By Douglas Henshall
I defy anybody to go along and not have an opinion about Orphans. I don’t care if they hate it, but I defy them to think it’s mediocre.
I see it as a very religious film with Biblical themes. It’s about redemption, a story on a grand scale set in a wee Glasgow family. I play Michael, one of the four adult siblings coping with the death of their mother. It’s about the healing process. A film about the living rather than the dead because ultimately it’s hopeful, a celebration of the living.
I’d known Peter Mullan, the director, for a number of years. Peter, who won best actor at Cannes for his role in Ken Loach’s My Name Is Joe , is one of those irritating people who is good at everything. I think he annoyed me more than just about anybody on this earth! I took the role because I wanted to see if I could carry a film.
I thought I might be able to have a giggle – but it wasnae fun. It was fun artistically I suppose, because I was working with people I respected. But as far as what you put yourself through, it was torture. Psychologically it took a lot out of me. It’s hard because there isn’t really a light touch with Michael as far as what happens to him.
It’s about time more films like this were made in Scotland.
I got sick of the idea that Scottish films were made for the tourist industry. I thought it was patronising. Braveheart’s one example, because politically and historically it’s rubbish. It makes the English so bad and the Scots so good – it completely takes away any argument we had by making it so simplistic. The truth was good enough if they had told it.
Hot Tickets Film Review May 5th 1999