Welsh twins have landed BAFTA nominations as part of the cast of a recent indie film hit. Mari and Lowri Izzard, who are 29 years old, recently starred in the 2022 comedy drama Brian and Charles, and despite being a small independent film, it has made quite the impression.
Nominated in the “Outstanding British Film” category at the prestigious BAFTA's Awards this weekend, it will be in the running alongside the likes of Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical and Living. The plot is centred around the themes of happiness, loneliness and good fun as the life of an inventor who lives a solitary existence in north Wales is turned upside down.He decides to build a robot for some companionship, and showcases both twins - Lowri as Katrina and Mari as Suki - who are the daughters of the antagonist. The pair are now also in development with Sky regarding a story based on their own lives in Bridgend growing up in a working class environment with hidden disabilities.
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This has marked an important moment for them, as they have both experienced different barriers having grown up with the same heart condition, as well as being neuro-divergent. Their idea was chosen to be part of their Sky comedy shorts for which they are still in the scriptwriting phase. As well as this, the twins have also just been commissioned by BBC Radio Wales to write their own radio pilot.
Mari said: "With Brian and Charles, it's just one of those things that sort of came out of the blue when we thought it would be this small little indie thing and it's just snowballed into something that is really treasured by a lot of people and I don't think any of us were expecting anything to come of it. That's the joy of this job because the priority was to have fun and make something that the creative team were proud of and I think they've achieved that."
Lowri added: "It was loads of fun. We filmed it for four weeks and it was just very silly the whole time. We were very lucky because it was just after one Welsh lockdown and we managed to wrap the film, and then the day we were going home another Welsh lockdown was announced so it feels like this film from the beginning has had that little spark of luck."
Looking ahead to this weekend, when the BAFTA awards will take place- although the pair are not attending the ceremony, they have been dazzled by the news that it has been recognised on a larger scale and are hoping for the best. Mari said: "I think it just shows how much people need comedy right now."
Feeling optimistic about their future projects, Lowri said: "I think it was from Brian and Charles that we realised we love working together to the point where we were like 'we should do it more'. We should write stuff together, and we love being silly so let's try and make some money from that."
The twins both went to school together at Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari in Bridgend and later Mari went to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama while Lowri took some time out to go on different gap years, experimenting with different jobs before realising acting was her true calling. It wasn't until Lowri secured the funding from the London drama school, RADA, that she became confident that her passion could be turned into a reality.
Lowri said: "I was very lost for a long time but eventually got a place at RADA, and they don't take anybody that they can't support financially. I was lucky enough to have a sponsorship for my whole four years that I was studying in London for. If I didn't have that, I would have really struggled.
"I still live in my childhood town because of financial reasons and my sister and I still work full time jobs, so there are those barriers we face being from working class backgrounds but after we realised what we wanted to do we were so stubborn that we were like we're just going to do it."
Mari, who now lives in London added: "I definitely had glimmers of moments where I didn't think it was possible to become an actress but I've always been quite headstrong with what I wanted to do with my life. It's not like I necessarily knew how I was going to achieve it but I knew I definitely wanted to be in the arts... I'm not from an artsy family and my parents work very normal jobs so it's not like I had the map to do it, but I definitely wanted to pursue something."
The pair spoke at a BAFTA-organised Q&A event at Bridgend's Odeon venue about the film's success on Sunday, February 12, and realised the reality had still not quite hit home yet for their parents. It seems that they are still getting used to their daughters' chosen career paths according to Lowri.
She said: "My mum actually said about the event 'that'll be great if anyone actually turns up'. I said, 'mum it's sold out' and she went, 'what for a film you're in?'
"So I think it's taken them a while for them to be like, they're doing ok now. But they come from very working class backgrounds so it is a different world for them."
Working in the industry, Mari and Lowri have experienced the gap which is still present in creative industries like filmmaking where diversity in the actors is lacking, and there are few people from working class backgrounds on set. Lowri recalled: "I have this really vivid memory of having to avoid the buckets which collected water from the leaky roof that was in our school.
"When I've told people I've worked with for instance about that memory, it comes as such a shock and they can't get their heads around it. That our school just didn't have the finances to get it sorted out and it was literally falling down. It's just a memory that is kind of imprinted on my mind."
When asked about what needs to change when it comes to diversifying the film industry, Mari said: "I think it's down to commissioners to commission stories about different life experiences. Lowri and I have one version of what it's like to grow up in a working class town with a heart condition, but there is a wealth of undiscovered stories from people who have their own stamp that I would be fascinated to hear about, and I know it would be the same for a lot of audiences out there too.
"I think it's about finding equity in roles rather than preaching equality. It's about the crossover of the whole industry rather than pigeonholing people. For instance, making it possible for disabled people to apply for able-bodied roles."
Lowri also said: "I do find it's like twelve steps forward, five steps back in that for every wonderful, amazing thing I've seen commissioned, I've seen another able-bodied person play a disabled character. Or I've seen people who have autism played by people without autism and it's frustrating in the sense that I know society is becoming aware of those things now, and there are exceptions to the rule, but continuing to learn is what I'm all for."
Lowri has been busy over recent months, as is also set to feature in a film which is coming out on March 10, when 'Y Sŵn' will start being shown in cinemas. She said: "It's a kind of celebration of the 40 year anniversary of S4C which is really exciting and it had a great team of people working on it."
But after discovering the joys of working together rather than alone, the twins could be ones to watch in 2023.
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