Athlone actor to appear in new Titanic series on BBC
Athlone actor Rhys Mannion is to appear in a new four-part BBC series which aims to recreate the story of the Titanic's sinking in real time, minute-by-minute.
Filming of the series, provisionally titled Titanic Sinks Tonight, was completed in Belfast recently and it will be broadcast on BBC Two on a date which has not yet been announced.
Rhys (22), a former Athlone Community College student from Kiltoom, plays the role of one of the actual Titanic passengers, Jack Thayer, a 17-year-old American who managed to survive the ill-fated voyage across the Atlantic.
"I portray Jack Thayer, who was one of the youngest members to be in first class on the Titanic," explains Rhys.
"He travelled with his mother and father and unfortunately his father passed away on the Titanic. His mother survived, and Jack... jumped off the boat. He didn't get into a lifeboat, because after the age of about 14, they were all deemed men.
"He survived in the water on one of the collapsible boats, just clinging on, until he was picked up by the Carpathia."
Rhys said the docu-drama series involved making use of historic testimonies gathered from passengers on the ship, as well as reenactments of the dramatic events themselves.
"The director was wonderful to work with, and the whole process (of making the series) was absolutely fantastic," he says.
The filming at Belfast’s Harbour Studios in recent weeks coincided with the making of a new Robin Hood movie there - starring Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer - but Rhys found that people he spoke to in the city were just as excited about the Titanic series as they were about the big-name movie.
"As soon as you mentioned the Titanic, people were saying, 'Oh my gosh, you're shooting something with that, that's so cool! Tell me all about it!'
"It's such a fascinating story and I think it's exciting to be a part of this one because it's telling it in probably the most authentic, real way... it's really keeping it as truthful as I think any reenactment can be."
While the broadcast date for the series is not yet known, Rhys said he hopes it will be broadcast at some stage later this year.
A son of Ciaran and Mary Mannion, Rhys has had roles in recent years in the Irish film It Is In Us All, the Anthony Hopkins movie Freud's Last Session, and the Amazon Prime film, Silver and the Book of Dreams.
Another upcoming release in which he will be appearing is an Irish vampire movie, Feed, which was filmed in Wexford late last year.
In Feed, Rhys' character is one of a group of social media 'influencers' who check into an Airbnb and inadvertently awaken An Dearg Due, a female Irish vampire with mind control powers.
Directed by Marco van Belle, the film was made with support from Screen Ireland, and is pencilled in for release in September of this year.
"It's really interesting, I think it's really fresh, and it's got a wonderful cast," says Rhys.
"We have Daisy Jelley, who is an English actor, Clinton Liberty, who just had a big role in the new Game of Thrones series, House of The Dragon, and it's led by a really wonderful actor and a close friend, Grace Collender."
Rhys' busy and varied schedule of productions continues in the coming weeks, when he is planning to direct a short stop-motion animation film, called Christopher Mouse, which was written by an acting colleague of his, Isaac O'Neill.
"It's based on a viral miniseries online, and it's about a man and a mouse living side-by-side, parallel lives in Dublin city.
“They're reflecting one another in all that they do and it kind of surprises the man when he discovers the mouse inside his wall.
"It will be a really, really fun one I think," says Rhys, who has been living in Dublin in recent years.
In addition to being a talented actor, he is also a gifted musician and has started releasing songs on streaming platforms with his band, Happy Daze.
"We released our first two songs to a decent public reaction, I'd say.
“We have our third single coming out this week, called Past Lives, and then following that we're going to drip release our album... we're going to release probably 3 or 4 more songs and then release the album as a whole.
"The album is going to be called Stick to Your Day Job - like most of us probably should have done!" he says.
Rhys plays rhythm guitar and sings in the band, which he formed with a group of friends, and they recently had their first gig at Fibber Magees in Dublin.
"Together we are four people who make sound. Eventually we'll call ourselves a band!" he laughs.
* You can find music by Happy Daze on Spotify and Apple Music. The band’s Instagram account is @happydazeofficial