AMC+'s new Irish crime drama Kin provides a different look at Ireland and its capital, Dublin. The series follows the Kinsella crime family, who are reeling after they endure a horrific loss at the hands of an organized crime empire. Boasting a largely Irish ensemble cast, Kin follows the family as they stand at odds in the tragic aftermath. As they decide how to avenge their family, the situation violently escalates and pits the Kinsella family against a powerful crime syndicate, all while the Kinsella face their own secrets. Among the cast is Clare Dunne, portraying the young mother Amanda Kinsella, who takes a darker course of action.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Dunne discussed working with Kin's impressive ensemble cast, shared her learning experience on her first major television project, and explained how the series showcases a different side of Dublin and Ireland than audiences might expect.
Clare, how did the role of Amanda and the opportunity to be a part of Kin first come about?
Clare Dunne: At first, it was just [an audition] tape, as always, and then an audition on Zoom. That was the process, and I got to read the first four episodes, which I couldn't stop once I started. It was really just the self-tape and audition process, and then I got a callback.
What was it specifically about Amanda that really drew you to her and was there a specific line in the script that informed how you were going to approach this performance?
I think there was just something about Amanda's journey that was so all-encompassing and does so much that any girl would just have to jump at this because it's not the regular wife of someone doing something. She completely changes her whole life journey within the course of the series and develops into this other version of herself that she didn't expect.
Without going into spoilers, there is a cataclysmic event that happens to Amanda that leads her down a dark path. How was it following that descent as she makes increasingly morally compromising decisions?
I think it was just about embracing each step as it came and also doing that thing as an actor where you shouldn't judge your character -- just become them and go from where they're feeling emotionally. Realizing that they're doing the best they can at the moment and dealing with it that way because that's what they're made of. That's the way I approached it and there were moments where I was like, "What's that like? I don't know if I'd do that... " But then I realized, with Amanda, it's about embracing every single emotion to its fullest as it came along. I really enjoyed that because it's a very whole journey and that means you get to push the furthest limits of each thing and I think she is dark and light. I enjoyed finding that and her witchy side as well.
With all that emotional heavy lifting, how is it having Charlie Cox and Emmett Scanlan as scene partners?
They're two messers [troublemakers], as we say in Ireland, they were great craic [fun] off-screen and great chaps. We really bonded together, especially the week before we started shooting, we really built the history of these characters together and decided on some timelines just to get it really clear for ourselves when we're in scenes and playing our beats. We'd sometimes give ourselves options, slightly different ways to play things just in case we're saying, "I wonder what this'll bring to the history?" We just really bonded and they were really brilliant to work with. I feel like I cut my teeth on this as a TV role. I've never actually played a big TV series role before, and I had a lot to do.
Emmett and Charlie were incredibly good at basically training me up -- not that I'm some naive 20-year old just starting -- but in terms of doing an eight-hour-long role on-screen, there's a big difference doing a feature role. It was incredible to learn some techniques and Charlie was really supporting all that and helping me understand to ask questions and ask for another take when you want to do something slightly different to give the editor an option. They were my absolute buddies, and really, really supportive.
Sir Ben Kingsley once compared acting on stage to landscape art and acting on-camera to portrait art. I was wondering how your experience was with that? Hitting your marks with multiple shots?
That's a lot of what I learned because I've had a lot of emotional stuff that would really push it and it was actually about energy management. I found Diarmuid [Goggins] and Tessa [Hoffe], the two directors, were really good about communicating to me about not wasting my energy on this shot and nearly tell me the shot list so I knew that I'd have a chance if I wasn't quite hitting the mark, that they were going to push in closer with this. Basic things to help me out.
I definitely agree with Ben there because you start to realize how the minutia can really travel and it's almost telepathic in a frame and sometimes it's only half your bloody face on-screen. You almost have to channel something in a different... It's the same amount of energy but different.
Right from the opening shot in the sweet shop, it's clear that this is an unapologetically Irish production, despite being distributed internationally and with an American production company. How was it getting to lean into those Irish references for this?
