ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congratulations on the new baby!
CAITRIONA BALFE:Thank you.
I’m sleep-deprived, but cuddles make up for it!
Caitríona Balfe in Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’.Rob Youngson/Focus Features
What were your initial conversations like with Kenneth?
He sent me the script before we’d spoken.
It’s so full of heart, I got emotional reading it.
Judi Dench, Jude Hill, and Ciarán Hinds in ‘Belfast’.focus features
As I said to him the first time we spoke, Ma just felt so familiar to me.
you’re able to’t help but think about your own childhood, your own mother.
Ken asked lots of questions, we all shared.
Did you have conversations with his family?
Ken’s parents unfortunately have passed, but his brother and sister make cameos in the film.
I didn’t talk to them beforehand, but we met them during filming.
Ken used so many of the crew he works with time and time again.
You previouslytoldThe Irish Timesthat growing up in borderland counties wasn’t easy.
Our lives were completely shaped by it.
My mom left her close community in a very similar way to Ma.
Doing the research, I watched so much footage from that time.
There are political and social elements here, butBelfastis about family first.
How does it feel to give a face to the people who lived this conflict?
And this was about the people, the community, the heart.
That felt special to celebrate that.
Making it about the humanity of the people, of course it was rewarding.
It’s just so ridiculous.
It’s a wonderful ensemble, and the emotional layers you and Jamie built are palpable.
But there are great physical moments between you particularly when you throw dishes at him!
It was great, we got to do it a few times.
There was freedom in it.
Any scene where I get to throw things at people is fun!
One of the things Ken emphasized was how these people love fiercely and laugh fiercely.
Even if they’re arguing one minute, the next they’re dancing and kissing.
Life is big and full, and Jamie and I enjoyed playing around with that.
Our first day together, we had a dance rehearsal for two people.
Now that I’ve seen him dance on a beach inBarb and Star…
Walk us through filming the dance.
How long did you work on it prior to shooting?
[Laughs] We had an amazing choreographer who’d steal us a couple hours between filming.
What’s Jamie like as a dancer partner?
and then the day of filming, he just busted it out and I was the one making mistakes.
It was good fun.
Any time you get to do stuff like that, it’s freeing and fun.
And it’s such a beautiful point in the movie.
We were like, “Our son!”
You’re all getting huge acclaim out of the fall festivals.
What does that waiting period feel like?
Is it nerve-wracking or validating?
It’s lovely that people connect to it and enjoy it.
To see people embrace it because it resonated with them, that makes me happy… To see that go out into the world and touch people, it feels great.
Even if it didn’t, it’d still be a special film to me.
But the fact that itis… it’s the cherry on top.
