Outlander star who had a ball in Belfast
THROUGH the eyes of his nine-year-old self, Kenneth Branagh saw his mother as a ‘warrior queen’, fighting to keep her family safe during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Which is why he chose Outlander star Caitriona Balfe to portray her in his autobiographical film, Belfast.
Branagh described his Ma as ‘very alive’, and spoke of the ‘electrical passion’ between his parents — ‘at least seen through a child’s eyes, and through my 50-year distance’.
He laughed as he recalled seeing ‘plates fly across the kitchen’ when they argued.
When Balfe, 42, first read the screenplay for Branagh’s heartfelt, celluloid memoir — a gripping story shot in black and white about growing up in a close-knit community as the streets erupted in sectarian violence in 1969 — she found there was something instantly familiar about Branagh’s Ma.
‘I think there’s a certain thread that runs through all Irish mammies. She is this quietly authoritative person, but on the flip side, there’s a childlike quality to her, where she’s so in fear of losing what she has,’ said Balfe, who last year became a mother herself.
There are a couple of moments in Belfast, which opens next Friday (January 21), which epitomise the idealised way a nine-year-old might choose to see his parents. Balfe in a short-sleeved blouse, leaning against a wall, looking like a cross between Audrey Hepburn and Julie Christie. Jamie Dornan, as Pa, walking down the street like he’s Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. ‘There was this passion between them that was indisputable,’ Branagh said.
But before he could offer roles to Balfe and Dornan — and Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds, as his paternal Granny and Pops — he had to find the right young actor to portray the film’s version of him.
‘If we couldn’t find the boy, there was no point in making it.’ Casting zeroed in on Jude Hill, 11, who lives in the province. And those instincts were correct, because Hill steals every scene he’s in.
Balfe told me she spent as much time as possible with Hill before shooting began, to create chemistry between them. Then Branagh had her, Dornan, Dench and Hinds in a room for a few days, to talk about their childhoods. This established a bond between them.
The actress was born in Dublin; but when she was very young, she and her six siblings moved close to the Irish border, where her father was a police sergeant.
The proximity to Belfast was to prove useful when tackling the accent for the movie. ‘It’s one I grew up listening to. It’s one we used to do as kids, joking around and stuff.’
She came to acting late — she was in her late 20s when she gave up a career as a runway model to act. Outlander’s now in its sixth season; soon she’ll prepare to shoot a seventh, playing time-travelling heroine Claire Fraser. Three years ago, she won acclaim for her performance opposite Christian Bale in Ford v Ferrari. But Belfast is her biggest feature film role to date. This week she was nominated as best supporting actress in the Screen Actors Guild awards, an important precursor to the Oscars.
But although Belfast has brought Balfe added fame, the highlight has been working with Judi Dench, ‘and it will be, for ever’, she insisted.
What she remembers most is the laughter. She and Dench were doing a scene where they were allowed to improvise, and Judi conjured up various ways to describe a ‘curry that gave her the runs for a week’.
‘There were many tears — from laughing!’ Balfe said of working with the ‘mischievous, wonderful’ Dame.
It’s an emotion seconded by Branagh, who has worked with Dench on more than a dozen stage and screen projects — over three decades.
‘For somebody perhaps seen by the nation as cosy, she is ready to be dangerous,’ Branagh told me.
‘There is proper artistic steel at the core of that woman.’