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September 30Richard Linklater has never been a filmmaker in a hurry, but his latest update on MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG shows just how far he is willing to stretch the definition of patience. The director, who began shooting the project with Paul Mescal back in 2019, says it still has a very long road ahead, and by his own estimate the finished film will take eight years longer to complete than BOYHOOD, the landmark drama that took twelve years to make and became a modern classic. The reveal came during an interview with Zurich Film Festival CEO Christian Jungen, when an audience member asked Linklater where things stood. His answer was equal parts progress report and punchline. He explained that the plan is to shoot nine sections across twenty years, with the fourth section set to begin filming in just a few months, and then signed off with a cheerful “see you in 2040.” Coming from anyone else, that might sound like a threat. From Linklater, it sounds like a promise. What makes the situation particularly amusing to him is the contrast with his earlier experiment. BOYHOOD, he pointed out, was made in near total secrecy, so nobody was waiting on updates or asking when it might arrive. This time, the stakes of visibility are entirely different. Because the project is a Stephen Sondheim musical and therefore very much in the public eye, he joked that he has to field the same question for two full decades while the film is being made. The story itself feels perfectly suited to such an unusual method. Told in reverse chronological order, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG follows Franklin Shepard, a Broadway composer who walks away from his art and his friendships to become a wealthy, cynical Hollywood producer. A tale about how time reshapes ambition and erodes the bonds we once thought unbreakable seems made for a production that will itself unfold over the better part of a lifetime, and if Linklater’s track record is any guide, the wait may well prove worthwhile. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 29The first official trailer for ELSINORE has arrived, and it’s a striking introduction to a film that has already been winning hearts on the festival circuit. Andrew Scott leads as the late actor Ian Charleson, and the footage suggests a performance of rare intensity and vulnerability. Directed by Simon Stone, whose previous work includes THE DIG, and written by Stephen Beresford of PRIDE, the film is inspired by Charleson’s remarkable life and, in particular, the extraordinary pressure he faced while preparing to play Hamlet at the National Theatre in London. The official synopsis calls it a powerful, deeply moving and inspiring true story about an actor confronting incredible odds in pursuit of the performance of his life. Early reaction from the fall festivals suggests the film delivers on that promise. Deadline’s Pete Hammond called Scott’s work “heartbreakingly great” and a “performance for the ages,” high praise that places him firmly in the awards conversation. Olivia Colman stars alongside him, and Scott also serves as a producer on the project, which speaks to just how personal this one is for him. ELSINORE screens next at the London Film Festival, before StudioCanal brings it to Irish/UK cinemas on January 29, 2027. American audiences won’t have to wait nearly as long, as Focus holds the U.S. rights and will open the film on November 20. If the trailer and the early buzz are anything to go by, this is one to mark in the calendar. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 22Television has no shortage of shows that could plausibly be called YOUTH, most of them stocked with casts in their teens and twenties chasing the chaos of early adulthood. One such show is literally titled ADULTS, its joke being that its postcollegiate characters are anything but grown up. So when HBO’s actual YOUTH arrived on September 20th, centered on a divorced fifty-year-old squeezed between a college-aged son and aging parents, you might expect a similarly ironic title. You’d be wrong. As with everything Sharon Horgan touches, and this Irish comedy powerhouse has touched plenty, from CATASTROPHE to BAD SISTERS, the wry humor in the title is a Trojan horse for something far more emotionally layered. YOUTH isn’t a joke about a woman clinging to a title that no longer fits her. It’s a sharp, genuinely funny meditation on the tug-of-war between wanting the vitality of youth and craving the hard-won comforts that only come with age. Horgan has built a career on finding the ache inside the punchline, and by every early account, YOUTH continues that streak. For Irish audiences who’ve followed her from CATASTROPHE through the acclaim of BAD SISTERS, this is another must-watch, and one more reminder that Horgan remains one of the sharpest voices working in television comedy today. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 21Siobhán McSweeney has built a career on commanding a room, and her turn as host of THE TRAITORS IRELAND puts that gift to work in one of television’s most psychologically charged formats. In this conversation, the BAFTA-winning star of DERRY GIRLS opens up about the intense dynamics that unfold when strangers are locked into a game of trust, suspicion, and deception, and about the creative process of guiding a show where every glance and pause can shift the balance of power. Hosting a series like this demands timing, instinct, and a firm grasp of tone, and McSweeney’s approach shows just how much craft goes into making the drama feel effortless for viewers at home. The conversation also turns to something bigger than the castle walls. McSweeney speaks about using her public platform to advocate for the memorialization of historical sites, a cause that reflects her long-standing commitment to social issues and to making sure difficult chapters of Irish history are remembered with dignity. It is a reminder that visibility can be more than a professional asset, and that a celebrated television career can also become a powerful tool for keeping important stories in the public conversation. From the theatrical tension of THE TRAITORS IRELAND to the moral weight of remembrance, this is a wide-ranging look at an artist whose work on and off screen carries real purpose. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 19Few actors carry a filmography as vast as Liam Neeson’s, which is why a sit-down on THE LATE LATE SHOW feels less like a routine chat-show slot and more like a guided walk through cinema history. Across a career that stretches over a hundred films, Neeson has been the grieving father, the reluctant hero, the quiet moral centre of stories that mattered. Watching him look back on all of it, with the ease of a man who has nothing left to prove, is a reminder of just how much ground he has covered. What makes the conversation land is how personal it gets. Rather than reciting a highlights reel, Neeson reaches for the roles that mean the most to him, the ones that stayed with him long after the cameras stopped rolling. Anyone who knows his work will feel the weight of that. It is hard to think of him without thinking of SCHINDLER’S LIST or MICHAEL COLLINS, performances rooted in real history and real loss, where the stakes were never just a matter of box office. He speaks about that kind of work with a reverence that suggests those projects shaped him as much as he shaped them. Then there is the surprise: the humour. For an actor whose name has become shorthand for steely intensity, thanks in no small part to TAKEN, Neeson clearly relishes the chance to be funny, and he talks about tapping into comedy with a boyish delight. It is a lovely contrast, and a fitting one, because the same instincts that make him so convincing in a tragedy, his timing, his stillness, his willingness to play it straight, are exactly what make him so effective when the joke arrives, as THE NAKED GUN proved. The gravitas is the punchline. Taken together, the interview paints a portrait of an artist who has never let one reputation define him. He can move from the sombre to the silly without losing his footing, and he does it with a warmth that makes the long road behind him feel earned. If you have ever wondered what keeps a performer of his stature going after so many years and so many films, this is a conversation worth your time. It is part reflection, part celebration, and entirely Neeson. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 17Caitríona Balfe has never needed a reminder to fly the flag for Irish talent, and this week in Toronto she did it again. The Monaghan-born Outlander star turned up at the Toronto International Film Festival for the premiere of TENZING, a biographical drama that revisits one of the twentieth century’s great human achievements: the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. The film tells the story of Tenzing Norgay, played by Phuntsok, a Himalayan climber whose skill and determination have long been overshadowed in the popular telling of that expedition, which paired him with New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, played here by Hiddleston. Encouraged by his wife Dawa, played by Lhamo, Tenzing finds an unexpected ally in expedition secretary Jill Henderson, the role taken on by Balfe, and together they make the case to Colonel John Hunt, played by Dafoe, that Tenzing deserves a place on the British climbing team as an equal rather than a guide serving it from the margins. That argument sits at the heart of TENZING’s tension, since where the Western climbers speak of “Everest” as a summit to be conquered, Tenzing holds “Chomolungma” as a sacred mother goddess, a mountain to be honoured rather than claimed. The film traces the expedition through that clash of worldviews as much as through the physical dangers of the climb itself, weaving in the frictions of class, background and ambition that shadow the team even as they ascend together. Yet somewhere above the clouds, those distinctions of empire and rank begin to fall away, leaving two outsiders who find in each other a rare mutual trust, and leaving Tenzing, at last, at the summit of both a lifelong dream and a spiritual calling. For Balfe, whose career has carried her across continents and franchises, the trip to TIFF for TENZING was another quiet showcase of Irish talent taking its place on the world stage. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 16There’s something quietly disarming about watching Saoirse Ronan step away from the usual press junket noise and into a park with a mug of tea in hand. That’s the premise of A MUG OF LIFE, the BBC Breakfast segment that trades red-carpet small talk for something slower and more honest, as Ronan reflects on personal transitions, her enduring pull toward songwriting and storytelling, and the value of staying present in a noisy world. Four Oscar nominations into a career that started in childhood, she talks with the ease of someone who has made peace with not having all the answers, tracing her happiest moments back to nature rather than the industry around her. That same appetite for risk shows up in BAD APPLES, landing in UK cinemas September 18. Directed by Jonatan Etzler, the dark comedy casts Ronan as Maria, an idealistic Somerset primary school teacher who, after one disastrous encounter with her most disruptive pupil, ends up locking the boy in her basement. Critics are split in the best way: TIME OUT gave it four stars and called Ronan the best thing in it, Sight & Sound praised its wicked suggestion that the real rot sits with the adults, and Letterboxd reviewers have hailed it as a radical, fearless turn for her. Others were cooler, with VARIETY noting the premise makes for tricky commercial footing and THE SCOTSMAN arguing the satire gets dulled by how far the plot strays from reality. Together, the two make a striking contrast, one Ronan calmly sipping tea and reflecting on stillness, the other locking a ten-year-old in a basement. Either way, it’s a reminder of just how wide her range continues to stretch. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 15There are stories an actor takes on, and then there are stories that take hold of an actor. For Liam Neeson, the Tuam mother and baby home scandal was the latter, and it left him so shaken that, for the first time in his career, he stepped behind the camera as a producer to make sure the world couldn’t look away from it. The 74-year-old Irish star has now opened up about the moment everything changed for him: reading a 2017 New York Times investigation into St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway. Written by Dan Barry, the piece drew on the painstaking research of local historian Catherine Corless, who uncovered evidence that almost 800 infants and children had been buried in unmarked graves and a disused sewage tank on the grounds, victims of the Catholic nuns who ran the home from the 1920s through the 1960s. Neeson, raised Catholic and once an altar boy, didn’t mince words about his reaction. Speaking to Variety nearly a decade after first reading the article, he described feeling “a growing rage, an embarrassment,” admitting he was “staggered” by what he learned. That anger crystallized into purpose. As he put it, it was the first time in his professional life he thought: whatever weight his celebrity carried in the industry, he wanted this story told to as many people as possible. That resolve became THE LOST CHILDREN OF TUAM, with Neeson producing for the first time. He brought on director Frank Berry, the filmmaker behind MICHAEL INSIDE and AISHA, and cast Monica Dolan, 57, in the role of Catherine Corless. Neeson was deliberate about the tone he wanted, choosing a director who would let the story breathe rather than lean into shock, trusting that the horror of what happened would reveal itself without being forced. THE LOST CHILDREN OF TUAM had its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2026 and went on to its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13. Irish audiences will get their first chance to see it in cinemas on September 25 through Volta Pictures, with a UK release following on October 9 via Picturehouse Entertainment. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 14Could Andrew Scott make history? That question has been hanging over Telluride and Toronto ever since audiences got their first look at his towering performance in ELSINORE, Simon Stone’s new drama, which premiered at Telluride before crossing over to the Toronto International Film Festival. Scott plays Ian Charleson, a Scottish actor whose momentum has stalled in the years since CHARIOTS OF FIRE made him a name. The setting is 1989, and when Daniel Day-Lewis abruptly exits a production of HAMLET at London’s National Theatre, Charleson spots his chance to prove, once and for all, what he can do on a stage — even as AIDS is quietly destroying his body, and even as his doctor, played by Olivia Colman, warns him that pushing through the role could hasten his decline. Critics have been quick to point out how neatly the casting folds in on itself. Scott has his own history playing Hamlet in London to great acclaim, which makes watching him inhabit a man whose Hamlet becomes a final act of defiance feel less like performance and more like reckoning. At its core, ELSINORE plays like a tribute to actors themselves — to acting as a calling rather than a job, and to the nerve it takes to keep stepping into the light while your body is failing you. Buried inside that tribute is a real piece of history waiting to happen: no openly gay man has ever won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and Scott’s work here has people wondering if he could be the one to finally break that streak. The momentum around the film was on full display Saturday, September 13, when Scott walked onto the stage of the Royal Alexandra Theatre to a wave of applause for TIFF’s “In Conversation” series. Moderated by Keith Bennie, TIFF’s vice president of public programming, the conversation gave audiences a rare, extended look at both the making of ELSINORE and the arc of a career that has been building toward a moment like this one. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 13Domhnall Gleeson had the internet talking in February when Taylor Swift dropped the music video for her song “Opalite,” and the THE PAPER star had a starring role of his own. The song itself is about self-reflection and shaking off old habits, but the video takes a completely different route to get there, leaning into a retro, 1990s-style infomercial aesthetic packed with dance numbers from Gleeson and Swift. Fans of either star will find plenty to love, and when Gleeson stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on September 10, he finally explained how he landed the gig. In the video, Gleeson plays a lonely young man whose only real companion is a pet cactus, until he sprays it with a product called Opalite and Swift’s character appears in his life as if by magic. What follows is a string of dates that swing between corny and genuinely sweet, all wrapped in that same nostalgic ’90s packaging. The centerpiece of the whole video is a big dance sequence, with Gleeson and Swift matching in jumpsuits as they compete in a local dance competition. The in-video judges weren’t impressed, handing them straight zeroes, but real-world audiences felt very differently, Fallon included. He told Gleeson flat out that his dancing in the video was fantastic, delivering the compliment with a wide grin. Gleeson was quick to admit it wasn’t exactly effortless. He only found out about the dance two days beforehand, and Swift’s choreographer, Mandy, spent an entire evening drilling him on the steps the night before filming. He called it a simple routine on paper, but one that took forever to nail down, joking that nobody truly understands sadness until they’ve watched a red-headed Irishman rehearsing deep into the night. Terrifying as it was in the moment, he said, it all came together in the end. