Anthony Boyle teases ‘heartbreaking’ new drama featuring Say Nothing reunion

'The script's fantastic... It's very sad. Bring the tissues, I think, for that one.'

Written by Enda Walsh (Hunger) and directed by Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant), the drama is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Keiran Goddard and will see Boyle reunite with his Say Nothing co-star, Lola Petticrew.

Speaking to JOE at the red carpet for the IFTAs last month, here's what the Belfast actor said about the film:

"It's [from] Clio Barnard. Enda Walsh wrote it. He's an Irishman.

"He's one of our best writers, I think... He's amazing and the script's fantastic. Lola's amazing in it.

"Yeah, it's heartbreaking. The novel's out, so you can talk about the story. It's about five friends who grew up in a working-class council estate in Birmingham.

"It's very sad. Bring the tissues, I think, for that one."

The plot synopsis for I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning reads: "Childhood friends Patrick (Boyle), Shiv (Petticrew), Rian (Joe Cole), Oli (Jay Lycurgo), and Conor (Daryl McCormack) played together, skipped school together, and dreamt of the lives they would have one day.

"Now they’re 30, and the future they imagined is slipping quietly out of reach."

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning does not have a release date as of yet, but it is one of several exciting upcoming projects of Boyle's.

The Belfast actor will also star in Close to Home, a four-part Channel 4 drama that is based on Michael Magee’s acclaimed semi-autobiographical debut novel.

The story follows Sean (Boyle), a young man who returns to Belfast after university and falls into old habits.

"Back on the mad all-nighters, the borrowed tenners and missing rent, the casual jobs that always fall through. Back with his brother, his ma and all the things they never talk about. Back where the promised prosperity of peacetime has yet to arrive, and every street has a story to tell," the plot synopsis adds.

"One night, Sean assaults a stranger at a party, and everything is tipped into chaos."

When JOE spoke to Boyle on the IFTA red carpet, he had just come from filming Close to Home.

"I was shooting about four hours ago. It's class," the actor told us.

"We've got Michael Magee, the author, on set. So, it's very strange, like you're doing a scene about him, playing him, and then you turn around, and he's watching you.

"So, it's very strange, but it's going really well.

"Hopefully it'll be out at the end of this year or the start of next.

"If you're a fan of the novel, I hope you like it."

Boyle will be reuniting with his House of Guinness co-stars Jessica Reynolds and Seamus O'Hara on Close to Home.

JOE also spoke to O'Hara at the IFTAs, who said of the project and about working again with Boyle and Reynolds: "We can't believe our luck that we keep getting to tell all these incredible stories.

"We're colleagues and peers who have been working with each other now, so it feels like a family reunion every time we step back in. We know how each other works."