Josh Finan

In conversation with 1883's Kelsey Barnes, Josh Finan opens up about playing Gerry Adams in Say Nothing, his earliest beginnings as an actor, and more.

It’s a big decision to portray one of the most polarizing people in Irish history, but it’s a challenge that actor Josh Finan embraced with both hands. Finan brings a complex and compelling portrayal of Gerry Adams, the astute and calculating figure who ascends rapidly through the IRA’s ranks — although to this day he denies any involvement with the IRA. With a measured, reserved presence, Adams becomes notorious for his ability to remain elusive, a characteristic that will serve him well as he transitions from a life entrenched in violence to one of political power. Finan’s approach to Gerry Adams is equal parts delicate and dynamic; with every decision Adams makes as a stoic and sometimes downright ruthless leader, viewers witness Finan bring a human touch to such a threatening and notorious figure.

Just outside of Liverpool, Finan was raised on the Wirral and grew up in a family with no ties to the acting world and the film industry. It wasn’t until he started attending drama classes on Friday evenings — run by an older woman above a restaurant — that he decided acting could, indeed, be a career. Since then, he’s earned a BAFTA nom for Best Support Actor in The Responder and in Guy Ritchie’s latest, The Gentleman. Still, it’s Say Nothing that shows just how multi-faceted Finan really is.

In conversation with 1883’s Kelsey Barnes, Josh Finan opens up about playing Gerry Adams in Say Nothing, his earliest beginnings as an actor, and more.

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suit COS Tailoring vest Connolly shirt Denzilpatrick

I read you got into acting after spending your Friday nights going to drama classes. What was it about that form of play that inspired you to pursue it as a career?

Yeah, this might be classic for a lot of actors, but I wasn’t always very confident. I was confident at home, you know what I mean, but finding your way in school isn’t always easy. So I started going to this after-school thing. It wasn’t run by the school — it was run by this wonderful lady. Her name is Julie Whitehead and she’s just so brilliant. She’s in her early 80s now but still very active in teaching amateur drama. She works with children with special needs and is currently doing two pantomimes with her students. She’s phenomenal. She’s had the most amazing life — she was part of a famous chorus line that performed at Radio City. She even danced with Marlene Dietrich! Then she set up this drama society back in the Wirral, where I’m from, to give kids a space to express themselves and stay out of trouble.

It was such a playground. The studio was small, full of old boxes and costumes, but that little space could become anything—castles, zoos, whatever. It sounds so cliché, but you could be whatever you wanted to be.

I think it’s all about having a space for everyone to express themselves without judgment, which is so important.

Exactly. It was only 50p a week, which made it affordable in a working-class area. It gave kids a chance to fall in love with something and maybe carry it on. Some stayed with the adult drama classes; others pursued it professionally. She’s just wonderful.

You studied acting in Bristol, what made you decide, “Okay, I want to go and actually learn this as a craft”?

Yeah, that’s a good question. I didn’t really know how to move forward when I was younger. I didn’t know how to progress from the things I was doing as a kid. I ended up studying English Lit as a degree, and there I met a lot of like-minded people. They’d heard of drama school and recommended it to me. Eventually, I begged, borrowed, and stole to get the cash to fund a two-year course in Bristol. There was nothing else I wanted to do.

My auntie Clare told me when I was younger, “Do what you love for as long as possible. Try to do it forever, but if it becomes clear you can’t, then figure something else out.” I took that to heart and ran with it.

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coat Connolly timepiece Girard-Perregaux

You started around 2017 with your first film or TV credit, but I know you’ve also done theater. How has your growth as an actor progressed between projects?

I guess the more you do it, the more comfortable you get. I remember the second film I did was Hellboy. I played a monk with no lines who gets his jaw ripped out by a pig demon voiced by Stephen Graham. Every waking moment on that job, I was convinced I’d get cut, fired, or blacklisted. I thought, “I’m so bad they’ll never let me do this again.” That anxiety came from not understanding how a film set worked — what everyone’s jobs were, where to stand, how not to walk into the boom mic. Theatre felt more natural to me because I already had that in my bones. But learning the ropes on a film or TV set is so important.

Doing something like The Responder, which was set in Liverpool, was a big step for me. It felt close to home—not exactly me, but where I’m from. The cast was like-minded, and we played well together. I forgot about all the distractions I had during Hellboy—worrying about the lights or equipment—and just focused on the work.

Has it been easy for you to tune out that noise on set now? To focus on the character instead of everything else?