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 12Cillian Murphy is heading back into the world of PEAKY BLINDERS, though this time he’ll be working behind the camera rather than in front of it. Netflix and the BBC have confirmed a two-season sequel series set in postwar Birmingham, giving fresh life to one of British television’s most successful crime dramas nearly a decade after its original six-season run came to a close. Murphy is joining as executive producer, working alongside series creator Steven Knight to shape the next chapter of the Shelby family saga. Don’t expect to see Murphy back on screen as Tommy Shelby, though. The new series is set to center on a younger generation of the family, so his involvement this time is purely creative. Still, he’s spoken warmly about returning to the world he helped build, saying simply that it seemed Tommy Shelby wasn’t finished with him yet. It’s a line that has struck a chord with fans, many of whom have spent years wondering whether the character had truly said his last goodbye after the original series and its follow-up film. That follow-up film is PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN, the bridge between the show’s original run and this new sequel series. Set during the Second World War, it follows the Shelby family through one of the most turbulent chapters in their story, with Murphy sharing the screen alongside Barry Keoghan and Rebecca Ferguson. Critics have responded well, with the film landing a Certified Fresh score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, a strong signal that the Shelby name still carries serious weight both on the big screen and, soon, back on television. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 11MOBLAND is officially back, and Paramount+ pulled out all the stops to prove it. The streamer threw a red carpet premiere ahead of the gangster drama’s Season 2 debut on September 18, with stars Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren, and Pierce Brosnan turning out at the Odeon Luxe in London’s Leicester Square. The glitzy send-off caps a rocky road to renewal — at one point it looked like Hardy had walked away from the project entirely amid tension with writer and showrunner Butterworth, casting real doubt over whether the show would continue. But those differences have since been smoothed over, and the good news kept coming: Paramount confirmed just last week that MOBLAND has already been renewed for a third season. As for what’s ahead, Season 2 throws the Harrigan family into chaos from within, pitting them against each other as rival gangs circle their north London crime empire. Holding it all together falls to Harry, played by Hardy, who’s left walking a tightrope to keep his fracturing family from imploding just as outside threats close in. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 7The 78th Creative Arts Emmy Awards wrapped up its second ceremony this weekend at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, capping a two-night format that now serves as the lead-in to the televised Primetime Emmy Awards on September 14, airing live on NBC and Peacock. Among the night’s standout wins was A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, which took home Outstanding Stunt Performance for its episode “In the Name of the Mother.” The series, streaming on HBO Max, is produced by HBO in association with George R. R. Martin (GRRM) and Friendly Wolf Pictures, and was filmed across Northern Ireland with support from Northern Ireland Screen — a proud showcase for the region’s growing production industry. The win recognises the show’s stunt team: Zach Roberts, Gyula Tóth, Chris Cox and Jake Cox, whose work helped bring the episode’s action to life. A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS isn’t done yet either — it’s also up for Outstanding Drama Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards on September 14, giving Northern Ireland’s film community another date to watch. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 5Caitríona Balfe is having a moment, and Tatler’s October cover story makes the case that it’s really the culmination of a long, deliberate climb. The Monaghan-born actress, who spent a decade modelling for houses like Chanel and Louis Vuitton before pivoting to acting in her late twenties, has become one of the most in-demand names in British and Irish period drama, and the profile finds her reflecting on just how she got here from the character that made her a household name, Claire Fraser in OUTLANDER, through to the roles now lined up ahead. Chief among them are two heavyweight literary adaptations: she’s stepping into Jane Austen’s world as Mrs Dashwood in a new SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, and taking on Daphne du Maurier’s REBECCA, two projects that mark a clear shift toward the kind of prestige literary material that tends to define a career’s next chapter rather than extend its last one. It’s a neat throughline for a profile built around reinvention: model to actress, genre television to awards-adjacent literary drama, and, throughout, an Irish performer who keeps choosing roles that reward a steady hand over flash. Tatler frames it as a rise that’s been rising for a while, and reading the trajectory laid out here, it’s hard to disagree. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 4Michael Fassbender has spent the last decade proving himself one of sci-fi’s most reliable leading men, from his chilling dual turn as the androids David and Walter in Ridley Scott’s ALIEN prequels, PROMETHEUS and ALIEN: COVENANT, to his long, morally slippery run as Magneto across the X-Men franchise. But his newest genre outing throws all of that out the window. In Na Hong-jin’s HOPE, Fassbender ditches the human-savior archetype entirely, relying on full motion capture to become an extra-terrestrial creature terrorizing a remote South Korean village. It’s a monster role through and through, and he’s not doing it alone — real-life wife Alicia Vikander joins him as part of the invading alien family whose arrival drags the rest of the ensemble into a fight for survival. The trailers have made the stakes clear, following local police and hunters as they chase a destructive, half-glimpsed presence through a burning forest, only for the situation to flip entirely: the hunters become the hunted the moment they realize what they’ve actually woken up. What starts as a rural emergency spirals into a full cosmic-scale nightmare, with a small town caught at the center of something far bigger than itself. HOPE is set to open in US theaters on Sept. 9, 2026, and the buzz building ahead of that release is hard to ignore. Reactions out of its Cannes Film Festival premiere were rapturous, with a standing ovation and critics calling it a “spectacularly insane” blockbuster — the kind of raucously entertaining, high-octane spectacle that doesn’t come around often. Much of that praise has landed on director Na Hong-jin himself, singled out for propulsive action filmmaking and for managing to fit a sweeping cosmic conflict inside the claustrophobic dread of a small town without losing either register. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 2There’s a lump-in-the-throat quality to what Barry Keoghan has just done for Katie Taylor, and anyone who’s watched Ireland fall in love with her over the past two decades will feel it too. The BAFTA-winning star of THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, SALTBURN, PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN and TOP BOY has lent his voice to a tribute video for the woman he calls Ireland’s greatest ever athlete, arriving just days before Taylor steps into the ring for the very last time. She headlines at Croke Park this Saturday in front of 80,000 fans, live worldwide on DAZN and non-exclusively at home on RTÉ, chasing a third reign as Undisputed Super Lightweight Champion against France’s unbeaten Flora Pili, with the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine belts all on the line. Directed by Matchroom Boxing’s Alex Haines, the film traces Taylor’s journey from a girl walking into a Bray boxing gym at a time when the sport barely believed women belonged there, through Ireland, Europe and the world, to a homecoming five decades in the making — the first professional fight at Croke Park since Muhammad Ali fought there in 1972. Keoghan’s narration leans into that sense of history repeating itself, closing on the idea that Taylor’s story began at home and now, fittingly, ends there too. What makes Keoghan’s involvement land so hard isn’t just the star wattage, it’s the sincerity behind it — a fellow Dubliner and self-declared boxing fan putting his own name and craft behind hers at the exact moment she needs it most. Keoghan opens with a line that’s already being quoted across Irish sports media, about greatness rarely being found in the loudest voice, and it sets the tone for a tribute that treats Taylor less as a departing champion and more as a piece of the national story. Given how the tickets vanished in seventeen minutes flat, it’s clear the country agrees. Instagram Youtube [...]
September 1In ELSINORE, Andrew Scott takes on the role of Ian Charleson, capturing the actor as he prepared to play Hamlet while quietly living with AIDS. Charleson was also a gay actor navigating a profession where being open about his sexuality could have derailed his career — a reality Scott, who came out publicly in a 2013 interview with The Independent, feels deeply connected to. For him, the role carries a weight that goes far beyond craft. He has spent his life in the theater, and stepping into a part that Charleson and his peers would never have been offered as working actors of their era is, in his words, still profoundly moving. At the same time, Scott was determined not to let the film collapse Charleson’s story into his illness. He wanted audiences to see a man who was trying to live, not one being mourned in advance — someone full of vitality and humor who happened to accomplish something extraordinary, rather than a figure defined by his death. That instinct shaped how Scott approached the physical and emotional demands of playing Hamlet this time around too. He was adamant that the film reject any polite, tidy image of theater as a genteel pursuit capped off with a cocktail afterward. Instead, he wanted to convey just how punishing and Olympian the work really is — a truth that often goes unseen by audiences. Underscoring all of this was Scott’s own grief, having lost his mother a year or two before making the film. That loss became part of the emotional undercurrent running through the performance. ELSINORE opens in theaters on November 20. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 31Aisling Bea is well into her pregnancy while filming WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?, which makes it all the more fitting that the Kildare-born, London-based comedian and actor finds herself turning toward home and family, embarking on a kind of metaphorical journey back in time. Her episode follows the familiar formula of a genealogy series that has built its reputation on reducing celebrities to tears as they uncover Tiny Tim-esque ancestors and the indignities heaped on them, whether in the workhouse or aboard an East India Company steam packet bound for Chennai. But Bea resists the easy win of blubbing it up for the cameras, even as her trek from her aunt’s home in Laois onward to Limerick and Kerry, tracing her ancestors’ footsteps, remains unmistakably emotive throughout. Bea first made her name through stand-up comedy, and she has been candid about how her personality was shaped growing up amid what she describes as a “big gang of very vocal alpha females,” a household dynamic that took hold following the death of her father when she was still a child. On this journey around Ireland, though, she resists the urge to lean too heavily into the jokes. She does, however, find genuine humor in the image of a British camera crew trailing her across the Irish Sea so she can dig into her family’s ties to the Easter Rising and to the revival of the Irish language in Kerry. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 28Netflix has confirmed two eagerly anticipated additions to the TOP BOY universe, with JONNY BOY and JAQ officially greenlit as spin-off series expanding Ronan Bennett’s East London crime saga. The announcement marks a significant new chapter for a story that has captivated audiences with its unflinching portrayal of London’s underworld, and this time the spotlight falls squarely on two of the saga’s most compelling characters. JONNY BOY, a five-episode prequel penned by Bennett himself, sees Ali Abbasi step into the director’s chair to trace the origin story of Irish gangster Jonny McGee. Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan takes on the role, bringing his considerable talents to a character whose backstory has long intrigued fans of the original series. Keoghan also steps behind the camera as executive producer through his Wolfcub Productions banner, working alongside Des Byrne and joining forces with the show’s established creative team of Ronan Bennett, Charles Steel, Alasdair Flind, Aubrey “Drake” Graham, Adel “Future” Nur, Maverick Carter, and Jamal Henderson. The second spin-off, JAQ, shifts focus to Jacqueline, the fierce and unforgettable character brought to life by BAFTA TV Award winner Jasmine Jobson. Created and written by Ryan Calais Cameron, this six-episode series follows Jacqueline’s journey beyond the Summerhouse estate, promising to explore new dimensions of a character who became a fan favourite throughout the original run of TOP BOY. Jobson and Cameron take on executive producer duties, working in tandem with the core production team that has guided the franchise from the start. Both series are set to begin filming in 2027, though Netflix has yet to confirm official release dates. With two such distinct stories emerging from the same rich world, and with Irish talent front and centre in Barry Keoghan’s leading role, the expansion of the TOP BOY universe looks set to deliver something fresh for longtime fans and newcomers alike. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 27Nicola Coughlan is heading back to television in a big way, joining a starry cast that includes Naomi Scott, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton for Netflix’s new drama series adapting the short stories Roald Dahl wrote for adults. It’s a notable pivot for the BRIDGERTON and DERRY GIRLS star, who’s built her name on beloved ensemble comedies and is now stepping into the murkier, more adult register of Dahl’s lesser-known fiction. The project marks Netflix’s latest move deeper into the author’s world since it acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company back in 2021, following its screen ventures built around MATILDA and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. This time, though, there’s no whimsical children’s fantasy in sight. The six-part series draws from stories Dahl wrote strictly for grown-up readers, and the tone reflects that shift. According to a synopsis shared with The Hollywood Reporter, the show follows a young couple stranded in a faded seaside town who find themselves tangled up with conmen, adulterers, murderous mothers and snake charmers as they try to outrun a fate that seems already sealed. Filming is already underway in Manchester and the North West of England, having kicked off this month. Coughlan’s involvement lands amid a wave of high-profile television announcements coming out of the Edinburgh TV Festival, a lineup that also includes Barry Keoghan’s TOP BOY prequel and Kate Winslet’s THE UNHEARD, written by ADOLESCENCE’s Jack Thorne. But it’s Coughlan’s turn toward Dahl’s darker, adult-oriented storytelling that stands out as one of the more intriguing swerves of the bunch, a sign she’s keen to stretch well beyond the roles that made her a household name. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 26Kieron J. Walsh’s SKINTOWN has taken home the £50,000 Sean Connery Prize for feature filmmaking excellence at the 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival, beating out nine other feature-length world premieres in a field the festival’s own leadership called exceptionally strong. Voted on by audiences across the festival’s run, the prize crowns a story rooted firmly in Northern Irish soil: two best friends scheming to break free of small-town life against the backdrop of the 1994 ceasefire. Jack Rowan and Chris Walley lead the film, adapted from Ciaran McMenamin’s novel by McMenamin himself, who also penned the screenplay. Visit Films is handling international sales, so expect this one to travel. The short film prize told its own story of raw emotional stakes. Sindha Agha’s GRIEF ROOM won the £15,000 Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for short filmmaking excellence, a tightly wound drama about two estranged sisters forced back into each other’s orbit at their mother’s deathbed. Both awards were handed out at a ceremony at Edinburgh’s Cameo Cinema, presented by Jason Connery on behalf of The Connery Foundation, capping off a festival that ran August 13 to 19. EIFF CEO and festival director Paul Ridd reflected on the strength of this year’s lineup, saying the standard of films and filmmakers competing had been exceedingly high, and that the festival was proud to launch such terrific work into the world. He wished the filmmakers well as they carry their films, and their careers, forward, calling it a pleasure to have spent the past week among such talented people. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 25Saoirse Ronan has revealed the role she’d love to take on next, and it could bring her onto the same screen as her husband, Jack Lowden. The Irish actress, 32, has confessed that her real ambition is to play a Bond villain, and she’s not joking about it. Speaking to Empire, she said she wants her career to go darker, admitting, “I want to go dark. I said that I wanted to be a Bond villain and I’m dead serious.” She elaborated on why the idea appeals to her so much, pointing out how rare and dramatically rich a young female villain could be. As she put it, there’s something compelling about watching a woman channel pent-up anger and direct it somewhere, especially for the girls and women watching. It’s a kind of role she says she’d love to explore further. The timing of her comments is what makes them so intriguing. Earlier this month, reports surfaced that Lowden was being strongly considered for the next James Bond, fueling speculation that the couple, who welcomed their first child in late 2025, could end up sharing the screen in the franchise. If that happens, they’d become only the second real-life couple to appear opposite each other in a Bond film, following Grace Jones and Dolph Lundgren, who starred together in 1985’s A VIEW TO A KILL. Whether Ronan’s dream villain role and Lowden’s rumoured casting actually align remains to be seen, but the idea alone has given Bond fans plenty to speculate about. The next installment, the 26th in the franchise, is still untitled and will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, best known for DUNE. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 19Domhnall Gleeson continues an impressive run of form with THE INCOMER, a deft comedy with appeal for anyone who enjoyed the bucolic absurdities of FATHER TED or the Schrute farm from the US version of THE OFFICE. Gleeson plays pencil-pushing bureaucrat Daniel, arriving meekly by boat to a supposedly uninhabited Scottish island to remove two unruly inhabitants, the robust sibling pair of Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O’Rourke), who have lived away from the mainlanders for decades, keenly practicing their vigorous defence techniques in readiness for an unwelcome incursion. It’s a role that showcases Gleeson’s particular gift for gentle, put-upon decency, and writer/director Louis Paxton’s film gives him room to develop Daniel from a meek functionary into someone genuinely grappling with loneliness and isolation. As the invading mainland force become shared enemies to the trio, survivalist Callum (Emun Elliott) offers a stark contrast to Daniel’s gentle willingness to understand, while John Hannah is almost unrecognisable in his bizarre role as an aquatic sea-creature. Gleeson anchors the film’s brisk comic satire of Scottish bureaucracy and inward-looking identity with real warmth, marking THE INCOMER as another confident addition to a filmography that continues to widen in range and ambition. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 18Formula 1 has tapped Colin Farrell for its biggest marketing moment of the season, and for the actor it’s clearly a labour of love. Ahead of the 2026 season restart at Zandvoort on August 21, Formula 1 has launched FIVE LIGHTS, a new global marketing campaign featuring all 22 F1 drivers and narration from Farrell, described as a longtime racing fan. The 90-second film debuted on 16 August and builds around one of the sport’s most tension-soaked rituals. As each of the five lights illuminates, the audience is drawn deeper into the driver’s mindset, capturing the focus, anticipation and composure required to compete at the limit of human and technical performance. Farrell provides the narration, while UNKLE’s Reign, featuring Ian Brown, serves as the soundtrack. His delivery leans measured and controlled, contrasting deliberately with the intensity of the race footage, underlining the psychological pressure facing drivers before a start, describing the need for stillness amid the noise and chaos of a grid. It’s a role that suits Farrell well given how often his affection for motorsport has surfaced publicly, and F1 clearly leaned into that authenticity rather than simply hiring a recognisable voice. The campaign runs from 16 August to 13 September across social and digital platforms, and the ambition stretches well beyond a phone screen. It will also feature across six high-profile advertising locations across the United Kingdom and the United States, taking over displays at Piccadilly Circus and The Outernet in London. Stateside, it will be seen in Times Square, New York, at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip and on Sunset Boulevard, and at The Moxy in Los Angeles. The campaign was developed and produced by creative branded content agency WING, in close collaboration with Formula 1. The timing is deliberate. The campaign launches at the halfway point of another record-breaking year for Formula 1, with the sport now boasting more than 830 million fans worldwide, while the 2026 season has delivered 11 consecutive sell-out Grands Prix and six new circuit attendance records. F1 chief commercial officer Emily Prazer framed the thinking behind it simply, noting that the pre-race countdown brings anticipation, excitement and pressure together in one of the sport’s most powerful moments, and that the second half of the season called for something reflecting the emotional connection fans feel with teams and drivers every race weekend. For Farrell, it’s another example of his interests outside acting finding their way into high-profile work, and a reminder that his enthusiasm for speed and competition is no passing fascination. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 17Caitríona Balfe has joined Disney’s live-action TANGLED as Queen Arianna, Rapunzel’s long-lost mother, as the studio continues to expand the cast of its upcoming adaptation. The OUTLANDER star, a five-time Golden Globe nominee, was announced for the role alongside Elliot Cowan, who will play King Frederic, and Patrick and Hugo McPherson, who will portray the Stabbington twins. Balfe was not featured in the footage Disney presented at D23 on Friday, but the studio confirmed her casting as part of its latest wave of announcements surrounding the film. The new cast members join Teagan Croft as Rapunzel, Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider and Kathryn Hahn as Mother Gothel, with Diego Luna, known for ANDOR, also set to appear as a new character named Hawthorne. Michael Gracey is directing the live-action TANGLED from a screenplay by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and Michael Montemayor, with Disney confirming the film will arrive in cinemas on March 31, 2028. The original TANGLED, released in 2010, follows Rapunzel, a young woman with magical long hair who has spent her life confined to a tower, and whose world changes when Flynn Rider, a runaway thief, arrives and becomes entangled in her journey to discover the world beyond it and learn the truth of her identity. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 14Paramount+ has released a new trailer for the second season of MOBLAND, starring Pierce Brosnan, Tom Hardy and Helen Mirren. The action-packed preview follows Hardy’s Harry Da Souza as he works to save the Harrigan family, played by Brosnan and Mirren, along with their criminal empire, warning them that the family is in a death spiral. The trailer cuts between thrown punches, Mirren taking aim with a gun, and a later moment where she reacts to that grim assessment with a sip of wine. Da Souza warns that the family is surrounded by sharks ripe for the picking, adding that the reckoning has already begun. The second season of MOBLAND also stars Anson Boon, Mandeep Dhillon, Paddy Considine, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Jasmine Jobson, Johnny Flynn, Ophelia Lovibond, Janet McTeer, Teddie Allen, Emmett J. Scanlan and Toby Jones. According to the official synopsis, the Harrigans struggle to present a unified front as rising rivals threaten their fractured empire, forcing Da Souza, the family’s street-smart and formidable fixer, to walk a dangerous tightrope as tensions boil over. As violence spills into every corner of their lives, loyalties snap, safety proves temporary, and the battle for power leaves no room for mercy. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 13Peacock has released the official trailer for Season 2 of THE PAPER, confirming the workplace mockumentary’s return on September 9. The new season picks up with a notable development for fans invested in the show’s central will-they-won’t-they dynamic: Ned, played by Domhnall Gleeson, reveals in the trailer that he and Mare (Chelsea Frei) are officially dating, resolving one of Season 1’s most closely watched storylines. Ned has also stepped into a new role at the fictional Toledo Truth Teller, taking over as editor. Season 2 sees the newsroom staff tackling two major investigations, a mysterious fire death and the aftermath of a tornado, all while chasing bigger journalism accolades for the paper. The returning ensemble includes Sabrina Impacciatore, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Tim Key, Ramona Young, Eric Rahill, Duane Shepard Sr. and Oscar Nuñez. The trailer also introduces a run of guest stars joining the newsroom chaos, with Jon Lovitz and Lisa Gilroy featured prominently, alongside appearances from Andy Richter, Matt Braunger, Toks Olagundoye and Phil Hendrie. With Ned and Mare’s relationship now out in the open and a fresh set of stories to chase, THE PAPER’s second season looks set to expand both the personal and professional stakes for the Truth Teller team when it premieres this September. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 12Martin McDonagh has never made it a secret that Ireland runs through everything he does, and the arrival of the trailer for WILD HORSE NINE, his first feature since the towering achievement of THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, is another reminder of just how singular his voice remains in contemporary cinema. Though London-born, McDonagh is the son of Galway and Sligo parents, and that dual identity has shaped a career that swings between the bleak, blackly comic heart of the west of Ireland and the wider, equally morally tangled world beyond it. He cut his teeth as a playwright with THE LEENANE TRILOGY and THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, plays steeped in Connemara’s particular brand of savage wit and quiet devastation, before crossing into film with the Oscar-winning short SIX SHOOTER and then IN BRUGES, the 2008 debut that announced him as one of the most distinctive filmmakers of his generation. Along the way he has returned again and again to Irish soil and Irish collaborators, most unforgettably in THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, which reunited him with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson on the fictional island of Inisherin and earned nine Oscar nominations, cementing what many consider his finest work to date. WILD HORSE NINE takes him somewhere entirely new, trading the Irish countryside for Easter Island and the tense days before the 1973 Chilean coup, but the fingerprints are unmistakably his. John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell star as CIA agents Chris and Lee, dispatched from Santiago by their bureau chief MJ, played by Steve Buscemi, and as the two men wrestle with buried pasts and present conspiracies amid the island’s towering Moai statues, Chris strikes up a bond with a pair of rebellious students played by Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas that threatens to upend everything. Tom Waits and Parker Posey round out a cast that already has the makings of another McDonagh ensemble to remember, and Searchlight Pictures, once again partnering with Blueprint Pictures and Film4 as they did on BANSHEES, clearly believes they have something special on their hands ahead of the November 6th release. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 11Caitríona Balfe is set to return to television in ASCENSION, a new psychological horror thriller for Apple TV, reuniting her with the streamer for the first time since OUTLANDER concluded. The one-hour series comes from Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, produced under his overall deal with Apple, and marks a striking tonal departure for Balfe as she steps into darker, more unsettling territory. Adapted from Adam Nevill’s novel LAST DAYS, ASCENSION follows Rose, a formidable documentary filmmaker and recently divorced mother who has built a career exposing other people’s hidden truths while remaining unable to confront her own. Rose’s latest subject is the Church of Ascension, an enigmatic cult from the twentieth century whose teachings initially offer her an unexpected sense of solace and belonging. That comfort proves short-lived, however, as her investigation peels back layers of something far more sinister lurking beneath the group’s surface. The project reunites Balfe with Apple Studios and brings her into the fold with Anonymous Content, with the actress taking on executive producing duties alongside her starring role. It’s a significant next chapter for Balfe, whose seven-year run as Claire Fraser on OUTLANDER established her as one of television’s most compelling leading women, and ASCENSION positions her to bring that same intensity to a story steeped in psychological dread and unresolved grief. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 8OPPENHEIMER star Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness have expressed their delight after securing approval for their ambitious plans to revive Dingle’s Phoenix Cinema as a multi-disciplinary arts space. The artist and her Oscar-winning actor husband purchased the historic Kerry cinema in late 2024 and unveiled a redevelopment vision that retains the building’s cinematic function while dramatically expanding its creative footprint, adding a performance space, exhibition and rehearsal areas, artist studios, a bar, café, restaurant, and a redesigned courtyard. The path to approval was not straightforward. Kerry County Council initially granted planning permission, but the project’s fate was pushed into the hands of An Coimisiún Pleanála earlier this year after several third-party appeals from local residents. That hurdle has now been cleared, paving the way for the cinema’s transformation. Murphy and McGuinness share deep roots in the west Kerry Gaeltacht. The Cork-born actor’s family holidayed in the area for decades during his childhood, and he continues to spend extended periods there with his own family today. McGuinness has framed the project as an effort to reopen the venue’s doors and broaden its creative potential, restoring the Phoenix to its historic place at the heart of Dingle’s cultural life. The cinema’s story is one of resilience. Destroyed by fire in both 1921 and 1938, it was rebuilt on each occasion by the Houlihan family, whose determination gave the venue its fitting name. For more than a century before its closure during the covid pandemic, the Phoenix served as a vital social and cultural hub for the west Kerry community, hosting drama productions, concerts, and dances, and later welcoming showbands and performers including Rory Gallagher and Dana. Murphy himself has a personal connection to the venue beyond ownership, having visited in 2010 for a screening of his film PERRIER’S BOUNTY. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 7Aisling Bea is heading to Mars — well, at least in fiction. The Irish actress and BAFTA TV winner has joined the cast of STARMAN, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively revealed, marking another high-profile addition to an already stacked ensemble. Bea joins Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, known for THE WHALE and THE MUMMY, and two-time Emmy winner Jeff Daniels, familiar to audiences from DUMB AND DUMBER and THE NEWSROOM, in the cosmic sci-fi thriller currently filming in Australia. Emmy winner Josh Wakely, who created BEAT BUGS, is directing from his own original screenplay, giving the project a singular creative vision from page to screen. STARMAN follows Tom Adams, played by Fraser, an architect of the future who leads a historic expedition to Mars and finds himself at the forefront of humanity’s next great frontier. When unforeseen events leave him stranded millions of miles from Earth, his mission transforms into a desperate race against time, fuelled equally by survival instinct and love. Bea steps into the role of Julia Hanley, a defiant and magnetic Irish photographer who looks past Tom’s world-changing ambition to find the man underneath, ultimately redefining his life through love. It’s a role that should give Bea real emotional range to work with, a shift from the comedic sharpness audiences know her for and a chance to anchor the human heart of a big-swing space epic. With Fraser and Daniels already bringing serious pedigree to the production, Bea’s casting only raises the intrigue around what Wakely is building with STARMAN, and Irish audiences will have plenty of reason to watch this one closely as it takes shape in Australia. Instagram Youtube [...]
