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FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES with
BBC FILMS, TELEFILM CANADA, BORD SCANNÁN NA hÉIREANN/THE IRISH FILM BOARD,
SODEC and BFI Present
a WILDGAZE FILMS/ FINOLA DWYER PRODUCTIONS / PARALLEL FILMS / ITEM 7 Co-Production
Produced in Association with INGENIOUS
In Association with BAI RTE and HANWAY FILMS
SAOIRSE RONANDOMHNALL GLEESON
EMORY COHENwith JIM BROADBENTand JULIE WALTERS
DIRECTED BY...................................................................JOHN CROWLEYPRODUCED BY.................................................................FINOLA DWYER &.............................................................................................AMANDA POSEYSCREENPLAY BY.............................................................NICK HORNBYBASED ON THE NOVEL BY...........................................COLM TÓIBÍNCO-PRODUCERS...............................................................PIERRE EVEN.............................................................................................MARIE-CLAUDE POULINEXECUTIVE PRODUCERS..............................................CHRISTINE LANGAN .............................................................................................BETH PATTINSON.............................................................................................THORSTEN SCHUMACHER.............................................................................................ZYGI KAMASA.............................................................................................HUSSAIN AMARSHI.............................................................................................ALAN MOLONEYDIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY....................................YVES BÉLANGER C.S.C.PRODUCTION DESIGNER...............................................FRANÇOIS SÉGUINEDITOR..............................................................................JAKE ROBERTSMUSIC BY .........................................................................MICHAEL BROOKCOSTUME DESIGNER.....................................................ODILE DICKS-MIREAUXMUSIC SUPERVISOR.......................................................KLE SAVIDGESOUND DESIGNER/SUPERVISNG SOUND EDITOR. .GLENN FREEMANTLELINE PRODUCER..............................................................CAROLINE LEVYCASTING BY.....................................................................FIONA WEIR
Running time 113 minutes
1
BROOKLYN tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), a young
Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. Lured by the promise of America,
Eilis departs Ireland and the comfort of her mother’s home for the shores of New York City. The
initial shackles of homesickness quickly diminish as a fresh romance sweeps Eilis into the
intoxicating charm of love. But soon, her new vivacity is disrupted by her past, and she must
choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
Fox Searchlight Pictures presents a BBC Films, Telefilm Canada, Bord Scannán Na
Héireann/The Irish Film Board, Sodec and BFI presentation of a Wildgaze Films/Finola Dwyer
Productions/Parallel Films/Item 7 co-production produced in association with Ingenious, in
association with BAI RTE and Hanway Films, BROOKLYN. The film is directed by John Crowley
from a screenplay by Nick Hornby based on the novel by Colm Tóibín and stars Saoirse Ronan,
Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen with Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters. The producers are Finola
Dwyer & Amanda Posey; co-producers Pierre Even and Marie-Claude Poulin; and executive
producers Christine Langan, Beth Pattinson, Thorsten Schumacher, Zygi Kamasa, Hussain Amarshi
and Alan Moloney. The production crew includes director of photography Yves Bélanger,
production designer François Séguin, editor Jake Roberts, music by Michael Brook, costume designer
Odile Dicks-Mireaux and music supervisor Kle Savidge.
2
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
“It made her feel strangely as though she were two people, one who had battled against two cold winters and many hard days in Brooklyn and fallen in love there, and the other who was her
mother’s daughter, the Eilis whom everyone knew, or thought they knew.”Colm Tóibín, Brooklyn
An Irish immigrant must choose between two men, two countries and two destinies in a story
of departures, longing and slow-simmering romance, tracing the unexpected journey of a young girl
becoming a woman in America. Through the film’s contemporary lens, the story reels back to the
refined rhythms of the 1950s as a post-WWII wave of newcomers was arriving on U.S. shores in
search of prosperity.
Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel Brooklyn, one of the most acclaimed novels of the last decade, is
adapted by screenwriter Nick Hornby (WILD, AN EDUCATION) and director John Crowley (BOY
A). At the heart of the book’s power was a classic immigrant’s tale told in a voice that has rarely
been heard. While there have been numerous stories of ambitious or desperate young men driven to
seek their fortunes in America, the novel tells a different tale – one of a quiet, unassuming but
luminous young woman called Eilis.