Yeah, I think a big lesson I’ve learned recently is not to try to please everyone. I watched an interview with Ben Whishaw, and I actually worked with him briefly on a film early on after drama school. He had this fascinating energy on set. We didn’t chat much, but he wasn’t rude—just focused. He kept the energy necessary for the scene close to him but was still generous and not self-centred. It was a great lesson: you don’t need to be a people-pleaser. In drama school, you’re so eager to get a job that you’ll say, “I’ll do anything!” But at the end of the day, you’ve got to focus on doing the work, not just being agreeable.

At the end of the day, the scene needs to go the way it’s supposed to, right? Otherwise, it reflects on Ben as an actor. So between those moments of downtime, he still needs to stay in that mindset.

Yeah, exactly. And realizing that’s what everyone on set is doing. Even the chattiest, friendliest crew members know how to switch when it’s time to work. Nobody says, “Oh, let me just finish my story.” They just do their job. It’s understood that on a film set, you’re being pulled in all directions, and that’s okay. You have to find the space to do your work, but not at the expense of being decent to people.

When you look back at your childhood, were there any formative fairy tales, films, or albums that shaped you and made you want to be a storyteller?

Probably going to the pantomimes that Julie put on. I was so inspired by the silliness of it all. Fawlty Towers was huge for me too—I’d just walk around the house as a kid mimicking it. My sister and I also watched a lot of TV and became obsessed with stories that way.

But the moment I realized I needed to be an actor was in nursery school. They offered me the part of a king in a play, but I was too shy, so I said no. Later that night, I regretted it and told my mom, “I want to be that king.” She went to the teacher the next day to ask, but Mrs. Lawrence said, “Sorry, Josh said no, so we gave the part to Jan Greenshaw.” Instead, I ended up as a sheep, crawling around on my hands and knees, bleating. I thought, Never again. Never again would I turn down a role I wanted.

Ever since then, you were like, “I’m only going for the king roles. No compromising.”

[Laughs] Yes, exactly. 

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Let’s talk about Say Nothing. I went to Belfast earlier this year and did a black taxi tour. It was so eye-opening. I wasn’t that familiar with the Troubles — I knew something had happened, but these things always seem like they happened years ago. I wanted to ask, how familiar were you with the Troubles and what was happening in Ireland at the time?

I was similar to you — I didn’t know a huge amount. I thought I had an okay grasp on it, but looking back, that was pretty naïve. It’s wild — getting a flight from Liverpool to Belfast takes half an hour. It’s so close, yet you realize it didn’t happen that long ago. You can see it in the eyes of my colleagues, who are my age, that it still shapes their lives back home. It’s interesting how we both thought, “Oh, that was a long time ago.” I think the UK, Britain specifically, has been complicit in pushing the narrative that it’s ancient history, like, “Let’s not talk about it.” That must be frustrating and icky for my Irish friends and colleagues—to hear some English lad like me say, “Oh, I didn’t know much about it,” when they live with it every day. I think it’s important to acknowledge it, though. Just holding our hands up and saying, “This happened, and we need to be aware of it.”

Exactly. Even during the taxi tour, the guide explained how prevalent it still is. He took us to streets where people still can’t go, depending on their background. It’s so timely and crazy how present this still feels, which makes the show feel so relevant too.

Totally. I love Belfast so much. It’s such a cheerful and safe place. There’s this lingering perception that it’s dangerous, especially for English people, but I really want to dispel that. It’s a fantastic city.

I read you only had two months to prep. I wanted to ask what that preparation was like. Obviously, you had the book to lean on. Did you also watch interviews or do anything like that?

Yeah, the book was definitely the jumping-off point. I also watched a lot of videos from that time and interviews with the real-life guy. My YouTube algorithm is still suggesting Gerry Adams videos because of the playlist I made. I read a lot, too, and the accent was a big focus. I knew it was going to be seen in Belfast and by Irish actors, so I had to get it right—for them, if not for me.

I went a bit overboard, though, thinking, “I need to know everything and be perfect by the start date,” which was overwhelming. But then you realize you’ve got four months of shooting ahead of you. You have to conserve your energy and trust that a lot of what you bring to the screen will come from the chemistry with the other actors, which you can’t plan for. Still, I went a little stir-crazy.

So you had two months of prep and then four months of filming—six months total of living in his brain. Over the course of filming, did it feel like you were leaning further into the role? Like you were getting closer to who you imagined him to be?

There was one day, about two months into shooting, when Josh, the showrunner, came up to me and said, “That’s it, that’s it!” I thought, “Oh, great, thank you.” Then my insecure actor brain went, “Wait, was it not it before?” I did feel more comfortable as time went on. That came from wearing the clothes, getting used to them, and building real friendships with the other actors.

Costume definitely informs a portrayal so much. I read somewhere that the way you were pushing up your glasses helped you get into his mindset. Is that right?

