Posted in: Interview, Movies | Tagged: No Ordinary Heist

No Ordinary Heist: Star Eddie Marsan Discusses Irish Crime Drama

Eddie Marsan spoke to us about his latest Irish crime drama "No Ordinary Heist," co-star Éanna Hardwicke, and more.

Eddie Marsan has been one of the most active and talented British character actors with a career spanning nearly 40 years since his debut in the 1987 crime thriller Empire State. Some of his most memorable roles include the 2008 coming-of-age rom-com Happy-Go-Lucky, the Edgar Wright 2013 dark comedy The World's End, the 2004 biopic Vera Drake, the 2003 psychological drama 21 Grams, and the Showtime crime drama Ray Donovan. Marsan's latest is the Epic Pictures Irish crime thriller No Ordinary Heist. Directed by Colin McIvor, the film, inspired by the 2004 Northern Bank robbery, two feuding bank employees who are forced to execute Ireland's biggest heist after criminals kidnap their families and threaten to kill them. Marsan spoke to Bleeding Cool about the film's premise and execution, doing a Northern Irish accent, working with co-star Éanna Hardwicke, and one of the film's most memorable sequences.

No Ordinary Heist: Eddie Marsan on Recreating the 2004 Irish Bank Heist to Life

BC: What intrigued you about No Ordinary Heist and the real-life elements behind it?
Marsan: The first ten minutes of reading the script, realizing that Richard Murray and Barry McKenna were being asked to rob their own bank in order to save the lives of their wives and mothers. I thought it was a brilliant premise. Then, when it became apparent that they had a difficult history with each other, that added even more depth. I just thought it was a fantastic idea for a film—and brilliantly executed on the page.

What appealed to you about Colin and Aisling Corristine's script? And what was it like working with Colin as a creative?
It was very efficiently told. You could tell it had gone through many drafts over the years. When you work on scripts like that, there's a real discipline to the storytelling. There's complexity, but also a wonderful simplicity. I think it's a great idea told in a fascinating way, that's what I got from the script initially.

Working with Colin as a director was great because he understood the script so deeply, because he wrote it with Aisling Corristine. Every beat had been thought through—how it connects to what comes before and after. You knew you were working with someone who really understood the essence of the film from beginning to end.

How did a film like 'No Ordinary Heist' challenge you in ways your other roles haven't?
Doing the Northern Irish accent was a challenge. The key is to be humble and work with a very good voice coach. I had a fantastic voice coach, Liam Robinson, and I also asked others on set for help with pronunciation. You just have to ask people to help, and they will. You can't go in thinking you've got it 100%—it's all about collaboration.

What did you enjoy about working with Éanna Hardwicke and the chemistry you developed?
I was already a fan of Éanna – I'd seen him in The Sixth Commandment and knew he was very talented. When we worked together, it confirmed that. Often, the best actors are also the kindest and most collaborative people, and Éanna is definitely that.
We built a strong trust between us, which is essential given the complexity of the relationship between our characters. You need someone who can match you emotionally and psychologically in each scene, and Éanna absolutely did that. He's a young actor getting a lot of attention right now, and I think he's going to be a big star. He's so conscious and good to work with. A lot of stars are not like that; they are disoriented by the attention they get. Éanna has a very kind, peaceful sentiment about him.

What stood out to you most about the story, and was anything particularly difficult to film?
There is a great scene in the vault. What stood out is the tension between the two men—the distrust. It's interesting because they're both Catholic, but from very different class backgrounds. One of the smart choices Colin made was not to focus on the troubles directly, but on class systems within the Catholic community.

Barry is very working class, while Richard is more middle class and suburban. That divide drives the story. Also, in the final scene, when they sit together, they finally connect toward the end, when they share a laugh about the experience they have just gone through. That juxtaposition between the two scenes was a real joy for me as an actor.

No Ordinary Heist, which also stars Eva Birthistle, Desmond Eastwood, and Michelle Fairley, is available on digital and on demand.

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