Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Dating Amber’s Fionn O’Shea

It’s been a transformative year for Fionn O’Shea. The talented young Irishman kicked off 2020 as the abrasive character Jamie in Hulu’s Normal People, causing quite the stir among viewers. Then, showing his acting range and pivoting, he became the endearing and lovable Eddie in the heartwarming film Dating Amber. Pop Culturalist caught up with Fionn to learn more about Dating Amber, why this project stood out to him, and why we need more films like Dating Amber.

PC: Tell us about Dating Amber and your character in the film.
Fionn: Dating Amber is about two gay teenagers, Eddie and Amber, who start a fake relationship with one another in order to stop the taunts and speculation around their sexuality. I play Eddie, who’s a bundle of insecurities. He’s really struggling with both his sexuality and his parents’ unhappy marriage. He has this artifice of masculinity that he’s cobbled together from magazines, films, and his father. He has no idea who he can become or who he even is until he meets Amber, who is his salvation.

PC: You’ve starred in some fantastic coming-of-age films. When you’re reading a script, how do you evaluate what projects you want to be a part of? What was it about this script that stood out?
Fionn: It’s interesting because I feel very lucky to have been a part of the different projects that I’ve been involved in. I feel lucky to be able to work on projects that I feel strongly about and characters that I really care about.

With Dating Amber, as soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I was laughing and crying out loud; I saw a ton of different emotions. There were so many things that made me want to do it.

There are cases where you read something and you’re like, “I’d really love to be in this.” Then, sometimes you read something and you’re like, “I need to be in this.” This is definitely a feeling of needing to be a part of this film…but then I had to convince lots of people that I should be part of this film. [laughs] Thankfully, Dave [Freyne] gave me the opportunity to do so.

PC: You’ve said in previous interviews that this project was unique in that you and Lola [Petticrew] had a lot of rehearsal time prior to filming. What were some of the main points you both focused on during that time?
Fionn: For Dave, the most important thing was casting the right people to play Eddie and Amber—people with the right chemistry to bring them to life. At the beginning, the rehearsals were very casual, and we just tried to spend as much time with each other as possible. As that went on, we worked on different scenes. We were both working different projects at the time in the lead-in. We would go off and do our homework, and then we’d come back and run the scenes and try a lot of different things.

Lola and I spent so much time with each other aside from the actual allotted rehearsal time. It was about creating a dynamic between myself, Lola, and Dave in which we just had absolute trust in one another, where we could try anything or throw lots of different ideas out and feel safe doing so. Dave really allowed us to do that.

PC: The film does a magnificent job striking a balance between comedy and drama. For you as an actor, is one more challenging than the other?
Fionn: That’s a good question. The reason I love the comedy-drama genre is that it’s very reflective of our lives. No one’s life is exclusively funny or exclusively dramatic; it’s a mix of both.

It’s funny because sometimes the moments that you read that might read funny end up quite heartbreaking or you read them as very sad and they end up very funny. Everything presents a different challenge.

It was so fun going to set every day and playing those big comedic scenes, then also really poignant emotional scenes, too. It was a dream to be able to do that every day.

PC: The cast had a lot of opportunity to improv. Is there a particular scene that made the final cut that you’re really excited for your fans to see?
Fionn: That’s a good question, too! It’s interesting that you say the final cut because there are a lot of things that ended up on the cutting room floor.

We were given so many opportunities to improvise. A scene that changed quite a lot from the script to screen was when Eddie and Amber agree to start their fake relationship. They go to this wall—it’s called the sex wall. That was a scene where we started off doing exactly what was written in script, and then we played around with it a bit and tried lots of different things. That was exciting. Dave, Lola, and I threw in all these different ideas, and the final version of it ended up quite different from the way it was written. That’s a scene that I know Lola and I both loved.

But, to be honest, a lot of the most genius improv came from other characters, really. The supporting characters—particularly the school friends—are so funny. There are so many hilarious improvised lines that they did. Sharon [Horgan], Barry [Ward], and Evan [O’Connor], who play my family in the film, are also hilarious. It was great to get the chance to improvise.

PC: The film’s been incredibly well-received. What do you think has resonated most with audiences? What do you hope they take away?
Fionn: It’s a film that joyous, optimistic, and hopeful—that’s something that we all need right now. It’s really important to see queer stories framed with those things and shown in that way. I think that’s what’s resonating with people.

All of us are blown away by how people have responded. They seem to really like it, so it’s a really lovely thing. I’m hoping everyone in North America likes it, too.

PC: Besides Dating Amber, you’re also going to be starring in the upcoming film, Cherry. Is there anything you can tease about that project?
Fionn: God, I’m not sure how much I can say about it. [laughs] I felt so lucky to be a small part of the making of that film, and getting to work with Joe and Anthony [Russo] and Tom [Holland] was incredible. It was a dream come true. I’m not sure how much I can say, so I’m going to err on the side of caution. [laughs]

To keep up with Fionn, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Dating Amber is now available On Demand and digital.

Photo Credit: Hugh O’Conor