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ACTORS BARRY KEOGHAN and Niamh Algar have known each other a long time – but Calm With Horses is their first time making a feature film together.
The film highlights the stratospheric rise of both of their careers: when we meet, Algar has just finished working with Ridley Scott, and Keoghan has wrapped on the set of superhero movie The Eternals. Back when they were shooting Calm With Horses, Keoghan had become a Hollywood new star, but Algar’s star was still rising.
Calm With Horses is based on the novella by Irish author Colin Barrett, from his collection Young Skins. It’s a bruising punch of a film – starring Cosmo Jarvis (with an impressive Irish accent) as Douglas ‘Arm’ Armstrong, a bulky, brooding former boxer who works for the dodgy drug-dealing Dever family.
Arm is father to a young boy, whose mother Ursula is played by Algar. Keoghan plays Arm’s pal, Dympna, a member of the Devers family. The film explores what happens when Arm is torn between what the Devers want him to do – which is, naturally, dangerous and frightening – and what he needs to do as a dad to a son who has autism.
It’s a classic tale of being torn between right and wrong. Set in the West of Ireland, the film is gritty, dark, and troubling – but there are moments of levity. One of the film’s executive producers is Michael Fassbender, who has a production company called DMC Film.
“When I read Ursula I understood her, she reminded me of someone that I’d grown up with,” says Algar of the young mother. “She is someone who’s got this chequered past and lives in this… I come from a small town where everyone knows everything that their neighbours were doing. When I was reading it I was like: I know this town and these characters. They know everything about each other, and they know they have the dirt on each other as well, which is horrible. And you’re always kind of being judged upon who you are, where you’ve come from.”
She says that Ursula is trying to escape her past. “She’s trying to get away from this town and away from the people she feels are dragging her down. But also she has this deep connection with Arm, who’s the father of her son,” she explains. “And it’s just that internal struggle of trying to do right by her son but also feeling like she still needs to take care of him because she can see that he’s going into a dark place. So for me when I read it I just knew her I understood her and I just loved her. I loved her for all her flaws.”
Dympna has his own struggles, says Keoghan. “We all know [people like] all these characters in this movie. You know, you see them in friends and people like that,” he says. “But Dympna is a classic thing of trying to live up to his family’s name and trying to prove [himself] and I don’t think that he’s half as bad as what people think of him. I think he’s a scared little boy deep down that just has that pressure of his family’s name and has to try to live up to it.”
Fans of contemporary Irish gangster films like Cardboard Gangsters will find much to enjoy in Calm With Horses, but it’s got a different tone to the former’s inner-city grime. The place where the characters live feels half-empty and almost abandoned. It’s an Irish country town that’s in need of more than a lick of paint. The people living there are battered and on edge.
Arm is a troubled soul whose ability to knock a man out in half a punch makes him of use to the Devers family. His hulking appearance masks an inner softness, however. “He’s trying to care the best he can, but it’s almost like Arm has this post-traumatic stress of something that he’s done in the past that he feels completely responsible for and he’s just letting that eat away at him,” says Algar. “So he’s got this physicality and this strength that he just turns to that and he uses it. Whereas Dympna uses him in that sense, Ursula is trying to find the other part of him, which is the caring [side], and trying to strip away all this armour that he’s built around him over the years, and just finding out what it is that he wants.”
There are some seriously grisly scenes in the film, with one coming just a few minutes in. Those of a sensitive disposition might find some moments too hard to stomach.
But though it was grim on screen, it wasn’t grim on set, say the two actors. “With the heavy stuff, when the cameras are on you play to what the script is doing,” says Keoghan. “But during takes and that we have great craic. You know the crew was great, West of Ireland is great, we had great fun.”
Algar agrees, saying that it was an intimate production. “It wasn’t a massive crew so everyone knew each other and everyone was there because they had read the script and they wanted to work on this project, and they wanted to work with Nick [Rowland, the director] so it was definitely like a family environment.”
“It is intense and there is those beautiful moments of light, like not just with Ursula’s scenes but also with Dympna and seeing this lovely brotherhood between Arm and Dympna.”
‘She’s an incredible actress’
Mullingar native Algar (27) and Dubliner Keoghan (also 27) met while at The Factory acting school in Dublin. Keoghan has gone from Love Hate to big-budget films like Dunkirk and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, while Algar burst onto our screens in Shane Meadows’ TV drama miniseries The Virtues. She recently shot Raised By Wolves, a TV series made by Ridley Scott, in South Africa. They’re glad to finally share the screen together.
