KIN star Lloyd Cooney gets “post traumatic stress” if he visits the pub where his character was blown away in the hit crime show.
The actor played hitman Caolan Moore in the gangland drama, who met his end being blown away at point-blank range by Charlie Cox as Mikey in Frank Ryan’s Smithfield pub.
Lloyd told The Irish Sun: “It brings back post traumatic stress to me going in that pub. So I don’t go into it too often.
“Which is a shame because it’s a brilliant pub, and I often get messages from pals drinking in there saying, ‘We’re in the boozer where you got shot’.”
Time ran out for Lloyd’s gangster character Caolan after he sparked outrage with the Kinsella crime family after shooting Amanda’s teen son Jamie in the first episode.
So Lloyd, 27, rejects any suggestion that the cult show, which has become a global smash, glorifies violence.
He said: “No one deserves to be executed in a pub.
“It might look glamorous, but when you watch what happens to the characters, it never ends well for them. So Kin doesn’t glorify violence.
“I’d reject that totally.”
Lloyd, who played opposite Oscar nominee Ciaran Hinds as Eamon Cunningham in the show, admits he’s been blown away by the overseas success which was one of the most streamed shows on the BBC iPlayer and hit number one on Netflix.
He admitted: “Kin has had all these different lives. First when it aired on RTE, then a second life when it was picked up by the BBC and Netflix.
“I started getting messages from relatives in the UK who had seen it over there, and this was years after we filmed it.
“Kin is a huge thing in my family because my cousin is the actor ‘Thommas’ Kane Byrne, who played Fudge.”
Lloyd admits he has “no idea” if Kin will return but said he would love to work with Showrunner Peter McKenna again on other projects.
TAKING TO THE STAGE
Meanwhile, his next role is in the first Irish stage version of On the Waterfront in which Lloyd will play the lead character Terry Malloy.
It’s a part that was famously played by Marlon Brando in the original film, set among longshore men in New Jersey.
Lloyd said: “I never realised there were a lot of Irish elements in the script which never made the original film.
“And I was intrigued there’s never been a stage version of this done in Ireland, but I was really keen to do my own version of Terry Malloy, and not an impression of Marlon Brando in the famous film.”
AUTHENTIC MOVE
The actor also revealed how the team behind the production sought the advice of real Dublin dockers to make it more authentic.
Lloyd explained: “It’s a working class story. Growing up in the north inner city, myself and everybody involved wanted to make sure this production would resonate with local people.
“So it was great to sit down with some real dockers and get them into the rehearsal room to see what we are doing.
“It was a great meeting.”
The Irish stage premiere of Budd Schulberg’s with Stan Silverman’s On the Waterfront runs from November 1 – 16 at The Complex in Dublin’s Smithfield with previews on October 30 and 31, and is directed by The Complex’s Artistic Director, Vanessa Fielding.
Other cast members include veteran Glenroeactor Michael Collins — who plays several roles in this production — and Luke Griffin who has recently appeared in TV series The Inheritance and Clean Sweep.
