Rising star Isabelle Connolly told David Hennessy about starring in IFTA- winning and Oscar qualified short film CALF, her forthcoming roles in big series and being compared to Saoirse Ronan and Eve Hewson.
26- year- old Isabelle Connolly, from Celbridge, Co. Kildare, is an up and coming actress being compared to big names like Saoirse Ronan and Eve Hewson.
She stars in CALF, a short film about abuse within a family, which is about to screen at Irish Film Festival London.
The thought- provoking short has already won an IFTA award and has qualified for Academy Award consideration.
Jamie O’Rourke, writer/ director of CALF, said of Isabelle in our recent interview: “Isabelle, she’s just phenomenal. I think she’s a superstar in waiting.”
Well, she may not be waiting that much longer.
The actress already has credits like Vikings, the James Nesbitt series Stay Close and Paul Mescal’s God’s Creatures.
We are about to see her in the star- studded Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches and the new offering from Mark Gatiss, Bookish.
In CALF, Isabelle plays Cáit.
It is an ordinary morning in the family home until her mother sends Cáit out to call her father for breakfast. When she goes outside, Cáit finds her father horrifically injured in a horrible farming accident.
Although shocked by the discovery, she says nothing of what has happened.
Isabelle Connolly told The Irish World: “I read it and I thought it was a really strong script and idea.
“I think with shorts, it’s always hard to get a full story across in such a short amount of time and I felt like Jamie really did that, he got such a touching story told in 15 pages which I think is quite rare and difficult to do.
“I really got a good idea of this character and who she is.
“I always think when I’m reading things and there’s actually really little dialogue, it’s more interesting because there’s so much you have to do to really get into it and get the story across.
“I think that really drew me to it as well as just getting to work with Jamie as well because I had heard positive things and everyone who was working on it as well like Colm Hogan, the cinematographer, I just thought it would be great to work with them as well.”
The film comes with a shocking ending, were you shocked by it yourself?
“Yeah, definitely.
“I think it has more of a punch because of that.
“You get so invested being like, ‘Why is she doing this?’ and trying to understand her because when you don’t know the circumstances, her reaction and her actions after seeing her father like that are really confusing.
“You’re kind of like, ‘Why isn’t she running for help? Why isn’t she doing all of this?’
“By the end, it all makes sense. You feel that kind of catharsis when her and her mum share that look and they have an understanding of each other.
“Yeah, I think it was shocking but afterwards you understand a way out has presented itself to her and without even thinking, she runs away and then it’s just like a ripple effect.
“Because she’s now done that, she can’t go back and she also doesn’t want to because she wants to be there for her family and save them from the situation they’re in.
“I definitely think it’s a hard one because you really don’t know how you would act in that situation.
“I just tried to put myself in her shoes and imagine what that would be like.”
Cáit is the hero of the story but that doesn’t become clear until the very end. Have you seen people reacting to it and what has that been like?
“I went to one screening of it, the very first one at the Dublin Film Festival.
“Because I had read the script so many times, I guess I had become sort of immune to it so then when I was watching it and seeing everyone else’s reactions to it, it kind of brought that back for me, that initial feeling of when I first read it.
“I think my friends and family who watched it have been like, ‘Whoa’.
“At first they were like, ‘We thought you were awful, we thought you were this villainous, murderous person’.
“But then at the end, you see her true motivation and it all makes sense.”
You’re right saying that there is not a lot of dialogue. A lot of the story is, like the abuse that it deals with, under the surface. You have to say a lot without saying anything at all really, don’t you?
“Definitely, and I think also all of the special effects were so good.
“It was easy to be able to react to things happening because everything looked realistic and everyone who was working on it was so talented.
“So I felt like my main job was just observing and reacting as opposed to actually acting.
“Hopefully it came across.”
Key to the success of the film is the relationship between you as Cáit and Kate Nic Chonaonaigh (An Cailín Ciúin/The Quiet Girl) who plays your mother Áine, isn’t it?
“Exactly, she was amazing as well.
“I think the whole film nearly hinges on their relationship.
“Sometimes the child feels as if they have to be the protector.
“I guess you could see it as their two different upbringings. Her mother may be in kind of that Irish thing- What happens buying closed doors stays behind closed doors, you just brush it all under the carpet especially because in the farm setting, he might be the provider and she doesn’t know what she would do without him.
“I think Cáit, maybe because of that, she’s just able to see that they need to get out of the situation and maybe get out of that thing they’re stuck in.”
The film has won an IFTA award and is now in the Oscar conversation. I doubt you make a film for these reasons but it shows how much it is resonating, doesn’t it?
“It does.
“When I hear those things I’m more like, ‘Well done to Jamie’, because he put so much effort into it and his story really comes across.
“I definitely think it would be amazing for him, because he’s so talented, to get that recognition. It’s insane to even think about the Oscars in relation to yourself.
“You would never consider that and I have my fingers crossed for Jamie anyway, I really hope it goes far.”
Obviously you dream about these things when you know you want to act, when was it you knew you wanted to be an actress?
“I’ve always loved going to the cinema and watching films.
“It’s really a thing my family and I bond over. We’re all very into cinema and it’s kind of what we used to do every weekend, we’d go and see whatever was on.
