Charlie Cox Interview: Kin | Screen Rant
Kin is not your average family crime drama. The new show, available to stream on AMC+, takes place in Dublin, introducing viewers to some incredible Irish actors they may not know and allowing them to experience others on their own turf. However, the thing that hits hardest in the story is the family element, and it’s those bonds that make for the most enticing drama.
Charlie Cox plays Michael Kinsella, who returns home after an 8-year stint in jail and has to deal with the fact that everything has changed. The actor spoke to Screen Rant about the importance of his onscreen brotherly bond with Emmett Scanlan’s Jimmy, and the work he did to get into character.
Screen Rant: Peter McKenna's writing is phenomenal. I'm here for the crime story, but I'm staying for the family drama. Can you talk to me a little bit about what attracted you to Kin?
Charlie Cox: Exactly that. I wasn't actually available to do this show, but my wife was a producer on it and asked me to read it just to see what I thought. I read it and suddenly felt very jealous that I wasn't getting to work on something like that. I was so moved by it; I found it so painful and so truthful. I was like, "Wow, this is exactly the kind of thing I've been waiting to read."
Then through a very fortunate set of circumstances, the show I was supposed to do fell through. I had an opportunity to go and do this - and of course, it meant that we as a family got to stay together during the pandemic, which was really important. So, all the stars aligned and worked out, and it was an absolute pleasure from start to finish.
Can you talk to me about working with Peter to really find who Michael was?
Charlie Cox: My experience with Peter was that Michael was so well-rounded and fully formed by the time I got to the table that it didn't require me to invent much or massage much. It was just all there.
We had a couple of long conversations about Michael's history, and I had some questions about that, and blah blah blah. I went away and did some reading of my own, and there were a couple of moments where I said to Peter, "What about including this element or that element?" But it was all there, and it was just a question of digging deeper into what was given to me and making sure that my portrayal was as fully-formed as his writing.
Michael's a little bit more reserved than the rest of his family because he carries this darkness that follows him. Can you talk to me about the challenge of bringing that presence to Michael?
Charlie Cox: That was the thing that was really exciting to me. You meet this man that is completely the opposite of how he's described and how he's thought of by the rest of the family. [To them], he has this gravitas and this air of authority, and you feel he's the kind of person who is going to walk in the room and be running s***. And then you meet him, and that doesn't seem to be the case at all. He seems to be quite vulnerable and damaged; he doesn't say much, only speaks when spoken to, and is quiet.
Then, of course, you start to learn why that is and how maybe the person you're meeting is not the man that went to jail eight years before. The fun bit for me was to find that guy but also make sure that, beneath it all, there were glimpses into who he had been and what he was capable of. We like him, we ally ourselves with him, we feel sorry for him even - and then, suddenly, he might say or do something where you're like, "Oh, s***. That guy's dark."
How do you balance the vulnerability of Michael with that dark side?
Charlie Cox: I guess my thinking behind it was - trying to avoid spoilers here, but - a couple of things have happened in the time that he's been away. One of them, the obvious one, is that he has been incredibly hurt and humbled by the absence of his daughter; of not being able to see her and have a relationship with her and raise her as his daughter. She was and remains the most important thing in his life, and I think he has great pain and sorrow and regret around not being able to spend time with her. That's the first thing.
The second thing is that something happens to him in jail which potentially renders him unable to do the job within the family that he was bred to do. It's a burden and a secret, and I think he feels terrified by his potential impotence and inability to engage and do the thing he knows how to do.
Michael's return from prison causes a domino effect, but he seems a little bit more humbled by life. What's Michael's role in the family now, and how did that differ from before?
Charlie Cox: Well, I think family members assume he's going to slot right back in where he left off; that normally is what happens. But what they are surprised and also worried to learn is that a) he doesn't really want to, and b) he might not be capable of that anymore. That upsets the whole family dynamic.
What drives a lot of the narrative, actually, is the fact that Michael is not the Michael they remember. He's trying to navigate how he lives his "new life," bearing in mind that that's not how a family like this operates. It's just not really in the cards for him - and given his history and his relationship to law enforcement in Ireland, that's never going to work.
Emmett Scanlan plays your brother, Jimmy, who was always Michael's protector in a way. Can you talk to me about Jimmy and Michael's relationship?
Charlie Cox: I can't say enough good things about Emmett Scanlan. He's tremendous, and he brought so much to that brotherly dynamic. I found it to be unexpected but very, very, very truthful - and it really helped explain Michael.
