My Name Is Joe (1998) :: Cast Notes

Cast Notes

• Peter Mullan » Joe
• Louise Goodall Carrillo » Sarah
• David McKay » Liam
• Annemarie Kennedy » Sabine
• Lorraine McIntosh » Maggie
• Gary Lewis » Shanks
• David Hayman » McGowan
• Linda Tiffney » Prostitute
• Gordon McMurray » Scrag
• David Hough » Football Referee
• John Hammill » Chairman of the AA Meeting

Peter Mullan » Joe

Peter Mullan, who first worked with Loach on Riff-Raff, and appeared in Braveheart and Trainspotting, stars as Joe, a character who was created partly with the actor in mind. "Joe is jumpy and mercurial, well-intentioned, bright and passionate," says Mullan. Now in his late 30's, having wasted most of his adult life in alcoholism, Joe wants to love and be loved, and to try to come to terms with the demons that continue to haunt him."

He says playing Joe was like "playing yourself in a different context. You think it's you if things hadn't worked out." Loach, he says, "lets you off the leash, doesn't force you into acrobatics. You've got to be credible. I like that."

Before the shoot, Mullan spent time with members of AA who advised him about the behaviour of recovered alcoholics - the central spine around which Joe's actions revolve. "You're in constant terror of slipping back - the first glass is the fatal one. In the midst of the joy at having achieved sobriety, you fear a relapse. In a relationship you have a desperate fear of screwing it up. So you are wary of opening yourself up to love and commitment."

This is Joe's predicament when he first meets Sarah. He adds: "All the AA people said that trouble with a partner is the main reason for going back to drink, and for seeking advice. Joe runs a local football team - eleven of the least convincing sportsmen that ever hit the screen - but for the youngsters he tries to whip into shape, the team is a beacon of hope. He says, "They are a great bunch of lads, with all the energy and daftness of a seriously bad football team."

"The jokes wit that flash to and fro in no way detracts from the pain that the poor disadvantaged youths feel. Real wit comes out of pain," Mullan says. "It makes it three-dimensional. Humour shouldn't make despair palatable, but make it real."

Finding love - which is Joe's mission - is not so hard as maintaining it, amid such poverty and hardship, when you've hit rock bottom, Mullan says. He is also aware of the dangers of developing a relationship between more mature people. "You have more luggage from the past, and have to deal with your own hang-ups more than when you're eighteen. This can damage a partnership and even destroy it," he says.

Mullan is full of praise of the non-professional actors whom Loach, as is his custom, sprinkled throughout the cast. They were, he said "brilliant, totally courageous and they learned very quickly." He recalls the scene of the AA meeting: "I had my page of script for that day and I was uncertain how to play it. Ken asked people to tell their story and they were superb, honest and moving, and for the first time in my film career I didn't want the camera to turn on me. I decided not to be an actor, I just decided to be. It was totally terrifying. All my tricks and gimmicks were stripped off me."

As the plot develops, Joe moves from feelings of euphoria when he falls in love with Sarah, to a sense of devastation and failure when his shady past starts to overwhelm him and he fears he has lost her. If that is the case, he reckons "staying sober is irrelevant - I might as well die drunk."

Mullan has just directed his first full-length feature Orphans, about a family who lose their mother and erupt on to the city. "It's about grief and loss." He broke into his own film's post-production to play Joe. "I was hugely influenced by Loach after Riff-Raff. He's his own man."

Mullan also played in the successful film Trainspotting about Scotland's drug culture, but says Joe is completely different. Trainspotting was unashamedly commercial. Ken is quite the contrary. He's never told us to tone down our accents. Maybe some parts will need subtitles." Mullan laughs his gravelly laugh.

The actor and director Peter Mullan is well established in Scotland where, in addition to film work he has made numerous television appearances, including Stuart Orme's Jute City, Michael Whyte's Your Cheatin'' Heart and the popular series Taggart. His substantial track record in Scottish Theatre includes The Trick is to Keep Breathing directed by Michael Boyd, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest directed by Robert Carlyle.

Louise Goodall Carrillo » Sarah

Louise Goodall, the discarded girlfriend Maureen in Carla's Song, plays Sarah, a community health worker in one of Glasgow's roughest, most deprived neighbourhoods, who falls in love with Joe.

