside of a psychiatric hospital to prepare for my part, or study someone who suffers from paranoia and delusion. I think that every person who has that suffers from a different delusion. It felt there wasn’t really any tangible research in the world that would have helped me out, you know. Obviously if I felt that it would helped me out I would have done it. We all got the script, we rehearsed, and there were endless debates about what makes my character insane to the audience, what draws the line, what’s over the top you know. So there was a constant tweaking and David is someone who was seeing it all very much from the point of the edit. He was like “The moment you look into the eyes of the dead person you are mad, you are insane”, and I went, “What are you talking about?” You know what I mean. If the person is there then it is there, just like any other person. Just because the person is dead doesn’t mean it’s not there. So this debate went on for an hour or so. Of course, David sees it all from the viewpoint of the editing room – but that’s ok, it helped clarify things between us that seemed kind of hazy.

Film-News:
What was the most difficult scene for you?

RS:
From a physical point of view it is the one towards the end, the one between Tamzin Merchant and me where I say that she (‘Sarah’) needs help. The scene was just so wild and intense, and we had few rehearsals. We sat at the table and the crew would say “Ok, we’re shooting” and I went as far as you see me go in the film, you know. That was emotionally so draining, draining, draining! Sometimes the toughest scenes to film are not always down to emotions but to logistics you know, it can take a fucking hour just to get that one scene right. But really, all the emotional shit, no matter how intense, is the fun stuff for me on set!

Film-News:
Many thanks for the interview, Robert.