Following a long-running stint portraying Sylver McQueen on the BAFTA-nominated soap opera Hollyoaks, a UK television institution for more than three decades, actor David Tag makes his impressive feature debut in Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely’s dark comedy drama Departures. Tag plays the strapping and aggressively handsome Jake, a thirtysomething personal trainer for professional footballers, who has commitment issues and is conflicted about his sexuality.
Drawing on their own real-life heartbreak and trauma, Eyre-Morgan and Ely’s bold British indie sees the unassuming Benji (Eyre-Morgan) fall for Jake during a chance encounter at an airport departures gate. The Northerners go on to become entwined in a complicated, ultimately destructive relationship. As well as being super fit, Jake is elusive and domineering, and Benji never knows where he stands with him as they steal time alone on secretive monthly sex-filled weekends away together in Amsterdam.
Made by a collective of Manchester-based, largely queer working class filmmakers, Departures was shot over 12 days during the course of nine months, while many of the cast and crew worked full-time jobs during the week. The result is a raw, hilarious, and confronting take on a toxic relationship that went down a storm with audiences at multiple sold-out screenings at the 39th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.
With Departures now playing in New York at IFC Center, David Tag—whose other British TV credits include Waterloo Road, Emmerdale, and Significant Other—speaks exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann in a room with a view at London’s Sea Containers Hotel. During the conversation Tag discusses why he wanted to take on the role, his approach to playing Jake, drawing from his own life experience, and his love for the work of queer musician Perfume Genius.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: How did you get into acting?
David Tag: “I was actually quite a late-starter. I went to Manchester School of Acting when I was 27 for two years. Then I got an agent, did a few auditions, and landed my first major role in Hollyoaks when I was 32. I did that for about three and a half years and I’ve been working ever since. It all happened pretty fast and it’s been a crazy ride so far. I feel very fortunate.”
You did around 300 episodes of Hollyoaks, what did you take away from that experience of such regular work?
“Soaps can have a bad reputation sometimes because they’re so fast-paced, but I learned so much while I was there. I can now pick up a script, read it a couple of times and then it’s in my head. You have to do that all the time on a soap and because of the pace you can’t hide behind anything. You’ve never got much time to rehearse. You just have to know it, do it and do it well.”
You’d worked with Lloyd and Neil before on their short film S.A.M. What made you wnat to collaborate with them again on Departures?
“The main draw of doing the film was Lloyd and Neil. I knew how talented they were and I really like them as people as well. So when they came to me and I heard what it was about, I was 100% on board. But I had to audition like everybody else. So I gave them my best self-tape and luckily I got it.”
“The whole concept of the film really appealed to me because it’s something that I’ve never done before. I loved the idea of playing such a complex, bisexual, gay, straight, pansexual character. That was really intriguing to me, so I jumped at the opportunity.”
You describe him as all those things when it comes to his sexuality because the audience doesn’t necessarily get to find out how he identifies and maybe he doesn’t even know himself?
“Exactly, he doesn’t even know himself, or won’t admit it at least. Maybe deep down inside he knows, but there’s so much denial and internalized homophobia there. His identity is shrouded with confusion. He hasn’t accepted himself.”
What was it like to explore all that as an actor and how did you approach playing Jake?
“I drew from my own personal experience as much as possible, including my own personality traits, because we wanted it to feel real. In the past, I was quite a toxic guy in relationships. It’s something that I’ve improved on, but something that I was definitely able to draw from for this role.”
“Jake has a lot of abandonment issues because of his dad leaving him as a teenager, and although I haven’t had that experience myself, I have had a lot of trauma in my life which I was I able to draw from and bring to the role. That’s what I loved about the challenge of making this film.”
Neil and Lloyd told me how personal the film is to them, having drawn from their own experiences in relationships for the screenplay. Did they create an environment that made you feel comfortable to bring in some of your own experiences?
“Absolutely and every step of the way there was always somebody there to make sure that we were all comfortable and all on board with some of the more difficult themes that the film explores. Lloyd and I obviously have quite an intimate on-screen relationship in this film and we’re close friends so that made things easier. In the sex scenes, I’d be up on top of him, giving him all that, then it was, ‘Alright then, see you later, mate.'”
What was shooting the film over several months like from your perspective?
“It was all shot over several weekends, mostly due to scheduling. It took us nine months in total, but there were only 12 days of filming during that time. Filming it like that was good because you could step away for a while and then go back into it and give it your all. Sometimes I’d forget what we’d done a few weeks before though, but I think it’s come together really nicely in the finished film. Hair continuity was a bit of a nightmare though!”
Jake works as a personal trainer so he’s very fit and muscular. Does he wear his physicality as armour in a way?
“100%. His physical appearance makes him feel like he’s more than he is. He thinks that it gives him more clout and because of how he looks he can almost bully people into being with him or leaving him. I feel like a lot guys act that way.”
How did you get into fitness yourself?
“I’ve been a personal trainer for years. I qualified when I was 22. I still do it now between acting work. I’ve done it for many years and it’s something I love doing.”
How much improvisation was involved on Departures?
“Lloyd had written the script, but when it came to the shoot days we’d skim over the scene or cold read it. Then Neil and Lloyd would be like, ‘Right, we know what we’re doing and the beats we want to hit, let’s go for it.’ So we’d just run with it. Then with some scenes, like the fight scene outside the bar, Lloyd didn’t give me a script or tell me what to say at all and the whole thing was improvised.”
Jake doesn’t give too much way on the surface, but there’s a lot boiling under underneath. What was that like to play?
“On a soap, they want the emotions to be right there on the surface so everybody can see them, but what’s so beautiful about acting is trying to hide all that, like trying not to cry. When you do that, it becomes more emotionally complex and interesting because it becomes real. Most of the time, when you’re a big masculine man like Jake you don’t want to be crying in front of people. If you hold that back as the character it makes it much more moving.”
What was shooting in Amsterdam like?
“We shot everything there over one weekend and had a great time. When we arrived it started pouring with rain, but we filmed in some clubs. We were a bit skeptical about whether we’d be able to film on the streets there, but Paul Mortlock the DOP just set up his tripod in the middle of the red light district and no one said anything.”
Lastly, what’s your favourite piece of LGBTQ+ culture, or a person who identifies as LGBTQ+; someone or something that’s had an impact on you and resonated with you?
“I’m a big fan of Perfume Genius. His music is outstanding and it really touches me. I listen to him whenever I can. One of my favourite tracks by him is “Alan”. It’s beautiful.”
By James Kleinmann
Departures is now playing at New York’s IFC Center from Strand Releasing, with theatrical releases in Los Angeles and other cities to follow.
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