Jacob Tierney: the tale of the breakout director

Jacob Tierney was but a wee one when he got an early break on YTV’s long-running after-school spook fest, Are You Afraid of the Dark? Not one to rest on his laurels, the enterprising actor kept up that momentum and in 2003, showcased his fine directing chops with Twist, a gritty tale of abuse and lost youth. His follow-up, the more lighthearted The Trotsky, follows oddball Montreal teen Leon, who believes he’s the reincarnation of Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky.

Like Leon, you were a pretty political young lad. Was there a cause du jour you espoused as a student?
The referendum. But I won’t say what side.

The one issue that would still get you out in the streets chanting ‘’so, so, so, so-li-da-ri-té?’’
Besides another Writer’s Guild strike? Anything having to do with First Nation’s rights.

As a Russian art aficionado, I must ask: montage master Eisenstein or metaphysically-inclined Tarkovsky?
All Eisenstein.

Journalists of late have pegged you as an ambassador of sorts for English Montreal. In a nutshell, what is the Anglo Montrealer’s reality?
We get to complain about the weather year round in two languages. We are lucky.

Mile End or NDG?
Hampstead. For the bar scene.

Best ever English-language film set in Montreal?
Yet to have been made. But KK Downey is in the Top 5.

Twist was a pretty audacious Dickens adaptation. Any other classics you’d like to revisit?
Definitely. Expect some Dostoevsky.

Are you still afraid of the dark?
Yup. And basements. Dark basements. They’re the worst.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this interview …
I can’t remember what we used to say, but we definitely threw shit on the fire that made a noise. Fzzzzzzztzzzzz? Yeah, I call this interview fzzzzztzzzzz.

The Trotsky | In theatres May 14
thetrotskymovie.com