August 5Irish director Lenny Abrahamson, best known for his work on Sally Rooney’s NORMAL PEOPLE and his film ROOM, is set to direct the upcoming television show YOU ARE HERE. The show will be based on David Nicholls’ novel of the same name, with the screenplay written by him too. He has previously had novels such as ONE DAY and STARTER FOR 10 adapted for screens, both of which he also wrote the screenplay for. YOU ARE HERE follows two middle-aged divorcees, who are unexpectedly brought together on a long distance walking trail across Northern England. Here, the two find a connection where they least expected it. Nicholls explained that, “the intention with the novel was to write a close-up study of a relationship, but set against this magnificent landscape, and that’s our ambition here too.” Starring as main characters Michael and Marnie will be Matthew Macfayden and Claire Foy. Macfayden is most known for his roles in SUCCESSION and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, while Foy is known most for her roles in THE CROWN and THE MAGIC FAR AWAY TREE. The show will be filmed in the Lake District and around Manchester, with the story being set along a coastal walk from the Lake District to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire.  Irish production house Element Pictures, a Fremantle owned company, will work alongside the BBC and Starz for this adaptation. Abrahamson described the novel as “such a beautiful love story – funny, profound and ultimately deeply hopeful.” Instagram Youtube [...]
August 4Barry Keoghan is set to return to Irish storytelling with LEMONADE, an intimate indie drama that marks documentary filmmaker Kim Bartley’s narrative feature debut, and the first details and images have now arrived. Set against the backdrop of Ireland’s care system, LEMONADE is billed as a story of first loves, second chances and the power of human connection, and one striking first-look still shows Keoghan’s character Josh sitting in a car with tears in his eyes, hinting at the emotional weight the film carries. The story follows teenager Danny, played by Lewis Brophy, whose life is thrown off course by a single mistake that threatens his future. Danny unexpectedly reconnects with Josh, a former social worker who once tried to help him but whose own missteps had driven the two apart. As they find their way back to one another, Josh once again attempts to guide Danny toward manhood, and Danny comes to learn that the people who believe in you most can become family, blood ties or not. Brophy comes to LEMONADE fresh off the acclaimed Berlinale prizewinner CHRISTY, continuing a strong run for the young Irish talent. The film, shot earlier this year in Dublin, also stars Carla Tous, Eileen Walsh and Imelda May. Rachel Lysaght and Farah Abushwesha produce, with an executive producer roster that includes Bartley herself alongside Geraldine East, Niamh Fagan, Desmond Byrne, Lorcan Kavanagh, Peg Cafferty, Deepak Sikka, Mark Foligno and Sire Ramos. Keoghan also serves as an executive producer through his newly launched production company Wolfcub, whose debut feature BUTTERFLY JAM, also starring Keoghan, opened the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Speaking to Variety ahead of Cannes, Keoghan reflected on LEMONADE’s deeply personal resonance, noting the clear parallels between Danny’s story and his own upbringing as a foster child in Dublin, a connection that lends the project an unmistakable authenticity. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 30Derry-born Lisa McGee is stepping onto new turf, developing FX and 20th Television’s comedy series WILDWOOD, set against the backdrop of New Jersey’s Jersey Shore in the summer of 2000. The story follows a group of Irish college students who arrive in Wildwood with absolutely no plan for what comes next, and McGee is taking the reins as both creator and executive producer, marking her first project to step outside of Ireland and the UK entirely. For a writer whose name has become inseparable from Derry’s storytelling voice, this feels like a genuinely exciting expansion. McGee remains best known for her semi-autobiographical Channel 4 series DERRY GIRLS, which first aired in 2018 and followed a group of teenagers navigating adolescence in Northern Ireland during the 1990s. The show ran for three seasons and picked up Best Comedy honours at the BAFTAs, the International Emmys, and the Irish Film and Television Awards, cementing itself as one of the defining Irish comedies of its era. Speaking to Hot Press shortly after the DERRY GIRLS finale in 2022, McGee reflected candidly on the barriers she faced coming up as a working-class writer from Derry. She had wanted to be a playwright or screenwriter, she said, though at the time it felt like a naïve ambition given how few working-class girls had been afforded those opportunities before her. The local figures she admired, writers like Brian Friel and Frank McGuinness who captured their home place so vividly, were all men. She noted, with some relief, that things have shifted since then. McGee’s body of work extends well beyond DERRY GIRLS. She wrote an episode of the 2022 BBC series SKINT and co-created THE DECEIVED for Channel 5, LONDON RUSH for Channel 4, and RAW for RTÉ. Her most recent series, HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST, landed on Netflix this past February. Her writing credits also include episodes of Channel 4’s INDIAN SUMMERS, BBC1 and Starz’s THE WHITE QUEEN, and the BAFTA-winning BBC3 series BEING HUMAN. On the stage side, her play JUMP! was adapted into a film in 2012, and she won a Stewart Parker Award for her 2006 play GIRLS AND DOLLS. No release date has been announced yet for WILDWOOD, but with McGee’s track record of turning specific, lived-in worlds into universally beloved television, this is one to watch closely. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 29We’ve lost a national treasure. Glen Hansard, the Oscar-winning singer-songwriter and one of Dublin’s most beloved native sons, has died at the age of 56 following a motorcycle accident in the city this morning. Gardaí confirmed a single-vehicle collision on the R109 Lower Road near Strawberry Beds in Lucan, shortly before 4.30am, with emergency services arriving to find Hansard fatally injured. His management company, ATC Management, released a statement saying his family is deeply shocked and heartbroken, and has asked for privacy at this extremely difficult time. Born in Ballymun in 1970, Hansard’s story is one of the great Irish rags-to-riches tales, beginning as a teenage busker on the streets of Dublin before co-founding The Frames in 1990. As the band’s frontman, guitarist, and chief songwriter, he helped shape one of Ireland’s most enduring and emotionally raw rock acts, building a devoted following through albums like Fitzcarraldo, For the Birds, and The Cost. But it was film that carried Hansard’s name far beyond Ireland’s shores. He first appeared on screen in Alan Parker’s THE COMMITMENTS in 1991, playing guitarist Outspan Foster, a role that introduced him to audiences well outside the music world. It was ONCE, however, the 2007 Dublin-set musical drama in which he starred alongside Markéta Irglová, that cemented his legacy. The film’s soundtrack became a global phenomenon, and its centerpiece, “Falling Slowly,” earned Hansard and Irglová the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008, a moment that remains one of the most cherished in Irish cultural history. Beyond music and film, Hansard’s fingerprints are all over Irish culture. He became the original presenter of RTÉ’s celebrated music series Other Voices in 2002, helping launch what would become one of the country’s most important platforms for new artists. Just this month, he returned to Dublin for a homecoming performance at Trinity College, a show that critics called picture-perfect, staged a mere stone’s throw from where he once busked on Grafton Street. That circularity, from street corner to stadium and back again, defined a career built on authenticity and an unshakeable connection to his home city. Tonight, Ireland mourns not just a musician or an actor, but a voice that gave shape to something deeply national: the ache, humor, and resilience of ordinary Dublin life turned into art the whole world could feel. Glen Hansard leaves behind a monumental legacy on screen and stage, and a body of work that will keep finding new listeners for generations to come. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 28STARLINGS, the striking debut novel from actor-turned-author Russell Tovey (THE NIGHT MANAGER, ANGELS IN AMERICA), has arrived as an Audible original, and its two lead performers are opening up about what it took to bring the story to life. Andrew Scott (FLEABAG, SHERLOCK) and George MacKay (1917, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY) sat down for an Audible Roundtable alongside Tovey himself to talk through the emotional terrain of the project, and the conversation is as layered as the story it explores. At its centre is Donald, a forty-something aspiring drag queen carrying a lifetime of bitterness beneath the nail polish, estranged from his northern hometown ever since his father threw him out for wearing his late mother’s clothes. That fragile equilibrium is shattered when his younger brother Owen, strange and beautiful and utterly unexpected, turns up on his doorstep, forcing Donald to confront whether Owen’s arrival might pull him out of his depression, or whether he’s fated to drag his sibling down with him instead. Scott takes on Donald while MacKay plays Owen, and both actors are no strangers to emotionally charged, complex storytelling, though STARLINGS presented a different kind of challenge given its audio-only format. Across the roundtable, the trio dig into Tovey’s inspiration for the novel, the tricky business of embodying a character purely through voice rather than physical presence, and the significance of drag culture as a lens for Donald’s journey. It’s a rare glimpse into the space where page and performance meet, and a chance to hear directly from the people who shaped it. Anyone keen to experience STARLINGS for themselves can find it on Audible now. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 27Domhnall Gleeson has appeared in a number of very big-name movies. They include his General Hux in a couple of STAR WARS pics, his Bill Weasley in a couple of HARRY POTTERs, Oscar winner THE REVENANT, EX MACHINA and any number of others. But now this Irish actor has settled in with hit Peacock comedy THE PAPER, a mockumentary-style show in the tradition of THE OFFICE that shares creator Greg Daniels in common with that earlier hit. Gleeson, son of actor Brendan Gleeson, plays Ned Sampson, the new editor of a small-town Ohio newspaper called the Toledo Truth Teller, which is followed by the same documentary crew that did THE OFFICE. It has already been renewed for a second season. Gleeson joins the Deadline video series THE ACTOR’S SIDE, talking up THE PAPER and why he thinks it is the perfect fit for him, and also discussing his wildly varied and successful career. It includes numerous other projects, even a recent Taylor Swift video, and two anticipated upcoming movies including Werner Herzog’s BUCKING FASTARDS and the Sundance hit THE INCOMER. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 23Andrew Scott is heading back to TIFF, and this time he’s bringing one of the most anticipated dramas of the year with him. ELSINORE, directed by Simon Stone, has been selected for the Special Presentations programme at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival, where it will receive its Canadian premiere. The film is among the first 64 titles unveiled across the Gala and Special Presentations sections for the festival, which runs September 10 to 20. Scott stars as the late Ian Charleson, the acclaimed stage and screen actor, in a biographical drama written by Stephen Beresford. ELSINORE follows the final months of Charleson’s life as he delivers what became a legendary performance as Hamlet at London’s National Theatre, all while privately living with AIDS. It’s a role that demands both technical command and deep emotional exposure, and given Scott’s range, this feels like exactly the kind of part he was built for. Academy Award winner Olivia Colman co-stars, adding further weight to an already extraordinary cast. The ensemble surrounding Scott and Colman is stacked with talent: Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson, Monica Dolan, Juliet Stevenson, Joe Locke, Adeel Akhtar, Matthew Beard, David Dawson, Kadiff Kirwan, Dickie Beau and Peter Mullan all feature. Scott is also producing the film, a sign of how personally invested he is in bringing Charleson’s story to the screen with care and accuracy. The industry has already taken notice. Earlier this month, Focus Features acquired ELSINORE for distribution across the U.S. and several international territories, following what was described as a competitive bidding process. That kind of demand ahead of a festival premiere speaks volumes about the buzz building around this project. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 21There’s something almost quaint about wanting a horror movie to just scare you. No hidden agenda, no thesis statement lurking under the surface — just genuine, bone-deep fear. Damian Mc Carthy understands this better than most working in the genre right now. Three features in, the Irish director has built a reputation on something that sounds simple but rarely is: films that actually deliver on the promise of horror. We’ve all grown weary of certain conversations — the endless debates over what “elevated horror” even means (nothing, really), or the reflexive insistence that a film is “secretly about grief” as if horror hasn’t always trafficked in loss and mourning. What’s genuinely exhausting is watching filmmakers trade atmosphere and dread for metaphors so blunt they might as well come with subtitles explaining themselves. Mc Carthy isn’t interested in that trade-off. Yes, his films carry existential weight. But scratch the surface and you’ll find a director who simply wants to terrify his audience — and HOKUM, his newest effort, proves it. The setup could’ve been lifted from a King paperback: a jaded, grief-stricken writer travels to Ireland to spread his parents’ ashes near the hotel where they spent their honeymoon. Adam Scott plays Ohm with a terrific balance of biting sarcasm and genuine anguish, and there’s a cruel irony to the character — a man who makes his living writing fiction yet can’t bring himself to accept the impossible things happening around him. He calls it all “hokum,” a stubborn refusal that mirrors his inability to process his own history, and that same stubbornness is precisely what pulls him deeper into the hotel’s darkest corners — and his own. What makes Mc Carthy’s folk horror so unsettling isn’t just what he shows you, but how he shows it. His blocking is meticulous, and he has an uncanny sense of where a frame’s attention should land. A smirking trinket. A rabbit anchoring some unnamable TV broadcast. HOKUM holds on these images a beat too long, angles them just slightly wrong, and lets your imagination do the rest of the damage. Soon enough you’re following Ohm through corridors that stretch too far and elevators that climb somewhere they shouldn’t, into a world where witches and spirits are simply given. Scott anchors all of it beautifully — venomous, guarded, prickly as hell, but with something soft and aching underneath that never fully disappears. Mc Carthy has never hidden his debt to King, and Ohm earns his place among that lineage of writers haunted by more than just their imaginations. Before HOKUM hits theaters, Mc Carthy talks the lost art of making horror actually scary, Adam Scott’s performance, and where Ireland’s current horror renaissance is headed. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 20Saoirse Ronan is stepping behind the camera. Her directorial debut PAPER PLANE has been selected to screen at the Venice International Film Festival, where it will compete against fifteen other shorts for the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film at the 83rd edition this September. The Oscar-nominated actress also wrote the Screen Ireland-supported film, which stars Martha Malone, KIN’s Clare Dunne, and Tim Creed. Ronan, who most recently starred in and produced THE OUTRUN, spoke to Deadline back in October 2024 about her long-held ambition to direct, crediting Greta Gerwig, the filmmaker behind LITTLE WOMEN and BARBIE, for pushing her toward it. She said she’d love to do that next, explaining that Gerwig encouraged her to get properly into the preparation stage first, since that’s where the real work of directing takes shape. She also credited her time producing as a kind of crash course, noting that navigating the tough early decisions on a project gave her more confidence as a storyteller. Up next for Ronan is Jonatan Etzler’s BAD APPLES, followed by a high-profile turn as Linda McCartney in Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles biopics, where she’ll star opposite Paul Mescal’s Paul McCartney. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 19Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library is stepping into the spotlight, and this time it’s not just for its centuries of literary treasures. As the historic building undergoes its first major renovation in over three hundred years, it takes centre stage alongside three celebrated alumni in a brand new RTÉ documentary, TRINITY’S TREASURES. Oscar-nominated actor and producer Ruth Negga joins acclaimed singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy and retired senator and civil rights activist David Norris as they reconnect with the university that shaped them, sitting down with the librarians, archivists, curators and conservators who safeguard some of the most extraordinary manuscript, printed book and artefact collections in the world. Framed against the backdrop of the Old Library Redevelopment Project, the series offers a rare, intimate look at both the building’s storied past and its next chapter. The opening episode follows Ruth Negga as she returns to campus for a conversation with Trinity’s Librarian and College Archivist, Helen Shenton, digging into the university’s remarkable literature, poetry and theatre holdings and uncovering the hidden gems tucked away within them. It’s a fitting tribute to a space that has quietly shaped Irish literary life for centuries, now getting the star treatment it deserves. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 18Brenda Fricker has died at the age of 81, and Ireland has lost one of the finest actresses it ever produced. She passed away peacefully in Dublin on Thursday night after a period of ill health, and the news has landed hard across the Irish film and television community, where she was regarded not just as a brilliant performer but as a genuine national treasure. Her agent Phil Belfield said it best: we will never see her like again, and the world is lesser for the lack of her. Fricker made history in 1990 when she became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award, taking home Best Supporting Actress for her devastating performance as Christy Brown’s mother in MY LEFT FOOT, opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. It’s hard to overstate what that moment meant, both for her and for Irish cinema on the world stage. In her acceptance speech she thanked Christy Brown simply for being alive and dedicated the Oscar to his mother, joking that anybody who gives birth twenty-two times deserves one of these. That warmth and dry humour ran through everything she did. American audiences will forever know her as the Pigeon Lady in HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK, a role that introduced her to a generation who had no idea they were watching an Oscar winner. But her body of work stretched far beyond that, from her years on CASUALTY and CORONATION STREET in the UK, to A TIME TO KILL and SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER in Hollywood, to her later Irish work in VERONICA GUERIN, HOLDING and THE MIRACLE CLUB. Born in Dublin in 1945, she was honoured with the Freedom of the City earlier this year, and had recently published a candid memoir, SHE DIED YOUNG, which became an Irish bestseller. Ireland’s deputy prime minister Simon Harris called her one of the greatest exports this country has ever produced, an ambassador for Irish talent on the world stage. It’s difficult to disagree. Brenda Fricker gave Irish audiences a sense that our stories, our accents and our people could stand on the biggest stages in the world and win. Rest easy, Brenda. Thank you for everything you gave us. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 15On a remote Scottish island, two siblings have spent their entire lives keeping outsiders at bay, and now the government has sent someone straight to their shore to end that way of life for good. THE INCOMER, the feature debut from Scottish writer-director Louis Paxton, follows Isla and Sandy as an awkward council worker arrives with orders to remove them from their home, setting off a confrontation that gradually turns into something far stranger and more humane than anyone expects. As the three characters circle each other, their fears, loneliness, and the myths that bind them to the island slowly come into focus, transforming what begins as a standoff into a study of connection. THE INCOMER premiered in the NEXT section of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it took home the NEXT Innovator Award, with the jury singling out its distinctive blend of deadpan humor, animation, and myth. The film represents Paxton’s first feature after a career built on shorts spanning comedy, drama, horror, and even musicals, alongside his work as a director on the BBC One crime drama SHETLAND. That range shows in THE INCOMER’s tonal ambition, which asks its cast to hold humor and myth in the same frame without losing the emotional throughline. Domhnall Gleeson leads as Daniel, the uneasy government official tasked with reclaiming the island, while Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke play Isla and Sandy, the siblings fighting to preserve their peculiar, isolated existence. Emun Elliott, Michelle Gomez, and John Hannah complete the ensemble, with Hannah taking on the memorable role of a mythological sea creature woven into Isla’s story, adding a folkloric texture that seems to be exactly what caught the Sundance jury’s attention. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 13Sam Neill, the actor whose easy charisma and understated screen presence carried him from the art houses of New Zealand and Australia to the biggest blockbuster in movie history, has died at 78. His family announced the loss as sudden and unexpected, noting that he had remained free of the blood cancer he’d battled for several years. Born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Omagh, County Tyrone, in September 1947, he moved with his family to New Zealand as a young child and was raised in Dunedin. He adopted the name “Sam” at school, reportedly to avoid standing out among a crowd of Nigels, and found his way to acting almost by accident while studying at the University of Canterbury. Neill first drew international attention in Gillian Armstrong’s 1979 film MY BRILLIANT CAREER, which also launched Judy Davis’s career, arriving amid a wave of Australian and New Zealand talent that reshaped world cinema. He went on to work with some of the era’s most acclaimed directors, starring twice opposite Meryl Streep for Fred Schepisi, in PLENTY and A CRY IN THE DARK, and appearing alongside a then-unknown Nicole Kidman in Phillip Noyce’s thriller DEAD CALM. But it was a role as a paleontologist that made him a household name. His portrayal of Dr. Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 JURASSIC PARK brought him worldwide fame, a character he would return to across multiple sequels over three decades. That same year, he played opposite Holly Hunter in Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning THE PIANO. His range extended across genre and medium: a haunted investigator in John Carpenter’s IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, a Soviet submariner in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, and later television work including PEAKY BLINDERS, THE TUDORS, and Apple TV+’s INVASION. His performance as the title wizard in NBC’s 1998 miniseries MERLIN earned him one of two Emmy nominations, alongside three Golden Globe nominations. He had, by his own reckoning, over 150 screen credits. Off screen, Neill split his life between acting and winemaking. In 1983 he bought land in Central Otago and launched his Two Paddocks vineyard, calling it half his life and a source of deep reward. He was famously reluctant to embrace celebrity, preferring life on his New Zealand farm, where he was known for posting photos of animals given the names of friends and colleagues. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1991 and was knighted by New Zealand in 2022. Diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2023, he wrote his memoir during treatment and spoke candidly about facing mortality with characteristic wit rather than fear. He is survived by his family, who described him as passing “with the dignity that has characterised his whole life.” Instagram Youtube [...]
July 12THE FIX brings Liam Neeson back to the action thriller genre this year, arriving in cinemas with a fresh title after previously being known as HOTEL TEHRAN. Co-starring Zachary Levi and Quincy Isaiah, the film is confirmed for release on 11 September 2026, promising audiences a tense, high-stakes ride set against the backdrop of Iran. Directed by Guy Moshe, who also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Mark Bacci and Ron Hutchinson, THE FIX follows Neeson’s character Larry and Levi’s character Tucker as they reunite with a team of former CIA operators for one last shot at redemption. Their mission takes them into the heart of Tehran, where they attempt a daring rescue that could finally atone for a mission gone wrong in Afghanistan. The film’s stakes are personal as much as they are dangerous, with the weight of past failure driving every decision these operatives make as they navigate hostile territory. Rounding out the ensemble is a strong supporting cast including Wes Chatham, Jake Choi, Augusto Aguilera, Navid Negahban, Elnaaz Norouzi, Grant Harvey, Lara Wolf, Annet Mahendru and Titus Welliver, lending depth and texture to what promises to be one of the more gripping entries in Neeson’s long run of action-driven roles. With its title change now locked in and a confirmed release date on the calendar, THE FIX looks set to deliver the kind of tightly wound, mission-driven tension that fans of this genre have come to expect. [...]
