Young Liverpool actor to star alongside Gerard Butler in 2018 blockbuster – Kieron Bimpson interview

With his first feature-length blockbuster primed for release and a lead role in ITV’s ‘Vera’ set to air soon, 2017 is shaping up as a potential breakthrough year for Liverpool actor Kieron Bimpson.

YM Liverpool sat down with the Anfield-born rising star to find out what inspired him to take up acting, his plans for the future and working alongside Hollywood royalty.

Interview by Lawrence Saunders

How did you get started in acting?

I was about 10 years old when my mum and dad bought me a digital camera. It was just a basic one but you could record video and then edit it on the computer. My sister and I started filming little videos – comedy sketches and dramas – based on what was happening in our family.

We had all sorts of characters in the family at the time like my auntie who enjoyed a drink and my uncle who was nuts and we would try and imitate them. We would take the finished product into the living room to show my mum and dad. The positive reaction we would get made us proud and spurred us on to keep doing it.

From there I did drama at primary school but it was my drama teacher at secondary school, Nicola Ousey, who really started paying attention to me and putting on my reports that I could be something special.

You’ve said seeing Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance in Jim Sheridan’s ‘In the Name of the Father’ was a turning point in your career. Why?

At first a lot of the stuff I was doing was comedy based – trying to make people laugh all the time. Then when I was 15 I was sitting with my uncle and he described the whole film from start to finish and I just couldn’t stop listening.

Afterwards I got a copy and it changed my perspective on everything. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do with my life – I wanted to have the same effect on people that Daniel Day-Lewis had on me when I saw that film.

“I saw on the brief that Gerard Butler & Gary Oldman were in the lead roles and I thought ‘I really want to get this.’”

What was it in particular about his performance that has such a profound effect on you?

I’d always been used to seeing the male lead in most films being very masculine but there was a certain vulnerability about his performance which stood out and was something I could see in myself.

I’m quite a sensitive person; I think that’s why I’m an actor. I used to do mixed martial arts and while I did enjoy competing, when it comes down to it I’m not a very aggressive person – what aggression I do have comes out through my acting now.

I think it’s that mix of both aggression and sensitivity that makes a character human.

You star alongside Stephen Graham in the soon-to-be released short film ‘Being Keegan’. Can you tell us more about the story?

Myself, Stephen and young actor Adam Perryman all play a character called Jay at different stages of his life. When Jay was younger he saw his friend killed by a train and develops post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result.

I play the 18-year-old version of Jay who is struggling with the PTSD. In an attempt to deal with it he’s turned to drugs; he’s taking it out on his family and has completely gone off the rails.

The film puts a lens on a real life traumatic situation and sees the after-effects and looks at how a kid can start out with the dream of being the next Kevin Keegan but one thing happens in his life and it all gets turned upside down.

> Related | Interview: TV drama ‘The Five’ creator Harlan Coben

Do you look up to people like Stephen? Would you like to emulate his success?

As a kid from Liverpool, what Stephen did for me was spark an idea of a possibility of what could be. I hadn’t seen many Scousers on the television and when I did the way they were portrayed didn’t appeal to me.

So when I saw Stephen in ‘This Is England’ I said to myself ‘that’s a real, living, breathing character’. It’s one of the most real performances in British cinema I have ever seen. I’ve taken inspiration from people like Stephen, Daniel Day-Lewis, Paddy Considine and Gary Oldman – who I’ve just finished a film with – but I haven’t set out to intentionally emulate anyone.

“As a kid from Liverpool, what Stephen Graham did for me was spark an idea of a possibility of what could be. I hadn’t seen many Scousers on the TV.”

Can you tell us more about the upcoming action thriller ‘Hunter Killer’?

It will be my first feature-length film and the first which will have a worldwide cinema release. It’s what I’ve been working towards for a few years and although it’s not the end goal, it’s what I’ve envisaged for myself for a while.

My agent sent me for an audition and I saw on the brief that Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman were in the lead roles and I thought ‘I really want to get this’.

Hopefully being in this film will start to open some more doors for me and I will get seen for things that I wouldn’t have before. I’m not saying it’s a massive lead role but it’s a significant part in the film and I’m in a good few scenes, including some with Gerard Butler.

The plot revolves around Gerard’s character, who’s in charge of a submarine which is sent on a mission to rescue the Russian president by Gary Oldman’s character.

There is a mini-submarine attached to the main vessel and that’s where I come in. My character ‘Nichols’ is on this mini-sub with his partner and it’s their job to go in and rescue the president who has been kidnapped by a rogue general.

All the submarine scenes were shot at Pinewood Studios in Shepperton – we were drilled into this submarine which was built up from real parts but just looks like a cardboard box on the outside. Some of the scenes were really hectic – it’s quite difficult to stay focused and remember your lines when water is being shot at you from all over the place!

> Related | Interview: Liverpool-born ‘Hellraiser’ star Doug Bradley

How would you like to see your career develop in the future?

I want to keep developing myself as an actor and continue to play characters that are intense, sensitive and real people who you can relate to. I’m in a position now as a 22-year-old lad where I haven’t made it yet, but I want to get to a point where I’m taking lead roles in feature films.

I want to leave behind a nice body of work and hopefully inspire people in the same way that people like Daniel Day-Lewis and Stephen Graham have inspired me.