If you’re yearning for a trip to Italy, James D’Arcy’s ‘Made In Italy’ has everything you’re looking for.
Set in an ever-breathtaking Tuscany, this heartwarming story reunites a father with his estranged son in an effort to quickly sell a villa inherited by his late wife, mending their relationship along the way.
The film stars Micheál Richardson opposite his real-life father, Liam Neeson. Watching Micheál on screen, he emanates a rare quality: the sort of charm that doesn’t call attention to itself. After seeing the film, it’s hard to imagine he could be even more affable over the phone, but Micheál is exactly that.
On July 24, 2020, the soon-to-be Hollywood darling chatted with NOIAFT founder Taylor Taglianetti about his experience making ‘Made In Italy.’
I’ve seen you a lot on my newsfeed lately as you were just in Big Dogs and now this!
I know, it’s weird! I filmed Big Dogs three years ago and then Made In Italy last year. I hadn’t really had much that had come out before that. Now, within the span of a month, boom! All of a sudden…wow, publicity and press and all of these things!
This is your first major leading role in a feature. How did you get involved in the project?
The director James D’Arcy sent the script to Sue, my dad’s English agent, whom is now actually my agent. My dad read it and sent it to me two summers ago. He had this interesting look on his face which I assumed was important. He said, “I want you to read this. It’s weird.” Then, I read it and it was very weird…just how many parallels there were between our lives and the film. I guess to some extent…I am a spiritual person. I was reared Catholic. It did feel like my mom [the late Natasha Richardson] had something to do with this.
It must have been healing working on it. It also looks like you really like working with your dad! You were in a Super Bowl commercial together, in the film Cold Pursuit, and now this. Is it more challenging or easier working with your dad?
In the past, not that it was ever hard, but it was strange, of course, acting with my dad. Because of those few times we had before, I felt very comfortable playing this character. At the start of the film, our characters really don’t like each other so it was fun playing that with dad.
You were involved in the fashion industry. You described in other interviews as that experience being all about “dedication.” Because of that, would you say the transition from that world to acting was a natural transition?
I never worked in the fashion industry, per se, but I had a lot of friends whom I created some things with that definitely had to do with style and fashion. It is a tough industry, just like any other. I wanted to try different things that had interested me. I enjoyed it, but there was a piece of me in the background that was still looking for something else, and it was acting. It was the very thing that was so close to me my whole life.
Is acting something that just comes naturally to you then? There’s always this underlying sweetness to your character, no matter what scene. You seem so natural in the film and you’re carrying the load. I know you didn’t always want to go into acting.
In high school, I had done a brilliant theater program where the students had written skits and some of the teachers would pick them to be performed. That was one of my earlier experiences. I wasn’t necessarily a theater kid, but I had done that. It wasn’t until a couple of years out of high school that I then wanted to educate myself about what it really was. People approach it in so many different ways. For some, it comes natural and for others, you have to work for it. It’s definitely something I feel like I have to work for. It was only four or five years ago that I started dedicating myself to acting.
It’s been said that acting is reacting. You’re playing off of other actors, but this film takes place in Italy, and Italy is really a character itself in this film. Does the location have any impact on your performance?
I think so! I don’t think it was really conscious. You don’t have any choice. You are always impacted by your environment. Your environment helps and I was lucky to be filming on location and at this beautiful home in Tuscany as opposed to a big, hollowed studio.
It was just so much fun watching you guys in Italy. You feel like you’re on a vacation. That feeling is very much needed right now!
Good, I’m glad you felt that way. That was the intention of James, the director. I want people to watch this film and get on the phone with their travel agent! Sadly, not many people can do that right now, but I guess if it offers a brief respite from the times we’re living in, that’s brilliant.
I think people are connecting with their loved ones now more than ever, being cooped up together in lockdown. This time brings a new meaning to Made In Italy and what it means to mend a relationship. Has this time changed what you are chasing in your career at all?
Like everybody else, career-wise, the pandemic has definitely put a pause on things. But, also, in a way, it has given us all a lot of time to reflect on ourselves with our loved ones. In that way, I don’t think it’s time lost. I think there are a lot of people that go through life constantly working. Jobs and money are their life. In trying to draw a positive from this, it does allow for younger people to be at home with their parents, and when are we ever going to get a time like this again to be with them? It’s also a time to really reflect creatively and do those things you had been putting off for so long. Now there’s no excuse. I had to pick up the guitar again! Read the books I had wanted to read, and watch the films I’d been meaning to. I’m trying to draw the positives and those are some of them.
Made In Italy is available this Friday, August 7th in select theaters and on demand.
For more on the film, visit https://www.madeinitaly.movie/
Special thanks to NOIAFT member and actor Andrew Preston for setting this interview up.