Love/Hate’s Scott: you need to be slightly crazy to act
HE WAS one of the highlights of Love/Hate and is about to star in the RTÉ crime thriller Dublin Murders.
But actor Killian Scott says anyone who wants to break into acting needs to be slightly insane as you are so unlikely to succeed.
‘The chances are so against you getting anywhere in acting, but if you were to play your cards by virtue of statistics, you would be clinically insane to get involved with this profession,’ he admits.
‘Success is so unlikely.’
Killian plays intense, enigmatic detective Rob Reilly, who is grappling with a dark past of his own in the Dublin Murders series, based on the Murder Squad crime novels by Tana French.
‘He’s very compulsive towards his work and isn’t socially interested,’ says Killian. ‘The only real relationship he has is with Cassie [Sarah Greene]. And Rob and Cassie are both damaged in very different ways.’
The Dublin Murders cast also includes Moe Dunford, Conleth Hill and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor who played Nidge in Love/Hate to Killian’s Tommy.
It is the first time the actors have worked together since the gangland drama.
‘The funny thing is, Tom’s role is more strongly related to Cassie, so we don’t have a huge amount of [on-screen] time together, but Tom is a very close friend of mine,’ he says.
Killian has worked with some other huge Irish names like Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, Michael Fassbender and Aidan Gillen who he says all look out for the smaller players.
‘I remember Brendan taking so much care of me when I was on Calvary with him,’ he says.
After travelling South America on the advice of Michael Fassbender, Killian moved to Berlin, where he spends half his time.
He spent three months in the German capital pursuing his other love – music.
‘Acting is and always will be a primary interest creatively, but I just knew I wanted to invest some serious time in playing the guitar.
And I did. I almost treated it like a job, going to a local studio and playing guitar for eight hours a day,’ he said.
Killian says he is constantly recognised as Tommy from Love/ Hate but is very proud of what the cast and crew achieved.
‘I’ve completely made my peace with it,’ Killian notes. ‘For me to have gotten a gig that made that kind of impression on other people, it’s really okay with me. My ego doesn’t function in that way. It would be absurd to think, “how can I do jobs that will destroy Tommy?”
‘People don’t realise that after spending seven months on a production like this... there are months and months of hitting brick walls.’
Dublin Murders starts on RTÉ One this Wednesday at 9.35pm with a double bill.
‘I’ve made my peace with it’