There’s a long list of reasons why Lola Petticrew jumped at the chance to read into director Cleo Barnard’s sexy kitchen sink drama. I see buildings falling like lightningAnd Anthony Boyle’s name is at the top of it.
Petticrew’s endearing nickname honors their compatriot, ‘Anto’, the hit Netflix star House of Guinnesshas already been attached to the project. The Northern Irish duo have known each other since they were 11 years old – they performed together in an amateur drama group called The Rainbow Factory in Belfast – and have become, in Petticrew’s words, “best friends”.
After years of leaning on each other through drama school, Petticrew’s first job (where they played brother and sister) and successive auditions, Boyle and Petticrew now find these two kids from west Belfast about to premiere what will undoubtedly be one of Croisette’s most iconic films: Barnard’s Fifth Film, written by Enda Walsh (My love dies) and adapted from Kieran Goddard’s book of the same name, is a deep dive into class mobility, identity, and existentialism.
“I got a message from my agent saying, ‘Cleo Barnard wants you to read for this movie,’” Petticrew, best known for his BAFTA-nominated performance in FX’s Say nothingremembers the initial call. “It was written by Enda Walsh, Cleo directed it, and my best friend is the hero? Like, tick, tick, tick!” Bellow the phone to Hollywood Reporter. “Do you know what I mean?”
That chemistry I read with Boyle – their characters in it I see buildingsPatrick and Shiv, married – it was, both figuratively and somewhat literally, child’s play for the couple. “It’s the biggest gift ever to go to work every day and look at your best friend,” Petticrew says. THR.
It also helps that Barnard has recruited a host of Britain and Ireland’s brightest young stars: Joe Cole, Darryl McCormack and Guy Lycurgo to round out the main five, all of whom anchor Walsh’s script with the fragility and authenticity you’d expect from a talent twice their age. Set in Birmingham, the indie film follows five childhood friends who, when they reach the age of 30, deal with the bleak realities of life in different ways.
“I think it’s British independent film at its best,” Petticrew says. “This is exactly the kind of project I want to be a part of. It’s like they’re stuck in this hamster wheel, and they can’t get out. They can’t see the forest behind the trees, and all the emotions are on fire,” they say of the boys’ roles. “Shiv is kind of like a fortune teller. She’s in the middle of everything, and she’s grounded. I remember reading part of the book where he was talking about how much Shiv loved her apartment, and it made me cry — I thought how wonderful it was that she could see the beauty in everything, because that’s exactly how I felt about my home and my community growing up, and it’s the way I still feel now.”
Petticrew is a self-proclaimed activist. They talk about the generational trauma that is still widespread in Northern Ireland after the Troubles, the problem of poverty in west Belfast, and Palestine. “I wouldn’t be interested in being an artist if I couldn’t talk about these things. For me, they are intrinsically connected,” they say, protesting against creatives who choose to separate politics from their work. For them, I see buildingsCommunity-focused narratives—about an individual’s loyalty to one’s origins, the resentment that boils when you can’t escape it, and the guilt when you leave it behind—exploit this thirst for change. “There are a lot of actors – many of whom I really admire – [that] “They come out now and say they don’t want to be political,” says Petticrew, who considers it a privilege to be apolitical. “It’s an unfortunate state of affairs when performers don’t really believe in anything… but when they want a Bafta or an Oscar or a Golden Globe for playing a poor person, or, God forbid – please, no more – playing a trans person, or playing a queer person, they will talk about it. It’s a disgrace.”
I see buildings It was an antidote. The actors installed themselves in Shard End, east Birmingham, where the film was filmed. Locals dotted the call sheet as bar patrons, parents and school children. This undoubtedly helped them all – three of them Irish, remember – master the Brummie accent. “It’s a really difficult accent, and I know how much of your identity is wrapped up in your accent. So I really wanted to get it right,” Petticrew admits.
They are scheduled to return to Rome immediately after the festival to continue filming the Netflix films Assassin’s Creed series, and it has a holo display, grouchycoming soon with Jake Lacy and Emmy Rossum. But Petticrew is prioritizing British film, and with Anto on board, he hopes their performance will provide solace to any lost soul in Cannes this week: “We’re all doing the best we can with whatever is against us,” Petticrew adds. “It’s okay to give yourself a little credit, take a breath, and just see what’s in front of you.”
