The tone that you set from the very beginning lets the audience know that they’re going to see something that’s serious, but you’re not going to weigh them down with it, and I appreciate that so much about this film.
Rich Peppiatt: Yeah, that was something that was important to us, to make sure it was entertaining. And there’s been so many films about Belfast which can stray sometimes into a turgidly serious tone.
Can you tell us how you first learned about the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program?
Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin: One night, I was going into the yard, but it got closed down, so everybody got directed to the theater. And while I was in the theater, there was a play going on—One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I believe, with my brother Dino Johnson. I got to witness these brothers doing some creative work that I didn’t expect, because I know them from the yard. I’ve seen them in the yard, I’ve seen them in the gym, I’ve seen them everywhere. But when I see them up on stage, the camaraderie that they had with each other was a beautiful thing to witness and I wanted to be a part of that
What draws you back to these Western stories? What is it like when you develop a project over the course of many years, as you’ve done here?
Kevin Costner: I think it’s the idea that it’s not a part of Disneyland: it was part of our history.
Why did you decide to set this story on screen and not on stage?
Annie Baker: It’s never like an intellectual decision. For me it’s very instinct driven. What is a play and what is a movie?
Maya, I understand that the seed of the idea for this film originated with you?
Maya Lasker-Wallfisch: Yes: I wrote a book, which was apparently interesting! And one of the things I wrote about in the book were two themes that really interested Daniela. And so Daniela and I were connected through a mutual person that we both knew.