BAFTA- winning director Morgan Matthews told David Hennessy about 500 Miles his new film starring Bill Nighy about two young boys who set off from home in Sheffield to see their estranged grandfather in Dingle, Co. Kerry.
A new Irish shot film starring Bill Nighy, Maisie Williams, Clare Dunne and Michael Socha is in cinemas now
Directed by BAFTA- winning Morgan Matthews, 500 Miles is based on the book Charlie and Me, 421 Miles From Home by Suffolk author Mark Lowery.
500 Miles had its world premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival earlier this year.
The film follows the journey of two brothers on a very special trip.
With their family falling apart, Finn and his younger brother Charlie, who was born prematurely and always been an ill child as a result, set off from their home in Sheffield to go and see their grandfather on the west coast of Ireland certain he will known what to do to keep the family together.
Nighy plays the estranged grandfather while Clare Dunne and Michael Socha play the worried parents.
The film’s main characters, Charlie and Finn, are played by Dexter Sol Ansell, known for his work in the Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and Roman Griffin Davis, known for the film Jojo Rabbit.
Along the way, the young brothers meet Williams’ musician character who provides some guidance.
Morgan Matthews made his name as a documentary film maker before making his drama debut with the 2014 film, X+Y with Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins. This was based on his previous documentary, Beautiful Young Minds.
In 2023 he directed The Railway Children Return, a sequel to the much loved classic.
The script is written by award- winning script writer Malcolm Campbell whose previous work includes What Richard Did and Herself, co- written with Clare Dunne.
Bill Nighy is known for his long career that includes Love Actually, About Time and Living.
Maisie Williams came to prominence playing Arya Stark in Game of Thrones.
Clare Dunne is known for the Dublin crime drama KIN as well as films like Herself and Kathleen Was Here.
Michael Socha is well known from This is England, Chernobyl and Big Boys Don’t Cry.
Director Morgan Matthews took time to chat to The Irish World about the film.
How did you come on board with 500 Miles?
“The producers sent me the book Charlie and Me and I immediately connected with the story.
“Then I was put in touch with the writer Malcolm Campbell who is the writer of the script and he’s based in Ireland.
“He’s written some fantastic Irish indie feature films and some brilliant Irish drama as well as UK drama.
“We connected and got on really well and he also had a personal connection to the story.
“He has a child who was born very, very prematurely and I think he brought quite a lot of his own experience into the story.
“I brought quite a lot of my experience from the documentary world as a documentary filmmaker and other films and experiences that I’ve had making those documentaries very much fed into the script.
“We took the book and that was very much our inspiration and our source material but then we adapted it, changed the story quite a lot.
“The original book was just set in the UK and it was a trip from north of England down to Cornwall and we reset the journey across the Irish Sea to Ireland and then across from Dublin to the southwest coast and Dingle there.”
I didn’t realise that, where did the Irish angle come from? Was it Malcolm’s involvement?
“Yeah, it was.
“It was a number of things.
“It was partly that Malcolm, having lived in Ireland for a very long time, brought his kids up there and knowing Ireland as well as he does.
“We wanted to make the journey a more significant journey with more stages to it and travelling across sea as well.
“And also whilst there was a dolphin in the original book, it wasn’t really a named dolphin. It was a dolphin that the boys had seen down in Cornwall.
“I obviously knew the story of Fungie although I was never lucky enough to meet him.
“Several people I know did and swam with him including my sister.
“Several people in the film- Maisie Williams had had a Fungie encounter as well so that kind of gave us a focus for their journey as well and a character in Fungie, a real world character.
“Also Granddad, played by Bill Nighy, both grandparents actually, didn’t exist in the original book.
“We added those as characters but we felt it made a lot of sense that the boys had that connection to Ireland which would draw them over the water like that and across Ireland because they have such special memories of being there in Dingle with their grandparents.”
Let’s talk about the great cast you had. You mentioned Maisie Williams and Bill Nighy. You must have felt blessed with the cast you had with Clare Dunne and Michael Socha also in there..
“Yeah, absolutely.
“As a relatively small independent film, I hope it punches above its weight with the cast.
“It’s such a great cast and such a pleasure to work with them all.
“And I would say that’s the script.
“Malcolm’s script drew them to it.
“We had a little time to rehearse but not loads but we were lucky that they gelled as a family unit in a very believable way.
“Bill really set a tone with his commitment and his generosity in how he works and how committed he is but also how approachable he is, how prepared he is.
“He has Irish heritage and so he has an Irish passport as well which he’s very pleased about, very proud of, and so it meant a lot to him to play Irish as well.”
What would you say about the two young actors. So much of the film rests on their central characters and you found two budding actors who could really take that on..
“Yeah, very much so.
“Dexter Sol Ansell, who plays Charlie, we saw a lot of boys for that role and through a process of a number of rounds got down to a smaller and smaller pool.
“When I audition for a role, particularly a child actor role, I don’t like to know what they’ve done previously or how much they’ve done and so I kind of auditioned them blind in that way.
“Dexter got through to the third and pretty much final round before I knew that he was in this big Game of Thrones prequel or spin off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
“I hadn’t seen it at the time because they were shooting it but he’s fantastic in that and you could say he’s a co-lead in that.
“And then I think by the time we had cast him, I knew he had a role in it but I didn’t know how significant it was but he brought with him all this experience from making that huge series and also this wonderful energy.
“He is an incredible kid and is brilliant to work with and brought a lot of extra humour and jokes and life and improvisation around the script which I encourage particularly with young actors so that was also brilliant.
“And then Roman Griffin Davis, who plays Finn, some people might remember him from the film Jojo Rabbit and he played Jojo so the lead in that film really.
“I think he was around 12 at the time or thereabouts and when he was filming with us, he was 17 so he changed quite a lot but I think people might remember him from that film so he also came with some experience.”
