Stephen Graham has revealed the powerful inspiration behind his latest film role.
The actor truly is a god among men, having proven his skills in a wide variety of roles from movie hits such as The Irishman and This is England to TV series like Boardwalk Empire, Line of Duty and more recently Peaky Blinders.
Graham recently reached a new milestone when he and his wife Hannah Walters set up the production company Matriarch Productions and released their first film, the masterpiece that is Boiling Point.
Speaking about how his own past was the driving force behind the project, the 48-year-old Liverpudlian told GQ about his desire to tell more stories of working-class communities, regional voices and marginalised people.
He said: "As a young mixed-raced kid growing up in Liverpool, I understand the need for diversity. It's integral and our ethos is to try and create opportunities to those who normally wouldn't."
Boiling Point is a single-take thriller that sees Graham star as an 'emotionally scarred London chef' as he struggles to wrangle his team on the last Friday before Christmas, the busiest shift of the year.
Already battling debts, addiction and an imploding personal life, the chef's world grows even more complicated when health and safety services unexpectedly show up for an inspection.
The result is what viewers are describing as 'one of the most stressful films' they've ever seen - but also one of the best.
Alongside Graham's amazing performance, there are heartfelt and authentic portrayals from the entire cast, which GQ points out is made up of diverse and relatively unknown actors, something that is important to the ethos of Matriarch Productions.
Graham highlighted how the film was made without call sheets in order to ensure there was no hierarchy among the cast, and while he's earned a great reputation for making film sets feel comfortable and welcoming, he handed the credit for this over to director Philip Barantini.
"Phil has a wonderful presence on set. He treats everybody as an equal," said Graham. "He's been an actor so he knows what they're going through and just has a remarkable empathy for everyone."
And just in case you didn't love the actor enough, he even took a moment to offer praise to his wife Walters, who delivers an equally powerful performance as the empathetic pastry chef.
He told the outlet: "I've been blessed to work with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Vicky McClure, all these wonderful people and for me, Hannah is right up there, she's a really wonderful actress."
Discussing a particularly heartfelt scene in which Walters' character Emily discovers a young chef has been self-harming, Graham added, "She can tap into an emotion in a single second."
If you haven't managed to see Boiling Point yet or you want to give it a second (or third, or fourth) watch, the film is streaming on Netflix now.
Topics: TV and Film, Stephen Graham
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