With a character list that ranges from a depressed faded rock star with lipstick and a wheelie suitcase to a chain-smoking mother in a Dublin suburb, via a Jewish Nazi Hunter, a war widow and an elderly history teacher behind a white picket fence,
With a character list that ranges from a depressed faded rock star with lipstick and a wheelie suitcase to a chain-smoking mother in a Dublin suburb, via a Jewish Nazi Hunter, a war widow and an elderly history teacher behind a white picket fence, Paolo Sorrentino’s second feature film This Must Be The Place defies simple classification. Starring Sean Penn in full drag-esque goth mode, jangling with chains and dissatisfaction, the plot follows Cheyenne from tax exile in Dublin on a pan-American hunt for his father’s persecutor in Auschwitz. Despite the emotive subject matter, it is a film striking for an absence of melodrama, and one filled with unexpectedly tender moments: none more so than in Cheyenne’s relationship with his teenage friend Mary, played by young Irish actress Eve Hewson. Currently studying drama at NYU, scoring the part of Mary allowed Hewson to return to her home town of Dublin, and, as the daughter of U2 frontman Bono, she clearly has form bonding with rock stars. Here we talk to Hewson about the ecstasies of getting a dream role, childhood goth tendencies and playing a shark in Finding Nemo.
You’re now based in New York – it must have been great to do something so monumental in your home-town?
That’s what was so bizarre about it. I’d booked this big movie – definitely one of the most monumental experiences of my life – we popped champagne, and it was this huge thing, but I got to go home and stay in my house, and see my friends when I wasn’t working. And when I was working, it was with Sean Penn and Paolo Sorrentino…my mind was totally blown. I was like, what the hell is going on.
"I’d booked this big movie – definitely one of the most monumental experiences of my life"
What excited you about the project personally?
I’m a huge fan of Paolo Sorrentino and all of his films. He’s such an incredible and unique director, so the thought of working with him was amazing. I’m at NYU, studying acting, and I can’t think of a greater learning experience than working with this amazing director, alongside Sean Penn. That is obviously the most extraordinary experience for an actor. And it’s not simply that I’m in a movie with him – I have scenes with him, I got to hang out with him, and talk to him. So what I was really concerned about was learning and trying to be the best that I can be, and this project was ultimately the holy grail of learning how to be an actor, and how to handle yourself. It was just the dream role – if you get an audition for something like this, you just go into a fantasy world, where you’re dreaming of being on set, and being the character, and then you come down to earth, and think “they’ll never cast me, why would they cast me”, and then when they do, you’re just ecstatic. You feel like a Greek god.
Mary’s such an interesting character – how did you relate to her?
There were things that I couldn’t really understand, like what’s going on at home for her, and how she feels so incredibly lost and confused. She’s a really wise old soul who almost knows exactly what to do, but she’s disorientated in her environment. There were things I had to really push for, to try and understand what’s it’s like not to have a dad, to have your brother go missing, your mother completely break down – those were things I couldn’t really identify with but it was fun to imagine that situation and create a world for her. But then also there were things I related to, like the things that any young girl has gone through – being a sixteen year old girl, and being confused and scared and awkward and uncomfortable in your skin.
What did you make of the relationship between Cheyenne and Mary?
I thought their relationship was lovely. I grew up having great relationships with my parent’s friends, so I'm used to having a really personal relationship with someone twenty or thirty years older. People are always questioning Mary and Cheyenne's relationship – are they father and daughter? Are they lovers? But I don’t see him as a father figure, because she’s like a mother to him. They help each other out like old friends - meeting in a coffee shop and bantering together. They have a very special unspoken bond but it’s not in any way explicit. They’re both looking for something, missing something, and they give each other what they need. Mary gives him a feeling of joy that he has lost, and Cheyenne gives her inspiration and guidance.
Were you ever a goth when you were younger?
No. Well when I was twelve, I was a bit of goth. Well not a goth, but I used to wear loads of eyeliner – no make up, just loads and loads of eyeliner. And I painted my nails black, and I cut up socks and wore them on my hands with my school uniform. And all of my friends were not like that – they were all jocks and all the girls played hockey, so they all found it really weird. But I was like, “whatever".
Out of any film, what is the character you would most like to play?
I would like to be the voice of a really zany character from an animated film – definitely one of the sharks in Finding Nemo.
This Must Be The Place is released in the UK tomorrow.
Text by Tish Wrigley
