The last quarter of 2012 is set to be a busy one with numerous productions supported by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) currently shooting or set to start across the country with well known Irish and international acting talent such as Michael Fassbender, Juliette Binoche, Brendan Gleeson, Ciaran Hinds and Charlotte Rampling.
Principal photography is underway on John Michael McDonagh's follow-up to the hugely successful The Guard CALVARY; the screen adaptation of John Banville's Man Booker Prize winning novel THE SEA; the first Irish-Russian co-production MOSCOW NEVER SLEEPS and the major US TV series VIKINGS. While Lenny Abrahamson's FRANK starring Michael Fassbender; Cartoon Saloon's animated feature film SONG OF THE SEA; the Irish-Norwegian-Swedish co-production A THOUSAND TIMES GOODNIGHT and the BBC TV drama QUIRKE are all set to go into production before the end of the year.
CALVARY directed by John Michael McDonagh is currently filming in Dublin having moved production from Sligo. The dark comedy stars Brendan Gleeson as a Sligo priest who is tormented by his parishioners after he is threatened during a confession. The stellar Irish cast also includes Dylan Moran, Domhnall Gleeson, Aidan Gillen, David Wilmot, Pat Shortt and Chris O'Dowd.
Stephen Brown's directorial debut THE SEA stars Ciaran Hinds (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Munich), Charlotte Rampling (Melancholia, The Duchess), Natascha McElhone (Californication, The Truman Show), Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist), and Sinead Cusack (V for Vendetta). The screen adaptation of John Banville's critically acclaimed Man Booker Prize winning novel is currently shooting in Wexford with post production scheduled to take place in Windmill Lane.
The first Irish-Russian co-production MOSCOW NEVER SLEEPS is written and directed by Johnny O'Reilly (The Weather Station). The multi-narrative drama set in contemporary Moscow is currently shooting in Moscow with post production set for Ireland.
Morgan O'Sullivan's €30m History Channel series VIKINGS is currently in the middle of an 18 week shoot at Ashford studios in Co. Wicklow with Gabriel Byrne and Travis Fimmel among the lead cast. The nine-part series was created and written by Michael Hirst (The Tudors, Camelot).
Following the critically acclaimed What Richard Did which was released in Irish cinemas this month, Lenny Abrahamson's next project FRANK is due to start pre-production before the end of the year. Starring Michael Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson, the film is a comedy about a young wannabe musician, Jon (Gleeson), who discovers he's bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank (Fassbender).
Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) will star in Irish co-production A THOUSAND TIMES GOOD NIGHT which will shoot for five weeks in Dublin later this month followed by two weeks in Morocco. The French actress plays the lead role of Rebekka, a war photographer torn between the job and her family.
Cartoon Saloon's animated feature film SONG OF THE SEA will be directed by Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells) who co-wrote it with Will Collins (My Brothers). It tells the story of the last Seal Child's journey home. Ben and Saoirse sent to live with Granny in the city following their mother's disappearance. Their attempts to get back home lead them through a world of fairytale lands from their mother's folklore tales. The film will be distributed in Ireland and the UK by Optimum Releasing next year.
Based on the books by Benjamin Black (pseudonym of award-winning Irish writer John Banville), QUIRKE is a new series for BBC ONE adapted by screenwriters Andrew Davies and Conor McPherson and starring Gabriel Byrne in the title role. Quirke (we never get to know his Christian name) is the chief pathologist in the Dublin city morgue - a charismatic loner whose job takes him into unexpected places as he uncovers the secrets of sudden death in 1950s Dublin.
More About Calvary
Calvary is directed by John Michael McDonagh (The Guard) and produced by James Flynn and Elizabeth Eves for Octagon and Chris Clark and Flora Fernandez-Marengo for Reprisal Films in the UK. Production design is being undertaken by Mark Geraghty (Ripper Street), Larry Smith is the cinematographer while Emer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh (Becoming Jane) is costume designer.
More About The Sea
The Sea is produced by Luc Roeg (We Need To Talk About Kevin, Mr Nice) and Michael Robinson of Independent with David Collins (Once) of Samson Films. The Sea is an Independent / Samson Films production in association with Rooks Nest Entertainment, Quicksilver Films, Windmill Lane Pictures and RTE with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the participation of Bord Scannán Na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board. The executive producers are Andrew Orr, Philip Herd, Ernest Bachrach, Rebecca Long, Steve Spence, Michael Sackler and Julia Godzinskaya.