Stretched to the limit by the demands of the damaged people she works with, "Sarah has a love of people which I share. I did once want to be a nurse! She's very normal and very nice, which I think I am, and I understand how she falls in love with Joe because in my younger days I also liked a bit of rough."

But Sarah is afraid. Not - initially at any rate - that Joe will mistreat her or that his alcoholism might recur, but of his desperation for commitment. "She's afraid of opening up, losing her independence, her nice wee secure comfortable life that she worked so long and hard to achieve."

Midway into the shoot, Louise is lively and elated by the relationship that is blossoming between the two of them. "She loves him, he makes her laugh, she loves the sex, he's a great listener." As the story unfolds, however, her initial fears of opening up emotionally appear to have been justified, and in a rage of fury and disappointment she turns against him.

Louise has worked for only a short time as a professional actress, but has a variety of experiences as a performer. "I didn't train," she says. "I auditioned several times for drama school but they wouldn't let me in. I always wanted to be a dancer but I wasn't quite good enough, so I joined a Glasgow amateur company Unit One Theatre Co and did a couple of shows in the eighties. I got my equity card by singing in clubs!"

She describes working with Loach as her best experience so far. "It's great not being tied down to a script, you can put as much of yourself as possible into your performance, which creates a really relaxed atmosphere." She adds: "Paul isn't precious about his script, he's happy to let the actors put it in their own words, something that Ken encourages."

Louise is convinced that working with Loach has made her a much better actress. "I've become a lot more natural and confident." At one point the script called for her to burst into hysterical sobbing. "I was terrified, I'd never had to do that before, but it just happened."

Later in the film she is called upon to close up. As the plot unfolds, she becomes glacial in shock and rejection of what happens, grappling with a devastating sense of betrayal. "Everything starts to fall apart, and I come to wish I'd never stepped out of my own world. I recoil into myself as a means of self-protection." All these feelings, she says, arise in the course of events that were filmed in sequence. "They just came naturally, as if in real life."

In addition to Carla's Song, Louise Goodall appeared in Silent Scream, directed by David Hayman (who plays the part of McGowan). She has numerous TV credits, including the popular BBC comedy drama series Tutti Frutti and episodes of Taggart. Among many theatre appearances, she starred as Beverley in Unit One Theatre Company's production of Mike Leigh's classic Abigail's Party.

David McKay » Liam

David McKay plays Liam whom he describes as "a poor wee soul", a young man who fell into the drug culture and started to do some dealing to keep up with his peers. Sent to jail, he becomes - with Joe's help and encouragement - a fighter desperate to keep off drugs, but without knowing how long he can hold out. "He's been given a second chance, and it's opened his eyes. He's now fixed on keeping his family together. That's all he's got." McKay says.

Liam and his partner Sabine were childhood sweethearts. She became pregnant young with their son Scott through a combination of carelessness and ignorance, and the pair are now struggling with circumstances that threaten to bring all three of them down.

It is a story typical of thousands in Glasgow, McKay says. "But I don't think it's specific to Glasgow. It's a cancer throughout Europe, unfortunately, where young people are sucked into a terrible spiral that drags them down to the bottom. If they had other things to aim for, to channel their energies, then they wouldn't get drawn into drugs and crime." he says.

Liam, he concludes, is a good man with the best intentions. "I've got compassion for him. He feels love and guilt for his girlfriend and his son, but feels trapped in a situation in which there's nothing he can do." McKay says playing Liam was his most challenging role in his fourteen years as an actor. "I want to portray that he's not just scum. He's really trying to do his best, but as events unfold he just becomes more and more desperate."

David McKay, who appeared in Mel Gibson's film Braveheart, is a leading member of the Glasgow Citizen's Theatre, with whom he has performed pantomime and classical roles. He has appeared in regional theatre throughout Scotland and frequently on Scottish television.

AnneMarie Kennedy » Sabine

AnneMarie Kennedy plays Liam's girlfriend Sabine, a fragile, vulnerable young woman who struggles to prevent herself and her family from being destroyed by drugs and prostitution. AnneMarie is a non-professional actor who, even while shooting, kept on her job as a part-time cleaner in a school. She says: "I know people like Sabine who take drugs and steal and work the streets to feed their habit."

"Like her I am a single parent." AnneMarie, 22, has a young daughter whom she cares for with the help of her sisters. "It's hard being a single mum but I try my best. I wasn't always single. My man died, though we were already separated. I have no desire to get together with someone else. I prefer staying by myself with the wee bairn."

AnneMarie came to acting through Glasgow's Dunterlie Drama Project, organised by the community worker Kate Black in a single parents' club that provided a creche. "We did some plays, one a semi-improvised community play about a housing scheme that had gone down, then one about working single women called Roll on Friday. Then I was in a short film, a student's graduation film Small Deaths by Lynn Ramsay, nominated Best Short Film at Cannes in 1995."

Parachuted into a Loach production, AnneMarie is unfazed. "I felt scared with real actors, but they made me feel very much at ease. Ken was brilliant, he made me feel really comfortable. That's made it much easier."

"Liam and I stay together for the baby's sake, while he tries desperately to stay off drugs, and I, as Sabine, have a habit that's almost out of control." She says: "It was really interesting talking to Linda, the former prostitute, and Stef, the former drug user, about my character and to go with them to Glasgow's red-light district. I found it really scary after dark and I felt I just wanted to go home. But it gave me just the right idea of how I should play the part of a prostitute - which thankfully was filmed somewhere else."

Loach describes AnneMarie's portrayal of Sabine as "absolutely credible". She is, he says, "an important find. She hasn't acted professionally much but knows the situation - which is not hers obviously - she understands it and has no guile. She is a real touchstone for the other members of the cast."

Lorraine McIntosh » Maggie

Lorraine McIntosh, a former singer with the hugely successful band Deacon Blue, plays Sarah's friend and colleague Maggie "her confidante and soulmate," as Lorraine calls her. She is an old political friend of Paul Laverty, whom she knew when they both worked for Medical Aid to Nicaragua. This is her first acting role.

"I love it," she says. "I'm used to being before an audience and I love to perform, but this is different. On stage you are you, not pretending to be someone else, putting truth into the words. With this you have to rely on your natural responses to a situation even though it's not you. I'm enjoying just finding out if I can do it."

The idea of giving advice, as Maggie does when her friend Sarah is in a fix, comes naturally, Lorraine says. "I love the fact that we don't get the whole story at once, it's more spontaneous. It would be much harder for me if it had to remember a script word for word. I'm amazed how natural it all feels."

Deacon Blue disbanded in 1993 at the height of their fame, giving Lorraine time for her two young daughters, but she continues to write and record music. "I've really enjoyed all Loach's films, the people's stories that aren't told in other films. They're so real and so funny."

Gary Lewis » Shanks

Gary Lewis plays Joe's pal and steadying influence Shanks, a role that echoes - with a harder edge - his part in Carla's Song, as Sammy, the friend who gives Carla a room.

"Shanks is a friend who has managed to sort himself out and is in a position to help Joe with advice, support and care." Like Joe a former alcoholic, Shanks guides Joe to seek help from the AA as he had done, and is happy to take things as they come. "He is relieved not to be lying in a stupor somewhere."

Shanks is aware of the importance of small acts of solidarity, knowing that what he can do is very limited. "He is aware of endless dilemmas created by the horrors of daily life. He doesn't get involved in shady stuff; staying straight is very important to him."

Gary Lewis finds Loach's low-key approach to his liking. "Ken sends everyone away and takes the tension right down. There's no-one sipping tea or chatting just before a take," he says. "I like it when we play and replay a scene and improvise, drawing on our own experiences and what you know of the story so far. It's a combination of experience and imagination."

Lewis believes the film offers a revealing insight into the Glaswegian character. "Glaswegians pay a big price for being a hard man. But if you drop the mask you're frightened you'll be eaten up. People are actually very vulnerable. You can see it in their faces. But you don't usually see those faces on film. I notice the physical effects of the squalor, drug abuse and malnourishment. They look like walking wounded."

Gary Lewis has long worked with homeless and disadvantaged people in Glasgow and is a proud veteran of the Anti-Poll Tax Federation, whose actions helped bring Margaret Thatcher down. He once worked in a library. He never trained as an actor but now has seven years professional experience.

He co-stars as Thomas in Peter Mullan's film Orphans for release in 1998 and, in a wide range of film and television work, appeared in Shallow Grave directed by Danny Boyle, and episodes of Cardiac Arrest. His extensive theatre experience includes Grandpa/Floyd in Grapes of Wrath by the acclaimed radical theatre company 7:84.

