It’s that time of year when friends, family, and AMPAS voters catch up on the deluge of year-end films they’ve missed out on over the previous few months. Last week, a friend sent me the following message out of context: “Caitriona Balfe!” I quickly recognized his exuberance was referencing Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical “Belfast,” which had just found itself available to rent on digital services. And while the film is full of Oscar nomination-worthy performances, it’s the “Outlander” star who is arguably most deserving of the Academy’s golden touch.
READ MORE: Kenneth Branagh and Jamie Dornan On Belfast And Judi Dench’s immediate “Yes” [Interview]
Set at the onset of The Troubles in 1969, “Belfast” is told through the eyes of Buddy (Jude Hill), a nine-year-old who spends his afternoons after school with Pop (Ciarán Hinds) and Granny (Judi Dench) and eagerly awaits his father, Pa (Jamie Dornan), to return from his temporary job across the sea in England. Meanwhile, his mother, Ma (Balfe), tries her best to keep Buddy and his brother (Lewis McAskie) from getting involved in the increasingly dangerous conflict between Catholics and Protestants that saw British soldiers patrolling the streets.
Despite its serious backdrop, the film is mostly an homage to Branagh’s family and is filled with truly unexpected and lovely moments. One of those occurs during an Irish Wake where Pa joins the band to sing a live version of the 1967 hit song “Everlasting Love.” When Balfe initially read the screenplay neither she (or Dornan for that matter) realized that the moment was going to require extensive rehearsals to pull off.
“I think for me, you get very caught up in the dialogue. I think as an actor, that’s the first thing you sort of really hone in on,” Balfe says. “So I hadn’t really even noticed that there was dancing in it at all. I’d noticed a bit of the singing, but yeah. So on day one [Jamie] and I were sent to do a dance rehearsal and the two of us were like, ‘Is this a musical?’ We were like, ‘I didn’t get that from reading the script,’ but I mean it’s such a joyous scene, it was so much fun to film it.”
Balfe adds, “I mean, definitely terrifying. It’s not my wheelhouse naturally at all. So, having to dance in front of that many people was quite like, ‘Oh,’ at the same time, I think having to do things like that, really pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is so good because it just frees you up in another way, but it was such a necessary scene for the characters as well. I think you really needed them to have that moment of, ‘Yes, we’re being pulled apart by all of these external stresses and maybe we’re not going to make it’ which just reinforces and reminds them of the kind of underlying bond that they have and the underlying love that they have.”
During our conversation last month, Balfe reflected on her co-star Hill’s impressive talents, the relevance of the Troubles to today’s divisive political environment, and much more.
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The Playlist: I’ve talked to Jamie. I’ve talked to Jude. But how did this movie come your way?
Caitríona Balfe: I think out of the adults, or maybe out of everybody, I was probably one of the last to come on board. I got a call from my agent and he’s like, “There’s this project, Ken Branagh wrote it and is directing it.” And I was like, “Huh.” And I just loved the script, it was such a beautiful script. It made me very emotional. I felt like I recognized MA, I felt like I understood her. I had a very nervous day before I had a zoom with Ken and we spoke and he asked me to read two scenes with him, which was also slightly nerve-wracking. But I found out pretty quickly that it was happening and it was all pretty quick. But for me, because I sort of came on last, it was a very quick turnaround.
You were one of the first films to film during the pandemic. With your other commitments was it a case of them catching you at the perfect free moment?
Yeah. Well, if it wasn’t for the pandemic, I wouldn’t have been able to do this film. I was supposed to be shooting “Outlander”, so I was in LA, I was about to come back to the UK. I had another two weeks in LA before I was going to go back to shoot the new season of “Outlander” and then the pandemic happened and they put in a travel ban, and I was like, [I should get] out of here before I get stuck. So, I had spent from March till July in my apartment, pretty much in Glasgow climbing the walls, not writing a script like Ken was. And “Outlander,” they still weren’t ready to go. So, essentially I was just twiddling my thumbs, I didn’t really have a lot to do. When this film was going, I think “The Batman” had maybe started up and we were the only two projects that filming at that time in the UK. And it sort of sandwiched itself between two lockdowns. So it was perfect. I mean, it felt like a gift in so many ways, the project itself is such a special project and it felt like, I couldn’t believe that I was getting to work on this with the caliber of people who were on it, but also just being able to go to work, having stared at sort of the inside of my apartment for so long, it was like a godsend.
Like almost all of the cast you are Irish, but not from Northern Ireland, correct?
I was raised in the Republic, but just south of the border. So, I’m closer to Belfast than I am to Dublin, but I’m an hour and a half South of Belfast, which it doesn’t sound like a lot. And I never thought it was a lot, but we had our [Belfast] premiere and I’m definitely the foreigner in the crew I have learned. I didn’t think so, I thought we were all kind of like close, but I am a foreigner currently. [Laughs]
What was it like to be there to see it in that audience? What was their reaction?
It was really special. It was a very emotional night for everybody and definitely more so probably for Ken and Jamie and Ciarán because they’re from Belfast, but I brought my mom, which was the first premiere she’s ever been in of mine, so it was emotional for me in a different way as well. But I think everybody was really nervous because one thing about Irish audiences is that, they will not hold by if they don’t like something, they will definitely tell you. And it was the first time that I’d watched it from start to finish with an audience, so it was amazing to be in that room. They laughed harder at moments that I have watched it in London, not the whole way through, but I watched it here a bit, but they responded so wonderfully and I think you could feel that they were really enjoying it and you could feel the recognition of themselves in it.
