Ian Hart: "Colin's just an average everyday criminal"
Ian Hart plays twin brothers, Colin and Craig Vine in The Driver. His principal character, Colin, is Vince McKee's old friend who has recently been released from prison. Here, Ian talks about the script, the challenge of playing twin brothers and what it was like to be reunited with long-time pal David Morrissey, 30 years after they first appeared on screen together.
Describe your principal character Colin.
Like David鈥檚 character Vince, Colin is also a typical guy. One way of looking at it would be to say Colin started out in a very similar way. They have two different personalities but the same kind of background. Colin just takes a different path because it was an easier path for him. There鈥檚 nothing remarkable about him. He鈥檚 just an average everyday criminal. He鈥檚 one of a generation of people that got left behind in the social upheaval and criminality becomes the only way for him to get any money.
Was it challenging to play twin brothers?
I tried to forget about it most of the time. It鈥檚 just tiny little differences and it鈥檚 basically about mindset. Craig is the other version of Colin, and it鈥檚 what external signifiers you put on that - a different bit of body language because we express non-verbally a lot of what we are trying to project of ourselves. When a scally walks, he walks a different way to how a business man walks. They are both capable of moving in the same way, but they don鈥檛. Colin and Craig both came from the same background, same parents, same environment but they chose to do different things with it.
How was it working with David Morrissey again?
I鈥檝e known David since I was a kid. We've been best friends since the age of 14 but I鈥檝e known him slightly longer than that - we met at junior school. We worked together once when we we鈥檙e about 17 on a TV show called One Summer, and we have never worked together since! It鈥檚 been about 30 years maybe, if not more. I love David, he鈥檚 fabulous. It sounds like the normal stuff people say in interviews, but it鈥檚 true. I鈥檝e known Dave all my life, I couldn鈥檛 think of anyone nicer to spend time with, work with, or sit down and have a cup of tea with.
Did David call you to let you know you had the job?
David was too polite to give me the call, he let the producer Jolyon do it through the proper channels, so it didn鈥檛 just look like he was giving his mate a job! The fact I knew Dave had nothing to do with it, because as actors we鈥檙e used to pretending to be best friends, or pretending to be husband and wife at the drop of a hat, and you try all sorts of mechanisms to achieve that. With Dave we鈥檇 obviously done a lot of that work in some respects, but we are playing two different people and figuring out another dynamic. What does the story tell? What are their relationships to the other characters in the story?
What was the atmosphere like on set?
There鈥檚 no point going to work if you鈥檙e not having a laugh. There are times you can鈥檛 just sit around having a laugh when you鈥檝e got to concentrate on a certain thing, but we did have fun. The people I worked with were lovely - the director and producer 鈥� everyone. It was a joy to go to work.
How did you feel when you first read the script?
As you鈥檙e reading it, you really get behind David鈥檚 character Vince, the dilemma with his wife and the dilemmas you have when you try and do the right thing. They want their normal lives back, and it鈥檚 that dynamic which I found the most compelling. You do something wrong and you try to put it right, and the more you try to put it right 鈥� the worse it gets. I found the dynamic between Vince and Ros really compelling.
Would you describe The Driver as a family drama?
It鈥檚 like any epic tale. A guy goes out to try and do his best and he thinks he鈥檚 doing his best for him and his family. Their family situation is a real one. It鈥檚 broken. Their son鈥檚 away, the husband and wife aren鈥檛 particularly communicating well, but he thinks he鈥檚 doing what he鈥檚 doing for his family. He鈥檚 getting money and things are getting better, he can maybe take them on holiday, it鈥檚 all seemingly going in one direction 鈥� and that kind of thing affects people on a daily basis. In one way or another we鈥檙e trying to keep our family unit together, and that鈥檚 where it becomes a family drama. The central core is him and his family.