The film unfolds in two time periods with their boys’ journey in the present tense and then flashbacks showing the family happy in Dingle. It is much more powerful that way than any linear telling..
“It’s been really interesting to watch the film with a few audiences and to do a few Q and As.
“We premiered the film in Dublin at the Dublin Film Festival and that was great and all the cast came over.
“The reaction in the audience can be really, really strong and people can connect with the film in a very profound way emotionally and we’ve certainly experienced that in the screenings that we’ve had so that’s also been wonderful.
“It’s a film, I think, that works really well with watching with an audience because it’s kind of a collective experience and I suppose you could call it a catharsis at the end when you realise the purpose of this journey and you realise what’s happened to this family to break them up and separate them in the way that we see them in the present.
“But, as you say, we also see them in the past through the flashbacks when they were together as a unit and in much happier times but when we join them at the beginning of the film, it’s clear that that’s changed and something very significant has happened in their lives.”
You say you have encountered an emotional response, I can easily imagine the film getting a few tears. Is that something you have seen?
“Very, very much so and again in the way that people respond afterwards, if there’s a Q and A or if there’s people coming up to you after the film, they are very, very genuine reactions and yes, a lot of tears but I don’t think it’s a depressing film either.
“It’s not a bleak film and that’s really important to me as well because I think that’s a big ask for an audience, to come out to watch something that’s really hard to watch and I don’t think it is that and most people at the end, when they’re crying, can be very emotional but not in that way which is so sad and broken.
“I think it’s more about connecting with the family and the story and the reality of their experience and because we don’t know what that is for quite a long time in the film, we’re able to get to know them both before this big event in their lives and afterwards and connect with them as individuals and as human beings.
“I think when it becomes clear what’s happened, that perhaps lands in a stronger way because we’ve invested in them along the way as well and they’re very human and relatable people.”
I don’t want to spoil anything here but the film has a poignant revelation, I was wondering was that in the original book?
“Yes, that is true to the book and it’s done in a different way and how that becomes clear in the book is different.
“As I mentioned a lot of the stages of the journey are very different and the characters but the essence of that story is true to the book.
“I think it’s something to do with my background in documentary and actually having made several films with people who, without wanting to give too much away, have been through a similar experience and being close to that and seeing what that does to people, what that does to a family, I certainly brought that with me into the film as well.”
The film also depicts the dementia of the boys’ grandmother, played by Deirdre Monaghan. Like young Charlie’s ill health, that must be something that has to handled with sensitivity..
“Yeah, I think you have to approach everything (with sensitivity).
“These are big subjects that affect lots of people and of course you have to be sensitive in the way that you approach them, and I hope that we are.
“There’s also room for humour amongst that because my experience dealing again with lots of very challenging real-world subjects in documentaries particularly is there’s always humour in that.
“If we’re at a funeral, there’s always going to be people cracking jokes.
“It’s a way that we deal with some of these very difficult things and it’s important to have light and shade reflected in the film because that is for me that’s also life too and even in the shade, you find that light because you have to really so I think that’s my approach generally in making films but I also think it’s true to life as well.”
Did you feel a responsibility to Mark as the author?
“Yeah but he was also very trusting in handing it over to us as well.
“I wouldn’t want to speak for Mark but when he’s spoken to me and when he’s spoken publicly about it, he’s been great and he’s full of appreciation and praise for the film.”
How did you enjoy the experience of making the film in Ireland?
“I loved it.
“I loved shooting in Ireland.
“I would come back in a heartbeat and make another film in Ireland.
“The crew were all Irish pretty much and I hadn’t worked with most of them before.
“I had such a good experience.
“There’s so many talented people working in the film industry in Ireland but also who have genuinely invested in the work and I really felt that.
“And then we were also shooting in very real world locations, in Busaras, we were shooting on the trains, we were shooting on the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin and then we’re shooting across Ireland and then in Dingle as well so got a fantastic experience across Ireland.”
I think the film rings true for that reason. Busaras, the ferry, the trains are real parts of a lot of people’s childhood and summers if they have grown up in the UK with at least one Irish parent..
“Absolutely and as we know, so many Brits have that connection in Ireland, have that heritage, those relations and very much identify with that and Ireland is part of them, is part of their childhood and part of their experience and that connection is very strong and so that is again what is drawing them back to that place where they have been most happy as well.”
Out of interest any Irish blood yourself?
“Do you know what? I’d like to claim that I have but not that I’m aware of.
“I would be very happy to be an adopted son of Ireland.”
I wanted to talk about the role of music in the film. Even in the early scenes in Sheffield, the Irish music seems to illustrate how Ireland is in the hearts..
“Absolutely, and it wasn’t my intention to use Irish music necessarily or recognisably Irish music.
“I was listening to work from a lot of different composers and I was trying to find a sound that I felt would work for the film.
“Again similarly to the audition process, I was often listening to that music blind in that I wasn’t looking at who the composer was, I was just trying to find something that spoke to me and then I heard this one track and it just blew me away.
“I was like, ‘Who is this? Who is this composer?’
“And it turned out he’s a 23 year old kid, I would say, from Ireland which was complete coincidence and he actually was playing his first gig in London.
“His name is Jamie Duffy and it was just down the road from where I live which just seemed like a coincidence.
“And I went to see him and I just went up to him and I said, ‘Look, I just think your music is incredible and I want you to score the film that I’m making’.
“And thankfully he agreed.
“And the track that I’d heard was called Into the West.
“I didn’t know it at the time and that also felt serendipitous as well because it is, as you know, a story about boys traveling into the West and again, the fact that he was Irish, he’s a beautiful piano player some of the music, I would say, that he’s composed is not necessarily identifiable as Irish.”
500 Miles is in cinemas now.
