See Frank Dillane in student film ‘Nights’ before Fear the Walking Dead
By Nir Regev
Fear the Walking Dead’s Nick Clark, Frank Dillane, once starred in a third year student film at RADA called Nights… Let’s take a look!
Frank Dillane’s first official acting credit happened in 1997’s Welcome to Sarajevo where he played his father’s [Stephen Dillane] son. Many might not realize that Fear the Walking Dead’s lead Nick Clark was once a student at the world famous Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. All this after already starring in Harry Potter!
Just think about even wanting to go back to school after being in a major franchise like that. Well, Dillane did. He wanted to master the craft we’ve seen him perform in the last 3 seasons of Fear the Walking Dead. As a RADA student he starred in a third-year student film called Nights in 2013… Let’s take a look!
Frank Dillane in Nights Trailer, a third-year student film at RADA
First obvious things, British accent and Dillane still has his long locks of hair. You might remember that Dillane hadn’t cut his hair in 10 years prior to his now infamous haircut in season 3 of Fear the Walking Dead..
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Otherwise, it almost feels like you could switch Frank Dillane’s character Mike with Nick Clark in the trailer. Slightly unreliable yet emotionally involved particularly in the “I really like you” moment in the trailer.
One has to wonder if Fear the Walking Dead’s casting department watched this piece prior to his audition and thought… That’s it! Right there, that’s what we want for the show. Get this man on the line now, we got our lead! The rest as they say, is history.
The film written by fellow RADA graduate Kate Woods and directed by RADA graduate Edward Hicks was completed in 2013.
Frank Dillane’s Past
He first became truly known to film fans as Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2009.
Dillane would also later co-star with his father in film Papadopoulos & Sons in 2012 [filmed in 2011]. His father Frank Dillane started playing Nick Clark in Fear the Walking Dead in 2015.
Stephen Dillane had this to say about working with son Frank on Papadopoulos & Sons in 2012:
“The whole idea of being able to be there with your children after they’ve left home is… I’m sure any parent would go, my god, what a treat!
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Because you sort of think they’re gone, you know. And you never really get a chance to see your children just in the world operating. It’s just been a great, great trip. And then to actually work with him would just be good fun really”