‘The Outrun’ producer Jack Lowden on capturing addiction and recovery ‘on the fringes of the world’

“It sat on my shelf unread, and then lockdown happened and I read it. It’s about as simple as that really,” explains producer Jack Lowden about the memoir by Amy Liptrot that inspired the film “The Outrun.” He “fell in love” with the book and “then gave it to Saoirse [Ronan] to read — just to read — and we both sort of finished it and looked at each other and thought that this should be made into a film.” Watch our complete video interview with Lowden above.

“The Outrun” stars Ronan as Rona, a young woman recovering from alcoholism who moves back home to the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland after a tumultuous decade in London. “There’s huge pressures” in adapting someone’s true story, especially one as personal and emotional as this, but “we were very lucky that Amy, who also co-wrote the script, was involved.” However, the author also gave the filmmakers the creative freedom they needed. She “knew when to sort of get out of the way, so to speak. Everybody was like that. We all had to pivot around.”

For Lowden, “the other major character in the film is the setting, is the place, is Orkney.” Shooting there provided the filmmakers with a “cinematic” landscape and a welcoming community. “The people were fantastic. The people were very generous. Some of them are in the film. Some of them are actually quite big parts in the film. There’s a good bunch of actors on Orkney,”

Shooting on location did have its share of logistical challenges, though. “It being islands sort of limits what you can bring,” Lowden says. “Ultimately the island of Papay where most of the story happens is a very small island with a very small population. So we had to be delicate and responsible when we were there because a film crew turning up there is a big change.” Ironically, the weather was almost “too cooperative.” Director Nora Fingscheidt “wanted bad weather. We wanted to feel the isolation and the elements that can be so extreme up there on the fringes of the world.”

But recovery from addiction isn’t all isolation. What Lowden hopes the film conveys is “ultimately that there’s hope, and that people do defeat it.” And in times of need, “there are always people who will catch you. You just have to be open to it. But you also can ultimately really rely on yourself. You’re a lot stronger than you think you are.”

Lowden is also one of the stars of “Slow Horses,” which brought him a first Emmy Awards nomination earlier this year.