Emmett J. Scanlan has admitted he felt “utterly drained” after filming the funeral scene in RTÉ’s Kin.
The Irish actor plays Jimmy Kinsella in the new series, which follows the lives of a fictional Dublin family embroiled in a gangland war.
In the first episode of the show, Jimmy’s son Jamie is shot dead, and his funeral took place during Sunday night’s episode.
Speaking at a virtual roundtable event ahead of last night’s episode, Emmett opened up about filming the funeral scene, saying: “That was a very very difficult day.”
“When it turned around on me, it was the last shot of the day. We started there early. I got up, I said what I had to say and the camera was around on everybody else and I gave it everything.”
“By the time they turned around on me, I felt utterly drained I didn’t think I had anything left inside of me to give,” the actor admitted.
“I like to go deep on things and get into it,” Emmett explained. “The consequences of that is that sometimes scenes when the director says ‘and that’s a wrap’ and everyone goes home, I don’t.”
“Sometimes I’m still there, sometimes the faint echoes of those scenes reverberate inside me for days. Particularly [Jamie’s funeral], that was the one for me that I found quite hard to shake.”
The scene was filmed in November last year, during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown in Ireland.
Emmet continued: “It’s hard because you’re talking about an unprecedented time where nobody could travel anywhere, where everywhere was closed.”
“I’m there with a newborn son. I’m giving him a kiss goodbye… then I’d go off to work and then you’d end up doing a scene like that. You have to compartmentalize things, which I’m good at.”
Kin continues on Sunday night at 9:30pm on RTÉ One.
