Jack Of All Trades

It hasn’t been long since Hot Press spoke to Jack Reynor, star of Dollhouse and What Richard Did. But in the mere month-and-a-half since we talked, he has become one of Hollywood’s hottest new stars, and is currently in New York starring in and auditioning for projects by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg. Not a bad few weeks, then.

“I know!” says the actor incredulously. “It’s been mad, everything’s kind of just blown up, it’s become insane!”
This time last year was a very different story for the 20-year-old, who was struggling to get work.
“I was blowing all my money on my ex-girlfriend, which I did very effectively,” he remarks dryly. “So I was completely broke by Christmas, and spent the next 10 months trying to get some cash together and doing absolutely nothing with my life. There was no work going, I couldn’t even get an audition for RTÉ.”
But despite this career lull, Reynor believed What Richard Did would bring about great things.
“I kinda hoped a lot of things were going to happen after What Richard Did came out, and I knew that if I ended up travelling or whatever that I wouldn’t be able to manage being with someone as well – it’d be too much stress and pressure and I wouldn’t be able to do what I needed to do and get the job done. So it worked out for the best.”
This confidence, belief and personal sacrifice epitomises what has always been so striking about Reynor. The actor admits that the majority of 2012 felt like “an awful year’ for him. He’d completed Kirsten Sheridan’s experimental drama Dollhouse three years previously, and after shooting What Richard Did there was nary an acting job to be found, But he still maintained a steely determination to somehow get his acting career to take flight. Determined to travel to America to search for work, he intended to take his first step up the Hollywood ladder after promoting What Richard Did at the Toronto Film Festival. Though Reynor says that both himself and director Lenny Abrahamson had doubts while shooting and promoting the film, their trepidation proved unnecessary, as the film has achieved international acclaim.
“Of course we were concerned about the reaction, and that apprehension really stayed with us for a long time. It wasn’t until Toronto that we realised how well people were reacting to it. It got to the point that we were doing so many interviews... Here in Ireland, people were going out to see it then coming back to see it with their families; mothers were having conversations with their sons that they had never had before. People started reflecting on stuff, and examining our culture and talking about it which is exactly why we make films.” 
Riding on the momentum of What Richard Did, Reynor travelled to LA after Toronto, had a lot of auditions and meetings and, as he puts it, “rubbed shoulders with all the right people”.
And it’s been paying off – recently he’s auditions for parts in Neil Burger’s dystopian teen drama Divergent and Michael Bay’s upcoming Transformers 4, starring Mark Wahlberg. The excited young actor admits that he has barely been able to sleep, waiting to hear word. In the meantime however, he’s been keeping himself busy in New York, working on Ken Scott’s comedy The Delivery Man, which is produced by Steven Spielberg and stars Vince Vaughn.
“There’s a group of really young actors on the film and we get on so well. We’re all being put up in a hotel so we’re just going nuts to be honest – it’s great fun!”
Simon Delaney also has a part, and Reynor says it’s a comfort having a fellow Irishman on set.
“Simon and I have been hanging out, having the craic and it’s great to have another Irish person on set – you have someone to do the Irish thing of ripping the piss out of you and bring you back down to earth!”
In the comedy, Vaughn plays a sperm donor who finds out years later that he’s fathered hundreds of children, and many of them want to meet him. Reynor shares a good amount of screen time with the Wedding Crashers star, and was surprised to discover that the charismatic actor is very normal and down-to-earth.
“He’s not sitting around the set cracking jokes and looking to constantly entertain. He’ll have good chats about politics and things. It’s weird, because when you’re with him it’s not about Vince Vaughn the character, which is what you’d expect. But I like that, and get on really well with him.”
Auditions for huge studio blockbusters, making pals with some of the biggest names in the business – one might worry that we’re going to lose this young star to Hollywood forever. But fear not, for Reynor promises that he’ll never forget his roots, and remains passionate about Irish film.
“The way that I’d love to do it would be that I’d do one studio film and then return to do an independent film. I’d love to keep doing really strong Irish independent films. Because it’s important to me as an Irish person to do that – to tell more stories about the place that I come from and also to support the industry. I’m excited to do both.”