Jamie Bell (‘All of Us Strangers’) on why this story was ‘profoundly moving’ but also ‘kind of terrifying’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Jamie Bell feels that “All of Us Strangers” filmmaker Andrew Haigh “has real signature in his work. So when I saw the script come in and knew that he was directing it, I was immediately interested. And then you add in these incredible actors and just how beautiful and personal and revealing and raw and moving the story is, I would just be an idiot to not be a part of it.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Bell above.

“All of Us Strangers” tells the story of Adam (Andrew Scott), a man in his 40s whose parents (Bell and Claire Foy) died 30 years ago only to suddenly reappear again as if no time had passed. What struck Bell as so “profoundly moving” about the story was “this idea of getting to meet your parents many years later and kind of have these reconciliations and reconnecting and this opportunity, honestly, to find some catharsis in your life.”

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But it was also “kind of terrifying” to the actor, who is the father of three kids. It can be difficult to confront “the idea that I would meet them and they would be older than I would be, and the fruits of my flaws and my failures as a parent would be on full display.” But he tried not to bring too much of his own “baggage” to the film, “because the characters were so beautifully rendered and so eloquently observed” that what mattered most was to “just play the truth” of it.

Adam’s parents are also “people of a certain time and place,” who are “trapped in these ways of thinking or these prejudices,” so “I think it was important to really portray that stuff for what it was, no matter how complex and awkward those conversations were going to be.” But Bell’s character “was also the son of someone,” and thus the film explores “the cyclical, generational nature of love and how it defines ourselves and tells us who we are.”

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