Hilary Rose

Movie Black

I gave my character the name 'Lady X'. She/I was a biological experiment gone wrong, I was a threat to the powers that be and I had to be exterminated.

We began the shoot at 8am, I had just made it on time despite serious car trouble. The shoot was taking place in Shankill Castle, Kilkenny, home to famous Irish artist Elizabeth Cope. Well, it was being shot in the old and totally overgrown graveyard on the grounds of the castle. Time and daylight were not on our side. Spooky much? ...Yup.

Sometimes I question my profession and what I do for art. In this case I certainly did. It was back in November, during the floods and the temperature was about to plummet to freezing . There I was dressed all in white, an escaped biological experiment running through an ankle-deep mucky graveyard with, wait for it...., an old torn potato sack around my head and my hands tied behind my back! Being chased, practically blindfolded, hands bound, through thick mud by two violent attackers is something I've never done before and you know what, its kinda exhilarating! That's the thing about being on set, throw yourself into it and you never know where you'll end up. It's always an experiment and that's why I love this industry, it never gets boring.

We laughed our way through the day, mostly at me really. The old potato sack was tied on so tight (thank you Blaise Smith!), I just couldn't be bothered taking it on and off between set -ups. So I wandered around the set looking like an escapee from a mental asylum, bearing in mind that the castle is open to the public and they were lurking around!

All in all it was a great day, the crew were great, so polite and they took such good care of us. My violent attackers turned out to be lovely fellas who helped me with my car trouble and most importantly our director Kevin walked away happy.

He is in the edit room as we speak cutting up his masterpiece, I can't wait to see it! Keep an eye out for photos of me in my potato sack, its bloody hilarious!