Eilis has lived her whole life in tiny Enniscorthy, Ireland – where everyone knows everyone
else’s business and then some -- when she is swept away to America, thanks to her sister, who wants
to see her flourish. She arrives into the diverse tumult of Brooklyn already homesick, feeling like an
exile. But as Eilis dexterously learns to adapt to life as a New Yorker, she meets a funny, sweet,
charismatic suitor determined to win her devotion. Just as she seems on the verge of beginning a new
life, a family tragedy brings her back to Ireland where she is pulled back into the life she left behind
… and a decision that could affect her future forever.
Caught between two different calls to her heart, Eilis confronts one of the most breathtakingly
difficult dilemmas of our fluid modern world: figuring out how to merge where you have come from
with where you dream of going.
As for Eilis’ climactic decision, Hornby observes: “I think Eilis can see a life in America and
she can see a life in Ireland, but she cannot maintain those two pictures at once. She knows you
3
cannot square these two lives. So I think that’s how she momentarily manages to love two people at
once, because they are in separate worlds. But ultimately, she has to live in just one.”
Says Tóibín: “This is the secret history of two countries, of my country Ireland where over
the last 150 years every family has lost one or two members, people who left and who never came
back. But it’s also the secret history of the United States. These are the grandparents and great
grandparents of today’s Americans. This is how they came. And this story has not often been told.”
ADAPTING BROOKLYN
Colm Tóibín, the acclaimed Irish writer (The Blackwater Light Ship, The Master) who like
the heroine of Brooklyn was born in Enniscorthy, Ireland but later moved to New York, has long
been fascinated by family loyalties and divisions; the search for home and identity; and the ways
women and men long for and cultivate the groundwork of love. The novel seemed to weave all these
threads into a story about the transformative power of the immigrant experience. Though set in the
1950s and amidst the close-knit Irish community in Brooklyn, it also seemed to speak to a timeless
need to answer two of the simplest, if most consternating, questions in life: where, and with whom,
do we belong?
In her review of the book, the novelist Pam Houston described it as a “classical coming-of-
age story, pure, unsensationalized, quietly profound…there is only the sound of a young woman
slowly and deliberately stepping into herself, learning to make and stand behind her choices...”
The book delivered a rare portrait of the female immigrant experience – of a powerless young
woman not only learning to navigate her new country but her complicated heart, survival and how to
stand up for herself. The uniqueness of that viewpoint, one nearly lost, is what initially drew Oscar®
nominated producers Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey (AN EDUCATION), of London-based
Wildgaze Pictures, to envision the novel on the screen. They were inspired by the idea of telling a
seemingly familiar story from an unseen angle.
“BROOKLYN is not only the story of an immigrant’s journey from Ireland to America, it is
also Eilis’ journey of becoming the woman she wants to be,” says Posey. “It’s a story about a woman
finding her true voice and finding her ability to choose, especially during a historical time when a lot
of choices were restricted.”
Adds Dwyer: “It’s also a very universal story, about the equal pull of home and wherever
you end up making your adult life. You don’t have to be thousands of miles from home for that
feeling to resonate. We all have places and people we have left behind.”
4
They were fired up to move ahead, but Dwyer and Posey knew they faced a major hurdle
right out of the gate: finding a screenwriter capable of bringing Tóibín’s work to a feature film for the
first time. Was there anyone who could capture the story’s drama while keeping the understated
lyricism intact that has made Tóibín so beloved as a writer?
Fortunately, they felt they already knew just the person: Nick Hornby, with whom they had
collaborated on the Oscar®-winning AN EDUCATION, the story of a 1960s English schoolgirl
headed for Oxford but tempted by an entirely different kind of life. Hornby, a critically praised and
popular novelist in his own right (High Fidelity, About A Boy, Juliet Naked, Funny Girl), had most
recently adapted Cheryl Strayed’s memoir WILD.
For Hornby, the resonance of BROOKLYN lay in Tóibín’s ability to capture the human heart
when it is divided in its commitments – whether to country, family or a lover. “The way Colm depicts
the pain of wanting to be in two places at once, it’s a beautiful balancing act -- and it seems to lend
itself particularly well to film,” says Hornby. “I think if you identify with the characters in Pride and
Prejudice you’ll identify with BROOKLYN – because at its heart, there is that same timeless choice a
woman must make between very different kinds of young men.”
