Red Sparrow director Francis Lawrence has told RTÉ Entertainment that he dreamed of working with Irish actor Ciarán Hinds before casting him in the film, and that he rearranged his filming schedule to make sure he could be involved.
Hinds plays one of the leaders of a Russian spy organisation in Red Sparrow, which also stars Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton and Matthias Schoenaerts, and Lawrence said Hinds was his first choice for the role.
"Ciarán is great, he wasn't around for very long because he had a few amount of scenes so we shot primarily within a two-week span," Lawrence told RTÉ Entertainment.
"But he was just great, he's such a nice guy and he's so talented. He was also my first choice; I just wanted him from the very beginning. We had to do some wiggling around of schedules to figure out how to make it work but it was fantastic."
Lawrence added that it is an "unbelievable" feeling to cast your first choice for a role.
"I think partly because I'm also a fan of movies and of actors, so you see these people in movies throughout the years and you say 'one day I'm going to work with Ciaran Hinds' and the next thing you know is, there he is in costume on your set and you get to work with him. It was a pleasure," he said.
Hinds' co-star Schoenaerts also praised the Irish actor saying he is "extremely loveable and committed and fun... Great sense of humour."
Red Sparrow hits cinemas on March 1.
Watch our interviews with Red Sparrow stars Joel Edgerton & Matthias Schoenaerts, and director Francis Lawrence:
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