Wild Mountain Thyme: Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt address those accents
Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt in Wild Mountain Thyme.
Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan play neighbouring farmers in romantic turmoil in Wild Mountain Thyme, an old-school romance set in the west of Ireland. Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley and adapted from his own stage play, Outside Mullingar, it tells the story of Rosemary Muldoon, a feisty young woman who is in love with neighbouring farmer Anthony, who seems to be oblivious to her charms.
Rarely has a movie caused such debate based on a trailer, but the first teaser for Wild Mountain Thyme caused quite a stir on Irish social media, with the public making fun of its characterisations of Irish people, eccentric-looking storyline and the accents of its lead actors. The full film is released to stream here from Friday, April 30.
Both Blunt and Dornan were drawn to the project because of its old-fashioned romance - and while Blunt says she enjoys the challenge of taking on an accent, she admits she felt daunted at the prospect of doing it in front of an Irish crew.
“I always quite enjoy that element of playing parts, where you get to transform and get to sound like someone else, be someone else, to look like someone else,” she says via Zoom.
“The Irish accent is very specific and also there are so many different dialects within the country. To wrap your arms around an accent is one thing. But to really sort of try and embody it is another challenge. It was initially quite terrifying to do an Irish accent in front of an Irish crew, I'm just simply not from there. So you don't want to ruffle any feathers with it.”
She added that her co-star Christopher Walken, who plays Dornan’s father in the film, also didn’t relish the prospect of performing his brogue in front of the crew. “I remember Christopher Walken on day one was like: 'Oh, this is my nightmare having to do an Irish accent in front of Irish people'. I always quite enjoy the shapeshifting part of it. Then you just do your best - and that's all you can do really.”
Just like reticent romantic Connell from Normal People, Dornan plays a man who’s taken with his leading lady but is reluctant to commit because of a frankly bonkers reveal late in the film. What is it with the leading lads not getting their act together? He laughs. “I can't speak for Connell, but f**k, I loved that series.
“For Anthony there's just a real sincere lack of belief in himself, an awkwardness to him and insecurity about how he is and what he's capable of. I feel like his whole life people have been not letting him grow, in a way. And he's been held back by his own totally insane secret that he's been keeping from people.”
The movie was shot in and around Crossmolina and Ballina in Co Mayo, and both stars have very fond memories of the filming experience. “I would say, out of all the countries of Ireland I would know Mayo the least. I've spent a lot of time in Kerry and West Cork but not Mayo,” says Dornan. “Glad to say like everywhere in Ireland, you're met with the warmest of welcomes, just brilliant people who were really excited to have us there.”
They got a kick out of a billboard featuring the Mayo football team that had been modified for the visiting cast and crew. “It's all these people in their Mayo GAA tops, but they'd replaced their heads with our heads.”
In a tradition becoming of visiting stars, it was no time at all before Blunt was invited behind the bar of a local pub to pull a pint. “Oh, it was such a disaster,” she says now. “It was one of the saddest looking, froth-heavy pints of Guinness anyone's ever seen in their life. There was this crowd of people watching and the guy was teaching me how to but I've never pulled a pint in my life. They were kind of cheering and then as the froth just started going to overwhelm the pint, the cheering dwindled to a rather disappointed boo.”
Blunt will soon be on our screens in the highly anticipated sequel to A Quiet Place. Her husband John Krasinski is returning to write and direct, while Cork’s own Cillian Murphy will play the male lead.
“He is such a dream,” she says, before playfully chiding her co-star: “Jamie don’t even go there!
“Cillian and Jamie are very close. But there's a very healthy competition between them, mainly from Jamie - Cillian is actually much more classy about it all,” she continues. “I would love to do every project with him because he's absolutely magical to be in a scene with and he's just such a gentle, lovely soul. He's very arresting to be in a scene with - he's such an exciting actor. I can't wait for you to see him in A Quiet Place 2 because it's his movie, really.”
Dornan will next play the lead in Belfast, Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical tale inspired by his early years growing up in the city. For an actor also born and bred there, it was something special to be involved in.
“It's kind of crazy - I was meant to be doing this other thing I was just about to start when the pandemic hit. And then, ‘cos of scheduling difficulties, and travel restrictions, I had to pull out of that.
“I'm thinking: ‘God that's the rest of the year, it looks like I'm not going to be able to do anything’. Then Kenneth Branagh sends you a script called Belfast and just when you thought you weren't going to be able to work you're suddenly sent something that feels like it's been designed for your pleasure.
“The only sad thing about it was we didn't get to shoot much in Belfast itself, because of the times we got it in. I'm so excited for people to see it and I get to see an early cut of it next week.”
Wild Mountain Thyme is released on all major digital retailers from Friday, April 30th
