The veteran actor plays multiple roles in Alex Garland’s new horror film.
Here, he tells EW how he made each of them unique.
Warning: This article contains spoilers forMen.
Rory Kinnear as Geoffrey in ‘Men.'.Kevin Baker/A24
DirectorAlex Garland’s latest film has a short title.
The end of that marriage has driven Harper to seek some desperately-needed peace of mind in the English countryside.
What’s that about?
Rory Kinnear as the vicar in ‘Men.'.A24
“It had to mean something.
I had to confirm that each one was as credible and fully-rounded as the other.”
Ahead of the A24 film’s theatrical release, EW caught up with Kinnear to discuss the men ofMen.
Rory Kinnear as the police officer in ‘Men.'.A24
Geoffrey
The first Kinnear to appear onscreen inMenis also the most charming.
“He’s genuinely quite an eccentric man,” Kinnear says of Geoffrey.
“Certainly I saw him as fundamentally harmless, compared to the other characters that I played.”
Rory Kinnear as the boy in ‘Men.'.Kevin Baker/A24
“It wasn’t that I was staying in character between takes, I was still Rory.
But whenever Geoffrey was on set, everyone seemed in a much better mood.”
“I had to remind them I was still me.”
Rory Kinnear as the green man in ‘Men.'.Kevin Baker/A24
We first meet the vicar when Harper’s wanderings bring her to a seemingly empty church.
Sitting down in a pew, she is suddenly struck by memories of her husband and starts weeping.
As she cries in the foreground, Kinnear’s vicar suddenly emerges from the shafts of light behind her.
“It’s the only character where I’m wearing contact lenses,” Kinnear says.
“They sort of occluded my eyes, so I think people backed away from that.”
The actor put in work before filming to ensure they were all distinct.
“That way I wouldn’t lead myself to having a favorite.”
“There were levels of refraction as it went on.
That was all fun stuff to confirm you had your wits about you.”
WhenEW spoke with Garland last month, he told us a little about why it fascinates him.
“They’re found all over Europe, and even in the Middle East.
It’s a weirdly common bit of pagan, pre-Christian imagery,” Garland says.
“I’ve been hoping some people might go on a deep dive with that stuff.
To her chagrin, she finds it hard to shake him.
Kinnear attests that Garland took a particular interest in this character.
In other words, Kinnear wasn’t the only member of theMencrew wearing multiple hats.
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