Tim Roth Opens Up About Making ‘Poignant’ Film About Bereavement Months Before His Son Cormac’s Death from Cancer at Age 25

Tim Roth is opening up about dealing with grief after losing his son Cormac Roth to cancer at age 25.

While speaking to The Guardian, the actor, 64, discussed his new film Poison, which is about an estranged couple who reunite a decade after the death of their son. 

Filming on the movie — which Roth stars in as Lucas alongside Trine Dyrholm’s Edith — wrapped just a few months before Cormac’s death in October 2022, the outlet noted.

“The film was actually dealing with something which now is very, very poignant as far as our family is concerned,” Tim told the U.K. publication. “There is no one way of grieving. People react differently — everyone does — otherwise there would be a cure for it.”

In the film, the couple’s son “must be exhumed because toxins are leaking into the cemetery.” The majority of the movie was shot at a real cemetery in Luxembourg, The Guardian stated. Before reuniting, the characters had been “torn apart by bereavement.”

Tim, who lives in Los Angeles with his family, admitted he considered dropping out of the film but said that Cormac insisted that he continue filming.

“He was unfazed by me doing the film. He thought it was a good thing. He was probably wanting to get me out of the house as well,” the Planet of the Apes star told the outlet.

“It had his seal of approval, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. If he needed me to stay close, I would have been staying close,” he added. “At that point we were trying to remain positive because he was still with us.”

Discussing how the movie portrays grief, Tim said, “The film has such a truth to it because it shows that how you grieve is as individual as a fingerprint. Now with my friends and family I see that everyone is doing and handling that differently and need to be respected for it.”

The Roth family confirmed in a statement shared with PEOPLE that they “lost our beautiful boy Cormac after a courageous battle with cancer” on Oct. 16, 2022. Cormac announced in a July 2022 Instagram post that he’d been diagnosed with stage three germ cell cancer in November 2021.

“He died peacefully in the arms of his family who loved and adored him,” the Roth family’s statement continued. “He fought with incredible bravery for the past year, and maintained his wicked wit and humour to the very end.”

The family described Cormac as “a wild and electric ball of energy” whose spirit “was filled with light and goodness.”

“As wild as he was, Cormac was also the embodiment of kindness,” the statement continued. “A gentle soul who brought so much happiness and hope to those around him. The grief comes in waves, as do the tears and laughter, when we think of that beautiful boy across the 25 years and 10 months that we knew him.”

“An irrepressible and joyful and wild and wonderful child. Only recently a man,” the family shared. 

“We love him. We will carry him with us wherever we go,” they insisted, revealing that Cormac was a graduate of Bennington College in Vermont and “was an exceptionally gifted and extraordinary musician whose passion and love for making music stretched back to when his guitar was bigger than he was.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Cormac shared his final Instagram post in August 2022. In it, he urged his followers to “just sink your teeth in and remember that life is short” while thanking them for their continued support.

“You don’t always get to choose your destiny and you don’t always get to choose your future, but be an undeniable force that lives and breathes,” he said in the video post. “[Take] that thing that you claim that you love and are, and really do it. If it makes you happy, really do it.”

A U.S. release date for Poison has not yet been announced.