‘The umbrella of kindness carries on’: Rory Kinnear on death, fairness and Judi Dench

As he takes on his latest role as a northern community hero, Rory Kinnear talks about the traumatic early deaths of his father and sister – and the bittersweet joy of playing Tory MPs
Kinnear was in Burnley on a reconnaissance trip. When we meet, in a north London café that is blaring an up-tempo bossa nova playlist – an antidote to the December cold – it is to discuss his new film, Bank of Dave, in which he plays a lightly fictionalised version of Fishwick. “There was something about his tenacity of spirit and purpose,” Kinnear says, “as well as him being equally filled by rage and goodwill.” Rage at the banks, whose greed he loathed. Goodwill towards the people of Burnley, Fishwick’s people, whom he’d seen repeatedly passed over despite their promise and diligence. Fishwick’s father had worked two jobs to provide for the family. “That was Dave’s baseline,” Kinnear says. “You work really hard. But when you don’t see the benefits of that work flowing back through your community, when the success of the rest of the country doesn’t seem to trickle down, to use the phrase du jour, when you’re not treated fairly, or when you have the perception of not being treated fairly, that nobody gives a shit about you – that binds you as a community.”