David Hayman » McGowan

David Hayman played the gangster boss McGowan. (sorry he wasn't in town the week I was!)

Tales From The Edge

Some personal experiences of non-professional actors.

Linda Tiffney » Prostitute

Linda Tiffney, 25, a former prostitute, plays a prostitute.

"I first prostituted myself at 16 when I left home, just drifted into it. Scary moments? It's all scary, horrendous, quite frightening, but you don't think of the dangers when you're working. I took speed heavily when I was about 22, just to keep going through the night. By then I couldn't handle the work any more, so I started on heroin just to get through it.

"Then it got to the stage when I was losing everything, a friend was looking after my two-year-old son, my life was just falling apart. He was well-looked after though, and happy, I financed his care through my work. But then I had enough, I was losing my sanity, the guilt was too much. Every ex-user says they get to the point when they're sick of being sick. I was a mess.

"I went to the City Centre Initiative when I was still working. I'd cut down the speed abuse, just took it to go to work, but I recognised what was happening and was trying to deal with it. I'd run up debts and was working to pay them off. But it's horrendously difficult to move away from that life when you're in the middle of it. It's like walking away from yourself, you lose your identity. It's a jump into the unknown, and it's much easier to stay.

"The CCI found me a good private rented flat, and helped me to apply for college. I had an interview when I was still working and still taking speed but in controlled way, not chaotically. Things were evening out a bit. I'm studying social care at college and I haven't worked for two years now.

"Being at college opened a new life. I was with normal people and didn't have hooker tattooed on my head that I thought I'd always have. I go to pub lunches, things I'd never done before. It's a financial struggle, I've still got debts, but I've found a purpose in life.

There's not one girl who says prostitution is what they want to do. They just don't have the choices. Once you moved away from it, staying away that's the hard part."

Gordon McMurray » Scrag

Gordon McMurray, 23, an ex-heroin addict, plays Scrag.

"I left school at 15 in 1989 and got a job for 7 months as a van boy for a soft drinks firm, but then I became unemployed and slipped into drugs. They were everywhere around me, in Possil Park, where all the old tenements were boarded up and being pulled down.

"After four years on heroin, and getting in trouble with the police, I eventually decided to do something about it and approached the Glasgow City Drugs Project where I went on methodone rehabilitation. I broke away from my old friends because they were all in the drugs world, and started doing things with the project. I even ran in a marathon! I help care for my father who had a stroke and is paralysed down one side. I feel responsible for my mum.

"I'm definitely off heroin now, for 16 weeks, I feel a different person. Being involved in the film has made be feel much more confident. It's a great experience, I've started to like it. I'd never heard of Ken Loach, but he's a nice man, makes you feel very welcome. My character is something like myself, trying to get on. I play it as if it was me. Hopefully I'll get something out of it, you never know."

David Hough » Football Referee

David Hough, 54, a youth worker, plays a football referee.

"I run the Wanderers Youth Club, a voluntary project in Ruchill and Possil which are very deprived areas with no facilities and high unemployment. 47 per cent of families here are single parent families, there's a very bad drugs problem, poor housing and vandalism.

"The youth club is a haven for kids, it's not much really, just a wooden annexe, but we try to be really supportive to local people, and I'm trying to get a computer course set up. It's also an advice centre for people with drink problems. And we've also organised a parents' group to arrange holidays for local deprived kids.

"One of the satisfying things of being well known and trusted in the neighbourhood is that I've had young people coming to me with drugs problems. I represent the club in a local drugs forum.

"I started organising football teams in the late seventies among kids in the high-rise blocks. I got 10 teams going and took them all over Europe to international tournaments. It was through the football I heard about the film. Paul contacted me through the unemployed federation football league and said he was writing a screenplay, then the researcher Gillian Berrie phoned me 18 months later. I'd forgotten all about it."

John Hammill » Chairman of the AA Meeting

John Hammill, of the Glasgow Community Drugs Project, plays chairman of the AA meeting.

(He should go here. Could Gillian pick this up - He had to go off the day I arranged to visit the project. I've got wonderful stuff from Thomas Tobin but he isn't actually in the film.)