In WALKING WITH GHOSTS, Gabriel Byrne stands on the stage telling stories about his life, from his childhood in Dublin through to the early stages of his career as an actor, most of the stories excerpted from his literate memoir of the same title. Amateur roles leads to professional, theater to TV and film. Byrne mocks his early performances to comic effect.
Pierce Brosnan’s best-known role will forever be James Bond. For many Brosnan fans, his finest role is Sam Carmichael in 2008 ABBA-based musical MAMMA MIA! and its sequel MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN! With that massive musical experience, naturally we’ve considered the idea of Brosnan playing one of our musical icons on the big screen.
Liam Neeson has been named as the highest-grossing Irish movie star. The study by Irish casino Slotbox.com analysed box office figures for the top Irish movie stars to see who has grossed the most from their leading roles. It found that Neeson has grossed €5,913,868,915 worldwide in total across his 52 leading roles, with each film grossing €113,728,248 on average.
Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell talk about their roles in THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, which sees them reuniting with the writer/director of IN BRUGES. The duo discuss how the movie tackles the cost of creating art, as well as Ireland’s natural beauty that was used throughout the story.
Made by the great Irish studio Cartoon Saloon (SONG OF THE SEA, WOLFWALKERS), Netflix’s new animated film adaptation MY FATHER’S DRAGON, keeps that top-level plot summary, some of the characters, and the indelible design of Boris the dragon (as illustrated by the author’s stepmother, Ruth Chrisman Gannett). Boris is plump and puppyish, striped in blue and yellow, with floppy ears and little golden wings. Director Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner, The Secret of Kells) weaves a surreal little parable into something that’s more like a conventionally structured kids’ movie, but they’ve also made it more exciting and resonant. It’s a lovely film.
NORMAL PEOPLE leading man Paul Mescal stars in GOD’S CREATURES, now on Amazon Prime. A mother tells a lie for her beloved son that rips apart their family and close-knit Irish town-ultimately testing her own sense of right and wrong in this tense, atmospheric thriller.
Colm Bairéad’s THE QUIET GIRL, which is Ireland’s entry in the Best International Film Oscar race this year, has punched through the €1m ($971,000) box office ceiling in a record-breaking performance for an Irish-language feature. “We are truly humbled by the manner in which audiences in Ireland and the UK have embraced our film. To every single person who bought a ticket for The Quiet Girl and who championed the film since its release in May, we say thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” said director and writer Bairéad and producer Cleona Ní Chrualaoi of Inscéal.
Stars of 2021’s hit film BELFAST are reuniting on the big screen for an adaptation of Agatha Christie novel A HAUNTING IN VENICE. Kenneth Branagh is reprising his role as Hercule Poirot for his third outing, with Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill, both of whom were in Belfast, also joining the cast for the murder mystery. Branagh is also returning to the director’s chair, with other cast members including Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh and Kelly Reilly.