One of the things that I appreciated more, I think the second time I saw the film is that too many people outside of the U.K. the era the film takes place in, The Troubles, has been lost to history a bit. And, as we’ve seen with the repercussions of Brexit, it’s never sort of over is it?
There’s always conflict in the world, right? Everywhere. Unfortunately, it’s a recurring theme among us humans that we seem to need this conflict. But I think, partially what we’re seeing with the explosion of social media, that it’s easier than ever for people to divide themselves into tribes and shut the door on a kind of any understanding of anybody else and live in an echo chamber. I think what’s so important about this film is that you see the inception of troubles or civil unrest, or a civil war starting, that we all know because of so much tragedy. And once you let that genie out of the box, it’s so hard, I mean we are still trying to put it back in Ireland, it is still so complicated, even though we’ve had a peace process since ’98, there are still people dying, there are still communities fighting each other, there are still politicians using it to their own advantage. And I think what Ken has done so beautifully in seeing the world through the eyes of a nine-year-old is that you see the futility of all of this division, and how actually it should be so simple. We have more in common with each other than we do have differences and having a little bit of compassion and empathy for each other is quite a simple thing to do, and it would solve so many problems. And I think here in America, right now, it’s an incredibly divisive time, where political affiliation is now ripping families apart, which is the saddest thing that I think, and I know families here that have been ripped apart because of it. In the UK, it’s Brexit has ripped families apart, again, this is a construct, it’s a political idea, and it forgets about the humanity and I think this film really illuminates the humanity of people and hopefully that’s the message that people can take.
I hope so too. When you got the role was there anything about Ken’s mother that he wanted to share with you? That he felt was important for your performance?
Well, I think he let me feel that he wanted me to take Ma and make her my own, but Ken’s an incredibly intelligent man, and I think anything he wanted me to bring to it, but we spoke about his mother. He definitely didn’t want this to be a documentary of his family and it’s a dramatized version and he’s taken liberties and stuff, but it’s based on real events. I was able to kind of clue into a few things. I think just from the very fact that one of the things I clicked in with Ma sort of gave me a lot of information is that, we don’t see her parents, we don’t see the stable family that we see in Pa. And that tells me a lot. I think the fact of, Granny and Pop being in it and how you see Paul being the much more solid, confident person in a way comes from having that grounding in his childhood. And I think Ma does not have the same, I think that’s the reason that this home, which represents for her probably the first stability she’s probably had in her life. She’s so reluctant to let go of, because she doesn’t know what lies on the other, and she’s not comfortable with the unknown because I think she’s probably had too much of it in her youth.
I get that. I wanted to ask your thoughts about Jude. He is so great on screen. Very charismatic.
Can we all just bottle him up, please?
I know that it’s hard directing kids on film and often the magic of movie-making is pulling a performance out of a child actor you wouldn’t expect. But was there any scene in particular where he genuinely surprised you?
He’s a very present kid, even in life, he’s a very present kid. He’s there with you, he’s listening. And obviously, I think that’s what Ken saw in him. I think about that scene where he’s talking about not wanting to go to church and having to do that a bunch of times. But he has great comedic timing. That’s the other thing about him, just naturally, I mean, even sitting doing Q and A’s with him, he sort of spoon feeds this little earnestness and then he gets them with a joke on the end. And you’re like, how do you do that at 11? It’s quite fascinating to watch. I mean, there’s also that “I don’t want to leave Belfast” scene. He has an access to his emotions, that’s really impressive. And yes, Ken, as a director was definitely guiding him and shepherding him, but it was all there and it was all available and he’s a very open kid and he sort of allows that to come out and it never felt contrived and it never felt rehearsed. And just also, he’s just one of the nicest kids, just a genuine, lovely soul to be around. And he and Lewis had a lovely relationship and Lewis is also such a great kid and they have a lovely relationship with their mothers. We all sort of formed a lovely little gang. I stayed at the same hotel as the kids and they would all play in the evening together. I might have had a glass of wine with the mothers a few times, but we’d all hang out. And we had movie night a couple of times, which was really fun as well. I’m struggling to even remember what we watched, but it was just really great. And I think, partially because of COVID, we were able to do that. We were in this little bubble and I think it really helped with all of us, for our performances.
One of the more memorable moments in the film is the “Everlasting Love” sequence with you and Jamie. When you read the script did you realize you were In for dance rehearsals?
No! That’s the thing, you sort of read it’s interesting how you read a script, right? Because I think for me, you get very caught up in the dialogue. I think as an actor, that’s the first thing you sort of really hone in on. So I hadn’t really even noticed that there was dancing in it at all. I’d noticed a bit of the singing, but yeah. So on day one [Jamie] and I were sent to do a dance rehearsal and the two of us were like, “Is this a musical?” We were like, “I didn’t get that from reading the script,” but I mean it’s such a joyous scene, it was so much fun to film it. I mean, definitely terrifying. It’s not my wheelhouse naturally at all. So, having to dance in front of that many people was quite like, “Oh,” at the same time, I think having to do things like that, really pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is so good because it just frees you up in another way, but it was such a necessary scene for the characters as well. I think you really needed them to have that moment of, “Yes, we’re being pulled apart by all of these external stresses and maybe we’re not going to make it” which just reinforces and reminds them of the kind of underlying bond that they have and the underlying love that they have.
“Belfast” is playing nationwide and is now available on all digital services.