JOSEPH QUINN AS MICHAEL
THE ACTOR GETS GRITTY AS A PROBLEMATIC FORMER FOSTER KID IN BRITISH INDIE HOARD
THE INSPIRATIONS
Quinn and director Luna Carmoon discussed ’70s films from directors like Alan Clarke and Joseph Losey during their early conversations about Michael, a 30-year-old former foster child who develops intense feelings for Hoard’s troubled teen protagonist, Maria (Saura Lightfoot-Leon). Alan Bates and Oliver Reed were also references when it came to the darker side of Michael’s personality, as his passion for Maria deepens despite having a pregnant partner at home. “It’s no secret that when Oliver Reed was conducting himself in his personal life, there were unsavoury aspects,” says Quinn (Reed, along with having anger and alcohol issues, was 42 when he met 16-year-old Josephine Burge, his future wife). Yet he believes that reserving judgement against his character proved key. “It’s not on really,” he admits, laughing, of Michael’s behaviour. “But you’ve just got to forgive him.”
THE MUSIC
Music is also an integral part of Quinn’s approach to characters, which is unsurprising given his face-melting guitar-work while playing Eddie Munson in Stranger Things. But while Metallica and Black Sabbath helped shape his D&D fiend in the Netflix show, the actor slowed things down with his Hoard playlist, which he pulls up on his phone while speaking with Empire. “I was listening to [’90s DJ] Blue Boy and some Portishead,” he relays.
THE SENSES
Hoard is partly set during a balmy summer, when Michael and Maria explore a physical relationship while the latter is living in the foster home where the former grew up. To create a more sensory experience, Carmoon would secretly spray the set with a scent resembling a mix of sweat, blood and semen while the actors wer
