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By: Alex Moreland<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMothering Sunday was an opportunity to flex a different muscle and explore a different part of my craft,\u201d says \u1e62\u1ecdp\u1eb9 D\u00ecr\u00eds\u00f9, explaining what drew him to his latest film, a 1920s-set period romance co-starring Odessa Young and Josh O\u2019Connor. \u201cIt requires a different sort of discipline or a different sensibility: I think lots of things are like muscles where if you don\u2019t use them, you\u2019ll lose them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s interesting to see how far we\u2019ve come from times, and also how far we haven\u2019t come as well,\u201d continues D\u00ecr\u00eds\u00f9, talking about why he enjoys period drama. \u201cPart of the magic of performance is being transported, and you get that a bit more viscerally when you\u2019re doing a period drama than when you\u2019re doing a modern-day piece.\u201d<\/p>\n Key to this is D\u00ecr\u00eds\u00f9\u2019s interest in \u201cthe lived experience, and either documenting that or interrogating it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA big one that I can\u2019t escape is race, and race relations, racial politics. Donald [D\u00ecr\u00eds\u00f9\u2019s Mothering Sunday character], in the time 1920s-1940s, had a very specific experience and interrogating how he had to navigate that compared to how I navigate it today is creatively interesting.\u201d<\/p> Mothering Sunday is set in March 1924 and charts maid Jane Fairchild (Young)\u2019s secret relationship with Paul (O\u2019Connor), while\u00a0D\u00ecr\u00eds\u00f9 plays Donald, a man who plays a significant role in Jane\u2019s later life.<\/p>\n The film was D\u00ecr\u00eds\u00f9\u2019s first post-pandemic role, coming at a point when the creative industries were still adjusting to COVID-19, and when he wasn\u2019t sure if there would be any roles available.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the pandemic hit, I was very conscious that I may not work for the rest of the calendar year,\u201d he remembers. \u201cIn late May\/June time, some auditions started coming. Normally I would be in London and [audition] there.<\/p>\n \u201cBut because that wasn\u2019t an option, I was [recording self-tapes] in my childhood bedroom, basically, with my sister. But it was a wonderful thing to do with her, it really brought us closer together. I think actually that would be one of my fondest memories of this job.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was really concerned that we would get to the set and it would be a really sterile environment,\u201d he continues. \u201cBut that wasn\u2019t the case. I think it\u2019s a testament to the UK film industry, the adaptability that we had to the global pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was an attitude [that] we want to get back to normal as fast as possible. We want to continue doing our jobs and telling these stories. I was worried that had been taken away from all of us for longer than it had been.\u201d<\/p>\n