A Serious Man - David Wilmot Interview

Though one of Ireland’s most prolific actors, off-screen David Wilmot prefers to remain out of the spotlight. As well-intentioned but aimless Ray in Niall Heery’s dramedy Gold, Wilmot brings his trademark downtrodden warmth and wit. The actor insists that, while he’s starred in some of Ireland’s best comedies, the arts are no laughing matter.

Now based in Yorkshire, David Wilmot explains he rarely grants interviews. But his passion for new film Gold, a warmly funny drama about a man attempting to reconnect with his family, has softened him. Speaking in a dry Dublin tone, the actor explains why the character of Ray appealed.
“He is like a lot of people I’ve known,” he muses. “Those people who never really responded to the world in regards to career or anything...never had that drive of saying ‘I know what I want to do and how to get there.’ There are a lot of people like that in Ireland. There certainly were where I grew up. Ray felt like one of those men who always stayed a bit lost.”
It’s an accusation that could never be levelled at Wilmot. Growing up with a father who worked in the arts, theatre was in Wilmot’s blood. Even as a schoolboy, he knew he wanted to act. And he spent his 20s starring in movies such as The Devil’s Own (with Brad Pitt), Michael Collins, The General and Intermission. Wilmot admits ambition and drive left little room for a personal life.
“That was a very busy, important time for me.
I didn’t have partners for a very long time; I did a lot of theatre so was always on tour. I’d be more relaxed now, I don’t push myself the same way.”
The seriousness with which Wilmot approaches his craft never wavers. And though audiences know him for dark comedies Intermission, The Guard and even Calvary, the actor doesn’t consider himself a joker.
“It’s funny.... I never thought of myself as a comic actor. All my theatre work has been very serious. I always seem to be roaring my head off on stage! When you do a few funny things on film and they hit home, that’s what you become known for. Recently I was in a project where my character had gout. I came on and was really surprised when everyone started laughing. I was so focused on this pain in my foot. Sometimes you feel disconnected from the humour. You’re playing the character as they are; you’re not looking for laughs.”
Wilmot does express a deep admiration for the darkly layered comedy of John Michael McDonagh, who he describes as “wickedly funny and intelligent”. He also lavishes praise on Brendan Gleeson, who starred with Wilmot in The Guard and Calvary (this interview was before McDonagh publicly disparaged Irish cinema).
“The big feeling you get about some actors is ‘I don’t know how they did that.’ Brendan always brings that. He’s really generous as well; even outside acting, he’s the godfather of all of us.”
However, the actor hasn’t always been so positive about Irish acting. In 2000, he made scathing remarks about Dublin’s theatre community, declaring it “very small, very tight and very bad. I’m not sure that people are very generous... quite often the energy is a shiver of fear”.
Listening back to his own words, Wilmot laughs. “That feels quite alien to me now. I think I was explicitly referring to the theatre scene. It was a reference to the cliques in The Gate and The Abbey; that was something I was never really involved in.” The actor pauses, and grows pensive.
“But I’ve stopped engaging too; I think there’s a period of your life where you’re more idealistic and so you get disappointed easily and say things like that. I’m more jaded now, I think. More practical. I wouldn’t be expecting a big hippie love-in.”
Whether he feels more positive about the Irish arts scene is now unclear. “The arts are taken for granted in Ireland,” he asserts. “For example, during the boom we built the James Joyce Bridge and the Samuel Beckett Bridge – but neither of them lived in Ireland. They ran out of the place and never came back – we’ve no problem using their names to make ourselves seem like a cultural place, when the reality is more complicated. We appropriate the successful in a really cute whoorish way, when actually the arts really aren’t supported.”

If you want to support Gold, it’s in cinemas from October 10.