Where did you find Steven Robertson?
That was his screen debut. He hadn’t done any film or television before, although since then he’s worked with Ridley Scott. He worked with Johnny Depp on “The Libertine” and he’s done a First World War movie. Neither he nor James could come to Sundance because they were both working, which was fantastic. But he graduated from drama school a couple of years ago, and I think my casting director saw him playing in “The Seagull.” I can’t remember the character he was playing but she thought he was outstanding.
He’s this interesting guy from Shetland, Ireland which is the part of these Scottish islands that were almost closer to Norway than they are to Scotland. And he has these amazing blue eyes and Nordic features, kind of a semi-Celtic sensibility. He’s quite a character. And I think he’s going to be brilliant. Just as I think James is going to be a star, he’s going to be on par with - because he’s more talented than a lot of like Ewan McGregor and stuff like that, and he also has that sexy kind of charisma. He’s going to be a star and I think Steven’s going to be a brilliant character actor. I think they’ve both got fantastic careers ahead of them.
Was it harder to cast Michael or Rory?
Well, I thought it was going to be harder to cast Michael, but Steven was the first person we met for the part and we ended up offering it to him almost immediately. I was just so surprised. I was so caught off guard, “This was a rare talent here, this has to be.” I thought Rory would be the easier character but he wasn’t the easier character to cast at all because, again, you’re looking for two very young people to play these parts, in their early ‘20s and they’re certainly supposed to be playing 21-year-olds. I thought that the character of Rory would be an easier one for an actor to get a grip on, but it wasn’t. It was only when James and Steven worked together that we realized they had a certain kind of connection, that they worked together.