“I think about four years ago, I hadn’t seen you in a while,” Algar says to Keoghan during the interview. “And I was like ‘we’re going to work together, we’re going to do a film together one day’ and you were like ‘yeah’, and then this one[happened], it’s just mad.”
Keoghan is delighted to see his friend doing so well. “It’s great to see Niamh get the recognition now,” he enthuses. “She is an incredible actress and it is nice to see [her] get that recognition and stuff like that, and especially following in the footsteps of, you know you’ve got Saoirse Ronan, and you’ve actresses like that who come from Ireland who are very, very strong, and great at what they do. And it’s nice to see [her] follow them.”
Algar says Keoghan is like a sibling to her. “With Barry it’s like I’m looking at my brother… you know you get very proud, especially when you see where each of us started and it was in The Factory. You read an article that’s been written by Variety [about Barry and] you just get very proud and you just want to give him a big hug and say well done.”
“Aw that’s lovely,” Keoghan replies in his most brotherly voice, and the pair go on to tease each other about their platitudes.
The Eternals is a very big move for Keoghan, placing him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time. Directed by Chloe Zhao, its ensemble cast includes Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek. Keoghan plays the character Druig, who’s described as an ‘aloof loner’.
Keoghan can say very little about the shoot other than it was “brilliant”.
“It was brilliant. That was an amazing shoot and it’s going to be a special one, I really really do believe that,” he says.
Algar is similarly enthusiastic about her shoot with Ridley Scott. “It was just unbelievable to be shooting in South Africa for nine months, and with a man who’s been a master of his craft and has been in the industry for the last 60 years. Thelma and Louise is one of my favourite films so that is just unbelievable. But also very, very lucky.”
Sounds like it’s just the start of a long exciting road ahead for both of them.
Calm With Horses is in cinemas now.
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Another proud record for our dear leaders
@Shaun Gallagher: it will be 20,000 by Christmas
@Shaun Gallagher: i thought we turned a corner.
@Lee Casey: we turned 4 corners and are back where we started.
This FF/FG led government should be ditched, they have failed miserably.
@Leo Martin: Indeed they have. Unfortunately the odds of the current Opposition doing any better are close to zero.
@Tony Murphy: “….the odds………..”
Did you fact check that with Ladbrokes?
@Tony Murphy: so better the devil you know or…?
@Tony Murphy: well they can only try!
@Tony Murphy: Your post perfectly sums up what’s wrong with Ireland!
@Steve: So you think I’m wrong then?
@Tony Murphy: We can only judge the government on their record and the facts that currently exist. Speculating on how much better or worse their replacement will be is totally futile.
@Tony Murphy: “So you think I’m wrong then?”
I wouldn’t bet on you being right.
@Tony Murphy: But still its better to vote for Sinn Fein and give them the chance. If they don’t deliver their always can be voted out again. FG/FF don’t deliver any how exept more hardship overall for lower incomes.
@Hans Vos: I’m ok with that and will probably vote SF if only to get the current mob out. But I’m not hopeful…..
@Steve: No @LeoMartin maybe!
This is only the start, evictions will surpass at least 10,000 this year.
“it is outrageous that I haven’t been given a free newly built house to house me and my 3 children” The attitude in this country of laziness and blame everyone else is sickening. We are just enabling people to do nothing, how anyone could be unemployed in the current climate is beyond me. No government could keep up with the sheer numbers of people looking for handouts.
The only people who are getting free houses these days are landlords. Social housing tenants pay 15% of their wages to rent. We’re at full employment. And if you think workers are not becoming homeless then I’m afraid you’re out of touch with the reality where even us who went to university can’t afford or attain the bare necessity that is a home.
@IronMan2020: What if you are living on your own and the apartment you are currently renting is been sold? There are no apartments on the market to rent that would be affordable for someone on a single income. Moving to the middle of nowhere is no option, either when the job depends on reliable internet connection and even with a permanent contract and above average salary as a single one doesn’t get a mortgage. So buying is also out of the question.
@IronMan2020: Why rant? People are as ever seeking affordable accommodation. Are you equally prejudiced against people with housing or apartments for sale? Do you rant against anyone who pays minimum wages? Because unlike in your day, a basic wage just isn’t enough anymore. People can’t save because they’re paying high rents. The cost of housing has at least trebled and you’re here doing zip to help anyone struggling.
@IronMan2020: What about people with disabilities, do they not deserve any support, no?
