Sam Keeley, star of new Irish drama Kin has opened up about his feelings on the show and playing the character of Eric ‘Viking’ Kinsella.
Chatting with RTÉ Sam shared that there’s a massive pride in working on an Irish tv show, something he feels he doesn’t get to do often enough.
The gangland drama kicked off last Sunday on RTÉ, with the eight-part series receiving widespread praise from the get-go.
“For me personally there’s a massive pride, I don’t work in Ireland very often, I don’t live in Ireland, I travel a lot for work.”
“So to come home to do this, I felt very lucky to be a part of it and to tell this story. It was great to be showing Dublin in the way it’s being shown,” explained Sam.
Going on to detail how he developed the role of Eric and put his own spin on it, he continued:
“It’s nice to focus and go inwards and I did a lot of work to make this guy as interesting as possible”
“The accent for me was the biggest thing because that colours it the most, I didn’t want to play him as a stoic, serious, brooding character, I wanted him to be a live-wire, erratic, brimming with aggression.”
Working with some of the best Irish actors in the business, Sam says it’s an honour to act alongside them, showing what Irish talent is really all about.
“It’s incredible, there’s an unbelievable cast. When you walk onto that set you’re in a hall of fame in many ways and I think particularly playing opposite Aiden is a big deal for me, he plays my father, he is such a well known actor but he’s an absolute joy to work with, an amazing person, phenomenal actor”
“It’s fantastic we’re able to tell this story with these incredible actors we have from this nation”.
Kin continues this Sunday on RTÉ One at 9.30pm.