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You think it got personal?
Yes, I think it was personal. I think
there were things said at various
times that are in the book, and I
won’t necessarily say them because
they are not in the film, where Lance
had spoken things about David’s
personal life that weren’t very kind
and then Lance thought he was so
untouchable.
Has David seen the film?
Yes, he was very involved. Before
I took on the role I wanted to talk to
David because I didn’t want to do it
unless he was fully behind it.
Why?
I think because I knew his
writing and he was a countryman
and sometimes with these things
somebody buys a book and they
make a film out of it and it doesn’t
necessarily mean that the writer of
the book is behind it or there is some
weird publishing thing, you know the
way it goes, it’s “I’m not going to be
involved in that.” So I just wanted to
make sure it was something he was
into. So I managed, in an odd way, to
get his contact details.
What do you mean by “in an odd
way”?
I was out to dinner with my wife
and it was the day after Stephen had
told me about the film and had given
me David’s book and I was telling
her all about it and we were at a little
restaurant somewhere in Bermondsey
[South London] where we live and after
a while this young lady came over and
said, “listen, I don’t want to interrupt…”
and I said, “do you want a photo or
something?” and she said, “no, my
father is David Walsh” …What are the
chances? It was extraordinary.
So did she already know that you
were going to play her father?
Yes. Stephen had said to David
,“I’m going to ask Chris O’Dowd”, and
David had said yes and then he had
called his daughter and said, “you
know, they are talking about getting
Chris O’Dowd”, and I learned later
that while she was listening to Dawn
and I talk about it all, she texted her
Dad and said, “you won’t believe who
is sitting at the next table…” And
the film company weren’t incredibly
excited about me and David getting
in touch – they wanted to make sure
everything was done through due
diligence, but I got David’s phone
number and email address from his
daughter and so we started talking,
and once I knew he was on board,
I started getting these great stories
from him that weren’t in the book
and I thought were useful. So he has
been great. And apparently he likes
the film and I saw him this morning
– for the first time since he’d seen it
– and I couldn’t imagine what it would
be like if he wasn’t happy, but he was
incredibly positive about it.
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