Darci was just 15 when she made her professional acting debut alongside Hollywood star Renée Zellweger
Chat with Darci Shaw who plays Cilla Black in Midas Man
Liverpool actress Darci Shaw has shared her secret to transforming into one of the city’s most famous stars. Earlier this week, a new biopic following the life, career and legacy of Beatles manager Brian Epstein was officially released on Amazon Prime.
Midas Man, set in Liverpool, sees Jacob Fortune-Lloyd star as the Liverpool visionary behind The Beatles’ meteoric rise and follows the music manager navigating a whirlwind of unprecedented fame, cultural revolution and personal demons. Written by Brigit Grant and directed by Joe Stephenson, the film is called Midas Man because “everything Brian touched turned to gold – but for other people, not for himself.”
Epstein, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 1967, played a key role in the city’s music scene and also managed artists such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black and Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Ahead of the film’s premiere at FACT Liverpool on October 29, the ECHO got to meet the cast, including the four actors portraying global superstars The Beatles and Darci Shaw, aged 22, who plays a young Cilla Black.
READ MORE: Rare coins you may have in your pocket could be worth thousandsREAD MORE: The Beatles cast of Midas Man share secret to becoming the Fab Four
This isn’t the first biopic Darci has starred in, as she was just 15 years old she made her professional acting debut alongside Hollywood superstar Renée Zellweger in Judy, a biopic about legendary singer and film star Judy Garland. The former Belvedere Academy pupil has since went on to star in Netflix series The Irregulars, as well as biographical drama The Colour Room and had a leading role in Morecambe-based crime drama The Bay.
In addition to Epstein and The Beatles, rising star Darci, from Mossley Hill, impressively transforms into Cilla Black for Midas Man to round out the initial members of Epstein’s troupe. A two-hander between Cilla and Epstein is one of the film’s standout moments as it lays bare the heartbreak that lay behind the music mogul’s unimaginable success.
While he was managing the most successful musicians in the world, Esptein’s personal life was tortured as he was forced to keep his homosexuality a secret and he suffered with addiction issues. Earlier this week in The Cavern Club on Mathew Street, Darci shared her secret to transforming into and capturing the essence of Cilla Black, as well as the “surreal” moment she learned she got the role.
Darci told the ECHO: “I got asked quite last minute to do it and I wasn’t expecting it. I felt flattered that they thought that I could do it and just excited really because Jacob’s great and I was just so eager to meet the boys as well and have any kind of interactions with them.
READ MORE: ‘Lovely’ Liverpool pub on city centre edge where ‘boss nights’ were hadREAD MORE: Life of The Beatles manager Brian Epstein as new biopic comes to Amazon Prime
“It’s a big responsibility, it’s some big shoes to fill as well. I didn’t want to overthink it – I watched loads of interviews of her and I didn’t want to impersonate her.
“She’s fabulous and fun and I was just like I need to be fun and bring that essence of camp Cilla because she’s just larger than life. I hope people from the older generations who were around at that time watch it and see parts of Liverpool that they experienced, and that’s their experience of the city at that time.
“I hope they watch it and love it – I think they will. It’s that Mersey sound and the way that they speak and I think it’s the way it looks as well that captures that time period really well.”
Darci said the secret to transforming into Cilla was to be “light-hearted” about the role and not slip into an impersonation. She said: “You can so easily do an impersonation – especially in the 80s when she was doing all the game shows.
“I had to tread carefully and do her justice in my own way and not be too on the nose.” Next year, you’ll see Darci on screen as she stars in Disney+ series A Thousand Blows, which also stars fellow scouser Stephen Graham, as well as in BBC series The City Is Ours, alongside Sean Bean.
Darci said her family are incredibly proud of her and the other projects she has on the horizon. Darci added: “I’m just lucky to have a really amazing family around me.
READ MORE: 15 old school DVDs you may own worth a small fortuneREAD MORE: Long history of iconic Liverpool tower that Radio City called home
“I don’t know where I’d be without them – that’s a huge part of my life.” Darci also joked: “It’s exciting, but also I’m never to good to unload the dishwasher – as my mum reminds me.”
Midas Man is now streaming on Amazon Prime. The biopic also stars Emily Watson, Eddie Marsan, Ed Speleers, Blake Richardson, Jonah Lees, Leo Harvey-Elledge, Campbell Wallace, Adam Lawrence and Eddie Suzy Izzard.
