Actor and filmmaker Antonia Campbell-Hughes reveals why they are proud to be part of Ireland’s eclectic independent film landscape.
Born in Northern Ireland, Antonia Campbell-Hughes grew up in the US, Germany and Switzerland before pursuing an acting career. Roles in films such as The Other Side Of Sleep (2011), Albert Nobbs (2011) and Kelly + Victor (2012) saw Campbell-Hughes — who uses the pronouns they/them — named as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2011 and a European Film Promotion Shooting Star at the Berlinale in 2012.
Since then, they have taken an eclectic range of roles in film and television, while becoming increasingly known for groundbreaking work as a filmmaker. Their feature directing debut It Is In Us All, a complex psychological drama starring Cosmo Jarvis and Claes Bang, won a special jury award at SXSW in 2022.
Campbell-Hughes is now gearing up to shoot their second feature, Diamond Shitter, a Geneva-set thriller starring Ben Whishaw, Alessandro Nivola and Eva Green, supported by Screen Ireland and the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, and developed with support from the BFI.
Who did you look up to as a young Irish actor?
My primary source of cinema influence was through Canal Plus. So the actors who I had been drawn to as a child, Charlotte Gainsbourg (The Cement Garden) and Charlotte Rampling (The Night Porter), were the European bold-beings, performing in bilingual roles. Outsiders who were actors as filmmakers. I began acting at a time when Ireland was truly a pioneer, making the first moves in the European co-production model. This way of making films created a shift in the flavour of English-language cinema coming out of Europe, which made being that sort of actor possible.
What was your first job in the industry, and who helped you?
My first official job with a contract and decent pay was [2006] BBC miniseries Blackbeard. I played a boy/girl pirate. At the same time, I was cast in British comedy series Lead Balloon, which determined my direction in comedy. Jack Dee, my on-screen father in Lead Balloon, was the first person who encouraged me and set me on the path to writing a screenplay. But the very first person who helped me when I truly had no idea about how to begin acting or how that looked as a career was [casting director] Maureen Hughes. She explained to me what a headshot was! She then made some calls to casting directors in London, and that was the beginning.
What is the proudest moment in your career?
The proudest moments are when I see a film come together that has been a struggle. All independent filmmaking is a battle just to get to the starting line. I was in a film called Cordelia, directed by Adrian Shergold, and I was quite involved in the development. On the first night of shooting, [co-star] Johnny Flynn turned to me, pointed at the rows of trucks and trailers parked up near [London’s] Russell Square, and said, “It’s so incredible you did this.” I hadn’t, in fact, done it myself. But it did make me pause and take stock of what an absolute feat it is, each time a film is greenlit, and we are able to step onto set and begin.
Can you remember the first Irish location you saw on film that impressed you?
The music video for U2’s ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’. Growing up in Switzerland, I had a very British accent. Moving to the US, it became American. I was so distraught as a seven-year-old that people at school didn’t believe I was Irish. My very English father told me about U2, and I studied these men. I couldn’t quite connect the Irish stereotype with Zooropa-era Bono. But this music video showed urban Dublin, a place I had never been. When I visited for the first time, aged 15, seeing the iconic red-and-white chimney stacks was soul transporting.
What was your first Irish location shoot?
In my teens, when I had just moved to Ireland from Germany, I had been asked to do a tiny turn in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto, playing a pole dancer seducing Cillian Murphy. I knew near to nothing about acting, and it was terrifying. But that was the moment I fell completely in love. Dublin was this exotic place, full of life and culture. The location was some Northside Dublin pub. I would secretly return to that location over the rest of the week to watch the crew. I was fascinated by the work, energy and togetherness.
What’s your favourite Irish film?
A near impossible question. The Crying Game, but as it’s set in London, who can claim it? That would always be my answer. It’s the most brutally romantic film, with zero posturing. I suppose what makes a film Irish is its core identity. I am very much flying the flag for Neil Jordan.
What excites you most about the Irish industry?
My next film. In danger of repeating myself, Ireland continuing to participate actively in the European co-production model. Now, more than ever, this is essential to keep independent film thriving. This works best when it’s a true merging of creative work and producers. When there is an actual alliance of European countries, creatively and financially.
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