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An uplifting Irish drama about making the most of life from East is East director Damien O’Donnell. Inside I’m Dancing is both funny and sad, a wonderfully warm, thought provoking and ultimately inspiring movie. Sensitively written, beautifully directed and powerfully played, it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, and above all, it’ll entertain you from start to finish.

Steven Robertson takes the lead as Michael, a young man suffering from cerebral palsy. Stuck in a wheelchair and suffering from a terrible speech impediment that renders him virtually unintelligible, he feels his life is all but over. Then along comes Rory (James McAvoy), a spirited, obnoxious rebel who, though he has muscular dystrophy and can only move his head and a couple of fingers, has such a love of life that he brings about an enormous change in Michael. Ultimately the two become allies in a fight for independence from their grey, institutionalised existence. An involving drama with a good heart and a surprising sense of humour, Inside I’m Dancing is a very likeable and uplifting film that doesn’t ring a single false note.

"The character of Rory is inspired by a guy called Ed Jemison who had muscular dystrophy," explains the director. "And he would constantly be going out and getting drunk in pubs and then coming back and crashing his wheelchair. There’s a story where he’s so drunk one night, he drove onto a building site and his wheelchair turned over. It was hours before anyone came to collect him and rescue him. So he was quite a character."

O’Donnell is particularly gratified by the response to the film from the disabled community. "People with disabilities, for the most part, have been very positive about the film. In Ireland, it’s been completely positive. In the UK, some critics complained about the actors not actually being disabled, which in my mind is not a valid critique of the film. We wanted to get the best possible acting talent, and it just happened to be that these guys weren’t disabled." It’s a testament to McAvoy and Robertson’s flawless performances that audiences are frequently surprised to discover that they’re not in fact disabled. Possibly the most amazing thing about this movie is that we’re encouraged to care about Rory and Michael without ever pitying them. The same was true of a similar drama made back in the Eighties, Hawks, starring Timothy ‘James Bond’ Dalton and a pre-ER Anthony Edwards. "I love the fact that Rory was a difficult man," adds O’Donnell. "He’s this guy with a furious desire to live his life and he gets out there and doesn’t care who he alienates. He just wants to leave his mark, but he can’t do it in a literal sense. He can’t physically graffiti a wall, spray ‘Rory O’Shea Was Here’. Really the only way he can leave his mark is by making an impression on the people around him. So he’s obnoxious and aggressive and angry and insulting, but also wickedly funny. I think a character like that, you get engaged by him even though you wouldn’t like to be him or spend a lot of time in his company. "Michael, on the other hand, is the more obviously sympathetic character of the two because he’s a vulnerable innocent with no concept of the world outside his home. At least before Rory opens his eyes. For me, this was always a film about liberation. Rory comes in and liberates Michael’s mind and then Michael uses his mind to liberate Rory’s physicality. And they both escape. This is a film about living the life that you want and not being controlled by other people, not letting other people’s ambitions, desires or thoughts influence how you want to live."

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How do get involved with Inside I’m Dancing?

“ I’d worked with the casting director Wendy Brazington a few time before - she’d cast me in Bright Young Things. I met up with the director Damien O’Donnell and we had a bit of a chat. He brought up another actor Steven Robertson, whom he’d already cast in the role of Michael, to Manchester where I was filming Shameless, and we had a three and half hour audition together. It was amazing. Beforehand I had said that I’d like to play Michael, but when I did the audition with Steven I knew that he’d be far better playing Michael and he made me a lot more comfortable in playing Rory. That audition made me want to do the film. Before I wasn’t sure it would work. After seeing the dynamic I had with Damien and with Steven, I was confident that it would be good. ”

Were you worried, given the subject matter, that the film might become overly sentimental?

“ We tried our hardest to avoid any sentimentality. We were fighting against that, both within ourselves and within the script, because the tendency is to play for sympathy. What I found in researching and also working with a couple of guys who had Duchenne muscular dystrophy was that the last thing they want is pity. You’d rather be ignored than pitied. It’s something that is put upon you and somebody feels very good about giving you and it does absolutely nothing for you - it actually makes you feel worse. If there is sympathy in the film it’s hopefully because it should be there and because the audience are feeling it, not because we’re telling them to. ”

Did you feel under extra pressure because you were a non-disabled actor playing a disabled character?

“ We didn’t set out to make a film about the disabled community- we made a film about these particular individuals who happen to be disabled. I think you have to approach it like that, otherwise you end up with clichés. And I don’t think the film is about the disabled community - it’s about growing up, and first loves and mortality, things that everyone feels. And it’s very funny. It’s a cautionary tale for everyone - we all feel trapped and feel that we can’t grow anymore, until we meet somebody who can open our eyes to the world around us. You make different types of films as an actor. Sometimes you make a film about an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances, like a man being thrown into World War Two. This isn’t that - Rory and Michael are not representative of the disabled community- they are exceptional people, they are not everyday people you will meet. That’s what’s exciting about them. If people say ‘I don’t know if a disabled person would do that’, I say well that is Rory. That’s hopefully why people will enjoy watching this, because Michael and Rory are slightly off the scale! ”

How difficult was it to play a character, who’s a wheelchair-user?

“ The fact that Rory was a wheelchair-user gave me half the character, because that informed his psychology so much. I kept thinking, what would it be like to have once been able to walk around and have memories of doing that and then have to use a chair? My experience was nothing compared to somebody with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, but I was in it 12 hours a day because nearly every scene was with me and Steven. You start to get minor symptoms of somebody who’s a wheelchair-user that starts to open your mind a bit. The point was I got to walk away from it every night, and live the rest of my life - for somebody in Rory’s position they can’t. It made me very humble. You have to lose your ego in playing a role like this. There’s a bigger story here - you have to respect the story and the people. ”

Did Damien O’Donnell have a particular directorial style?

“ He was very free - he’s very keen to play with things and let things grow and develop and then there comes a point where we lock it, and he says, ‘We have to stop playing now, we’ve got a job to do it.’ He knows that you have to get it all done as well as create something beautiful. He has a great capacity to let things wash over him- in a way I’ve never seen a director do before. Making a film is tough work- there are a million different pressures coming at you. If you’re the director, you’re like the pillow that people beat up, when they can’t sleep at night. You’re under pressure from actors, producers, financiers, and Damien has an ability not to let that affect him and to get on with the film. He also gave us 5 weeks rehearsal time in Dublin, which is exceptional on a low-budget film: without it I couldn’t have managed. He made us feel safe and secure and listened to us when we had suggestions about the script. During those weeks we worked with people from disability groups such as Muscular Dystrophy Ireland, and Disability Ireland. They were tolerant of us and very generous. ”

What’s next in your career?

“ I’m filming The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in New Zealand for Disney, playing Tumnus the Faun, which will be a seven month shoot. It’s one of my favourite books from when I was a child. Hopefully it’s something I can one day show my kids when I’m older. Up till now my work has always been quite dark, I’ve been dying, or getting shot, or shooting somebody else. This will be about telling stories to a different type of person. ”

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