Jack Reynor: 'The American film industry doesn't necessarily love American actors anymore'

The Irish actor discusses Sing Street, starring in a Transformers film and missing out on Han Solo

(Andrew Cooper)

It was over a few pints of Guinness in Dublin pub The Galloping Green that Once director John Carney asked rising star Jack Reynor to be in his latest film Sing Street.

“He basically just said to me, ‘Listen, there’s a part in the movie I think you’d be really great for. If you’d be interested I’d be happy to have you’,” the 24-year-old tells me on a humid overcast Monday morning overlooking the typically murky Thames.

The part in question was Brendan, the older brother to Ferdia Walsh-Peelo's pining teen who forms a band to capture the attentions of enigmatic 'model' Raphina (Lucy Boynton).

Reynor recalls the moment he accepted his friend's offer.

"I think the line when I subconsciously went 'I'm doing this' is when Brendan says to his brother: 'You don't know how to play music; who do you think you are - Steely Dan?’ To me, that is such a fucking great line. I just thought it summed up the tone of this character."

The actor arrived on cinema screens in Lenny Abrahamson's affecting 2008 drama What Richard Did and immediately followed the €1.2 million budgeted drama with $250 million Michael Bay vehicle Transformers: Age of Extinction, his role in which was originally written as American but changed to Irish after his initial audition.

Despite the franchise's staggering box office takings, each new film continues to evoke the critics' ire. I ask someone who has traversed the Bay battlefield: what was it like working on a Transformers film?

"The real story?" he asks, a mischievous grin curling the sides of his mouth before an air of professionalism descends.

"It was interesting. It's obviously a big machine - literally a load of big machines. I had heard from some people Michael Bay might be a little bit of a contentious character but as a matter of fact, I have all the time in the world for him. The crews are different on a film of that calibre; it makes a lot of money for a very small amount of people but you're not really giving people anything. I feel there's a lot of that out there. Hopefully, the smaller films that we make can be the antidote to that."

Does he feel the same way about the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

"I'll put it this way: with the kind of films that I do - creatively driven, with interesting directors and writers - I don't feel the need to work with the super established top tier directors that are out there. If you do David Fincher's or Scorsese's tenth movie, you’re another guy in that person’s film; you don’t get to be Robert De Niro doing Mean Streets or Brad Pitt doing Se7en. I look at the people who are about to be the biggest directors in the business. Lenny, for instance; I was blessed to be part of one of his earlier films."

One big-budget opportunity Reynor wouldn't have passed up, however, was one that would have seen him gambolling about in a galaxy far far away. Earlier this year Reynor was shortlisted for the coveted role of a young Han Solo in the upcoming Star Wars prequel from The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Having previously been whittled down for a role in The Force Awakens, the Dubliner admits missing out a second time was tough.

"It would’ve been cool," he repeats a few times. "I definitely used to dream of sitting in the movie theatre watching the Star Wars credits come up knowing I was part of one of those films. And I've been pretty close twice so it was a bit of a stinger this time."

The part went to Hail, Caesar! scene-stealer Alden Ehrenreich - "he'll do a very good job with it" - but Reynor remains resolute.

"Would I have liked to have been a part of it? Of course. But there are other things out there, man. I'm not crying myself to sleep every night over it."

Still, when you've got an upcoming list of credits as diverse as Reynor's, it's easy to move on. Following Sing Street, the actor will star alongside Cillian Murphy and Brie Larson in Ben Wheatley film Free Fire (which will close this year's London Film Festival) as well as have appearances in The Secret Scripture - from Irish director Jim Sheridan - and Andy Serkis' Jungle Book which will be released in 2018, a whole four years after shooting ended. It seems we could be witnessing the slow birth of the world's next greatest character actor.

"It's a broad spectrum," he admits. "I wanted to be an actor from the age of five and always imagined growing up what that would look like - and here I am now at 24. I wake up pinching myself with the things that I've had the good fortune to be able to do. If it all ended right now, I'd be completely fine with it."

Sing Street is available on Blu-ray and DVD from 8th August, courtesy of Lionsgate UK Home Entertainment