Yeah, the glasses made a huge difference. When I put them on for the first time, I looked so different—my mom didn’t even recognize me in the first episode! I love feeling different when I take on a role, finding a different center of energy. I saw him do the glasses thing in one interview where he looked a bit stressed, and I thought, “I’m going to nick that.” But I don’t think it made it into the final cut of the show!

That’s fine, though. You might have needed to do it just to get into the character.

Exactly, yeah! [Laughs]

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When you’re playing someone like this—a real-life person who’s still alive—you kind of have to approach them without judgment to really get into their head. Why was that important for you, to better understand him and his motives?

Well, in a funny way, it wasn’t all that different from playing someone fictional in terms of what you bring on the day. The main difference was having so much existing source material, which isn’t there when you’re working with a fictional script. That was helpful, but at the same time, I was playing a much younger version of him, which gave me some liberation. I wasn’t portraying him during the more controversial periods of his life, like when he was older and testifying or involved in peace talks. So, in that way, I could focus more on the mindset of a young man rather than the political figure he later became.

Yeah, like, you weren’t playing him in those moments where he’s justifying his actions on a big stage.

Exactly.

The interrogation scene, where your character is beaten and then let go, felt like a pivotal moment. There seemed to be a mindset shift for him—a sense of emboldenment. How did that scene inform your portrayal of him?

That scene was huge. I was hyper-aware that this was something many, many Republicans experienced during the internment period. Whatever people think about the real Gerry Adams, in that moment, I was portraying a young man who was snatched from his bed and tortured by an immensely powerful force. I wanted to do justice to that experience because it’s a story that might resonate deeply with many. I tried to stay in my own zone during those scenes while being polite and professional with the crew. It was tricky. Jack Myers, who plays one of the interrogators, was incredible. We clicked as actors, and that helped.

In terms of the story, this moment is defining. Whether it was intentional from the writers or not, I saw it as the turning point where he realizes he’s survived something horrific at such a young age. Not only did he survive it, but he’s freed because the British government needs him. That’s a significant shift—he’s being pulled into negotiations, into peace talks.

How old was he at that moment?

Early 20s, I think.

And when you think about who you are in your early 20s—it’s like, “Oh my god.” You’d feel untouchable at that point, wouldn’t you?

Exactly. So genuinely in those scenes, I felt like I was kind of walking differently. It was like I had a bit more status and freedom, almost like thinking, “Fuck, I’m alive and every day is a game.” 

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Yeah, and I think when there’s that kind of betrayal near the end—like in episode seven, where Brendan says it’s hard to tell what’s real or what’s not—it’s just so sad. Your relationship with Anthony’s character really makes you feel for these two people. Something’s clearly broken between them. Did it feel that way when you were filming?

Yeah, we definitely felt that. I think what we understood was that the external stakes are incredibly high, but even if they weren’t if they were just two pals facing something intense, it’s totally plausible for them to have massive bust-ups and shout at each other. It’s just human. You know, I was out with two friends from school last night, and I thought about all the rows we had when we were in Year Nine—stupid kids having stupid arguments. But now it’s all water under the bridge. That kind of history gives you the license to push those arguments further when you’re performing. You can take it to an extreme, knowing the writing supports it and that it’s believable in real life. So, yeah, it’s nice to know that those moments resonate when you watch them back in the later episodes. But when we were filming, we weren’t really thinking about the endgame. You have to stay in the moment, you know?

What do you hope people take away from the show? There’s so much in it—friendship, hope, loyalty. What’s the takeaway you’d like people to have?

That’s an interesting question. I don’t tend to think about that when I’m working on something. I kind of hope that everyone reacts differently to it, really. It’s funny—I saw a screenshot of a comments section on an FX post about the show, and most were very positive. But one person said they thought it was boring, and I just found that hilarious. It’s such a classic online thing, and I’m not really the type to give my opinions publicly, though I guess this interview is kind of doing that! But yeah, I’d never comment on stuff like that.

The comment sections are ridiculous. Who even cares?

Exactly! I mean, I’m sure people care about what they say, but it’s like, does everyone else? Probably not. As an English guy, I guess if the show helps fill in gaps in people’s knowledge about that time and place, or if it encourages a bit more empathy for ordinary people caught up in these circumstances, then that’d be cool.

It definitely helped me fill in the gaps in my own knowledge, so thank you for that. 

Thank you, Kelsey! It’s been a pleasure.

Say Nothing is streaming now on Disney+.

Interview Kelsey Barnes
Photography Rebecka Slatter
Styling Anna Stapleton
Grooming Chantelle Phillips

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