Interview: Cage Star Lucy Quinlan Talks Isolation And The Future

As the only person seen on screen for the full duration of Warren Dudley’s tense and enthralling Cage, Lucy Quinlan has a mammoth task upon her hands and provides a striking and incredible performance to help drive the film’s rather strong narrative to an impressive level. Taking time out to talk to Filmoria, Lucy spoke to us about the process of making the film, how it was being the sole actress on screen and what the future holds…

Congratulations on your performance in the movie. How difficult is it to pull out such a performance in the knowledge that you are the only person who will be appearing on screen? Is there as sense of a huge weight on your shoulders?

Thank you! It is a huge responsibility to be the only person seen on screen and the only actor to visibly be able to tell the story and I think I did find that daunting at first. It’s hard to look at anybody’s face for too long – especially mine! We had such a talented crew and so many people worked so hard to bring the story together that I rarely ever thought about it whilst on set. I found it unhelpful to worry about it too much and tried to just feel confident in the fact that I’d been trusted to do it.

There’s a huge level of emotion involved in Gracie’s story, is that something that attracted you to the role?

Gracie grew and changed as I was lucky to enough to be involved with the pre-production as the story was put together. I thought on many occasions about what I would have done in her situation and to be honest, I think I would have crumbled a lot sooner than Gracie! The inner strength (and what gave her this) was the most interesting aspect of the character for me.

And speaking of the emotion, do you have a specific method in which you are able to really convey that emotion through your character?

I tend not to refer to one method when it comes to acting. I feel it can actually restrict performances when we tie ourselves to one method. I personally believe it’s more important to be free and in the moment and for that it’s just important to know your character and always leave a little bit of yourself in each character you play , then there is no way you can play with anything other than honesty.

How was it working with the actors who are off-screen? Patrick Bergin comes across as a great villain, was it fun to work with him?

I actually didn’t meet Patrick until the premiere. The other characters VO’s were recorded in post. I actually had one person read in all the other parts on set (Mum, Dad, Eddie, etc). It would have been wonderful to have Patrick on set to hear his voice whilst actually inside the Cage. He’s a wonderful actor – and a lovely man too! I stared at the photos of my Mother and Eddy for weeks inside the Cage and never met them. When the shoot finished I added them as friends on Facebook without a second thought .. it felt as if I knew them!!

How was your experience working with director Warren Dudley?

I’ve had a great working relationship with Warren for a few years now and have been lucky enough to work with him several times. The nicest thing about working with him this time around was how he allowed me to help mould the character of Gracie, both in preproduction and during the shoot itself. It’s always a collaborative process with Warren and it’s lovely when a director trusts you to make choices.

And finally, can you tell us what projects you have coming up in the future?

I’m actually returning to do some theatre this year. I’m currently in Harrogate doing a musical production and will be off to Worcester to do Chaley’s Aunt later in the year. I’m also in a slasher called “Unhinged” which is released in September and I briefly appear in another of Warren’s projects “The Bromley Boys”. I’ll also hopefully be shooting another horror film “Kindred” and have some nice shorts lined up later in the year.

Cage is available on Amazon Prime from 3rd April.