East Coast Radio’s Faith Robinson chatted with We Need to Talk about Kevin male lead Ezra Miller, who plays 15-year-old Kevin.

Based on the bestselling novel by Lionel Shriver, the film We Need to Talk about Kevin featured at the Cannes Film Festival last year, is nominated for several awards, and has finally arrived in South Africa.

Ezra says it was extremely difficult to play such a disturbed character, but working with such a stellar cast made it easier.

In We Need to Talk about Kevin, Tilda Swinton (from Michael Clayton and Chronicles of Narnia) gives ‘the best performance of her life’ as Eva, the tormented mother of troubled son Kevin.

“It was incredible working [with them] on the set. More than anything because it made this process, which was really sort of a dark ethical exploration, for everyone involved, much more tolerable, much easier. And it also made it a kind of incredible learning experience for me,” says Ezra.

After Kevin snaps and commits an unthinkable crime, Eva wrestles with her feelings of accountability.

“[My character] is angry, he feels, I guess, betrayed by his mother. He feels unloved. On a deep internal level he is seeking maternal attention – but then he weaves quite a complicated scheme of justifications and ulterior motivations in an ever-mounting war between him and his mother, which leads to drastic ends,” says Ezra.

He says this psychological thriller is not for the faint hearted and audiences should be prepared.

“You should expect to be emotionally frenzied and tossed about. But then also really have an experience of incredibly viscerally demanding film making. Film making that sort of wrenches you along on its journey. It’s a very honest, very difficult, but also very rewarding rollercoaster ride.”