Gangsters aren't cool... they were tragic figures

Eddie Marsan, Sam Claflin, Burn Gorman and Barnaby Roper talk to YOLANTHE FAWEHINMI about their new thriller mystery, All the Devils Are Here

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EDDIE Marsan isn’t surprised he gets offered a lot of gangster movies.

But over the last few years, the 57-year-old Gangs of New York and Ray Donovan star has become frustrated with how the depiction of criminals has been watered down in this country.

“Every time I get offered a gangster movie, they are always wish-fulfilment characters. They're avatars for men who wish they could be gangsters.

“Although I’ve never been involved in criminality, I grew up in an area where there were lots of gangsters, and they were tragic figures,” says the East Londoner.

“They weren't someone that you wanted to emulate. They were people full of regret. They were slightly pathetic. They were boastful and full of bluster. It’s what I love about this film: it's a true depiction of gangsters.

“We've lost something in the way we depict gangster stories now,” he continues.

“Look at the things that Bob Hoskins did years ago in [movies like] The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. Or what David Hayman did when he played Jimmy Boyle in A Sense of Freedom. These characters were masculine, but there was also incredible vulnerability to them. Even if you look at Tony Soprano [of The Sopranos], it’s the same thing.

“What we've done in this country is we've started to make gangster movies where the gangsters are just cool. And I hate cool people. I hate cool acting because no one’s that way in life. And I find it really, really boring. It’s the reason I agreed to do All The Devils Are Here because it was a true depiction of these men.”