Irish Peaky Blinders star opens up about shooting sex scenes with Emma Thompson

The 29-year-old stars opposite the veteran actor in their upcoming film ‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’.

The flick is set in a London hotel room as widow Nancy Stokes (Thompson) seeks a night of thrills with sex worker Leo Grande (McCormack).

Opening up about his experience filming intimate scenes with Thompson, McCormack said he told The Guardian he didn’t know what was more daunting “knowing that you’re in the presence of someone who’s done it all” or just feeling “overwhelmed, terrible imposter syndrome, just feeling sure they had cast the wrong Leo.”

“In the end, your only option is to connect with the story and connect with your dancing partner,” he explained. “And it was Emma Thompson, so I was in good hands.

Discussing playing the role of a sex worker, the actor said: “I really didn’t want to put on my shoulders that I would be representing sex workers.

“To me, that was too much of an undertaking for one man,” he explained.

“Of course, I was exposed to the idea of the degradation of sex workers, seeing those stereotypes, because it’s shown in films and stories so often. And then I spoke to real sex workers via Zoom, and I met people who had gone on their own individual journey, found their own sense of authority, power and identity.”

“I was speaking to people who weren’t victimised, who had a sense of who they were and who found a lot of joy and vocation in what they did.”

Discussing his Irish up-bringing in Co Tipperary, the Peaky Blinders star revealed he almost had a very different career path.

“I had a golden era in hurling,” he said.

“And then I didn’t hit my growth spurt the same way other young men did. That peak and then the fall… my ego at 14 was taking a hit. But I lived to tell the tale.”

Written and directed by Katy Brand, 'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' hits Irish cinema screens on June 17th