@Inno Items: The circumstances you have referred to are completely different to the point I’m making. But anyway… what does this single income person deserve? The perfect apartment in the most desirable location but to pay less and be funded by the government? Where as the couple next door with two incomes, same apartment in the same location pay more all for being a couple? Also there is Internet outside the pale.
@IronMan2020: hate to burst your bubble, but not everyone looking for “free housing” as you call it is unemployed, many are hard working and would love to buy their own home however with the price of private rentals very little left over at the end of the mth to save for own house. Always the same in this country, blame each other on why the situation is this bad. And just so u know, not everyone who wants the “free house”
@9QRixo8H: Landlords ? They have bought the house and are the owner ? 15% is a savage deal to be getting. Are we really at full employment ? A lot of letters being posted on a Monday morning in my local town so… I agree that if you are in employment you should be able to afford a mortgage and home to call your own… it is ridiculous that you could be paying more in rent than you’d be allowed pay back on a mortgage and doing it for a number of years.
@IronMan2020: Its not under any circumstances unemployed people, there’s lots of families with both parents working their asses off + teachers nurses childcare minders junior doctors ECT ECT ECT that either can no longer pay the ridiculously high rents & mortgages!
@IronMan2020:” Are we really at full employment ?”- This is the thing people don’t get- Milton Freidman (the neoliberal economist) calculated the “natural rate” of unemployment at about about 5%. By that he meant that if unemployment starts to go below 5%, wages in low earning groups will start to go up, creating a wage-price inflationary spiral. People didn’t like the term “natural rate”, so now they use the more confusing term Nairu- “non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment”. If unemployment starts to go below about 4.8%, the banks raise their interest rates to create unemployment and avoid wages going up. That’s the way it works, that is the prescription for high employment and they will never allow for full employment in this country as long as neoliberal ideology is dictating economic policy. Having a set amount of people on the dole and alive is functional to neoliberal economics as it ensures the market competitivity of low earners in a global market place. Its the same reason that neoliberal ideology is perfectly fine with the state subsidising workers’ wages with welfare payments- because it keeps wages artificially low thus ensuring the sacred “competitivity”.
Look at the CSO and you’ll see that 25% of 2 parent working families with 1-3 children take home less than 30,000. Rent in my town will be about 15,600 a year. That would leave a 2 parent family with 2 children with 60 Euro each per person per week after rent. If they didn’t have access to welfare, they would all be going homeless. About a third of families in that group take home 40,000 or less.
Who else is getting the Daft.ie advertisements for multi million dream mansions whenever there is an article in relation to the housing crisis or homelessness? Not exactly sensitive of The Journal. Borderline bad taste.
Profit and Greed won’t build Homes for the Homeless,Government council schemes Do ,so stop listening to VESTED interest and Get a Bloody move on;You are letting down a whole Generation ..
@Larry Rawson: I am guessing you are expecting those who are working hard to pay for the roofs over their own heads to pay for these new homes you want built?
@Sun Rise: it was done in the fifty’s when there wasn’t a shilling in the country.
@Sun Rise: I think it’s only fair to have enough affordable housing that anyone on minimum wage can afford somewhere to live and eat and travel to work or study. Otherwise people emigrate and contribute to another country because they are worn down renting substandard accommodation here. What about all those building standards waived by Fianna Fail that left home owners trapped in damp crumbling homes? What about the people who paid all their lives – taxes, pensions, and are now facing homelessness? Did you not read that our government already Has the money to invest in public housing and isn’t using it?
@Sun Rise: We have already paid for them in our Taxes ,19 billion surplus
@Sun Rise: Nope, just for the chance to buy or rent a house that is possible in respect of their income.
@Larry Rawson: no house no hope.better off dead
A disgraceful figure
When the country was broke and foreigners didnt want come here and only actuall legimate refugees made the journy here we had no homelessness and here now one of the richest country’s in the world government bragging of massive cash surplus and we have such high amounts of homelessness!
It’s a disgrace and sickening how our politicians and government behave…
@William slevin: We did have homelessness
@David Burns: So you’re suggesting that half a million or so foreigners don’t have an impact on the housing shortage? Genuine question.
@Tony Murphy: I would say the tax paid into our economy by foriegners far outweighs the negative impact of them being here. But this blaming of foriegners is a red herring to get the eye off the government who are making an mess of things.
@William slevin: When the country was broke people saved up and sent their kids abroad to find work. That’s why homelessness wasn’t a big thing.
