Dublin-born actor Barry Ward says he sought inspiration for the lead role of maverick socialist Jimmy Gralton in Ken Loach's new film Jimmy's Hall from his ill father.
The 32-year-old actor from Blanchardstown told The Sunday Independent that his dad, who is battling cancer, was too sick to attend the recent premiere of the film in Cannes.
"It's tragic. I want him to see it. I am playing him in many ways," Ward said. "He was born in the year Gralton was deported and he is also from the West.
"Any time I play a West of Ireland man, I do a bad interpretation of my dad's accent and I steal some of his mannerisms. I know when my mam is watching it she won't be able to see past him because I am the spitting image of him."
In Jimmy's Hall, which is in cinemas now, Ward plays Jimmy Gralton, a socialist who returns from America to his hometown in Leitrim in the Thirties and clashes with the local clergy and guards when he re-establishes a local social hall as a centre for learning, music and political organisation.
Read RTÉ Ten's review of Jimmy's Hall.
Click on the video link above to watch RTÉ Ten's interview with director Ken Loach.