“I’ve always just loved that and had a real interest in it and when I got a bit older, I started to consider it would be a really cool thing to get to do that for a living if that was a possibility for me.
“I did speech and drama when I was a bit younger, and then I was in a youth theatre company in the Gaiety for a while.
“I just really loved it.
“I was always quite shy but I felt like it was an area where I could kind of come out of my shell.
“It really was just really fun, the escapism of it as well always interested me because you feel like you’re a different person for a certain period of time.
“I think I was just always hoping I could do it.
“I’m really grateful to get those opportunities and to work with someone as good as Jamie as well on something like this and want to keep hopefully doing it in the future.
“I guess we’ll see.”
We’re beyond guessing, aren’t you? You’ve been compared to Saoirse Ronan and Eve Hewson, what is it like to get such comparisons?
“I don’t know who is saying that. I’ve never heard that personally but if someone is saying that, it’s very flattering.
“To be compared to anyone like that is a massive compliment, I can only hope to do a fraction of what they’ve done.
“I actually have never heard anyone say that. I don’t know where that’s come from but if it’s true, I think it is a massive compliment.”
In this week’s paper we also interview Katelyn Rose Downey, another up and coming young Irish actress.
In recent years we have seen Catherine Clinch and Alisha Weir shine in films such as The Quiet Girl and Matilda.
Do you get a sense that there is a lot of young Irish talent coming to the fore at the moment?
“Yeah, I think there’s so much talent in Ireland and I think there’s a really big community of young actors as well.
“I keep seeing people I know from studying or working on things with, and they’re all doing really well.
“It’s just really great to see the recognition of Irish talent and seeing people in productions that are huge on Netflix and all of that.
“People are really getting seen.
“There are lots of young Irish actors making a name for themselves, like Eve Hewson. It makes people look towards the country and now more people are getting their chance to be seen as well, which is great.
“Hopefully the opportunities keep coming for everyone, that would be amazing.”
Speaking of Irish actors getting great opportunities, you’re one of them with the forthcoming projects like Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches and Mark Gatiss’ Bookish.
What’s it like to be part of massive productions like that?
“Every time I get a job, I think I’m shocked again that someone wants to hire me.
“I try to just go in and enjoy it because it is difficult to get jobs when you’re coming up as an actor.
“You have to just really cherish the moment and have fun while you’re on set because it’s like any creative field.
“It comes and goes and you never know when your next job might be so I never get too comfortable.
“I really do enjoy it when I get to do it and, fingers crossed, I get those opportunities again in the future.”
What was the experience of God’s Creatures, and working with actors like Paul Mescal, Emily Watson and Aisling Franciosi, like?
“It was really good.
“When I go into any job where there’s actors of that experience, I try to just kind of watch them and learn from them.
“And everyone I’ve ever met on anything has been really friendly and really easy to work with.
“I think that’s one of the biggest takeaways.
“The atmosphere on those sets always feels really comfortable and like you’re part of the group.
“Even if you have just a couple of scenes when somebody else is in the whole film, you still feel like what you’re doing matters which I think is a testament to how great those actors are even at the level they’re at.
“Getting the opportunity to work with people I always try to take it as a learning experience and just enjoy it as well because it’s great to get to watch people at that level who are so talented.”
What’s next for you? Do you have other upcoming projects to watch out for?
“I have, as you mentioned, Mayfair Witches. I have a small part in that and they filmed that over here (Ireland) during the summer so I was working on that for a few weeks.
“I also acted in Mark Gatiss’ new series called Bookish which is like a whodunit kind of crime series, but it’s quite fun and funny.
“It’s set in the 1940s and I play a character called Eadie Rattle, who’s tough, outspoken. She likes to stick it to the man. She’s very outspoken and brash and I thought that was really fun because I often play parts like in CALF, quiet and quite subdued.
“It was a nice change to get to do that and also doing a period piece set in that time is really, really fun as well because you get transported.
“It’s really good for getting into character with all those costumes and the sets and everything.
“I’m really excited for that to come out and to see it.”
There are some big names in that such as Daniel Mays and Joely Richardson, is there anyone in particular you are sharing scenes with?
“Yeah, I’m in scenes with Mark Gatiss as well and Polly Walker from Bridgerton.
“They were both really nice and honestly really great to share scenes with because I have loved things they’ve worked on before and they were both lovely.
“It was really cool experience to get to do that.”
Just back to CALF, what was that experience of shooting like? Was it a hard shoot because of the subject matter? “Yeah, I definitely think when you’re working on anything where the subject matter is sensitive, you do feel a responsibility to do it right and to do it in a way in which people who may have been through something like that feel seen and like it’s an accurate representation of that situation.
“I think I definitely felt that and I just felt like all I could do was play Cáit as true to how I would feel in those situations and do what I could to be of service to the story that Jamie created, because it was really touching and I just wanted to be able to do it justice.
“I hope it did and I think a lot of people are resonating with it and it’s doing really well so I think hopefully we achieved what we were setting out to do with it.”
CALF screens at 8.45pm Friday 15 November at the Institute of Contemporary Arts as part of the Irish Film Festival London. Irish Film Festival London runs 13- 17 November.
For more information and to book, click here.
The film is also available to watch on Virgin Media Player.
