January 30, 2009, 3:05 AM–Recently an interview has been conducted with Rupert Grint‘s Cherrybomb co-stars Kimberley Nixon (Michelle) and James Nesbitt (Crilly). They talked about the movie, the cast and many other things! For your reading pleasure, we have selected here all excerpts that have to do with Rupert Grint and/or his character Malachy, and his interaction with Luke and Michelle.

Kimberley Nixon said that her character Michelle is a real catalyst for what happens, as she seduces both boys: “I suppose she does go for Malachy but she was quite partial to Luke so she just sort of test drives him too. I think the boys she has always gone for in the past are like Luke and then she meets Malachy he has something different about him and she can’t quite get him out of her head. And also Malachy is better looking!”

In Kimberley’s opinion, Michelle’s domestic situation helps her relate both to Malachy and Luke: “She’s got the nice home like Malachy has, but also the lack of authority figure like Luke is dealing with – so she can relate to both boys whereas they cannot relate to each others family lives.”
 Kimberley admits that she had to dig deep for the different facets of the role, but she also praises her co-stars (whom she described as “really good boys, and completely different!”): “Rupert and Robert were so lovely and they gave me lots to play off. So if we were doing a really fun scene, we’d be giggling, and then if we had a quieter, more intimate scene, it was easy to fall into those different moods.”

Kimberley also praised their accents: “Everybody knows what Rupert’s voice sounds like obviously, and then for him to come on screen and do this quite deep Belfast… And Luke…Robbie, who’s southern Irish, to do this Northern (accent), completely changes his whole body shape, the way he walks. And mine too because Michelle hasn’t got as thick an accent as they have, because she’s been away for quite a long time, so she brings a sort of softer Belfast to it.”

James Nesbitt accepted the role in Cherrybomb because he was excited about working with “the young ones”! And they surely did not disappoint him: “They were great. I was a little bit skeptical at first about the accent thing – whether they would grab hold of it – but they’ve done really wonderfully and they’re incredibly committed. I mean they’ve obviously filmed quite a bit before so they have an understanding of when to act the eejit and when to knuckle down. They’re incredibly disciplined, very good, all very different, unique actors. I think they’re a very good cocktail.”

James admits that his character Crilly is not the best dad around: “Michelle’s come back to live with me – and at first I’m very accepting of that – but actually I’m not equipped for it at all. Meanwhile, the two best friends, Malachy and Luke, have fallen head over heals for her. She kind of, at first, unquestionably creates a division between them but it’s a friendly division in a way. I mean, there’s an element of the musketeers, they’re very much together but she unquestionably does divide them because they both want to court her. But there’s also a trail of destruction that goes throughout the film and it’s sad, I think. But as I say, to me it’s a very honest exploration and portrayal of the relationships young people have with adults now, the relationships they have with themselves, the relationships they have with drugs, with sex and I think for this country, for Northern Ireland, it’s pretty unusual actually.”

James describes what it was like working with such a young cast: “They were great. And kids do grow up an awful lot quicker nowadays. I mean certainly when I left drama school at 22, 23, I wasn’t as grown up as they are. I don’t think I had the professional discipline at that time that these kids have. Of course, they’ve all worked before and Rupert particularly but they’ve been fabulous, funny, disciplined, professional, good – very good – and a real delight to work with. (It was) quite a surprise to me actually, just how much I really liked them.”

Asked whether he thinks their personalities fit the characters, James replied laconically: “I think they’ve been cast well.”

Finally, James gave his frank opinion on whether a Belfast audience will accept “foreigners” doing their accent: “I think truthfully we’ve always found it difficult to accept other people doing our accent. I think that’s one of the many things we think, “why isn’t there someone here who can do it?” But, having said that, I hope that they will rise above that and see that actually these kids can do the accent very well but also see how great they are at their roles.”

You may read the full interviews with Kimberley and James here and here respectively.