Paddy Considine Reflects On Tyrannosaur Screening With Emotional Crowd

Instagram/@paddy_considine

Paddy Considine somehow found an occasion to take a trip down memory lane as his directorial debut passed the screen at London’s Prince Charles Cinema. On Instagram, he showered thanks, calling it “interesting opening up the box again,” with an accompanying photograph from the night. The photo has just the right amount of intimacy for a Q&A session where Considine conversed with a fellow speaker beneath the witty banner of “Bleak Week Cinema of Despair,” which is an apt backdrop for the 2011 drama considering its ruthlessness in portraying unflinching intensity.

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The screening was quite impactful, indeed. An attendee considered the film an “incredible raw masterpiece,” joking, “probably not the best film for a date night; my girlfriend wasn’t ready for it. Next time I’ll stick with a Richard Curtis…” Ouch! Honest British humor. Other viewers went to further lengths in praising its somber truth, from near gut-punching realism to a “modern British great,” while some gave it a furious backhand for making them forget how “damn good it was/is.”

Whatever happened there could not be forgotten almost just as much because of that candid Q&A with Considine. Thanks for being so open,” wrote one user and others nodded in agreement calling it “insightful.” The love for Tyrannosaur never came from nostalgia but served as a gateway for a whole new wave of calls for Considine to make more, with one comment shouting, ‘Make more!’ and another hopeful one saying, ‘Hope to see you behind the camera one day.’ That led to the appreciation of his more underrated ‘Journeyman,’ which is also “still incredible” even though he isn’t so sure about that himself.

Yet, there is more to a film legacy than just another grim one. The journey of love leading to another discovery was explained by a viewer, and that’s the power behind even a dubious link. Then, of course, there was Peter Mullan, pegged by another admirer as being “one of our finest actors.” Big praise, but hardly surprising, given the film’s standing among powerfully acted productions.

Missed it? FOMO galore. “So gutted I couldn’t make it!!,” pretty much sums it all up. With programming like this, the Prince Charles Cinema, as with the “Bleak Week” tag they’ve attached to ‘Tyrannosaur,’ sorts out the very canon of British cinema that punches you in the soul and leaves you strangely grateful.

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Since 2017, Considine has not directed anything since ‘Journeyman,’ but judging by this reaction, the demand for his next project is definitely on the surge. Whether or not he jumps back into that “box” of raw storytelling sooner rather than later is anybody’s guess while the barbs of ‘Tyrannosaur’ are still staining after a decade-plus.