Months of film rumours were finally laid to rest yesterday when director Michael Bay confirmed that Jack Reynor, the 20-year-old star of What Richard Did, is taking up a lead role in Bay’s Transformers franchise.
The deal was months in the making, but until Bay announced the deal, Reynor had to remain silent. “In a way it wasn’t hard to keep it to myself, because I knew that I needed to be careful. Of course, I wanted to tell all my friends and family, it’s such a huge thing. I’m just delighted to be a part of it and for those reasons I knew I had to keep it under wraps.”
Reynor, who was born in the US and grew up in Humphrystown, Co Wicklow, can be forgiven for sounding like a man who can’t quite believe his luck. After his star turn in Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did, for which he has been nominated for a best actor Ifta, few people doubted his acting talent. But for the 20-year-old to move straight into the top tier of a major Hollywood franchise is an impressive achievement.
“It’s a big Hollywood action film, it’s amazing to be able to come out of Irish independent cinema and do this. I’m absolute thrilled about it, as you can imagine. It’s such a different animal, I’ll have to adapt as I go and that’s the nature of the beast.”
Bay “definitely lives up to what you would expect from his films”, says Reynor. “He’s a larger than life guy, he’s such a lovely man.“
On his website, the director wrote: “I just hired a great new actor for Transformers 4 to star against Mark Wahlberg. Jack Reynor, he is an Irish kid that came to America with 30 bucks in his pocket. Pretty ballsy. Seriously who does that? This kid is the real deal.”
Bay has announced three new films in the franchise. “It’s a long project, and it’s a lot of time to be working on something, but this is something I’ve wanted my whole life,” says Reynor. “And to be in it with people like Michael Bay and Mark Walhberg is amazing and such a great experience.”
Reynor is not exactly a novice when it comes to Hollywood. He has been spending plenty of time in the US in recent months and was cast by none other than Steven Spielberg in The Delivery Man, a comedy starting Vince Vaughn.
But a franchise such as Transformers will bring with it a whole new set of challenges and, of course, merchandising — it’s probably only a matter of time before the Jack Reynor doll finds its way into shops.
“There’s now way I’m even thinking about any that,” he laughs, slightly horrified at the thought of it. “For now, I’m focusing on the training.
“I’d probably lose the plot altogether if I started thinking about that.”