Dublin native Barry Keoghan has confirmed he is set to star in a new movie retelling the story of BILLY THE KID. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN star will be playing the cowboy in the movie directed Bart Layton-directed film. They aim to lean into the Kid’s Irish ancestry and complicated childhood.
Ireland has 14 Oscar nominations this season! THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN earned nine nods; Irish-language film THE QUIET GIRL has earned a place among the international feature film nominees; and AN IRISH GOODBYE is a live action short film nominee. Nominations were bestowed on Paul Mescal (AFTERSUN); the cast of THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN along with “Elvis” film editor Jonathan Redmond and Richard Baneham, visual effects supervisor for AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER.
Paul Mescal has become both an Internet boyfriend and an Oscar nominee within just four years of making his cinematic debut. Mescal makes his grand blockbuster debut with the upcoming Ridley Scott GLADIATOR sequel, it’s clear he is far from a “Normal” person any longer. Plus, don’t forget a viral West End turn in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE setting the stage (literally) for multiple musical adaptations up ahead.
The reviews are in for WOMEN TALKING, starring Jessie Buckley. This important film tells the story of a community battered by rape and patriarchal ideas, as a mainly female cast debate the repercussions of the brutality meted out to them. Sarah Polley’s sober, sombre ensemble picture stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Frances McDormand, among others, as traumatised female members of a remote, patriarchal religious colony, reminding us that the world of Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE really does exist more literally than you think.
TOWN OF STRANGERS is set in the town of Gort in County Galway, perhaps best known for being the site of Coole House, the home of Lady Gregory and the Irish literary revival of Yeats, Synge, O’Casey and Shaw. None of that is mentioned, however: director Threasa O’Brien focuses on its 21st-century distinction of having Ireland’s highest percentage of migrants. O’Brien auditions for people to come and be involved in her documentary, and these “audition” scenes evolve into being the central part of the film itself: where people simply talk about their lives, where they’ve come from and what they expect of Gort.
Actress Charlene McKenna has said it was “so freeing” to take on an animated role in her latest project as she didn’t have to worry about hair and make-up. Written and directed by Italy’s Enzo d’Alo, she will co-star in A GREYHOUND OF A GIRL which will get its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, which begins on February 16. Based on the same novel as a 2012 release by Roddy Doyle, it tells the story of a young girl named Mary (12), who has a passion for cooking and is also trying to deal with the fact that her granny is dying.
Kerry Condon talks about her Oscar nomination, taking her younger brother as a date, growing up in Ireland, wanting to be an actress as a kid and going to the premiere of THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK in Dublin, giving a business card to the director as he was getting in the car, and Leonardo DiCaprio stealing a cigarette from her at the Chateau Marmont.
THE CRYING GAME star Stephen Rea will be honoured at Listowel Writer’s Week with the John B. Keane Lifetime Achievement Award. Organisers confirmed this week that the Belfast native will be presented with his award and a citation on the opening night of the popular annual literary event, which takes place from May 31 until June 4. Mr Rea’s citation will “celebrate his contribution to Irish theatre”, they organisers confirm.