In writer-director Kirk Jones‘ new biopic “I Swear,” actor Robert Aramayo plays John Davidson, a Scottish man diagnosed with Tourette syndrome as a teen, who became an advocate for greater awareness of the often misunderstood condition.
It’s a story and a topic that required both grace and sensitivity, Jones and Aramayo knew. The physical and verbal tics associated with Tourette’s have often led to bullying, ridicule and discrimination for those who experience them.
The director and actor were determined to present Davidson’s story with the dignity that anyone with Tourette’s deserves and the richness and nuance of the life Davidson has led.
“I think the movie, especially tonally, was presenting itself to us as we moved along,” says Aramayo, who in February this year won the BAFTA Awards for best actor for “I Swear,” as well as the BAFTA Rising Star Award. “That was a constant conversation we were having about where a particular scene lived.
“So it was a fun challenge, but it was definitely a challenge, wasn’t it?” he says to Jones, who was sitting next to him on a recent video call.
“Yeah, the tone was what Rob and I spoke about the most, I think,” says Jones, whose past films include “Waking Ned Devine” and “Nanny McPhee.” “And there were never any dramatic differences. It wasn’t like I was asking Rob to play a scene in a way which was overly comic or like he was doing stuff which I thought was too dark.
“I think without us really knowing, we both had exactly the same view of the tone,” he says. “I mean, that sounds quite boring. It’d be a much more interesting story if I said we argued every day on set, but we didn’t.”
They’d both spent time with Davidson and studied the three documentaries that had been made about him, starting with 1989’s “John’s Not Mad,” a film that followed Davidson as a 16-year-old boy.
And Davidson’s stories often led to scenes the movie includes, Jones says.
“When John told me a story, and I was moved emotionally, I knew what that scene is,” he says. “When he told me a story and I thought it was hilarious, and he agreed it was hilarious and told it as a funny story, like when he met the Queen, then that was it. That would go in.”
In 2019, Davidson was invited to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to receive an MBE, one of the United Kingdom’s highest honors for service or achievement. Something like that would make anyone anxious, but for Davidson, anxiety often stimulated more tics.
Add to that the fact that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had come to Edinburgh in person to hand out the honors and, well, Davidson was fizzing with anxiety. So much so that as he entered the room, which suddenly grew quiet for the Queen, Davidson loudly and involuntarily shouted, “[Bleep] the Queen!”
“It was so funny that it became the opening scene,” Jones says. “To kind of allow the audience to know that they could laugh if they wanted to.”
In an interview edited for length and clarity, Aramayo and Jones talked about what drew them to Davidson’s story, how Aramayo transformed himself into Davidson, tics and all, and the reason why Jones and his wife decided to sell their house to make the movie without outside financing.
Q: So, Robert, tell me what drew you to John’s story as a part to play?
ROBERT ARAMAYO: It was honestly just a script I was interested in. I didn’t know anything about John and his story. I just read this script about this guy and I thought it was really interesting. Then I watched Kirk’s film “Waking Ned,” which I thought was really interesting and had a real identity to it.
Then all the other stuff came. Learning about John, how incredible his life has been. And as soon as I met John, it felt sort of like I understood John. We had an instant connection, I think, me and him. I felt really lucky to be working with him because he’s so knowledgeable and so forthcoming about his life story.
Q: Kirk, tell me how you became aware of John and the potential for a story to tell.
KIRK JONES: Yeah, in 1989, there was a documentary called “John’s Not Mad.” I wasn’t a writer then, I wasn’t a director; I was a runner taking film cans around Soho. But I remember thinking if I was ever to become a director, this is the kind of story I would love to make a film about.
About four years ago, I contacted John and asked if I could go and see him. I asked if it would be possible for him to consider a film being made of his life. I felt his journey, his story, was so extraordinary. The three documentaries over the years really didn’t do it justice, and we would be able to go so much deeper and gain so much more understanding about the condition of Tourette’s in a full-length feature film.
Q: What was it like meeting John for the first time and getting to know him better over time?
ARAMAYO: Somebody once told me about Tourette’s that the only thing that’s predictable about Tourette’s is that it’s unpredictable. That proves true because the first time I met John, there weren’t tons and tons of tics. John was very focused on what he was telling me and wanted to impart a lot of knowledge on me.
We were both really engaged in conversation, and there’ll be a tic, and of course, at first, that’s shocking. But we were keen to reflect in the film that there are moments, especially when he’s older, where the tics are either less, or there are sort of less ticcy days. So my experience wasn’t that I walked in to meet John, and it was a flurry of tics. It was like, I met this man who I was really interested in.
JONES: My first experience was a little more ticcy, I think, because I was the first. When Rob met him, I’d already bridged the meeting. I told John that Rob was a lovely guy, that he’d enjoy meeting him. But because I was the first person to knock on his door and talk about this project, obviously, his anxiety was higher.
