Irish writer and director Lance Daly’s latest film, Kisses, follows the story of two young runaways (Kelly O'Neill and Shane Curry) who head to Dublin to escape the drudgery of life on a housing estate. Here he speaks with View London’s Matthew Turner about misbehaving kids, his love of Bob Dylan and towing an 11-year-old from the back of a speeding car.

What's the film about, first of all, and where did the idea come from?
Lance Daly (LD): Kisses is about two kids who run away from home at Christmas and spend a night on the streets. It came to me whilst driving around the featured parts of Dublin listening to Bringing It All Back Home and remembering thoughts of running away as a kid.

Can you tell us a little about the casting process? How did you find the two leads?
LD: We went to schools all over Dublin and saw thousands of kids. We picked the worst behaved of them and made a shortlist, then brought them in for one very long and painful Saturday where we got them to read script and chat to us and generally strut their stuff.

Kelly always stood out as very beautiful and very smart, but when I realized how quick a learner she was that clinched it. She had an immediate intuitive understanding of what acting is. Shane was much more enigmatic and, like any good leading man, it took a little while for him to reveal how quick witted and charming he really was. I remember we thought he was like a Dublin River Phoenix. And he was the only one who wouldn't allow Kelly to tell him what to do, because he's a streetwise character, so they were a good match.

The film has a strong Bob Dylan influence running through it. Can you say a little about what Dylan means to both the film and to you personally?
LD: I started out explaining this but audiences have found so many layers of meaning in the Dylan references that I think it spoils it now for me to break it down. Everyone takes something different from it, so I'm keeping my mouth shut on this one! But of course there's a simple fact I can convey by repeating a line from the picture - "He’s a fuckin’ musical god!"

Was the film conceived with the black and white to colour transition in mind or was that something that developed organically? How difficult was it to both plan and achieve the various colour stages?
LD: I wrote the script with the colour changes in mind. I had learnt from the Digital Intermediate on my last film that this would be possible and hadn't really been done so I started thinking about how I could use it. And I wanted to present the film in a way that would take the audience on a similar emotional journey to that of the characters - something they would feel more than see. I also thought it would be nice to track the day to night to day and suburbs to city to suburbs with a stylistic device. It was a difficult trick to pull off, trying to anticipate how the colour stock would desaturate, etc., and we spent many months getting the gradual change to be as subtle as it ended up.

What was the most difficult scene to film?
LD: There are a few candidates for that prize! The scene where Dylan hangs onto the back of the car was tough. Towing an 11-year-old from the back of a speeding car in the rain can be problematic at the best of times. But it was Christmas week and we were using the busiest street in the city, and couldn't lock off traffic, so that was one. The final scene which is made up entirely of looks and nods and winks took a long time to get right because everything had to be so precise. And of course the big kiss was difficult because when you're on the fortieth take in a doorway at four in the morning, it gets very difficult to get two 11-year-olds who, by now, can't stand each other, to smooch like they mean it!

Do you have a favourite scene in the film? What's your lasting memory of the shoot?
LD: My favourite scene is the last scene, it's got the big emotional rise and it's the only scene I've ever done that I was completely happy with. Lasting memory - I wish I could say a week of hazy filming along the grand canal, or watching the kids blossom into great actors, but I'm still a bit traumatised by all the cold, dark nights we spent down smelly alleys!

Was anything cut out that you hated to lose?
LD: It's a rule that you always cut the scene that cost the most to shoot! We had a scene in a container yard where are these kids ganged up on Dylan and beat him up, and it took days to get them all to even stand on their marks, but in the end it had to go. And there was a hilarious scene where Kylie and Dylan sneak into Santa's grotto and get into a big fight with Santa and his elf helpers and the whole place gets trashed, but unfortunately it didn't really fit with the overall tone. I don't hate losing things though - every time you cut something good, the rest gets even better.

Which films and filmmakers have had the biggest influence on your career?
LD: Many of the usual suspects really - De Sica, Capra, Fellini, Kurosawa, Hal Ashby, David Lynch, Coppola, Altman, Sergio Leone, Malick.

What's your next project?
LD: Hard to tell. I'm working on a paranoia thriller called The Day I Tried to Live with Orlando Bloom, and I've got a script called I Scream Love about murderous jealousy between young lovers which is coming along quite well. Hopefully one of these will go soon.