Independent Films Sales are handling International Sales and Independent Distribution will release the film theatrically in Ireland and the UK in 2013.
More About Moscow Never Sleeps
Written and directed by Johnny O'Reilly, Moscow Never Sleeps is a multi-narrative drama set in contemporary Moscow which follows the lives of five different people. The film sees the rapid changes in the lives of ta bureaucrat who takes on powerful politicians who have raided his business; an orphan who is forced to abandon the woman who brought him up; a dying actor who leaves his deathbed for one last adventure; a beautiful singer who confronts her stalker; and a neglected teenager who poisons her father.
It is produced by Katie Holly for Blinder Films with Andrey Zakharov for Serdtse Vraga.
More About Vikings
Directors attached to the TV series are Swedish director Johan Renck, Ireland's Ciaran Donnelly (The Tudors) and Ken Girotti (Rescue Me). Emmy award-winning cinematographer John Bartley (The X Files) is the director of photography. Key Irish crew attached to the project include line producer Séamus McInerney, costume designer Joan Bergin and production designer Tom Conroy. Dee Corcoran is looking after hair while Tom McInerney is on make-up.
Morgan O'Sullivan will produce for World 2000 while John Weber will produce for Take 5 Productions. The show's executive producers include Alan Gasmer, Michael Hirst and Sherry Marsh. All post-production on the series will be carried out in Canada. Take 5 Productions are co-producing the series while MGM will distribute it outside of Ireland and Canada. World 2000 will retain the Irish distribution rights.
More About Frank
FRANK is written by Jon Ronson (The Men Who Stare at Goats) and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Men Who Stare At Goats) and has been developed by Film4 who will also co-finance the film with Bord Scannán na hEireann/ the Irish Film Board.
Michael Fassbender, who won Best Actor in Venice in 2011 for his performance in Steve McQueen's Shame, is currently shooting Ridley Scott's The Counselor alongside Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz, while Domhnall Gleeson recently finished shooting Richard Curtis' new comedy About Time, and was recently named as one of Variety's '10 Actors to Watch'.
FRANK is a co-production between Runaway Fridge and Element Pictures and will be produced by David Barron, Ed Guiney and Stevie Lee. Exec producers for Film4 are Tessa Ross and Katherine Butler and for Element Pictures, Andrew Lowe. Protagonist Pictures are handling international sales.
More About A Thousand Times Goodnight
A co-production between Ireland's Newgrange Pictures, Paradox in Norway and Zentropa International Sweden, the drama will be directed by Norwegian director Erik Poppe and is based on his own experiences as a war photographer. The screenplay for the feature film - which has also been developed under the title ‘Grenade' - has been written by Harald Rosenløw Eeg. Jackie Larkin and Lesley McKimm will produce for Newgrange alongside Norwegian Finn Gjerdrum and Stein Kave for Paradox. The feature's budget is reportedly around €5m. The Norwegian Film Institute is also supporting the feature along with Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.
More About Song of the Sea
Co-produced by Noerlum Studios (Denmark), Big Farm (Belgium) with post-production and music being completed by Super Productions (France).
More About QUIRKE
Each episode will see Quirke investigate the death of one of the unfortunate souls who end up on his mortuary slab. But as he turns accidental detective he discovers his investigations are often more closely linked to his own life than he could ever have imagined. Little by little he is forced to confront the sins of his past as he peels back the layers of his own tangled family history.
The three feature length episodes each take their stories from different books in the series, ‘Christine Falls' and ‘The Silver Swan' by Andrew Davies and ‘Elegy for April' by Conor McPherson. Commissioned by Danny Cohen, Controller BBC One and Ben Stephenson, Controller Drama Commissioning.
The series is a co-production between BBC Drama Production and Dublin-based companies Element Pictures and Tyrone Productions. It is 3X 90 minutes and filming begins in Dublin later this year. The Executive Producers are Jessica Pope for the BBC, Ed Guiney for Element Pictures and Joan Egan for Tyrone Productions. Lisa Osborne is the BBC Producer and John Alexander is the director of the first film ‘Christine Falls'.