Though naturally he hasn’t experienced the life of a mid-century immigrant, Hornby
resonated personally with Eilis’ curiosity about a life that might break away from the confines of her
small Irish village. “As someone who grew up in the suburbs and was counting the days until he
could get somewhere else, I could identify with the essence of her journey,” he notes.
Indeed, Hornby says the adaptation came quite organically, despite many thinking that
turning Tóibín’s deeply internal prose into screen dialogue would be daunting. “Because Colm’s
writing is very precise and he pulls away and leaves gaps, you might think it’s a very internal book,
but it didn’t feel so internal to me,” the screenwriter explains. “What happens to Eilis actually
seemed ripe for dramatization. I was interested in capturing this lovely mix of tones: the comic, the
romantic and the tragic. Mostly I wanted audiences to go through the wringer with Eilis, to come to
love her and the people around her and to be affected by her journey.”
Hornby’s delicately contained but deeply romantic approach gratified the producers. “Nick
really brought out all of the book’s many emotional layers and at the same time he brought out a lot
of the humor,” says Dwyer. “Most of all, he brilliantly evoked Eilis’ voice.”
Tóibín was especially pleased with Hornby’s adaptation. He says of his reaction: “I was
really amazed at the clarity of it. Nick truly understood that the central emotion of the book is love,
that it’s about someone being torn between possibilities – and that if you simply followed that idea
through, as he did, that you would get something very pure.”
5
JOHN CROWLEY: A PERSONAL POV
With such a nuanced novel and screenplay to work with, the next challenge was to match the
material with a director who could come at it with a personal vision. John Crowley, best known for
the BAFTA-winning drama BOY A, seems to have immediate insight into the material –since he, too,
is an Irishman living outside Ireland, in his case having left his birthplace for England.
Colm Tóibín felt a kinship right away due to Crowley’s familiarity with the emotions of
leaving … and leaving Ireland in particular. “John has been through that experience of being from an
Irish place, yet living under English skies, and moving between the two places, so as soon as we
started to talk, it was clear this was something he understood,” the novelist says. “It was his life.”
The novelist enjoyed watching the director be inspired by his characters. “John’s very careful
and very precise about what he wants. But what he put most into this film was his heart. He’s kind,
intelligent and funny, and all these things are on display in this film.”
For his part, Crowley had read Tóibín’s novel long before there was a script, and been swept
away by it purely as a consumer. Now, he saw it as offering the chance to evoke a time, a place and
an unforgettable character who might enlarge the picture of the American immigrant experience.
“Despite having an element of familiarity about it, BROOKLYN really felt to me like a side
to the story that hasn’t been told,” the director comments. “Everyone knows about the earlier waves
of European immigration, but the story of someone emigrating from 1950s Ireland to America is one
of the least discussed aspects of what was happening in that period. The way Colm told the story was
so un-melodramatic, yet so fantastically emotional. It’s a deceptively simple book but I actually think
Eilis’ choice between two countries and two men is about as dramatic as it gets.”
He also feels that the motif of leaving one world for another is as relevant now as it was in
the 1950s. “This is a story about exile,” Crowley states. “When you leave a country and choose to
live somewhere else, you’re no longer from that place, yet you’re certainly not from the place that
you’ve chosen to live in either. So you become a member of a kind of third nation, a nation of exiles.
Today, vast numbers of people in the world do not live in the country they were born in. The story of
BROOKLYN as Colm wrote it, and then as Nick developed it and took it to a cinematic level with his
screenplay, is completely truthful to that experience.”
To Crowley, BROOKLYN also evinces a modern conception of love. “It’s a story that says
love is complicated,” he muses, “and that the heart isn’t necessarily loyal to just one person; it can
perhaps, unlike a head, conceive of loving two people simultaneously. Eilis’ choice between two men
6
is also a choice for what kind of life she wants to lead. But she has trouble reconciling the fact that
she has to almost cauterize one part of herself in order to do that. It costs her a lot emotionally, yet
the only way for her in life is to keep moving forward. Love in this story is a very real force that can
potentially be destructive or liberating depending on which way it bounces.”
For the producers, Crowley’s vision of combining a sense of Old School romanticism with a
21st Century candidness was exciting. “In our first meeting, John described BROOKLYN as a modern
fairy tale,” recalls Posey. “He felt that there was something archetypal about Eilis trying to reconcile
her two halves. But he also brought this very real, very personal understanding of what that is like.”
