INTERVIEW: Rory Kinnear at the British Independent Film Awards 2012

At the British Independent Film Awards 2012 I grabbed five minutes with Best Supporting Actor award winner, Rory Kinnear. Son of comedy character actor Roy Kinnear of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, The Three Musketeers and George & Mildred fame (and brilliantly the voice of Bulk in 80s children's series Super Ted), it was a fantastic night to see him in such fine fettle carrying on the artistic Kinnear gene, albeit it for a role that on first experience, is anything but jocose.

In Broken, Rory plays Bob Oswald, a recently widowed father of three young girls, with a ticking time-bomb of an explosive temper. When ignited, the detrimental shock-wave effect on his neighbours within the unassuming cul-de-sac, fuses the families together to an altogether moving and warming story of pure heart.



The following interview took place at the Moet British Independent Film Awards in London on 9th December 2012. 

GG: First of all congratulations, you were up against some very stiff competition including your co-star Cillian Murphy [Inception, The Dark Knight], how does that feel? 

Rory: It was a bit brutal seeing as I spent most of the film [Broken] kicking him in the head, to now be put in a position where metaphorically I kick him in the head again. So gladly he did turn up tonight; we have yet to do the face-off at either end of the table [laughter]. 

Rory Kinnear as Tanner in Skyfall

GG: I can’t not ask you about James Bond, of course you play Tanner in A Quantum Of Solace and Skyfall, how was the departure of M as well as sharing scenes with Dame Judi? 

Rory: It was more keeping it secret for about 18 months [laughter], which I managed to do and I’m still surprised by the amount of people to see Skyfall in the last few days  who didn’t know of Ms exit – everyone seems to have been keeping it a secret! I wasn’t there at her final demise which was the last scene she shot, but it hung over us. 

GG: Although we’re at the British Independent Film Awards, you are in many very highly acclaimed television series; Ashes to Ashes, Silent Witness, The Thick Of It. How working in film compare to TV? 

Rory: I guess the whole spirit of this awards ceremony is that it’s trying to highlight films that maybe would have passed under the radar of some audiences. With TV you quite often know you’ll be on a specific channel at a specific time so it’s going to be watched by some people. Doing a film like Broken, you didn’t know if it was going to get a distribution deal, you hoped, you thought all the elements were in place, but you didn’t realise the record amount of nominations it was going to get at awards like this. So something like this which helps to promote it, especially as it hasn’t been released yet to publicise, hopefully it’ll get people going to see it. 

GG: When you receive a script such as you did for Broken, what are you looking for when it comes to choosing a film to get on board with? 

Rory: In this particular case I’d known Rufus [Norris, the Director or Broken] for working in the theatre together and have known him a long time, he’s a good friend of mine, so I’ve known and trust his taste implicitly. In fact when I first read the script I thought ‘Rufus, this is pretty relentlessly depressing’ to which he said ‘I honestly find it pretty funny’. So I thought that sort of marriage of his take on a script like that I knew he’d come up with something typically idiosyncratic and witty as well as full of heart, which is what all of his work is.

NB: This interview must not be published anywhere without credit or my permission.

Rory Kinnear's work includes much theatre and television work such as Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror, Silent Witness, Ashes To Ashes, The Thick Of It and Waking The Dead. Here are just a couple of videos of Rory in action :