Athlone actor's role in new Anthony Hopkins film

A talented young actor from Athlone is part of a major upcoming film starring one of the most famous names in cinema, Anthony Hopkins.

Kiltoom native Rhys Mannion (20) is among the cast of Freud's Last Session, which stars Hopkins and Matthew Goode, and which just finished filming in Ireland last week.

The former Athlone Community College student will also be appearing on the small screen shortly, as he features in the crime drama series Clean Sweep, which will be shown on RTÉ television from Sunday, May 14.

The film Freud's Last Session is based on an imagined encounter between the psychoanalyst and atheist Sigmund Freud (played by Hopkins) and the writer, and Christian, CS Lewis (played by Goode).

Rhys plays a young CS Lewis in the film. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent on Monday, he said the filming of it had been challenging but very exciting.

"The film is directed by Matt Brown, and I had the pleasure of playing a young Matthew Goode," he explained.

"He plays CS Lewis, and I play the younger version of him, who goes to war, faces some of that heartache, and then meets Janie Moore, who would have a big impact on his life from there."

He said one thing that surprised him about his part in the film was the realism of some of the war scenes in which he appeared.

"I thought a lot of it would be left up to special effects and edits, but they pretty much put everything out onto the screen. We got to explore what it felt like to hear massive explosions, and to feel the intensity of it somewhat," he said.

The filming of 'Freud's Last Session' took place in Dublin and Wicklow and Rhys said the experience of going to work on it each day was hugely enjoyable.

While on set, he got to talk to Anthony Hopkins, who won 'Best Actor' Oscars for his roles in The Silence of the Lambs and The Father.

"I got to meet him and talk to him for a little bit. He's such a lovely man, and everyone on the set was just singing his praises," he said.

"Everyone was so excited to be part of this project and it was great having that vibe on the set.

"The hours were long. We were jumping in mud for twenty takes, repeating the exact same actions, but we loved it. We ate it up. It was just a really great atmosphere."

Although the release date for Freud's Last Session is not yet known, Rhys said his expectation was that audiences would get to see it either towards the end of this year or early in 2024.

Rhys is a son of Athlone man Ciaran Mannion and his wife Mary, originally from Minnesota in the United States.

He said he has enjoyed the variety of the roles he's been playing for film and TV.

"'Freud's Last Session', especially, was very different. I didn't think I'd get to explore anything like that so soon, especially right on the doorstep of Dublin, where I'm living.

"It all fell into place at a really nice time, and I feel very fortunate with the projects I've gotten to work on recently."

The Clean Sweep series was filmed last July and August, and the first of its six episodes will air on RTÉ on May 14.

The plot centres on a detective who is looking for a murderer, not suspecting that his wife may be the culprit.

Charlene McKenna and Barry Ward play the two lead characters, while Rhys plays the role of Derek, their son.

"We were living in Bray and shooting in Bray, and I had an absolute blast. I got to spend the summer there and absolutely loved it.

"The character I play has moody teenager vibes, but he has a nice 'arc' throughout it. The writing is strong, in the sense that they don't just let you be a moody teenager.

"There was one episode where I was a grumpy teen, but then they start to delve into it and I really felt I had lot of layers with the character. I got to pick up skateboarding for it, which was a lot of fun too!"

He said working on a series for television was quite different to working on a film.

"Shooting a film, it feels easier to keep track of, 'ok, this happens, and then this happens.' In Clean Sweep I'm in little bits of each episode, so a lot happens that I'm not aware of. I'll be watching it very much as an audience member in that sense.

"In terms of my part, it's something a little new. I do a Dublin accent, so we'll see how that goes!" he laughed. "Overall, I'm really excited to see it come out."

Rhys made his feature film debut in It Is In Us All, a psychological drama filmed in Donegal in 2020.

In addition to Freud's Last Session and Clean Sweep, he also has a key part in an upcoming Amazon Prime fantasy film, Silver.

"That's a German-Irish production that was shot in Dublin, so I got to have a lead role in that. It's a fantasy young adult series based on quite a famous German book.

"So that will come out at the end of the year, which I'm really excited about," he said.