I've just read what you wrote about James and depression. I had read an interview where he told that the filming of shameless was the lowest point in his life - he wasn't sure he wanted to be an actor anymore, and was letting himself go, spending days doing nothing. He implies that's when Anne-Marie showed up and somehow they ended being together and he gained a brand new confidence (as he said "[thanks to her,] life was less scary, and I liked myself more").
Yes yes! I remember that interviewāI remember being impressed by how honest he was about his feelings, and that lovely LOVELY quote about how he knew he was in love. Whichāfirst, AWWW, but also, sheās clearly been so good for himāsomebody who believes in him, that he can lean on.
I still wouldnāt go so far as to imply that James has actually been through depressionāheās never said so, and thatās a serious topic; no assumptionsābut I also recall some of the Filth press in which he mentioned having experience with mental illness, and it was kind of ambiguous whether it was himself or someone he knewāI forget the exact wording, but I recall it was interestingly vagueābut either way, he clearly is intimately familiar with the emotions/ lack of emotions/ lack of confidence or motivation/ agonizing internal self-doubt that we associate with depression, and as heās said, heās more familiar with that than with the aggressive hyper-confident type of character. Which I find fascinating, because James in interviews these days seems so happy: making jokes, teasing co-stars, announcing that he looks fantastic in seventies fashionābut then of course you can genuinely be all of those things and still know about depression and scary things too, and he IS an actor, and a good one.
I love writing James in ficāand I love writing Michael realizing some of these things *about* James in ficābecause heās so interestingly complex and multifaceted, really. Heāll totally steal golf carts and sing Queen songs on the spot (especially along with Michael), but heās got those other more pensive layers too. Which makes him such an interesting characterāgiven the fictionalized world of RPF, which is not real life but plays with imagined alternate constructions of the ārealā, obviously.