“I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”, interview with actors Anthony Boyle and Lola Petticrew

Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Directors’ Fortnight of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”is the fifth feature by BAFTA-nominated British director Clio Barnard, adapted by Enda Walsh from Keiran Goddard’s novel of the same name. Set in Birmingham, the film follows a close-knit group of five friends who have known each other since childhood, now turning thirty and trying to find their footing in a country where the old promise work hard, rise above your class no longer holds. Among them are Patrick, played by Anthony Boyle, and Shiv, played by Lola Petticrew, a couple raising two children while navigating the gap between what life was supposed to look like and what it actually is.

Best friends since they were eleven

The familiarity between Anthony Boyle and Lola Petticrew on screen is not manufactured. The two Northern Irish actors have been close friends since they were eleven years old, performing together in plays, TV shows and films long before Clio Barnard‘s project came along. Anthony Boyle recalls their earliest collaboration with characteristic self-deprecation: a Romeo and Juliet seen by five people, four of whom left, leaving Lola Petticrew‘s father clapping alone. But beneath the jokes lies something essential to how the film works. “We don’t have to try. We see each other, trust each other so much that I know I’m in a safe pair of hands and Lola knows that they’re in a safe pair of hands. Every time I get to work with them it’s just a dream come true”.

Enda Walsh and the book behind the film

Both actors speak with deep admiration for Enda Walsh‘s screenplay. Anthony Boyle calls him one of the best writers in Ireland and recalls that they had nearly collaborated before, on a stage production of Enda Walsh‘s Disco Pigs that fell through. When Enda Walsh offered them this project, they were overjoyed. The novel, written entirely as internal monologue, presented a particular challenge in adaptation, and Enda Walsh‘s ability to externalise that inner life was crucial. Lola Petticrew, who read Keiran Goddard‘s book after the script, describes it as a constant resource. “Keiran wrote such a beautiful novel that I’m such a massive fan of. It’s exactly the kind of project that I’ve always been interested in making”.

Turning thirty

The film is set in Birmingham but speaks to something far broader: the sensation of reaching thirty and discovering that the rules have changed. Anthony Boyle recalls a conversation with Keiran Goddard himself: at any other point in British history, a character like Patrick would have gone to university, found a job, become a success story. “But now because of the current socioeconomic state of the world, he can’t do that. In England you used to be able to rise above your class but not with your class. He says now that’s not possible”. Lola Petticrew offers the counterpoint through Shiv, a character who, unlike the men around her, is already capable of seeing the beauty in the life she has: in the mornings, the breakfasts, the flat, the relationship. “Shiv is a seer”, Lola Petticrew says simply.

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