How Jimmy handles being around Michael, how he's protective and also feels threatened by him, was so revealing to me. I think that their history with their father, which we don't explore too much in season 1, is very, very complicated. Michael's done stuff that's almost unforgivable in the past towards his brother, but at the same time, I think Jimmy knows that Michael took the brunt of the father's abuse. In a way, Jimmy can never try to not be protective of his brother.
That relationship really flourished because it's so nuanced and different and interesting. It wasn't in any way cliché, and we had a great time playing with it.
Can you talk to me about what Emmett brought to the role of Jimmy that may have surprised you?
Charlie Cox: I think there was a version of a lot of the Jimmy and Michael scenes where we could have played them with much more tension and much more chest-puffing and trying to be the top dog, and neither one of us felt like that was right. We didn't discuss it, necessarily, but I think we both felt like these two have been through so much. Really, they just love each other, and they want to support each other.
What that means sometimes is - and this is true of a lot of siblings, and a lot of families in general - you have to find a way to forgive the things that once seemed unforgivable. What Emmett did is, without letting Jimmy become too emasculated, he allowed himself to be vulnerable in that relationship too. It's very disarming and beautiful.
Jimmy and Michael are very different. One is more reserved and quiet, and the other one is more boisterous and brash. Can you talk about finding the brotherly balance between the characters?
Charlie Cox: A couple of things happened that worked in our favor. The first thing is that me, him, and also Sam Keeley - who does an amazing job as Viking - ended up renting apartments in the same building. We had to book the gym one person at a time because of COVID restrictions, but because we were all isolated together, we could use it together. We all ended up bonding really, really early on and having meals together and going to the gym together and finding that family dynamic. It was just a bit of luck.
The other thing that happened is that in the basement of that house - if you've seen the [show], there was a pool table which we used on occasion. But whenever we weren't filming in the basement, me and Emmett would go down there and would play pool over and over and over and over again. We got very competitive and sibling rivalry-like, and it was really, really good fun.
I read an interview that he did the other day where he claims he won the overall games, and I cannot emphasize enough what a massive lie that is - and he knows it. If he sees this or reads this, he'll know that he just fabricated that. If you speak to him: he's a tremendous actor, but he's a liar.
You were talking a little bit about Michael and Jimmy's relationship with their father. Is that something you'd like to see explored in future seasons of Kin?
Charlie Cox: Yes, definitely. I would love to see more of that. I haven't spoken to Peter, so I've no idea if we're even going to get the chance to do a second season. But I'd like to see that relationship fracture and see what it does to those two. Maybe the father is waiting to get in between them and find a way to throw his weight around a little bit.
I was speaking to Claire Dunne, and she commented on your commitment to the role of Michael. Can you talk to me about shooting in Dublin, and what that the energy of the city brings to Kin?
Charlie Cox: Yeah, it was great, man. I was very nervous from the get-go, because I'm not from Dublin or Irish, and it's a very Irish show. But I hope that I've done enough in terms of the portrayal and also the accent to convince people so that they can enjoy the show.
But it's no different [from] filming in New York or filming in London. The city has a lot of character; it carries a lot of weight, and it becomes as important an element as the actors and the plot. A lot of our show takes place in dark corners, in smaller apartments, and in warehouses - but within that, there's some great shots on a motorbike through the city and all that stuff. That's what gives a small show like ours a bit of scope.
I'm excited for people who have never been to Dublin or even Ireland to get an opportunity to feel what that city is like.
In your research for the role of Michael, did you stumble across any fascinating information about Dublin or Ireland?
Charlie Cox: There's an amazing crime journalist in Dublin called Nicola Tallant, and she's done many podcasts about organized crime in Dublin over the years. She's written a wonderful book, and I read that. I convinced her to chat with me, we spoke on Skype, and I read her book. I got so much from all of the amazing journalism she's done.
There were a couple of chapters, in particular, in her book that I took to Peter. I was like, "This is what I think the dynamic between the father and Michael has been like, and I'd like to just keep that in the back of my mind going forward. Because I think that it will really influence me, and if we get the chance to explore the father-son relationship, it will really enrich it."
When I discovered Nicola Tallant, I was like, "Oh, wow. Someone's done all the research for me, and all I have to do now is read what they've written and listen to what they have to say."
New episodes of Kin premiere on Thursdays exclusively on AMC+.