It’s unfortunate that I Swear, which earned Robert Aramayo the surprise Best Actor win at the BAFTAs for star Robert Aramayo, arrives in the U.S. with a bit of infamy. The biography of Tourette Syndrome activist John Davidson became a hot button topic when Davidson, who suffers from the affliction himself, shouted a racial slur during a presentation by Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo.
Hopefully, that unfortunate baggage doesn’t weigh down I Swear‘s arrival this April from Sony Pictures Classics, because by all accounts it’s an uplifting, crowd pleasing film. Aramayo, best known for his role in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, plays Davidson, who is diagnosed with the disease at age 15, then struggles into adulthood at a time when Tourette’s is widely misunderstood.
Also in the cast are Peter Mullan, Maxine Peak, and Shirley Henderson. Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2) was both writer and director.
SYNOPSIS: Kirk Jones’ emotionally engaging, funny and compelling script charts John Davidson’s Tourette’s diagnosis at the age of 15 years old. Set within 1980s Britain, the story follows him throughout his troubled teens and early adulthood, and explores this little known and entirely misunderstood condition, along with his attempts to live a ‘normal’ life against the odds.
I Swear opens in theaters on April 24th.
