Sometimes a movie takes an obscure event and really breathes life into it. "Pride" is one such movie, and Andrew Scott -- the 37-year-old Irish actor who you may know better as Moriarty from TV's "Sherlock" -- nails his understated role. Scott plays Gethin, boyfriend to Dominic West's Jonathan, and owner of Gay's the Word bookshop. As the only gay person in his village, Gethin is forced to leave home, and is ultimately estranged from his religious mother.
Director Matthew Warchus's feel-good dramedy tells of the alliance between gay activists and struggling Welsh miners under Margaret Thatcher's government. It's a story of coming together in adversity, and how our many differences might actually end up being a good thing.
Moviefone Canada spoke with Scott at the Toronto Film Festival, where we touched upon the relevance of "Pride" in modern times, playing "gay," and the joy of working with Imelda Staunton.
Moviefone Canada: This film has so much -- comedy, history, drama all in one -- it's a lot in one movie, yet it's still very enjoyable.
Andrew Scott: It's definitely difficult to do; to deal with those subjects ... we didn't want this to be an arthouse film, playing to 300 people. We wanted to get out there. You usually can't attack those issues without making it too saccharine.
How much fun did you have making this? Because this was a very fun film.
We had a really brilliant time. We all really wanted to be there. I always think if you write really good parts, actors will flock. Sometimes you read scripts and think, "Oh, that'll be really nice to play." I think that's the main achievement of this movie. It's an actor's film.
The cast is killer. Did interacting with these other actors enrich your career at all?
Yeah, it was extraordinary. I'd worked with Dom [Dominic West] a little bit on "The Hour," and Bill [Nighy] and I did a play on Broadway before. Imelda Staunton, however, is a genuine hero of mine, I think she's a totally brilliant actress. Comedically, she is just a genius. She's the queen of humour.
How familiar were you with this time period or this event in history before "Pride"?
Frankly, very few people in England know. None of us knew, I asked around before we started filming. Now people are saying, "Oh yeah, I have heard of that. I helped the miners." It's an extraordinary story.
So I guess you had to research it, then.
I'm not a big guy for research, to be honest with you. I think it's really important to serve the script as much as possible. Usually, the scriptwriter has done all that stuff. My job is to interpret it as best I can. My research was to see how the gay community and the mining community were represented in the media. The only words to describe it are: willfully hateful and bullying. That's exactly what it was. And it was shocking to see.
Your character was poignant, and definitely not over-the-top.
For me, this character is deliberately low-key, and I find that very interesting as a part. Some of the work I've done recently has been a bit flamboyant, theatrical and all that stuff. I find it a relief to play this sort of character, frankly.
Despite the time frame of this movie, do you think the issues addressed -- gay rights, hate crimes, oppression, discrimination -- are still relevant today?
Yes, I do. I think it's important that there's a reminder ... what I like about this film is there are 12 leading characters who are all gay. You can't "play gay," whatever that expression means. I love the fact that the gay people aren't sexualized. It happens in every movie. I'm all for sexuality being explored in films, but gay people have reached saturation point. These gay characters are able to be heroic and compassionate, and have those other human attributes that they never have in movies. It's refreshing. It's an important film. People are gay, yes, but we don't just talk about sexuality.
My character, for example, is struggling with his nationality and his position within his family. It's important that we see gay characters who are lazy, who are in debt, or are heroes. That's when real progress is made. I think it's a very progressive film.
It's also important in that it shows the solidarity between different groups of people.
We talk about how we're similar rather than how we're different. We're all so suspicious nowadays. You're labelled as this, or you're labelled as that. That's dangerous in my mind. We all have more in common than we think. This event happened.
When a movie is called a "feel-good" film, it has certain connotations that make me feel slightly nauseous. But this film addresses the AIDS epidemic, union politics, and it's funny and mainstream, and it serves to a more-than-satisfactory degree the real-life people involved in the ordeal. That is incredibly unique; if you feel good about it, then that's a great thing.
"Pride" opens in theatres on September 26.
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