July 11Paramount+ has finally put an end to weeks of speculation by confirming the return date for MOBLAND Season 2, and while Tom Hardy’s on-again, off-again status with the show has dominated headlines, it’s Pierce Brosnan’s continued presence alongside Hardy and Helen Mirren that gives the series its real weight heading into the new run. MOBLAND Season 2 arrives on the streamer on Friday, September 18, bringing Brosnan back into the fold of a crime drama that has increasingly leaned on his gravitas to anchor its ensemble. Paramount+ also dropped a teaser for the new season, offering a glimpse of Hardy’s crime family fixer Harry Da Souza thrown straight back into the chaos, with Brosnan’s presence looming large over the fractured family dynamics that make the show tick. The trailer opens with Da Souza admitting, “This hasn’t exactly been a wonderful 24 hours for me, yeah?” before noting he’s under considerable strain, a line that echoes the very real turbulence that surrounded the production behind the scenes. That turbulence began in late May, when reports surfaced that Hardy would not be returning for a MOBLAND third season, following on-set friction with executive producer Jez Butterworth, 101 Studios, and others involved in the production. Throughout that uncertainty, Brosnan’s involvement in the world of MOBLAND remained one of the steadying elements of the show’s future, a reminder of why his casting was considered such a coup in the first place. By late June, the storm had passed. Hardy was confirmed to be returning for MOBLAND Season 3 after meeting with Butterworth and executive producer David Glasser in London, a sit-down that reportedly resolved the underlying issues and cleared the path for his comeback. With that resolved, all eyes now turn to September, when Brosnan, Hardy, and Mirren reunite on screen for what promises to be one of the streamer’s biggest returns of the fall. For a show built on family loyalty and betrayal, there’s something fitting about Brosnan holding steady at its center while the drama around him plays out both on screen and off Instagram Youtube [...]
July 10Saoirse Ronan is back on our screens in a way we haven’t quite seen before, headlining the darkly comic thriller BAD APPLES for Paramount Pictures, and the first trailer has just landed. Directed by Jonatan Etzler, BAD APPLES finds the Academy Award nominee playing Maria, a primary school teacher who pours everything she has into her class of ten-year-olds, only to be pushed to her limit by one relentlessly disruptive pupil. When the child’s behaviour spirals out of control, Maria makes a split-second decision she can never take back, accidentally bringing the boy home with her and locking him inside her house. What starts as a moment of panic quickly spirals into something far messier as she scrambles to undo the damage before anyone notices. The twist, though, is where BAD APPLES really sinks its teeth in. With the troublesome student suddenly gone, the classroom transforms. Grades improve, morale lifts, parents and staff alike start celebrating what looks like a miraculous turnaround, and Maria finds herself trapped in an impossible bind of her own making, unable to confess without unravelling everything. It’s a premise that promises equal parts comedy and moral unease, anchored by Ronan in a role that looks set to showcase her range for tension and dark humour in the same breath. She’s joined by a strong supporting cast including Eddie Waller, Nia Brown, Jacob Anderson, Rakie Ayola, Robert Emms, and Sean Gilder, rounding out what shapes up to be one of the more original comedic thrillers on the horizon. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 9Buzz has been building fast around ELSINORE, the Simon Stone-directed drama that’s quickly become one of the most talked-about titles heading into fall awards season. Word first broke last week that the film had ignited a bidding war among distributors, with every major fall festival reportedly keeping close tabs on it. Now Variety confirms the next chapter: Focus Features has acquired ELSINORE for the U.S. and a swath of international territories, setting the stage for a fall release built around a full awards campaign. Sources tell Variety that programmers at Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York are all circling the title, though where exactly it will make its premiere is still being sorted out. The real headline, though, might be Andrew Scott. According to Variety’s sources and several industry executives, Scott isn’t just in the Best Actor conversation, he’s being talked about as the current frontrunner, putting him on a collision course with Tom Cruise, who’s chasing his first Oscar nomination for DIGGER. Scott plays acclaimed British actor Ian Charleson, known for CHARIOTS OF FIRE, with ELSINORE zeroing in on the final years of Charleson’s life and his now-legendary 1989 stage performance in HAMLET, delivered while he was seriously ill with AIDS. It’s the kind of role that tends to draw awards attention, and if the buzz holds, this could be the performance that finally gets Scott his overdue recognition. He’s not carrying the film alone either. ELSINORE also stars Olivia Colman, Johnny Flynn, Joe Locke, and Billy Piper, with Piper in particular drawing praise for her work. Between the ensemble and the subject matter, the film is already being floated as a likely multi-category Oscar nominee and a possible Best Picture contender, though with the festival lineup still unconfirmed, it’s early days yet. Still, all signs point to ELSINORE being one of the titles to watch as the season takes shape. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 8Jessie Buckley is having the kind of year most actors only dream of, and it isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Fresh off her first Oscar win for her role in HAMNET (a victory that felt richly deserved to anyone who’s followed her work), Buckley is already back at it, and the good news is we won’t have long to wait to see the results. She’s just wrapped filming on a new project alongside fellow Irish talent Saoirse Ronan, with the pair set to play sisters in the upcoming film THE THREE INCESTUOUS SISTERS. Joining them is Dakota Johnson, rounding out a trio that began shooting together back in April amid the Italian sunshine. The ensemble doesn’t stop there, with Josh O’Connor and Mick Jagger also part of the cast. THE THREE INCESTUOUS SISTERS is adapted from Audrey Niffenegger’s 2005 novel of the same name, and if the source material is any indication, audiences are in for something suitably gothic and dramatic. The story follows three sisters, Ophile, Clothilde, and Bettine, who share a house by the sea, their quiet lives upended when a violent storm kills their neighbour, the local lighthouse keeper. When his son Paris arrives to take over the lighthouse duties, both Ophile and Bettine fall for him, though it’s Bettine whose feelings are returned. What follows is a tangle of rivalry, an unusual birth, and a cascade of consequences that leads, eventually, to both tragedy and reconciliation. No release date has been confirmed just yet for THE THREE INCESTUOUS SISTERS, but with a cast this stacked and a story this strange and compelling, it’s easily one to keep an eye on. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 7The wait is over. The question that’s been looming since Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne first locked eyes with that scarred, unsettling figure in Arkham has finally been answered, as Barry Keoghan is officially set to return as the Joker in Matt Reeves’ THE BATMAN: PART 2. Keoghan’s original appearance in THE BATMAN was brief but unforgettable, showing up as an unnamed Arkham State Hospital prisoner whose grotesquely scarred face and menacing rapport with Pattinson’s Batman left audiences absolutely certain they were witnessing the early formation of something genuinely dangerous. Reeves himself described the character at the time as a “pre-Joker Joker,” a deliberately incomplete figure not yet the fully-formed villain audiences know, which made the prospect of a sequel appearance all the more loaded with possibility. Keoghan won’t be the only formidable new addition to the villain lineup either. Sebastian Stan has been reported in a casting detailed enough to point toward him playing Harvey Dent, the Gotham district attorney whose descent becomes Two-Face, setting up what could be a significant arc across this chapter and beyond. Scarlett Johansson, making a notable leap from Marvel to the DC universe, has also been reported as joining the film in a mystery role, with speculation swirling around a character who functions as both villain and love interest. With Keoghan now confirmed, the central question hanging over this Gotham chapter is no longer whether the Joker will appear, but how fully Reeves intends to unleash him, and what that unleashing looks like inside his grimy, grounded vision of the city. Instagram Youtube [...]
July 4There’s a quiet thread running through Paul Mescal’s career that often gets overshadowed by the acclaim for his acting, and that’s music. Long before he was an Oscar nominee, Mescal was the kid recording himself singing at the piano, and that instinct never really left him. It surfaced early and unexpectedly in NORMAL PEOPLE, when the show’s soundtrack and Connell’s silver chain became cultural artefacts in their own right, so much so that Mescal auctioned off the actual chain to raise funds for the suicide prevention charity Pieta. Around the same period he even took part in a virtual gig with fellow Irish talent Dermot Kennedy, a small but telling sign of where his interests lay outside scripts. Not long after, he popped up in THE ROLLING STONES’ music video for “Scarlet,” a brief but very real brush with rock royalty that hinted at bigger things to come. His relationship with singer Phoebe Bridgers deepened that connection further. Mescal appeared in her music video for “Savior Complex” and lent backing vocals to her cover of “So Much Wine,” small contributions, but ones that placed him properly inside a musician’s world rather than just adjacent to it. Then came CARMEN, the loose, dance-driven reimagining of Bizet’s opera, where Mescal played a border patrol officer swept into a story built on rhythm and movement as much as dialogue. Critics singled out his physicality and his singing, a clear signal that this wasn’t just a novelty for him but a genuine skill he’d been quietly building. That groundwork paid off properly with THE HISTORY OF SOUND, in which Mescal and Josh O’Connor play two young music students turned folk song collectors, falling for each other while recording disappearing Americana across wartime New England and Maine. It’s as close to a full immersion in musicianship as Mescal has come, and by all accounts he embraced the folk tradition at the heart of the film wholeheartedly. Around the same time, he joined Richard Linklater’s extraordinary, decades-long production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, stepping into the musical’s lead role of composer Franklin Shepard, complete with singing and dancing, a project unlike anything else in his filmography given its twenty-year shooting timeline. All of which sets the stage for what’s arguably the most significant music-adjacent role of his career: playing Sir Paul McCartney in Sam Mendes’s four-part Beatles anthology. Mescal has confirmed he’ll do his own singing for the role, and has spoken about how deeply the preparation has affected him personally, describing it as something that’s lit a fire under his own songwriting and reshaped how he listens to music altogether. He’s met McCartney himself on two occasions and has talked with real warmth about the experience. It’s a full-circle moment for an actor whose relationship with music has quietly deepened with almost every role he’s taken, and it’s hard not to wonder whether Mescal the musician might end up being just as interesting a story as Mescal the actor. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 30Netflix is heading to Ireland next month for the start of production on BAD BRIDGETS, a new film bringing together a striking lineup of Irish acting talent and behind-the-scenes professionals. The story follows two sisters who flee an abusive father, poverty, and hunger, undertaking a perilous journey to the United States in search of a better life. Once they arrive in New York, they fall in with a group of fellow Irish women known as the “Bridgets,” whose escapades stir up plenty of chaos across the city. The cast announced so far is a true showcase of Irish screen talent, with Colin Farrell, Domhnall Gleeson, Niamh Algar, Alison Oliver, and Simone Kirby all set to star. Among them is Mullingar native Niamh Algar, recognised for her gripping work in the crime drama CALM WITH HORSES and Channel 4’s THE VIRTUES. Filming will take place on location across Northern Ireland and Ireland starting in mid-July. Behind the camera is Rich Peppiatt, who directs, writes, and produces the project. Peppiatt is no stranger to acclaim, having taken home a Bafta last year in the Outstanding Debut category for his film KNEECAP. BAD BRIDGETS was developed with support from Queen’s University Belfast and is being produced with backing from Northern Ireland Screen, drawing its inspiration from the literary works of “Bad Bridget” by Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 29Northern Irish actor Louis McCartney has been cast as Ringo Starr in HAMBURG DAYS, the upcoming BBC drama that will chronicle The Beatles’ formative years in Germany. McCartney, who hails from Helen’s Bay in County Down, is best known to theatre audiences for his acclaimed portrayal of Henry Creel in the West End and Broadway productions of STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW, and his casting marks another significant milestone for Irish talent on the international stage. The six-part series takes audiences back to the early 1960s, when four young musicians from Liverpool were honing their craft in the clubs and bars of Hamburg — years before they would become the most iconic band in music history. It is a story of ambition, raw energy, and the making of a legend, and the BBC is assembling a cast worthy of the material. Joining McCartney is Asa Butterfield, best known for SEX EDUCATION, who will take on the pivotal role of Brian Epstein, the visionary manager who discovered The Beatles in 1961 and guided their rise until his untimely death in 1967. Jonny Lee Miller, whose career-defining turn in TRAINSPOTTING remains one of British cinema’s most enduring performances, will play Jim McCartney, Paul’s father, while Christine Tremarco, who recently drew widespread praise for her work in ADOLESCENCE, will portray Mimi Smith, the aunt and guardian who raised John Lennon. With a compelling ensemble and a story at the very heart of modern music history, HAMBURG DAYS is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated BBC dramas in recent memory. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 25Caitríona Balfe is back in corsets — and we are absolutely here for it. Focus Features and Working Title are bringing a fresh, irresistible new adaptation of Jane Austen’s debut novel to the screen, and the first official poster has just dropped. Balfe herself shared it on Instagram, writing that she is proud to be part of this beautiful new adaptation and praising director Georgia Oakley for creating what she called a truly sumptuous film. