Thomas Jane Interview

Interview: Actor Ray Stevenson (Kill the Irishman)

Actor Ray Stevenson notes that he has never experienced anything as intense than starring in Anchor Bay Entertainment's low-budget indie crime drama “Kill the Irishman” - a job that kept him busy 15 hours per day for 7 straight weeks.

“At the end of it, you could have spread me like butter on the freeway,” Stevenson explains. “It was not just like running a marathon; it was like running in the Olympics. The only thing that really was able steal me and get me through it was my belief and passion in the project and that of the people around me.”

In “Kill the Irishman,” which is now available on DVD at retail stores and rental outlets throughout the Valley, Stevenson portrays Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug who, while working for mobsters in 1970s Cleveland, ignites a turf war that leads to the collapse of the Mafia in several major U.S. cities.

Seeing as the movie was based on the real-life story of Greene, Stevenson admits that he was concerned about doing it right. The actor worried that the camera might pick up his exhaustion from “Kill the Irishman's” tight production schedule and therefore negatively impact the final product.

“But it is amazing when you are on the set,” says Stevenson , noting that the energy of the rest of the cast and crew was infectious, encouraging him to bring his A-game to each and every scene. “Boom – everything starts firing. You feed off of that then die at the end of the day and get yourself ready for the next day.”

Stevenson recalls receiving a call about “Kill the Irishman” from writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh while in Mexico shooting the Hughes Brothers' post-apocalyptic actioner “The Book of Eli.” After reading the script, the actor was struck with the realization that he had heard of Greene five years earlier on an episode of a program titled “American Mobsters.”

However, while he admits to conducting some research of the tough Irish thug, Stevenson preferred to rely on Hensleigh's incredibly strong screenplay. After all, as the actor explains, any historical account – regardless of its authenticity – is only one point-of-view. And points-of-view have a tendency to differ from one another.

DCC EXCLUSIVE Interview: Thomas Jane and Tim Bradstreet Confess ...

. Check out our conversation below:

Sci Fi Mafia : You are both here at Dallas Comic-Con to talk about your production company, RAW Studios . Tom, you are now going “behind the camera” to being fully involved in the creative process behind the production of several projects. How did RAW come about and what drives you to pursue the types of projects RAW is taking on?

Thomas Jane : We’ve always been genre fans. Elevated genre, as we like to call it, is our favorite type of entertainment. It’s a genre that has depth to it I think. Like 2001 . That would be genre that is elevated. That’s the movement we’re shooting for. We’re a young company. We’re getting our feet wet and we’re learning how to create that kind of material.