@David Burns: It’s not a matter of “blaming” foreigners. Simple maths tell us that if you dramatically increase the number of people in a country you’ll put pressure on housing availability (and schools, healthcare, transport etc.)
@Tony Murphy: simple maths would point out many of the foreigners built additional housing and enriched our economy to get us here. You seem to want them to go away and that is exactly how the UK wanted to treat the Irish when we were poor and they used our labour and skills. If you don’t have shame for your views it appears you have no empathy or knowledge of our history.
Increasing the population while allowing the services to stagnate is indeed a peculiar policy.
Can’t house our own but can build houses for refugees…. Crazy! (this comment will be removed)
@Stoic Savage: mine has been removed also but for a different reason.
@Stoic Savage: why remove an honest comment though…oops did i just say that!
@Stoic Savage: “our own’ fml
Recently an asylum seeker won a case in court that being homeless in Dublin meant the govt was in breach of his rights
No Irish homeless person has ever taken such a case
The lesson from this is that Irish citizens matter less than asylum seekers
With apologies for being racist by pointing this out
Shocking, and that’s probably not counting the people staying with family as they’re considered homed. What i dont understand is these modular homes for Ukrainian refugees soon to be ready, why irish homeless families aren’t being given these to live in. Yo could then put the Ukrainian refugee in the hotel, hostel, hub or what ever the irish family left. After all these refugees will be going home to Ukraine eventually……
Surprise surprise, who could have anticipated allowing hundreds of thousands into your country could cause a massive housing crisis. The worst part is the fake concern by the government.
Is that including the 2000 that is now being housed in Airways industrial estate by the airport? Coach loads being dropped off… this is beyond ridiculous now, as a country we should be ashamed of ourselves at this stage, we have sat down and allowed it
Continuing to fail the Irish! This government have nothing to be proud of these days
@Joanne Stokes:
continuing to fail the Irish? Who do you think provides emergency accommodation?
@Alan Dempsey: Non Irish
Maybe people in emer should make a choice not to have so many kids?
@Paul: What exactly do you suggest they do with an underage dependent child? Hand them into care and cope miserably by sleeping under a hedge in the rain? These children are future voters. Everyone except high earners is paying tax at every turn. The government has a surplus and hasn’t built adequate public housing in years. Why should children suffer for this?
@Paul: im sure when these children were born, the family had what they thought was a secure home in which to raise them, but times have changed beyond all recognition. Some wages barely cover the day to day living, who ever thought that €2000 a mth to rent house/apartment would be the norm
Someone somewhere is making a lot of money from this hardship.
@Kevin O’Malley: Absolutely. The CEO’s and high paid advocates of the myriad of charities that make up the homeless industry.
While our Minister for Homelessness fiddles while Rome burns! Him and our elected after five counts Taoiseach and a Tanaiste who got in after six counts.
Odd that, sure it was national headlines it went down by 12 people last month.
Let’s see the good side
First batch of 200 modular homes for Ukrainian refugees to be ready next month
THE FIRST BATCH of modular homes to house Ukrainians will be ready at the end of May, Government sources have said.
It is understood that around 800 Ukrainian refugees will be housed in the modular units from early June.
As of the latest CSO figures from February, there were just under 75,000 Ukrainian refugees in Ireland.
@ibrahim Sudane: so that’s another 92.75 batches of house to be built for the Ukrainians who by definition don’t meet the criteria to be even call refugees according to the UN 1951 refugees convention…
All before the irish are even looked at…
@ibrahim Sudane: Wonderful! So we’ve just built a whole load of Soviet-style concrete monstrosities costing nearly €100 million on hitherto green amenity land for people who for the most part shouldn’t be here.
@Tony Murphy: Who exactly, shouldn’t be here and why?
@Emmet Murphy: NOBODY coming to Ireland is a genuine refugee for the simple reason that they would of necessity have to have passed through at least one safe country on the way. Regarding Ukrainians, the war zone is confined to small proportion of the country so I wonder how many coming here are genuine refugees.
@William slevin: It seems to be the same everywhere in the EU. Refrugees getting prioritised – worse in Berlin: up to 35 bus connections between Berlin and Kiev daily for only 44.98 € and four direct train connections daily for 60 €. Social Welfare is 502 € per month and for every child 348 € (6 to 13 years old) or 420 € (14 to 17 years old). Housing, utilities etc. paid for by the council. Healthcare is free. Lots of them travel to Germany to visit the Dentist or have surgery and medical treatments done, mostly hip and knee replacements, three weeks rehab inclusive. It’s currently very difficult to get an appointment. Elderly people had to vacate their nursing homes on a very short notice, because refrugees wanted to move in. The situation seems to be similar to here.
