A film called “I Swear,” about Tourette syndrome, usually draws a small laugh and a “good title” from anyone who hears about a film that premieres in Toronto. And that is what reaction director and writer Kirk Jones (“Awakened Ned Devine”) wants to dispel. Using humor and mind, we educate our audience about Tourette through this real-life story of John Davidson.
Crowd bows at Toronto INTL on September 7th. Film festival. Bankside has repeatedly sold films internationally. Studio Canal is distributed in the UK and Blue Fox Entertainment is distributed in Canada.
Robert Aramayo (“The Lord of the Rings: Power of Power”) stars as a young teenager in the early 1980s as Davidson, who was diagnosed with Tourette when it was not understood. Davidson struggled, but in adulthood he found an advocate under the guidance of his friends’ mothers Dotty (Maxine Peak) and Tommy (Peter Mulan). (Alamayo said it was a dream to work with those performers. “And for me, it was just a dream. I think they were all the first choices.
Not only did Davidson learn to defend herself, he also defended everyone in Tourette’s major outreach and education campaigns through the UK in 2019, accepting Queen Elizabeth II’s MBE.
But the film brings tears to its face, but it’s hardly full. “We talked a lot about the tone,” says Aramayo. The entire film states that “you can live within the opening scene.” It shows that Davidson gets mad about meeting the Queen to accept MBE, and finds his inner strength by helping Dottie enter the Grand Hall with a vulgar explosion and charming apologies. “There’s a different kind of energy in that scene than the Queen. It’s fun in the film,” he says.
Jones and Aramayo were drawn to the material to shed light on Tourette. Jones proudly points out that out of the 90 cast members, 30 have Tourettes.
“In fact, I think there are people who have Tourette, especially with artists like Louis Capaldi. There are people who talk about Tourette and are open about Tourette,” says Jones.
“Most people probably have a misunderstanding of this condition. For both Rob and me, it was a really steep learning curve.”
Jones spent a lot of time with Davidson. “From a dramatic perspective, from an emotional perspective, from a comedy perspective, I was really drawn to this idea that someone couldn’t control what they said, Jones says.
Aramayo says his research is broad and deep, and he spent a lot of time with people who have Davidson and Tourette.
“I had this philosophy that I could find John in myself. I didn’t want to come from, or from, anything like that,” he says. “And I read a lot of books. Everything was about triggers and, for example, I really understood what the tick is and what Tourette is and what it is, and I tried to get to the bottom.”
He is asked about his incredible physicality in the role and believes in his athletic coach. But Kay isn’t that tic. It was “literally just the amount of space John would take up in the room. It was really important that he moved around the room and his robustness to John and what he was right about that,” he says.
“Playing John himself is not an easy effort,” he continues. “I’ve never actually done that energy with a character before!”
Robert Aramayo and Peter Mulan are “I Swear” / Graeme Hunter
Graeme Hunter Photos
