First cast by Shane Meadows, in This is England, Socha is about to star in the director’s period drama The Gallows Pole. He describes how acting saved him from a life of violence – and why he loves a madcap scheme
In a photographer’s studio in Derby, Michael Socha is wondering what he should wear. He’s got a good jumper on, but he doesn’t like his jeans. He’s brought a couple of shirts from his mum’s, but they need a bit of an iron. No stylist for Socha; he has the busy air of a man who’s popped in between shifts, which he has, sort of. He lives close by, and is always on the go, “here, there and everywhere”. Aside from acting, and family, he practises muay thai and kickboxing. He’s doing his belts. “I’m on brown two for kickboxing at the moment, aiming for black belt in November,” he says. “When I’m not working, I’m quite active, there’s always something cracking off.”
And he brings a cracking energy: front foot, quick, friendly, though assessing. It made him stand out, even as a teenager. He was 17 when he appeared in Shane Meadows’s 2006 film This Is England and progressed to a bigger part in the three TV series, as Harvey, the blond-quiffed, white-jeaned bully turned raver. Since then, he’s rarely been out of work, with credits in The Unloved, Spike Island, Being Human, Once Upon a Time, The Aliens, Chernobyl and the forthcoming film Jericho Ridge: “I play a baddy. I often do, it’s my bread and butter.”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ckt6Oxo
Comments
Post a Comment