WHEN movie star Jack O'Connell heard his next character was from Leeds, he was quick to ask for a re-write.
That is because there are two cities the Derby County fan is reluctant to portray people from.
"Nottingham and Leeds."
You can probably guess why that is. But there is also a second reason why Jack wanted his character in '71' to be from Derby.
He said: "I am of the opinion that this region probably has been overlooked throughout cinema. You rarely see leading roles hailing from Derby itself.
"Once I realised the script allowed for it, it became a case of convincing [director] Yann Demange and the script writer, who was on my side anyway, to allow the character to be from Derby."
Having got his way, Jack also managed to get the line "Derby and Nottingham don't get on" included in the movie, which is about the 1971 conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
It was a line the 24-year-old was pleased with.
"I think that was diplomatically put," he said. "The main message there was tribalism, to have that warfare or that tribal division.
"Once it was agreed the character was from Derby, there were minor dialogue changes because what was originally a Yorkshire / Lancashire feud became a Derby / Nottingham one."
The film, released in UK cinemas last week, sees Jack play the lead role of British solider Private Gary Hook.
Following a bloody conflict between his regiment, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and local republicans in a Catholic neighbourhood, Private Hook finds himself abandoned behind enemy lines.
It is the second time this year cinema fans have seen Jack playing the lead in a brutal film; the previous one being Starred Up, which saw Jack play the role of violent prisoner Eric Love.
Speaking tonight at Derby's Quad, where he is a patron, Jack revealed he began shooting scenes for '71' just two weeks after finishing Starred Up.
He admitted the transition from one violent film to another was a difficult one.
Jack said: "I went into 71 with a more abrasive head or a more abrasive version of the character than what was necessary [as a result of having just finished Starred Up].
"And so it's a credit to Yann Demange for amending where my instinct was wrong. He was able to remind me of the lines and remind me of Gary [Hook].
"I'm always keen to distinguish between two characters that I play, but it wasn't a solo effort that time. My hat goes off to Yann."
The new film has received rave reviews, particularly for a pulsating chase that had Jack running for his life from two gunmen through the back streets of Belfast.
Jack said the sequence took three weeks to film and that it was quite tough.
He said: "The scenes were shot in Liverpool, Sheffield and Blackburn. As luck would have it that was during a freak heat wave at the beginning of the year.
"I felt really hard done by because I was layered up, I'd just spent a fortnight in Sheffield in the freezing cold, and then we turn up in Blackburn and it's hotter than the Caribbean!"
Another scene sees the cowardly point-blank shooting of a young soldier in the street. Jack, who considered joining the army before his acting career took off, admitted it made him realise how lucky he was to have the life he has.
"There was a time when being in the army was my only ambition," Jack said. "After I failed to make it in football the only feasible route was to go in the army.
"I feel very privileged that my life took a different trajectory. My respect goes through the roof for the lads on ground level. I do feel very fortunate for an array of reasons that I'm not fighting political wars."
71 is the third of four cinema releases featuring Jack in 2014.
Starred Up was followed by 300: Rise of an Empire. And at Christmas, fans will see him play the lead role in Unbroken, directed by Hollywood megastar Angelina Jolie.
Jack's rise to fame has seen him build up a huge fan base online. He has over 175,000 followers on Twitter – and several fans sites have been established and have members from all over the world.
Asked about how he felt about having teenage girls idolise him from as far as Canada, America and Australia, Jack laughed.
"It's second nature," he said. "You ought to ask the people at Saint Benedict [in Darley Abbey] about me at school. They made me feel famous. I got voted 'class clown of the year' and 'charmer of the year' – I got two awards.
"I'm not saying I was always destined for fame, but in terms of being recognised... I feel like a people person anyway.
"But you're right, [the fame] is on a global scale and I'd be lying if I didn't say it was potentially intimidating. But I've just got to elude myself from all of that and just focus on what's next work-wise."
That need to focus is why he's back in Derby. He now lives in London but admits he is "constantly searching myself for excuses to come home".
"I'm in between projects at the moment so I've got to keep focused, and coming home is in keeping with all that," he said.
"I'm incredibly proud of being from here, you know. I'm looking out on this [Market] square now and the memories are ample. I spent a lot of time here being very outgoing, so it is important to get to come home."
