Nathalie Press on Fifty Dead Men Walking

Opening on 10 April, Fifty Dead Men Walking is a gritty thriller set during the troubles of 1980s Northern Ireland. Nathalie Press plays the girlfriend to Jim Sturgess’ protagonist Martin McGartland, a small-time hustler persuaded to infiltrate the IRA and feed information to the British, thereby putting his friends and family at great risk of a terrible retribution.

Jason Wood asked the questions…

Writer and director Kari Skogland has decribed her approach to adapting Martin McGartland’s autobiographical account of his days as a British informer in Northern Ireland as being driven by a desire to allow the audience the opportunity  to make up their own minds about McGartland’ s actions.  Firstly, do you feel that it is this approach that marks the film out as so original and secondly, how much reading and research did you personally do into the era the film depicts?

Well, I think that Kari was smart to find a story through which she could explore moral ambiguity as a subject in itself. A protagonist who lived with both sides of the conflict enabled her to do that. I did a lot of research, I read a lot of literature on the subject. I did that out of a sense of responsibility and to equip myself for being in Belfast and interacting with its community.

Ben Kingsley has written of the bravery of the fimmakers in tackling this subject. Do you feel that filmmakers have a responsibility to deal with difficult material and how can cinema help alter people’s perecptions and attititudes to politics, history, society etc?

I think that filmmakers have a responsibility to tell stories well. As for difficult material, no, its not imperative that the story be about a difficult subject. I love good entertainment and often audition for screwball comedies and lighter fare.

What were some of the processes that came to your being offered the part of Lara and what key factors about the project and your character attracted you to the role?

Kari and I met for lunch in Los Angeles. She told me that she had seen my work in Wasp and My Summer of Love. We had a lovely time and a few months later I got the call that she wanted me to play Lara. It was as simple as that. She liked my work and wanted to work with me. I was very impressed by her script and so I was thrilled to be cast.

Lara is quite a contradictory character. At times strong, at others less so. Sometimes pragmatic, and sometimes less level-headed. Did you enjoy these contradictions?

Yes, very much. When I work as an actor, my aim is always the same. I hope that my characters have a pulse and are real. They are hopefully complex and not one thing or another, but human.

Of your character and the characters in the film you have said ‘everybody is so complicated and everybody is innocent and everyone is guilty’. Could you just say more about this concept?

I think that if you’re in a situation where there is conflict, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution. If a person knows of cruelty going on, they can choose to remain quiet about it, which makes them guilty, or they can join in which makes them guilty or they can speak out, which makes them more innocent. And all of those choices have their different contexts….
My big question was whether Lara knew what Martin was doing.
I was emphatically told that she did not know. Still, I enjoyed playing the ambiguity. My through line for Lara was always the bond of love that she had with Martin. This was a girl whose physical attraction to Martin was everything. It took this teenage girl away from her mother’s aspirations for her to have a better life.  For me, I was responsible for playing a love story. Love is irrational. Martin hurt Lara very much; leaving her for days on end, being unfaithful and dishonest about his activities. She should have left him but she never did. That’s the story I was intimately involved with.

Kari Skogland assembled an estimable cast for the project. How did it feel to be working with the likes of Sir. Ben Kingsley and Jim Sturgess?

It was an honour to work with Sir Ben Kingsley and Jim Sturges. Kari assembled an amazing cast and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

Ever since you first appeared in Andrea Arnold’s Wasp you seem to have searched out for projects by distinctive directors and have subsequently worked with Arnold again on Red Road. Other collaborators include Pawlikowski, Martha Fiennes, Josh Appignanesi and Peter Greenaway. What is it about working with such figures that appeals to you?

I guess it’s that they’re all extraordinarily talented people!!! Josh, Peter, Paul, Andrea and Martha all have brilliant minds. I feel I have been very, very blessed to have worked with them all. I worked with Josh again too on a short called Ex Memoria. The memories that I have of all of those shoots are very special to me. They all allowed me to be very creative and very, very inspired.

This seems to be an optimistic period in British cinema with interesting directors such as Arnold, Joanna Hogg and Steve McQueen all making interesting work. Does this provide optimism and inspiration and as an actor do you find this a positive period in which to be working?

Yes. It is indeed a good time.
There are still many, many scripts out there that are extraordinary but that can’t get financed.  But they provide inspiration for the whole industry and magic can always happen.