Jeremy Irvine Brings New Life to the Nightmare in Return to Silent Hill.
Photography by @otto.masters. Styling by @lyla.cheng. Grooming by @amanda.grossman.
In 2010, 20-year-old unknown Jeremy Irvine landed the lead role in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, and his award-nominated performance led to a successful film and television career that has ranged from literary adaptations like Great Expectations and war drama The Railway Man to the Outlander prequel Blood of My Blood.
This month, Irvine stars in Return to Silent Hill, the third in a series of horror films based on the video game, with Christophe Gans returning to writing-directing duties after working on the first film in 2006. For Irvine, the chance to portray James, the character he’d inhabited as a teenage gamer, was irresistible. Having read an early version of the script, he went on a call with Gans to discuss the project. “We're both gamer nerds really – it was just like two people that were passionate about gaming and film having a chat, and then, I think the next day, they said, ‘Would you like to do it?’ And it wasn't a difficult choice, really!”
Although he hadn’t played Silent Hill for years, Irvine still had a strong sense of its melancholy atmosphere that appealed to his younger self. “When I was reading the script, I didn't necessarily remember a lot of the game, but I remembered what I felt when I played the game, and I thought if there was a chance of doing that with the movie, then it could be quite cool.” However, a lot of changes are needed to turn a game into a watchable film. “I went back and had a look at the original game before we started shooting, and I was going, ‘Jeez, how would I say that dialogue?’ It works in the game – it doesn’t necessarily work in a film.” Irvine and his co-star, Hannah Emily Anderson, worked together on set to adjust the dialogue so that it sounded natural, “which was good fun actually – I enjoyed that process.” He was also aware that, while the first-person character in a game needs to be something of a blank canvas onto whom the player can project their own emotions, a film character must play out those feelings on screen for the viewer. “I had to heighten it a bit. We've got to bring it so that you're going to see this guy going through it, rather than the player naturally feeling what they're doing going through the game.”
Work on the film was particularly intense as Irvine’s character appears in almost every scene. “It was a bit like doing a two-man play, really, with me and Hannah.” His character is also combatting both physical and psychological threats throughout. “I think the two most exhausting things that you can play as an actor are frightened or laughing. It takes quite a lot of energy. I always hate when actors say it's hard work doing what we do because it's really not, but there were some bits of this that felt close to hard work. You’re dealing with somebody who is incredibly mentally unwell – it was quite a dark place to go to for that length of time and be on set on your own.” As a result, his favourite moments were when he got to act alongside Anderson and their young co-star, Evie Templeton. “Because in a lot of it, James is on his own, I really cherished the scenes I had with other actors.”
“I think the two most exhausting things that you can play as an actor are frightened or laughing. It takes quite a lot of energy. I always hate when actors say it’s hard work doing what we do because it’s really not, but there were some bits of this that felt close to hard work”
No fan of green-screen work, Irvine found it easier to give a convincing portrayal of fear on a set where most of the monsters were physically present, played by dancers in prosthetic makeup. “The armless creature is hilarious: it's one of the most disgusting kinds of iconic monsters, but it's played by the most beautiful Italian dancer.” There were only a few occasions where special effects were unavoidable. “I remember when Christophe was telling me about the Mannequin Spider and the cockroaches, he was saying, ‘Now, they're going to hit the door; they're going to run up the door’, and you don't know how big your reaction should be because it's not there in front of you. I don’t like working with special effects – it’s much better when it’s real.” Although the two days spent filming scenes in a Munich sewer perhaps involved more reality than Irvine would have liked – “I've never smelt anything like it in my life. You can hear the water coming down when someone flushes the toilet.”
Irvine describes Gans as a visionary director. “He storyboards everything. Possibly even years before we shot this, he had a very clear vision about what was going to happen. He had it all cut in his head as well. He knows exactly how he wants it done – you've just got to jump on board with that and go with it. But I often find it's those sorts of characters that make the most interesting directors. I knew I was going to learn something.” Illustrious co-stars over the years have also introduced him to a wide range of approaches to filmmaking. One of his first jobs after War Horse, Mike Newell’s 2012 adaptation of Great Expectations, saw him working alongside Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter. Bonham Carter, he says, had notebooks full of ideas for her portrayal of Miss Havisham, whereas Michael Douglas, whom he met while making the 2014 thriller Beyond the Reach, seemed able to turn up and deliver on the day without any preparation at all. Fiennes is a different kind of actor again: because his method demanded that he stay in character between takes, Irvine only ever encountered him as Magwitch on the set of Great Expectations. “Because it's quite an intimidating character, I therefore found him very intimidating. He did stay in that.” At the other end of the scale was his co-star in The Railway Man, Colin Firth, who invited Irvine into his home to workshop the script together. “I was just blown away by that; I thought it was so cool.”
With its Second World War setting, The Railway Man, like War Horse, saw military history enthusiast Irvine’s private and professional interests coincide. He reads widely on the subject of twentieth-century warfare and has written a couple of historical documentaries that are yet to make it to the screen. Although he considers his mentor Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan to have a greater emotional charge, he rates 1993’s Stalingrad as the best war film yet made. “A phenomenal cast, there's not one weak link amongst them. I mean, it's not a cheery one if you're settling in for a warm evening in, wanting a few laughs, but it's sublime. Huge epic sequences as well, and it still manages to keep the subtle characters at the forefront.”
He's also a self-confessed James Bond fan. Having grown up with Pierce Brosnan as Bond, Irvine cringes a bit when he recalls working with him on Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. “The thing is, as a boy especially, whoever was Bond when you were 12, 13, he’s the coolest guy in the world. And, annoyingly, when I met him, he really is that cool. I went to pieces around him.” Although his own name has been linked with the part, he dismisses any suggestion that he might be chosen to step into Craig’s shoes. “I’m hoping it's the person in the press at the moment that they keep talking about. I think they're a phenomenal actor and a really nice guy.”
Irvine has just finished filming the second season of historical fantasy Outlander: Blood of My Blood, and he’s enjoyed the experience of working within a longer format. “When I do a movie, I often feel like I’ve found the character in the last couple of weeks of filming. Contrary to popular belief, there is no rehearsal when you do this stuff – you show up day one, and you’re expected to just do it. TV is more like doing theatre: you get some time to develop a character. I guess if you do it for long enough, it can become a bit samey, but I'm not there yet. We’ve only done two seasons, so we’re in a pretty sweet spot.”
He'd also like to do more television work if it meant less time away from home. “That's the only thing I would ever complain about in this business. We're so lucky to be doing it, but I've been home in my house for maybe four months in the last two years. It’s a lot of travel, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Especially in my early 20s, I loved it, but now, with family and things like that, you get homesick a lot quicker the older you get. It’s worth it, but if there was one thing I’d change, I’d quite like to be working down the road.” As luck would have it, down the road from Irvine’s home is Pinewood Studios, although he’s not had a chance to work there since moving in. “Yeah, I’d like a nice recurring series at Pinewood, please. Something like Bridgerton, something like that.”
Return to Silent Hill arrives in theatres January 23rd.
Author: Rachel Goodyear