It's just about realizing that we all want to watch and hear stories that are really authentic. The more local you are, the more universal [it is], weirdly. With this, it's interesting because we were all very interested in the clarity of the storytelling because if you're not clear about the characters, then you lose people. As long as you go by the rules of being really clear about what's happening and who's who, these little Irish embellishments that you might not get, you might get on some level subconsciously because you're involved with the story and the story itself is clear. I just hope that people look at it as an interesting, different perspective on Dublin and Ireland and who we are now and what it actually looks like and feels like. The different palette that it is now in 2021.
What aspects of the Dublin cityscape and Ireland that you're excited to get to share with the rest of the world?
It's funny because we all had different locations. [laughs] I was mostly in the house or my car going to meet people in indiscriminate places. [laughs] Even just little things, like the cafe that I have lunch with Charlie in, we see these really lovely little spots in Dublin along the canal that I love that are very romantic and European. I love little details like that and Emmett gets to do a great scene on the beach in the series and that was a beach that I was near during the pandemic that absolutely saved my sanity. [laughs]
Dublin itself is so diverse, you can be up a mountain in twenty minutes and also on an amazing beach in twenty minutes. It's small but it's got so much around it and so many different kinds of architecture in the city center and we also went to the suburbs. I just hope people see the variety of us.
I know that Charlie is English but you've got this murderers' row of great Irish actors, like Emmett, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Aidan Gillen. How was it getting to work with them on such a close-knit family drama?
It's incredible! I met Maria Doyle Kennedy once but I've never met Aidan Gillen, he is brilliant and I learned a lot from watching him on the monitor and working with him in scenes. I felt really nervous the first time just because I had just never worked with him before. Ciaran Hinds, I got to cut my teeth on stage with him so it was cool to see him again. It just feels like such a strong ensemble and that's what I'm interested in. We don't just have a couple of leads and it's just about them, this is about the whole family. Every single one of those actors has a huge journey with their characters and I think there's just a little something for everyone to get into. And also the new [actors], who play my sons, they're amazing and I'm really excited for them.
I was speaking with Maria earlier, and she said, for all the crime stuff, this is really all about family. How is it layering that in, as your character realizes the cost of vengeance, into your performance?
I think when you're literally with each other as a family in the scenes, I just instinctively feel like we're talking about the work stuff in the scenes or what's going on. Energetically, this is about me and you and it's about family, definitely more about that. The lines are there but this is about us and our destiny as individuals and a family. I think that's so exciting to play and just felt like that instinctively so I just tried to follow it.
With this being filmed during the presumable height of the pandemic and as your first major television gig, how was all that?
It was kind of strange at first because you're getting used to wearing a mask right until your take, which is strange, and also it was cold and all the windows had to be open all the time. [laughs] There was such a heavy lockdown in Ireland that Kin was my social life, it was where I got to be stimulated and work and connect with people that I love that are so incredibly lovely. We were all in it together and we all felt so lucky that we just had something to do and do what we love.
There were so many people in my life that couldn't work or had to work from home and were driven mad by it, so I felt really grateful. The tough thing was, because we were so strict -- not being able to see my family unless we're outside and two meters apart -- that was a little bit tough. But a sacrifice worth making because we weren't allowed in each others' houses anyway. [laughs] We all developed such a great bond because that was our form of connection with other people.
What are you most excited about sharing Kin with the world and your performance as Amanda Kinsella?
I'm just really excited to be in a TV thing but also to be in something of the highest quality of writing and production that I have ever been around. It was incredible, everything from the costume design to the directors and [series co-creator] Peter McKenna's work. I'm so excited for something of this level to have been made in Ireland and shown internationally. I feel really proud of that. I haven't seen it yet, also, so I'm just excited to finally watch it!
Created by Peter McKenna and Ciaran Donnelly, Kin is streaming now in AMC+, with new episodes released on Thursdays.