Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Fisherman’s Friends’ David Hayman

David Hayman has done it all in his career, from starring in front of the camera to directing, producing, and writing. With over a hundred credits to his name, David knows a thing or two about selecting the right projects to work on. His latest film, Fisherman’s Friends, finds David embodying a member of the iconic Port Isaac singing group who stunned the music industry with their heart and timeless sound. Pop Culturalist caught up with David to learn more about Fisherman’s Friends.

PC: Tell us about Fisherman’s Friends and your character in this film.
David: Fisherman’s Friends is about a group of real-life fishermen and their friends who decided to start singing sea shanties, the traditional working songs of men of the sea that told you their stories as they sailed around the world.

They’re all from Port Isaac, a tiny little fishing village in Cornwall. They all started to sing every Friday night. They became famous and they did it for several years. Eventually, they got a recording contract. They had a top ten hit. They played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, and their fame spreads far and wide. They traveled the world and they are a huge success everywhere they go.

We made a movie of their story. I play Jago. He’s one of the founders of the group. He’s a senior member of the group. He’s a lovely, warmhearted, jolly character. He’s got a lovely wife who he has a great relationship with.

This was one of the nicest jobs I’ve ever done: to be in Port Isaac for a couple of months with a lovely bunch of people, to be welcomed fullheartedly by the real Fisherman’s Friends, who we became very close to because we worked with them every day and we sang with them. We drank with them. That was very, very special.

PC: Like you were just saying, you spent five weeks living in Port Isaac with the band prior to filming. How valuable was that in your preparation? Did that change your perspective heading into filming?
David: Oh, yeah! You’re living in this tiny fishing village where they all come from. You’re seeing the fishermen. I went out on the fishing boats. We did our rehearsals. We became part of that community for five or six weeks, and it makes it so much easier. There were no hotels. We all stayed in little houses in the village. We weren’t going back to some hotel outside of the village. We lived in the village; we ate in the village; we played in the village and became an integral part of it for several weeks. Of course, that can only help us as actors bring a level of truth to what we’re doing.

PC: You’ve done it all in your career. What was it about this particular project and script that stood out to you?
David: Well, Meg [Leonard] and Nick [Moorcroft], who wrote it and produced it, I’ve done three films with them before. I worked on Finding Your Feet, The Corrupted, and Burke and Hare. I have a great relationship with them. I know that the experience is always good. I know they respect my work as an actor, and I get interesting things to do with them.

I knew it was going to be great fun, and I knew it was going to be a success because they’ve got a populist touch. Meg and Nick are one of the most successful independent British filmmakers in the past ten years or something.

I knew that they put together a really good cast without overloading it with big stars or anything. It was really good character actors who I knew would look after each other.

It was a no-brainer, really. Then we got to be in the village, away from the city, congestion, and pollution, and just have the sea breeze. You’re breathing ozone for five or six weeks on your front doorstep. The minute you open your window, it’s there. The food we were eating is fresh out of the farmer’s field or fresh out of the sea. It couldn’t have been better!

PC: Is the prep work different for you when you were working on a project that’s based on a true story or based on actual people?
David: I’ve done quite a bit of work where I played real people like A Sense of Freedom, where I played a real-life killer named Jimmy Boyle. I played Richard Branson on a TV series. I’ve even played Jesus Christ and Al Capone. It gives you more to research. In many ways, it can limit you because you can’t take it too far from who the original person was in terms of their personality, their attitude, and their life.

PC: There’s this beautiful camaraderie amongst the entire cast, which is really necessary for this film to work. How did you build that bond?
David: It was instant. We had about three days of rehearsal. We just all bonded instantly—all of us. There wasn’t a large-sized ego in there. Well, maybe one. [laughs] But really, from beginning to end, everyone was such a sweetheart.

We all got on really well together. We socialized in the evenings. It was a real joy. It makes the work so much easier when you trust and fall in love with all the people around you. It’s like, “Does it get any better than this?” Everyone was so special. It was a privilege to spend time with them, so that makes the work so much easier, so therefore, hopefully, better.

PC: The film is out now and it’s being really well received. What do you think is resonating most with audiences?
David: There’s no violence. There’s no hatred. There’s no darkness. It’s a nice world where people are at least trying to be decent with each other and respect each other.

They have their ups and downs, and I think that’s heartwarming. It’s great for audiences to escape for two hours and be taken to a world of goodness and warmth. It leaves you with a good feeling and maybe a tear in your eye.

Fisherman’s Friends is now available to purchase or rent. Stream it today!

Photo Credit: Samuel Goldwyn Films