’s ‘leading from the front’ on the set of kept it an ego-free zone despite the show’s A-list cast, co-star Packy Lee has said.
actor Lee plays Johnny Dogs in all six seasons of the smash series – and now in the film The Immortal Man, currently in cinemas.
In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Lee revealed he had been a ‘massive fan’ of stars such , and Tim Roth before acting opposite them in the iconic series.
Asked if it was hard to remain level headed in their company, Lee told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘No – when you’re led by example from the likes of Cillian Murphy, that’s not the world we’re in.
‘That’s not what we do, that’s not what we’ve ever done, and that’s certainly not something that I do.’
The 43-year-old added ‘even Adrien Brody’ – now a double Oscar winner – approached the job like any other actor.
‘We came to work, we sat in the trailer until we were called, and we went and did it. The same with Tom Hardy, the same with Paul Anderson [who played Arthur Shelby], Helen McCrory [who played Polly Gray], God rest her.’
Lee said it was a ‘pinch me moment’ to work alongside such talent and that it is ‘a big deal’ to be ‘mentioned in the same sentence’ as the new film’s stellar cast.
‘I mean, Tim Roth, Rebecca Ferguson, Barry Keoghan, Stephen Graham, and Cillian leading from the front…’
Lee – whose character is the loyal right-hand-man of Murphy’s Tommy Shelby – described his fellow Irishman as ‘great craic’, and a friend who has ‘been very kind to me over the years’.
‘It’s not often that two Irish men sitting together over many years don’t become good friends,’ he said.
Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee), Lizzie Shelby (Natasha O'Keeffe), Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson) in a scene from the hit series Peaky Blinders
Double Oscar winner Adrien Brody played Luca Changretta in season four of Peaky Blinders
‘He may have won the Oscar, and he may have become that huge star, but he’s still Cill and he’s still a friend, and he’s still a great person to work with. It’s been a good relationship. It’s been a loving relationship – a friendship.’
And new addition Keoghan, who plays Tommy’s son Duke in the film, was ‘absolutely fantastic’ during the shoot.
‘He has lovely ideas and he’s always on an idea. We don’t know if we’re going right or left, and that’s fantastic as another actor, because you’re always on your feet, and you’re always worried about where we’re going in this scene and how it’s going to develop.’
The two shared the screen before in Mark O’Connor’s 2012 film King Of The Travellers – one of three films the director gave Keoghan his earliest screen roles in.
Asked if he remembers the then unknown teenager, Lee said: ‘I definitely do. He was fantastic on the day. We got on very well.
‘Mark O’Connor brought him in and introduced us to him, and he got it from day one.
‘[O’Connor] said: “This kid is called Barry, and he’s quite young, but he’s going to be a megastar.”
‘And here we are. Barry is now the megastar, which is great.’
From left, Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth and Jay Lycurgo at the London premiere of 'Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man' earlier this month
Barry Keoghan and Cillian Murphy in a scene from the new Peaky Blinders movie, in which Keoghan plays the son of Tommy Shelby, Murphy's iconic character
Packy Lee with his family at the world premiere of the Peaky Blinders movie in Birmingham
The older actor also said Keoghan ‘doesn’t change’.
‘Barry’s Barry. He’s great on set. He’s great fun. He’s great banter. If there’s a joke to be had, I guarantee you Barry’s involved.’
Such is Lee’s prominence in the new film, co-star Ned Dennehy – ‘one of the funniest men in Ireland’ – jokingly christened it ‘Packy Blinders’ after reading the first half of the script.
Murphy himself recently named Lee’s character as one that is ‘so well-written that you could have a spinoff’.
On that possibility, Lee said he ‘would be very open to’ a Johnny Dogs spinoff.
‘Listen, I’d be all up for it. Of course I would. I think I know exactly what it would entail, but I think [creator] Steven Knight would be the best person to speak to along those lines. But yeah, wouldn’t that be very exciting?’
Asked about being one of a tiny handful of actors to have made it through all six seasons, Lee joked: ‘I think I make a great cup of coffee.’
But on a more serious note, he said being asked back repeatedly is ‘something that I hold very close to my heart’.
‘I have that great relationship with [Knight], and he enjoys writing for the character. Cillian said something in an interview, and I understand: Steven’s very ruthless when it comes to characters and writing, and I’m very lucky to still be on the roller coaster.
‘I feel [Dogs] is a well-loved character, and he’s grown in the fans’ hearts over the years, especially because he’s been so loyal to Tommy.’
Explaining his character’s accent – some distance from his real-life West Belfast tones – Lee, who has ‘traveller background and normal Irish background’, said: ‘They didn’t want a hard southern gypsy accent. They didn’t want a traveller accent.
‘They wanted a colourful accent that would travel around the world so that the show would travel. So they wanted me to hold on to words a bit longer. They wanted me to have more fun with it.’
The father-of-three said the runaway success of Peaky Blinders – including a significant influence on men’s fashion – has been ‘really weird’.
‘I was in Spain on a family holiday, and there’s a group of guys in 30 degrees dressed up in Peaky Blinders suits.
‘There’s Peaky Blinders-themed bars, nights happening – it’s just insane.’
■ Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is in select cinemas now and on Netflix from Friday
