International star Jamie Dornan, the acclaimed actor from Northern Ireland who has captivated film and television audiences with performances in such titles as “Belfast” and “The Fall,” plays Dr. Leslie Ferrier, the Drake’s family doctor. An English man who, at one point, was quite a good doctor, but due to his time spent serving as a military doctor in World War II is now suffering from PTSD, which has had a devastating effect on his life and career.
Originally a family doctor who tended to many families, he was told to stop practicing medicine when the war was over, but he couldn’t refuse Rowena Drake’s request to help her daughter. “He’s a pretty fractured guy,” says Dornan. “He has lost a lot, but is clinging on, and the things that keep him going are his son, Leopold, and his love for Rowena Drake. He has this fierce sort of infatuation with her, and she has him wrapped around her little finger. So, there’s a bit of desperation to him because he has very little confidence, is riddled with PTSD, and is very jumpy.”
“Jamie Dorman and Jude Hill play father and son, and they couldn’t be more different from the roles they play in ‘Belfast,’” says director Kenneth Branagh, “And it was a really beautiful thing to reunite with them. Jamie has, unsurprisingly, a rather fatherly relationship with Jude. They get along and they tease each other, but it was a different dynamic this time. They both went with the mood of the piece, and both kept their English accents together very strongly.”
Dornan was thrilled with the opportunity to work with Branagh again. “Ken’s direction is incredibly tight,” Dornan says. “It’s been amazing watching him master everything; getting all the big story beats in, creating characters that the audience will understand and become invested in…that’s quite a feat to pull that off.”
The actor was especially impressed with how Branagh remained in character while directing. “It’s an incredible feat,” Dornan says, “and my hat is firmly off to him with how he manages it so seamlessly. It’s been a very different experience working with him this time, and I’m even more impressed with him than I was in ‘Belfast’ in a way, because of how much he had to deal with on any given day.”
A Haunting in Venice is set to release on September 15 in India.
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