Johnny Flynn’s career has taken him from Regency England (“Emma,” “Vanity Fair”) to WWII (“Operation Mincemeat”) to contempo Glasgow (“Lovesick”) to mid-century Italy (“Ripley”) to 1971 David Bowie (“Stardust”), and now the versatile actor-singer-songwriter travels to post Civil War America in “A Prayer for the Dying.” Adapted from the novel by Stewart O’Nan and directed by Dara Van Dusen, the drama unfolds in 1870 Wisconsin, in a small town of Scandinavian settlers who face a chillingly timely threat of a pandemic and wildfires. Flynn plays Jacob Hansen, the local sheriff and town leader, and John C. Reilly co-stars as the town’s doctor. Anton and New Europe Films are handling worldwide rights, and Anton will be debuting a new sales promo at EFM.
What drew you to “A Prayer for the Dying”?
It felt like a very rare project and a very rare story that needed telling. The novel is actually quite slim — I pretty much read it in a day, which never happens with me, because I’m a slow reader. And it just sucked me in.
Even though it’s set in the late 1800s, what was it about the story that resonated with you?
There’s the sort of urgency and the poignancy around contemporary issues, and once you get through the novel, you’re like, “Oh, yeah, this is the same stuff.” This is very, very human. And it is in lots of ways, it’s like humanity meets a cold, an indifferent environment.
It’s actually based on the book of Job.
Is your character Job-like?
The story of Job is, for me, one of the most problematic and weird stories in the Bible — having to be a leader of a community, and having to be there till the end, despite everything happening to him in a very brutal way, and still having faith and faith in leadership — what that would mean, as opposed to just kind of like chucking it all in and looking after yourself. In today’s world, that spoke to me, because it just feels very confusing as to like how we’re supposed to govern ourselves in the face of overwhelming tragedy that’s happening around the world. That’s what Job faced. And he just kept getting up and serving his family and his community in the face of tragedy after tragedy. That seems to be what’s asked of some people in the world.
What was it like to work with Dara Van Dusen, who’s making her feature directorial debut with this film?
I just loved Dara. She has been carrying this story for a long time and speaking with the writer of the novel for like 10 or 15 years. He made such a pitch of trust in her, and she felt that responsibility. Our DP, Kate McCulloch, is amazing — Dara and Kate were sort of like sisters behind the monitor. They’ve been at film school together.
What kind of relationship do you have with your co-star John C. Reilly?
I was a big fan of John and his work for many years. You know, obviously, he’s a great comic actor, but I think my favorite stuff of his is the kind of vulnerability that he brings to his more serious roles. I found it very powerful working with him. And I really loved him as a person. We made friends very quickly, and we love a lot of the same music, so we actually sang together quite a lot. He’d come over to my apartment, and we’d sing songs. We spent a lot of time trying to come up with our own band name.