I was talking to a woman yesterday, a landlord, and she told me her tenant, who’s moving on, took every bulb out of the house with him, when challenged he said “sure they’re only cost a few euro each”!
@Pat Barry: Or probably not… I just replaced all my bulbs with LED and changed light fittings that could not take LED. It’s not too bad, but it adds up. For the one bed apartment I am living in it cost me about 50 €. The landlord should deduct this from the deposit. This is theft.
Gave all the houses away to foreign nationals who have come here in droves for social housing and left our own with nothing . Sorry to upset the snowflake, but that’s what happened
I am surprised that we only have 12000 homeless in the country when one considers the open door policy this country has when it comes to asylum seekers etc. The 12000 figure only makes the news because it’s the one thing the opposition party have to beat the government with and it doesn’t matter who is ruling the country things won’t change while the open door policy is in place.
@’crafty badger:”@William slevin: When the country was broke people saved up and sent their kids abroad to find work. That’s why homelessness wasn’t a big thing”
That’s one reason very true…but also don’t forget that those that couldn’t afford to buy houses could rent council houses off the state…landlords were non existent…People renting off the state weren’t prey to exorbitant prices of today rising out of control…
My point is we were better off with state providing homes to rent for most that couldn’t afford to buy but the option was their for those to buy that wanted…it was a much better system…and the housing market in this country was for homes not investments…like it is now…
Theirs a reason why it worked then and not now…because of state provided homes that took rent for the cost of the up keep and care of the house…not for profit…
@William slevin: well that isn’t true. There was and always has been private landlords in the country. The reliance on them providing social housing for the government was changed. The social housing you seem to magically appear was created to get people out of private rentals that were falling down. This allowed the older properties to be renovated and many remained in private landlords hands. Very few grand Georgian houses on the North side of the city were lived in by one group and broken into flats. To believe you people would have to be blind and not around in the times they claim.
What s government!.Applause all round for 2 of the most abysmal leaders ever to grace politics. Varadkar and Martin, hang your heads in shame. I forgot..you have no shame. Pigs.
Cherishing all children equally
Even the 3472
Homeless ones…
God help us…
From understanding of these homeless numbers they do not reflect everyone that is homeless, only those that qualify for homeless services. If you do not qualify to be put on the council social housing list, you cannot access homeless services , and therefore you will not be included in these homeless figures. 11,988 people are waiting to be housed by the government,, for the rest of us, the working , above social housing income limits,, we have to figure a way out ourselves without government help and are not recorded in these numbers. We move back home to our parents, move abroad or those who are really stuck,, have moved into our cars. What is the point of these figures, they do not reflect the true housing crisis???
Now I know why I haven’t been on here for quite a while…if ya don’t support the landed gentry it’s good luck to you.
What happened to the 10000+ extra homeless people that were going to be added to the list according to the shinners and the rest of the opposition???
Any day you set a new record is a good day.
A victim of our secess , population now too big due to influx .
No infastucture in place to cater for everyone in some ways i wish we had a recession and leveling off.
This country is now to expensive and changing too fast
Didn’t realise it was the landlords responsibility to house people
Yet the government are building the houses for the refugees ,, absolutely shocking
Why can’t they use the LDA, or Irish Water as a housing authority and let them build and rent Social housing. Take it from Local authorities a dedicated housing Authority set up like the ESB or IW etc. and let them take care of it.
Hmm… I wonder why that is happening? Its almost as if there’s no profit to be made in the Irish homeless
@craic_a_tower:”@William slevin: well that isn’t true. There was and always has been private landlords in the country. The reliance on them providing social housing for the government was changed. The social housing you seem to magically appear was created to get people out of private rentals that were falling down. This allowed the older properties to be renovated and many remained in private landlords hands. Very few grand Georgian houses on the North side of the city were lived in by one group and broken into flats. To believe you people would have to be blind and not around in the times they claim.”
What time period are you talking about…so I said their was private land Lords just that their wasn’t alot of them….
You go back to the 80′s most people either lived in houses they owned or council houses/flats…
So what I said wasn’t false and you simply focus of the tenements…their was alot more in this country than the tenements ya know the rest of the country…
Emigrate you lazy lot
Nomandnomandnom
Not to worry….Labour promise 1million accommodation shall be built….
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