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY tells the story of the three Dashwood sisters — Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret — and their widowed mother, who are forced to abandon the family estate following the death of their father. Denied their rightful inheritance by a half-brother unwilling to share, the family retreats to a modest cottage in Devon, where the two eldest daughters navigate the pleasures and heartbreaks of love. Balfe takes on the role of Mrs. Dashwood, mother to Elinor, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Marianne, played by Esmé Creed-Miles — a casting that already feels like something special. Balfe has spoken warmly about the experience, telling Parade that filming has been incredible and that she believes it is going to be really special. There’s also a quietly poignant note to her involvement: after years of stepping away from OUTLANDER for projects like THE CUT before always returning to the series, she reflected that this is the first time there is no going back — and that the difference is both palpable and exciting. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY opens in theatres on October 16. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 24Very few actors command the screen quite like Brendan Gleeson. Over the course of an acclaimed career spanning film, television, and theatre, Gleeson has built an extraordinary body of work that includes some of the most memorable performances of his generation — from THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN and IN BRUGES to GANGS OF NEW YORK and the HARRY POTTER franchise. Now, the iconic Irish actor makes a bold entrance into the Marvel universe, taking on the role of notorious crime boss Silvermane in the Prime Video series SPIDER-NOIR. Starring Nicolas Cage alongside Gleeson and Lamorne Morris, SPIDER-NOIR reimagines the Spider-Man mythology through the lens of classic noir storytelling, blending superhero spectacle with the brooding, atmospheric grit of 1930s New York. The series marks Cage’s first leading role in a television series and delivers a visually stunning world unlike anything Marvel has offered audiences before. In a recent conversation with Awards Buzz, Gleeson opened up about attending the show’s New York premiere, what it was like collaborating with Cage on set, how he approached the complex figure of Silvermane through a noir perspective, and why SPIDER-NOIR represents something genuinely new and exciting within the Marvel landscape. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 23Nicola Coughlan and Joe Cole have been photographed together for the first time on set in I AM HELEN, the latest instalment in Dominic Savage’s acclaimed I AM series for Channel 4. The images give us an early glimpse of the two actors in character, seated on a bed in what appears to be a tense, heated exchange between a couple — though Cole’s role officially remains under wraps for now. Coughlan, best known internationally for BRIDGERTON, developed the story alongside Savage, who once again serves as writer and director on the project. Award-winning Me+You Productions returns as producer. The synopsis describes a drama told through a female lens, one that examines the pressures and expectations placed on women while confronting the realities of toxic masculinity and the damage it can cause in modern relationships — territory that feels both timely and personal to the series’ broader ambitions. I AM HELEN marks a first in the show’s history, stretching its story across two episodes rather than the single-episode format that has defined previous instalments. The series has built a remarkable track record since its debut, with Vicky McClure, Samantha Morton, Gemma Chan, Suranne Jones, Letitia Wright and Lesley Manville each having taken the lead in earlier episodes. The most recent entry, I AM RUTH, starred Kate Winslet and aired in 2022 to widespread acclaim. Both episodes of I AM HELEN are set to air on Channel 4 later this year. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 22The sleeper hit of 2026 has officially made the leap from cinema to your living room, and it wasted no time making an impression. PRESSURE, the gripping WWII drama-thriller directed by Anthony Maras, arrived on PVOD on June 16th and almost immediately emerged as one of the most popular titles on home video. The film hit theatres in the United States on May 29th, and while it never quite secured the kind of wide nationwide release enjoyed by tentpole titles, it made every screen count. It grossed over $15 million at the box office, surpassing the domestic runs of older WWII titles such as NUREMBERG and LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, and generating the kind of genuine word-of-mouth awareness that money simply cannot buy. The film stars Andrew Scott as RAF Group Captain James Stagg and Brendan Fraser as General Dwight D. Eisenhower, unfolding across the tense 72 hours before D-Day as the two men face an impossible decision — launch the largest seaborne invasion in history, or risk losing the war altogether. The ensemble is rounded out by Kerry Condon, Damian Lewis, and Chris Messina, but it is Scott’s performance that has drawn the most attention, and rightly so. PRESSURE holds an 86% critics score and a remarkable 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site’s consensus noting that the film finds a fresh angle on one of the most dramatised days in military history, with Scott’s simmering performance at its thrilling core. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 20Great news for fans of the show that has become one of Disney+’s most talked-about period comedies — RIVALS is officially coming back for a third season. Disney+ has confirmed the renewal ahead of the second volume of RIVALS’ sophomore season, which doesn’t arrive until November. It’s a vote of confidence that speaks volumes, and given the jaw-dropping twists already delivered in the first volume of season two, the excitement building around this show is entirely justified. For the uninitiated, RIVALS is based on Jilly Cooper’s beloved Rutshire Chronicles, brought to life by a stellar ensemble that includes David Tennant, Aidan Turner and Danny Dyer in a world of scandal, seduction and spectacular bad behaviour. If season two has already raised the temperature considerably, the official logline for season three promises things are about to get even more combustible. As the dust settles on the shocking revelations of the current run, stakes will be higher, alliances more fragile, and nothing — absolutely nothing — will stay buried for long. New romances, rekindled old flames and secrets that demand to be spilled are all on the way, pushing everyone’s favourite rivalries to an entirely new level. Production company Happy Prince welcomed the news warmly, expressing both delight and some tenderness in the same breath. The renewal comes with a bittersweet note — Jilly Cooper passed away before she could witness the extraordinary audience response to season two. Her collaborators were quick to honour her memory, noting that she remains very much present in spirit, and that she would have been thrilled to see her world carry on. They also promised to dive deeper into her work as the series continues. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 19Paul Mescal’s rise from sausage adverts to Oscar nominee is one of the most remarkable stories in recent cinema, and right now one of his most beloved films is available to stream on Netflix. Born in Dublin, Mescal burst onto screens in 2020 with his breakthrough role in the BBC drama NORMAL PEOPLE, a pandemic-era sensation that saw audiences fall helplessly in love with his and Daisy Edgar-Jones’ devastating romance, adapted from Sally Rooney’s novel. But it’s his work in AFTERSUN that has left viewers shattered in the best possible way, with fans consistently calling it one of the saddest films ever made. Directed by Charlotte Wells in a stunning feature debut, AFTERSUN casts Mescal alongside the remarkable Frankie Corio as a young father and his eleven-year-old daughter on a sun-soaked holiday at a Turkish resort, the trip falling on the eve of his character Calum’s 31st birthday. Loosely drawn from Wells’ own childhood, the film is told largely through the daughter’s eyes — and through a child’s gaze, there is warmth, laughter and the particular magic of a rare holiday abroad. Yet from the very first frame, something is quietly, unmistakably wrong with Calum. A child may not fully see it, but the audience does. What makes AFTERSUN so extraordinary is how much it holds back. It is quiet, patient and restrained, building with an almost unbearable tenderness toward an ending that stays with you long after the screen goes dark. Mescal and Corio share a chemistry that feels completely lived-in and real, the love between their characters radiating through every scene. Slow-burn films can test your patience, but AFTERSUN earns every second of its stillness — and the payoff is the kind that leaves audiences stunned, devastated and desperate to talk about it with anyone who will listen. If you haven’t seen it yet, now is the time. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 18THE LOST CHILDREN OF TUAM, one of the most anticipated Irish films of the year, is set to make its World Premiere at the 2026 Galway Film Fleadh on Saturday 11th July, with key cast and creatives expected to attend. The film marks a powerful convergence of remarkable talent both in front of and behind the camera, brought together to tell one of the most haunting and consequential stories in recent Irish history. Directed by Frank Berry, whose previous work includes AISHA and MICHAEL INSIDE, and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the acclaimed screenwriter behind THE SALT PATH and SHE SAID, the film draws its source material from a landmark piece of journalism — Dan Barry’s 2017 New York Times article of the same name. It is a story rooted in truth, in grief, and in the quiet, determined courage of one woman who refused to let the past remain buried. At the heart of the film is Monica Dolan, the award-winning actress known for SHERWOOD and MR BATES VS THE POST OFFICE, who takes on the role of Catherine Corless — the local history enthusiast whose painstaking research into the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, led to one of the most devastating discoveries in Irish social history. While compiling records for a local historical society, Corless uncovered evidence suggesting that as many as 796 children may have been buried in unmarked graves on the property. What followed was a campaign for justice — for the victims, for the survivors, and for a truth that Ireland could no longer avoid. Joining Dolan on screen are Andrew Bennett, whose credits include GOD’S CREATURES and THE QUIET GIRL, and Ian McElhinney, familiar to audiences from GAME OF THRONES and DERRY GIRLS. The production brings together an exceptional team of producers, with Liam Neeson, who optioned the rights to the original New York Times article, producing for El Paso Films alongside Jules Daly for Big Red Films, Chelsea Morgan Hoffmann, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe for Oscar-winning Element Pictures, and Martina Niland for Port Pictures. It is a project clearly assembled with both ambition and care, and its Galway premiere feels entirely fitting — a film about Ireland, premiering in Ireland, with the story of Tuam finally receiving the full and unflinching attention it deserves. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 17Nicola Coughlan is heading to London — and she’s bringing her mystery-solving instincts with her. The DERRY GIRLS and BRIDGERTON star has officially joined the cast of ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING for its highly anticipated sixth season, and it’s the kind of casting news that feels almost too good to be true. Coughlan is one of several major new additions to the show’s ensemble, joining a frankly staggering lineup of British and Irish talent that includes David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker, Jim Broadbent, Richard Ayoade, Adrian Lukis, and Kathryn Hunter. The show’s official social media account broke the news in typically playful fashion, urging followers to keep calm and update the case file — which, honestly, is exactly the energy we needed. For anyone new to the series, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING follows three amateur true-crime obsessives — played by Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, and Martin Short — who investigate murders connected to their upscale New York apartment building while documenting everything for their podcast. Season 6 marks a significant first for the show, as production has relocated to the UK, with the trio’s investigations taking them across the Atlantic to London. It’s the first time the series has filmed outside the United States, and with a cast of this calibre waiting for them on the other side, the move feels more than justified. No official release date has been confirmed just yet, but all ten episodes of ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING Season 6 will be available on Disney+ in Ireland and internationally when it arrives. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 16Paramount+ is bringing some serious firepower to screens this week, with three very different titles landing on the platform in the days ahead. Leading the charge is the return of one of television’s most gripping espionage dramas, while a beloved animated favourite and a cinematic classic round out what is shaping up to be a strong week for the streaming service. Michael Fassbender is back as CIA officer Martian in Season 2 of THE AGENCY, which arrives on Paramount+ on June 21. This time, Martian goes undercover for MI6 and relocates with his partner Sami, played by the always compelling Jodie Turner-Smith, to a black site in Sudan. When Sami’s safety is threatened, Martian must navigate a dangerous web of global intrigue to reach her, all while paranoia and betrayal tighten their grip around him. If the first season set the bar high, the second looks set to raise it further. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 12Colin Farrell is back as the enigmatic John Sugar, and if his recent chat with Extra is anything to go by, Season 2 of SUGAR is shaping up to be a serious step up from an already bold debut. The Apple TV+ series — which blends noir mystery with science fiction in a way few shows have dared to attempt — returns on June 19th, and Farrell is clearly excited about where things are headed. Speaking about what viewers can expect, Farrell teased a more emotionally layered outing for his alien protagonist, with romance firmly on the cards and a deeper exploration of the human experiences that define John Sugar’s world. A major highlight, by the sound of it, will be the arrival of Laura Donnelly, whose presence Farrell praised warmly, pointing to the sensuality and easy, natural breeziness she brings to the show. High praise from a man who doesn’t tend to dish it out lightly. For those still processing the extraterrestrial reveal that turned Season 1 on its head in its closing moments, there’s good news — Season 2 promises to fill in the gaps, offering greater context around John’s backstory and the journey that brought him to where we first found him. It sounds like the pieces are finally coming together. SUGAR Season 2 premieres June 19th on Apple TV+. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 11Domhnall Gleeson has been one of the most compelling presences on television this year, and his recent appearance on the TV Topics couch only reinforced just how much thought and warmth he brings to his craft. The Irish actor sat down for a genuinely enjoyable conversation centred on his standout work in THE PAPER, the acclaimed Peacock mockumentary that has won over critics and audiences alike since its debut in September 2025. Set in the same universe as THE OFFICE, the series follows the documentary crew as they train their cameras on the Toledo Truth Teller, a struggling Midwestern newspaper whose passionate new editor-in-chief, Ned Sampson, is determined to drag it back from the brink. In the interview, Gleeson was refreshingly candid and characteristically charming as he opened up about what drew him to Ned and what it has been like inhabiting such a richly comic yet deeply human character. He touched on the particular joy of playing someone who is equal parts idealist and loveable goofball, and spoke warmly about the ensemble dynamic that gives the show so much of its texture and heart. Perhaps most delightfully, he shared what his famous father, Brendan Gleeson, made of the performance — always a talking point that Domhnall handles with easy good humour. The romance brewing between Ned and Mare also came up, offering a glimpse into the emotional undercurrent that gives THE PAPER something to say beyond the laughs. It is the kind of interview that reminds you why this actor continues to be such a compelling figure to watch, both on screen and off. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 10Colm Meaney steals hearts as Ethan Mack in Olivia Newman’s hit Netflix adaptation of REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES. The beloved Irish actor brings a distinct, grounded warmth to the cinematic version of Shelby Van Pelt’s bestselling novel. Known to sci-fi fans as Chief O’Brien from Star Trek, Meaney shifts gears perfectly into this gentle, small-town drama to deliver a performance rooted in pure empathy. In the film, Meaney portrays the Grateful Dead–obsessed general store owner of Sowell Bay. While the plot revolves around Tova, a grieving widow played by Sally Field, and a brilliant Pacific octopus, Meaney acts as the film’s emotional anchor. He beautifully balances a quirky Scottish accent with a quiet devotion to Tova, offering her space to heal while gently nudging her to let love back into her life. He also acts as a crucial bridge for Cameron, the young drifter, by providing him with shelter and a vital job recommendation. Reviewers have highlighted Meaney’s ability to elevate a standard romantic subplot into something genuinely sweet and unpretentious. He provides the exact type of comfort-food acting required for this warm blanket of a movie. Ultimately, his scene-stealing charm serves as a beautiful reminder that humans can be remarkably bright creatures, too. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 8Caitríona Balfe is one of the busiest actresses working today, with an impressive slate of projects either already available to watch or heading our way in the coming months. Her film THE CUT is currently streaming on Paramount+, in which she plays a woman who co-owns a boxing gym alongside Orlando Bloom’s character, a former champion fighting his way back from a career-ending defeat. It is a compelling showcase for Balfe in a grittier, more contemporary setting than many of her recent roles. Looking ahead, the most anticipated project on her schedule is a new adaptation of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY for Focus Features, directed by Georgia Oakley from a screenplay by Diana Reid. Balfe plays Mrs. Dashwood, mother to Elinor and Marianne, played respectively by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles, with George MacKay and Fiona Shaw also among the cast. The film is set for release in the UK on September 25th and in the US on October 16th, and by all accounts it looks set to be something special. She has also recently begun production on THE HOUSEKEEPER, a romantic drama set in the 1930s shooting in and around London, and has joined the cast of A LONG WINTER alongside Ebon Moss-Bachrach. With projects this varied and this promising in the pipeline, Caitríona Balfe is clearly entering one of the most exciting chapters of her career. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 6Sun, sea and sexual desire collide in TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST, a new BBC comedy drama following a group of friends who pack their bags for a Greek getaway — only to find that paradise has a way of exposing everything they’d rather keep hidden. Many of the group are now married with young families, arriving with hopes of fun in the sun, but an illicit liaison soon threatens to unravel their best-laid plans, stirring up frustrations and resentments that have clearly been simmering long before anyone boarded the plane. The series comes from the production team behind I MAY DESTROY YOU, and carries something of the DNA of THE WHITE LOTUS — except here, the existential dread arrives alongside mortgage pressures and childcare dilemmas rather than luxury excess. At the heart of this holiday from hell is Irish actor Damien Molony, who plays Dan, a man quietly wrestling with personal demons and the widening cracks in his marriage to Zoe, played by Jessica Raine. Speaking in his own Irish accent, Molony describes his character as someone who is a little bit broken and doesn’t know how to put himself back together again — a reluctant holidaymaker with neither the energy nor the headspace for a group trip abroad. Filmed on location in Malta but set against the sun-drenched backdrop of Greece, TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST takes an unexpected turn by leaning into the supernatural, with Greek mythology and the presence of the Gods weaving heavily through the story — adding an otherworldly charge to what is already a pressure-cooker of unspoken truths and combustible relationships. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 5Eve Hewson is quietly becoming one of the most exciting names in awards season conversation. The Dublin-born actress has set the film world abuzz with her performance in DISCLOSURE DAY, the hotly anticipated new sci-fi venture from Steven Spielberg, and early whispers have rapidly grown into something far more serious. Advance screenings have drawn glowing reviews from critics, and bookmaker Ladbrokes has taken notice, placing the 34-year-old at 10/1 odds to land an Academy Award nomination — a figure that will no doubt have Irish fans daring to dream. That Hewson holds her own in a cast featuring Emily Blunt, Colin Firth and Colman Domingo speaks volumes about the calibre of her work in the film. These are not names that allow for passengers, and yet it is the Irish actress who is generating the kind of quiet, persistent buzz that tends to matter most when awards bodies begin deliberating. Ladbrokes entering her into early Oscar contention is not a casual gesture — it is a signal that something genuinely special may be unfolding on screen. For Ireland, a nomination would carry a weight beyond the personal. The country’s footprint at the Academy Awards has grown meaningfully in recent years, and that momentum was felt as recently as this past March, when Kerry’s Jessie Buckley claimed Best Actress for her remarkable turn in HAMNET. Should Hewson follow in those footsteps, it would further affirm that Irish talent is no longer a pleasant surprise at the Oscars — it is an expectation. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 4The highly anticipated second season of the neo-noir mystery series SUGAR, starring Colin Farrell, is officially set to premiere globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, June 19, 2026. The eight-episode season kicks off with a single debut episode, followed by a new weekly release every Friday. In this new chapter, private detective John Sugar finds himself back on the stylish streets of Los Angeles tackling a high-stakes missing persons case involving the older brother of a rising local boxer. As he dives deeper into the investigation, the search unravels a massive city-wide conspiracy that forces him to question his own morals and choices. Alongside this new case, SUGAR remains driven by his deeply personal and desperate quest to discover the truth behind his own sister’s disappearance. The upcoming season sees Sam Catlin taking over as showrunner and executive producer, bringing fresh creative vision to the series’ distinct visual style. While Colin Farrell returns to lead the cast, viewers can also look forward to an impressive lineup of new series regulars including Jin Ha, Raymond Lee, Tony Dalton, Laura Donnelly, Sasha Calle, and Shea Whigham. Instagram Youtube [...]
June 2There’s a pleasing circularity in Jack Reynor’s involvement in POWER BALLAD. The Irish-American actor first worked with John Carney in Sing Street, the 2016 Dublin-set coming-of-age musical in which he played the older brother whose own failed musical ambitions shadow the film’s young protagonist — a role that won him an IFTA for Best Supporting Actor. A decade on, Reynor is back in Carney’s orbit, this time as Mac, the slick LA-based music manager whose instinct to protect a client’s commercial interests sets the film’s second-act conflict in motion. It’s a neat bit of casting for anyone paying attention, and Reynor — who has spent the intervening years building a genuinely varied career across Ari Aster’s folk-horror MIDSOMAR, Amazon’s sci-fi series The PERIPHERAL, and the Netflix murder mystery THE PERFECT COUPLE — brings real sharpness to a role that could easily have been thankless villainy. Mac isn’t the villain exactly, just the most pragmatic person in the room, and that’s a more interesting thing to play. Power Ballad is, in many ways, the most commercially minded film Carney has made. The director has carved out something close to a unique niche — intimate, music-driven stories shot through with Dublin feeling and a faith in the redemptive properties of a good song. ONCE remains the high watermark, a near-perfect small film that somehow felt like both a demo reel and a masterpiece. SING STREET and BEGIN AGAIN found their audiences too, the former especially earning a devoted following for its infectious exuberance. POWER BALLAD widens the lens considerably: this is a transatlantic production built around two charismatic, bankable leads in Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, and it has the feel of a film that wants to be liked by as many people as possible. Instagram Youtube [...]
May 28Jamie Dornan has spent his career mastering the art of transformation—from his breakout role in the FIFTY SHADES franchise to his chilling performance in the BBC’s PSYCHO adaptation. But lately, the Irish actor, model, and international heartthrob finds himself thinking less about awards and accolades and more about something far simpler: being a semi-cool dad. It’s a refreshing admission from someone who has scaled the heights of Hollywood, and it sets the tone for what promises to be one of the biggest years of his career. The actor recently became the face of Moncler’s “Puffy Summer” campaign, but his real excitement lies elsewhere. Dornan is juggling an ambitious slate of projects that represent some of the most challenging and rewarding work of his professional life. There’s a palpable sense of both terror and exhilaration in how he discusses what’s ahead, a duality that reveals the kind of actor he’s become—one who doesn’t shy away from difficulty but actively seeks it out. The first major project is 12 12 12, a collaboration between Skydance and Apple that pairs Dornan with Anthony Mackie in a globe-trotting cat-and-mouse heist thriller. The film spans multiple continents and was shot in Budapest, an experience Dornan describes as incredible. His history with Mackie—they worked together about eight years ago—meant the chemistry was already there, transforming what could have been a grueling shoot into something genuinely fun. There’s a comfort in that kind of professional familiarity, a shorthand that allows actors to dig deeper into their characters without wasting energy on getting to know each other. But it’s his Netflix series THE UNDERTOW that seems to genuinely unsettle him, in the best possible way. In it, Dornan plays identical twins, a role that represents a rare career opportunity. Most actors never get the chance to inhabit two distinct human beings within a single narrative, and Dornan approaches it with appropriate humility and dread. The pressure stems not from external expectations but from his own internal drive to make both characters feel wholly separate, to ensure that despite their biological similarity, they register as entirely different entities to the audience. It’s the kind of technical and emotional challenge that separates good actors from great ones. What’s striking about Dornan’s approach to both projects is his willingness to lean into the fear. He doesn’t pretend to have all the answers or present a facade of unshakeable confidence. Instead, he acknowledges the terror head-on and lets it fuel his work. This same vulnerability emerged during his recent hosting stint on Saturday Night Live, where he admitted to the cast that he was terrified—only to discover that they were scared too. That collective acknowledgment of shared fear transformed the experience from something isolating into something collaborative and ultimately liberating. By dress rehearsal with a live audience, when genuine laughter filled the room, Dornan knew everything would be fine. It’s that same philosophy he’s bringing to THE UNDERTOW. He’s deliberately trying to embrace the madness of playing twins, to let the enormity of the opportunity sink in and actually savor it rather than simply endure it. There’s an intentionality there, a conscious decision to enjoy the moment rather than merely survive it. For an actor at this stage of his career, with a young family at home and the freedom to be selective about his roles, that mindset represents a kind of professional wisdom that can only come with experience. As Dornan looks ahead to 12 12 12, THE UNDERTOW, and whatever comes next, it’s clear that he’s not chasing stardom or trying to prove anything to anyone. Instead, he’s pursuing work that excites him, collaborations with talented people, and opportunities that scare him just enough to remind him why he fell in love with acting in the first place. And if he manages to be a semi-cool dad along the way, well, that’s perhaps the greatest achievement of all. Instagram Youtube [...]
May 26Andrew Scott, the celebrated actor known for his transformative performances in FLEABAG, SHERLOCK, ALL OF US STRANGERS, and RIPLEY, is now stepping behind the camera to shape the future of filmmaking. In a significant evolution of the Redbreast Unhidden platform, Scott is deepening his partnership with the prestigious initiative, bringing his discerning eye and commitment to creative exploration to a curated selection of emerging talent. The award represents more than just recognition—it embodies a shared vision between Scott and Redbreast to illuminate the next generation of filmmakers and uncover the cinematic gems that might otherwise remain hidden from broader audiences. Presented officially at the renowned SXSW festival, the Redbreast Unhidden Award honors one outstanding filmmaker from a carefully selected shortlist of short film finalists, offering winners not merely accolades but tangible support to propel their careers forward. The inaugural winner in 2025, Andy Reid for BRIEF SOMEBODIES, set an inspiring precedent for what this award could mean for emerging voices in cinema. This year, the competition has grown even more compelling. Scott has meticulously curated a shortlist featuring five original works that demonstrate the bold storytelling and innovative vision the award celebrates: CAN I PUT YOU ON HOLD by James Cutler, VISITORS by Cali’ Minnie’ Schedeen, WE WERE HERE by Pranav Bhasin, IMAGO by Ariel Zengotita, and WINTER CEREMONY by Sidi Wang. Each film represents a distinct artistic perspective and the kind of fearless creative ambition that Scott himself has come to exemplify throughout his acting career. In a new interview with THE GLOSS, Scott talks about where he’s at in his life and his love of supporting creatives. Instagram Youtube [...]
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