A film on Tourette syndrome entitled “I Swear” generally provokes a little laugh and a “good title” of someone hearing about the film, which will be presented in Toronto. And it is the director and writer of reaction Kirk Jones (“Waking Ned Devine”) wants to dissipate – using humor and heart to educate the public on Tourette through this real story of John Davidson.
The pleasure of the crowd bowed on September 7 at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. Bankside relearns international sales on the film; Studio Canal distributed in the United Kingdom while Blue Fox Entertainment Distribes in Canada.
Robert Aramayo (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”) embodies Davidson, who as a young adolescent in the early 1980s was diagnosed with Tourette at a time when he was not understood. Davidson fought but in adulthood found a defender of his friend’s mother, Dottie (Maxine Peake) and under the mentoring of Tommy (Peter Mullan), who saw through uncontrollable ticks and the swears and gave him a job. (Aramayo notes that it was a dream to work with these artists. “And for me, it was, it was just a dream too. I think they were all the first choices. And you know, it does not always happen,” says Jones).
Davidson not only learned to plead for himself, but he pleaded for everyone with the main awareness and education campaigns of Tourette through the United Kingdom in 2019, he accepted a MBE of Queen Elizabeth II.
But while the film will make tears, it is hardly a sorting cup. “We have talked a lot about your,” explains Aramayo, noting that the whole film “could live in the opening scene”. This shows Davidson panicked to meet the queen in order to accept her MBE, finding her inner strength with the help of Dottie to enter the large hall with a vulgar explosion and charming excusation. “There is a different type of energy in this scene with the queen – there is fun in the film,” he said.
Jones and Aramayo were attracted to the equipment to shed light on La Tourette – Jones proudly underlines that out of 90 members of the distribution, 30 have Tourette.
“I think that now in fact, especially with artists like Lewis Capaldi, there are people under the spotlights who have Tourette, who are very happy to speak of Tourette, who are open on the Tourettes,” explains Jones.
“Most people may have the misunderstanding of the condition. For Rob and I, it was a really steep learning curve. ”
Jones spent a lot of time with Davidson, “from a dramatic point of view, from an emotional point of view, from a comic point of view, I was really attracted by this idea of someone out of control of what they said, and John, is a really charming, kind spirit, but what came out of his mouth over the years was violent. I was surprised that he had not really been treated before, ”explains Jones.
Aramayo says that his research was both wide and deep, and spending a lot of time with Davidson as well as people with Tourette really allowed him to unlock his representation.
“I had this philosophy that I could try to find jeans inside me. I didn’t want to come from a point of view of identity, or something like that, ”he says. “And I read a lot of books, everything on triggers and, like, I really tried to understand and submit to what ticks are and what Tourette is.”
Asked about his incredible physics in the role, he attributes to his motion coach. But a kay does not do so much the tics, it was “literally just the amount of space that John occupies in a room. You know, how it moves in the room. And the robustness to John and things like that was really important to do well, ”he says.
“Just to play John himself is not an easy business,” he continues. “I have never really been in this energy with a character before!”
Robert Aramayo and Peter Mullan in “I Jure” / Graeme Hunter
GRAEME HUNTER Pictures
