Ryan Noire | finding new truth in film

Ryan Noire has a really big passion. He glows with enthusiasm, activity and achievement for film and acting. He’s transforming a career in the military – a firefighter and engineering technician on Hunter Killer Submarines – into one of a multifaceted creative powerhouse.

“I was based in Scotland for a while and I was bored out of my mind,” says Ryan. “I got talking to someone on the train and he told me that he went to a local stunt school.”

Passion

As a keen martial artist, Ryan went along and really enjoyed it. As an upshot, when he moved back to Devon he decided to find a drama group to reignite that passion. He signed up the Theatre Royal Plymouth’s Young Company.

“Then someone put me in touch with a film company in Devon who were looking to cast actors for a short war film,” says Ryan. With his career in the military, Ryan got the role.

“From then on, I’ve just kept growing and growing my résumé,” he says. He also started his own production company to get a better understanding of the business, developed his screen acting and now is able to put actor, fight performer, producer, writer and even a one-time director on his CV.

His enthusiastic dive into the creative world has led to a National Film Academy outstanding contribution to film award nomination.

Signpost

It was not only a recognition of work done, but a signpost to the future, as it spawned some more interest in him.

“It’s quite uplifting to know that there are people out there who know who you are and what you’ve worked on,” says Ryan.

Over the 2021 Christmas period, Ryan played the Hobo in Polar Express experience at South Devon Railway. He has two films on going – The Legend Plays On, and Control Chaos – plus he’s helping get Immortium off the ground with eyes on developing a feature film next summer.

For Control Chaos, Ryan was writer, producer and one of the actors.

“The busiest time was at the start when we were getting it running and during the post-production stage,” says Ryan, who explains most of the film is in the care of ‘brilliant editor Liam Ward’, as well as composer Alex Lewis in Manchester and Sound FX designer, Gavin L. Johnson in Wales.

Team

“I’ve got a great post-production team who are working on the film. I’m being kept in the loop,” says Ryan, who is well aware of still how fresh he is in the filmmaking world. He’s a strong advocate of networking and building up these connections with companies and people and keeping those relationships going. It’s a process that began on Facebook and web chats with actors and groups of filmmakers and replying to casting calls.

“Even if I wasn’t given the audition or I didn’t get the role, they’ve stayed in touch or they pass my details on to someone else,” explains Ryan.

“You might not think you’re ready to go to these bigger directors and say give me a chance, but if they don’t know who you are, you’re not going to get them,” says Ryan. The right role might not be there straight away, but it’s the start of a conversation. Take your time, advises Ryan. “The right thing will happen at the right moment.”

To help that right moment come about, Ryan took to writing to promote his skills, which he advises others to do.

Go and wite aboutsomething you love and then play a character that you’d like to be

“Go and write about something you love and then play a character that you’d like to be,” says Ryan. “For me, a military character is second nature and I’m also a massive fan of supernatural thrillers and mystery. I often like the anti-heroes or the bad guys of stories because I think they’re interesting.”

And so Leaper was born, which became a short film, picking up an award for lead actor Simon Alison, with the possibility of becoming a feature down the line.

Self-learning

“It was a self-learning process,” says Ryan, who also picks up tips from other directors. “I work very closely with Luke Abbott from King Collins Productions.” They talk script ideas and support each other’s productions.

All this experience has “made me a much more grounded filmmaker,” says Ryan, “It also gives me a deeper appreciation as an actor to the amount of effort and hours that go into that one minute that I’m on screen.”

And it has had its rewards.

“I love it,” says Ryan. “It’s one of the most difficult jobs ever. You are sometimes your own agent, sometimes you’re your own social media expert, you’re your own accountant, you’re so many things. Being an actor is not just acting, there are so many things involved with it. But that’s why I love it.”

One of the greatest rewards from acting is nailing the takes, but on the flip side, there’s the challenge of delivering a variety of performances. With producing it’s seeing those ideas, grow, emerge and come to life.

So we ask, what’s the role of the artist in society?

Tell the truth

“To tell the truth,” says Ryan. “But you don’t have to make a statement.

“If anyone can walk away from something you’ve made, and have a rethink about themselves, or about some aspect of their life, or they found a new truth that they didn’t know before, that’s what makes art so great – the fact that we create these things that make people think.

“There’s nothing wrong with not knowing everything about yourself, especially for actors, we say that the best acting comes from truth. If you can go away and find that truth and if artists can help people find those truths, then we have done our job.”

Film projects Ryan Noire is involved with: