Interview: Raffey Cassidy on Preparing for 'High End'

Raffey Cassidy first read the script for High End on a flight from London to Dublin and finished it before landing. By the time she touched down, she knew she had to be part of it.

A Script That Trusted the Reader

"There was something in the silence of it," she explains. "Most scripts tell you exactly how to feel. This one trusted you to find your own way in."

Her preparation involved extended time in rural Ireland, a deliberate withdrawal from social media, and long conversations with director Antonia Campbell-Hughes about the nature of grief and self-erasure.

I had to unlearn the habit of performing emotion. Antonia wanted a kind of stillness I hadn't attempted before — where the camera sits with you and you don't try to fill the silence.

Working With Andrea Riseborough

Cassidy speaks with particular warmth about her scenes opposite Andrea Riseborough, whose character serves as the emotional counterweight to her own.

• Two weeks of rehearsal before any camera rolled
• Improvised scenes that never made the final cut but shaped the performances
• A shared notebook the two actresses kept throughout production

The result, those who have seen early cuts suggest, is among the most committed performances of her career. High End is expected to premiere at a major international festival later this year.