What you understand about John and most people with Tourette’s, to be honest, is that the anxiety level is directly correspondent to how ticcy they are. When John is relaxed, when he’s calm, when he’s in a situation with friends and there’s no pressure, he might go for 20, 30 minutes or more without even the hint of a tic.
I mean, you would say, “Are you sure this guy’s got Tourette’s because there was nothing there?” And again, it relates to his anxiety.
Q: How did you go about learning to be John Davidson, portraying him accurately on screen?
ARAMAYO: I felt it was about focusing on his emotionality, the emotional experience and the story we were telling. Tourette’s is defined by our relationship to it, including John’s. So just to show over the years how that changes, how he gets used to living with Tourette’s and how the people around him equally get used to living with it.
My focus was on John, how he feels about things, playing him accurately and not worrying about tics because a tic can be anything. You learn that when you read about it, when you study it. I care so much about John.
Q: Let me ask you about the rest of the main cast, Maxine Peake, Peter Mullan and Shirley Henderson, who are all so good.
ARAMAYO: I absolutely loved working with Maxine, Peter and Shirley. [Peake plays Dottie, a surrogate mother to Davidson, Mullan is Tommy, the caretaker at a community center who hires him, and Henderson is Heather, Davidson’s mother who struggles to care for him after his Tourette’s surfaces.]
It was so well-cast, because Maxine has such a warmth to her, and Shirley is so capable of slipping into sort of a really interesting energy. And then Peter intimidates me. [He laughs] I mean, I’ve worked with Peter twice [on “I Swear” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”] and I really, really love him.
But you know, to me, Peter is one of my heroes. He’s a legend. So it helped me in the scene because [John] is intimidated too, but he really wants this opportunity.
They just make it better, those actors that are that good. They lift the whole thing. I just felt really, really lucky to be working with them.
Q: And for you, Kirk? Were they first choices for you?
JONES: They were first choices. I’ve been a huge fan of all of them for many years, and I felt they were just perfect for the roles.
Something which is really important to the whole casting conversation is that – and not everyone is aware of this – but my wife and I literally sold our house, put everything on the line, to finance the film. And the reason why that is so important to the casting process is that for the first time in my life, I didn’t have anyone above me who had to approve casting.
I didn’t have anyone above me who was saying, “Will you consider this person? Will you consider that person?” So for the first time ever, I had a really pure, correct, and traditional relationship with my casting director, and we were able to talk about people who are right for the role rather than people saying, “Oh, are they well-known enough? Are they famous enough? Are they known in America? Have they played a lead in a film like this before?”
And, no surprise, by doing things a proper way and a considered way and casting the right people, what happens? Lauren Evans, casting director, wins the BAFTA. Robert Aramayo wins the BAFTA. And I’m as sure as I can be that if I’d have gone to a traditional form of finance, they would not have allowed me to cast the right people.
Including Rob, by the way. Because they would have just said, “Oh no, we’re not investing in a film unless the person in the lead is really famous, really, really well known. It just goes to show when you’re allowed to do things properly without other people interfering, and you are a reasonable group of creative people who are trusted, I think you can actually come up with projects which are far more interesting than most of the movies that we see in the market today.
Q: Let me ask you about the BAFTA Awards, where John had some verbal tics and shouted out a racial slur that was not removed for the broadcast. In a way, the narrative of the film addresses this: The more you understand Tourette’s, the more you understand how this can happen.
JONES: Genuinely, if people see the film, they will not only have an incredible ride with regards to laughing and crying and seeing an engaging story, but I absolutely believe that they will come out of this experience with a level of knowledge not just about Tourette’s syndrome, but also all neurodivergent conditions like autism or high anxiety or OCD.
And they will find that they understand people who really, really struggle every single day with these conditions much better. One thing that John said to me a long time ago is, don’t always assume that your normal is the same as everybody else’s normal. I think when you do assume that, then you misunderstand not only this condition but many, many other neurodivergent conditions.
Q: Robert, what have you heard from people who’ve seen the film and have some kind of connection to that community?
ARAMAYO: Oh, it’s honestly been overwhelming. It’s been absolutely overwhelming in the most positive way. Totally unexpected. But for people to reach out and say, “I live with Tourette’s,” or my son does, my daughter does, my friend does, my dad does, whatever.
I understand them more now. It’s then that it’s the most incredible. It’s so amazing that the film has had that kind of response, but also for people to see their stories in the film because they live with neurodiverse conditions.
But there’s nothing more amazing than John being happy with it because it’s a biopic of his life. We were all very nervous about John seeing it, but obviously, he likes it and that was a big relief.
For more information about Tourette syndrome and access to free resources and support, visit the Tourette Association of America at tourette.org.