Lawrence Kinlan has revealed that he initially “didn’t want” his son to get into acting, due to how difficult the industry can be.
The actor’s 16-year-old son Orén, appeared in John Carney’s latest movie Flora and Son, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews back in January.
The film, which also stars Jack Reynor and Joseph Gordan-Levitt, is set in Dublin and follows single mum Flora (Eve Hewson), who is having trouble with her petty thief teenage son Max (Orén Kinlan) and is encouraged by the Gardaà to find Max a hobby.
The actor appeared on The Late Late Show alongside his teenage son on Friday night and opened up about his son’s acting journey so far.
The actor told Patrick Kielty: “He got really close to a big job and that was really hard for me, because he did like three or four call backs and he was just devasted that he didn’t get it.”
“And I think it was like two or three times after that got really close to things again and didn’t quite work out and I thought you know what, I don’t think I want him to do this,” the 40-year-old exclaimed.
Host Patrick replied with: “This is the thing, because acting is a passion, its a hard knock life, in terms of the amount of people that get that role that changes their life.”
When asked if there was a point the actor tried to talk his son out of acting, Lawrence revealed: “Well, I just got so lucky, anything I did in the beginning, I kind of got.”
“So I didn’t have the disappointment until five years after I was in the business, while he was getting the rejections straight away.”
Lawrence concluded with: “I don’t even know now If I want him to do it, because I just know how fickle the business is.”
Laurence is best known for playing Elmo Creed in Love/Hate, but his acting credits also include The Guard, Ned Kelly and Veronica Guerin.
The 40-year-old shares Orén and another son named Ollie with his wife Charlene.
