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After switching career from music to acting, Cosmo Jarvis looks set to have a big year in 2020 with four new films, including the acclaimed Calm With Horses
Cosmo Jarvis has deflated slightly since he finished work on Calm With Horses. Director Nick Rowland adapted the film from a short story by County Mayo writer Colin Barrett, and when it toured the festival circuit, many critics labelled it an extraordinary debut for the film-maker and a breakout performance for Jarvis, who plays Arm, a former boxer turned gangland enforcer, with heartbreaking complexity.
Arm works at the behest of nasty small‑town crooks on the west coast of Ireland. In private, they refer to him as “the halfwit”, and on screen, he is a hulking presence, looming tall and wide over the men unfortunate enough to cross his path. Jarvis had to bulk up to play him. “Luckily they just wanted it to look like he was once in shape,” he says. He ate a lot, drank milkshakes and lifted weights to get the presence he needed. Arm is as naive as he is vicious, and a slow-moving, lumbering menace, while Jarvis is febrile and fidgety, vibrating with a quicker energy. You suspect he would rather not sit still if he could help it. Continue reading...