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JAMES QUINN MARKEY - ACTOR Many actors dream of t
heir film premiering at the Sundance film festival. Some spend years, if not decades, chasing that dream. James Quinn Markey on the other hand, will have that feather in his cap before he reaches 6th class. Unsurprisingly, the prestigious independent film festival was not on 10-year-old Markey’s radar until a couple of months ago. Nonetheless, he’s both thrilled and a little nervous to see his feature debut on the big screen. The Co. Meath native will be travelling to Utah alongside his mother Karen to watch its world premiere. That brought its own gambles. A number of scenes in the film were covered in single shots. That meant they had to work for the film. “That adds a lot of pressure on a set, because you’ve to make a call there and then that this is going in your movie or not. You can cut the whole scene out, but you can’t cut parts of it out.” But if Cronin had a degree of uncertainty when staging the action, he had no such reservations about his two leading actors. In fact, Cronin was so eager to work with Seána Kerslake, star of A Date for Mad Mary, that he re-wrote the part for her. “I originally wrote the part of Sarah as ten years older than Seána actually is, but when I met her, I was like ‘call off the search.’ It can often sound like a cliché but Seána is just completely committed in what she does. I actually did another pass on the screenplay after absorbing a little bit of her personality.” And then there’s James Quinn Markey, the cherubic young son whose deep blue eyes hide something more sinister. “When we were casting James was strangely in second place all the way with anyone we compared him to. It was only when we had to make a decision that I realized that it was his ability to be normal, and just ever so slightly to the left, in terms of these slightly sinister aspects.” Of course, there’s an old adage in film, something about working with children and animals. What were the challenges of working with someone who was eight-years-old at the time? “You have to keep communication basic when you’re working with a young performer, but you also have to treat them equally with respect, as an adult. Shorthands and games are things you can use to put them in a place very quickly. The words ‘Monster mode’ would be said as a little game, so he’d know that meant he needed to change his physicality, stiffen up, blink less.” When we meet on a January morning, Cronin is a few days away from flying to Sundance to premiere the film. He’s clearly excited, if not a little nervous to share it with the world, but has kept busy by developing a number of projects for film and TV. “We’ve known about Sundance for a while. You don’t stop working really in this business, because if you do you’re dead. You’ve got to keep moving.” Still, the sheer exhilaration of premiering at Sundance must be pretty special, no? “I’m extremely honoured by it. For a first-time filmmaker to premiere at Sundance is amazing. We’re in the midnight slot, in the Egyptian on the opening Friday night. It’s a real career high. And we hope it’s the first of many bigger ones. 46 Neither Markey nor his parents ever intended for his acting career to grow to this level. But after a recurring role in the fourth season of Vikings, he auditioned for the part of Chris in The Hole in the Ground. Now he’s coleading one of the biggest horror films to ever come out of Ireland. What is it about acting that he enjoys? “I like stepping into another character.” Markey says. “When I’m at home at the kitchen table, I’m James Quinn Markey doing homework. But when I go on set, I’m Chris O’Neill, a totally different person. I’m a very shy boy who’s turned into a monster. It’s quite a big difference!” When Markey told his classmates that he was going to lead a horror film, they were delighted for him. Sadly though, it will be a couple of years before they can see it. “Lots of them would like to watch it, but they aren’t allowed. They were asking if it was PG.” For now, James’ parents want him to have a normal life; after the three-day trip to Sundance, he’ll go straight back to school. Markey is eager to act again. One hopes it will be in a movie that his friends can watch without being scared to death.