Crowley says he wanted to echo the stark grace of the novel and screenplay in his filmmaking
-- by riding the thin line between grittiness and sentimentality, without giving way to either. “As in
the book, I wanted the power of the story to quietly creep up on you,” he says. “I also wanted to bring
out the humor and the scope. It’s not a story that is meant to be grandiose, but I think this story of
one 1950s Irish girl contains within it the larger story of Europeans in America in the 20 th Century.”
Creating that power on screen required a very patient, hands-on directorial style. Finola
Dwyer says that’s exactly what Crowley brought. “We knew this was going to be a real actors’ piece,
and John is simply great with actors. He brought out astonishing performances from everyone.”
EILIS, TONY AND JIM: AN OCEAN-SPANNING TRIANGLE
BROOKLYN required an actress who could authentically embody Eilis with her quietly
biting humor, keen intelligence and unfolding desire. Like so many unsung American immigrants,
Eilis arrives as a modest, if highly capable, lonely girl about to undergo a profound personal
transformation.
Colm Tóibín says of Eilis, “I think in the book I was trying to build a character who wasn’t
self-conscious; who didn’t spend her time looking in the mirror and wasn’t pushy, yet had beneath
her a depth of feeling and almost a stubbornness at times. Everywhere Eilis goes people like her. But
she has no real sense of how this is caused. She doesn’t do it deliberately.”
The novelist also says of Eilis: “She is, in a way, happier in the shadows … so for me that
was a more dramatic subject because even though she doesn’t naturally assert herself, by the end of
the book she’s running the universe. She makes her way in the world in ways which are impressive
but not loud.”
The filmmakers searched for an actress who would allow the audience into the world of a
young woman coming into her own, with gentle wit and determination, as well as one who could
understand Eilis’ longing for Ireland. That perfect fit was Saoirse Ronan.
7
Born in New York to Irish parents and raised outside Dublin, Ronan first found acclaim in
Joe Wright’s ATONEMENT, garnering a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® nomination for her
performance as Briony. She went on to starring roles in THE LOVELY BONES, HANNA and most
recently Wes Anderson’s Oscar winning THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, all by age 20. Now
entering her prime, she was ready to take on a complicated, emotionally demanding lead.
Ronan says she felt an immediate, almost uncanny, affinity for Eilis as soon as she read the
script. “Nick Hornby isn’t from Ireland, yet he managed to completely capture the spirit of the
country. The writing was so beautiful, and so beautifully subtle,” she comments. “It felt close to my
heart because it was about my people. It was the journey that my parents went on back in the ‘80s;
they moved to New York and went through all these same things, even though it was a different era.
The biggest hurdle anyone goes through in life is leaving the security of your family and your friends
behind for something new.”
Eilis’ dizzying feeling of being split between two worlds hit especially close to home for
Ronan. She continues: “I’m very Irish in some ways but I have an American sensibility as well, as I
was born in New York. I think that made the story even more emotional for me, because I have such
a strong connection to both of these places, much like Eilis. Everything that Eilis goes through was
exactly what I was going though at that point in my life, and I’m still going through now. So
emotionally, it was extremely close to me.”
Once on the set, those emotions were close to the surface and, though she carefully cultivated
them, she notes that at times they carried her away. “I’ve previously always been someone who was
able to separate myself at the end of the day, leave the story behind, just go home and be myself
again. But there were times on this film that it was so realistic for me, and I was so deep into the
character, that it would move me to tears,” she says.
The mix of emotions that Eilis confronts – from confusion and grief to joy and devotion –
was also an exciting challenge as Ronan calibrated the balance between them. “We would go from
beautiful, heartbreaking, completely sad scenes to gorgeous, fun scenes to do,” Ronan notes. “Eilis is
going through all these very natural things that human beings go through: grief, relationships, jobs,
your relationship with your parents, independence. But I loved the subtleties of it. The challenge is
that you can read so much into Eilis’s experiences and she could be played in a number of different
ways. And it was also about balancing the drama of real life circumstances with the humor that
people use to handle that drama, which is something that I know Irish people use an awful lot. We use
humor as a way to deal with life and death. So it was about balancing all of that.”
Ronan especially loved finding all the undercurrents in Eilis’ unfolding romance with Tony
Fiorello. “With Eilis and Tony, it’s literally two completely different worlds colliding,” she observes.
8
“The Fiorellos are not only Italian but they’re so American to Eilis. They’ve grown up in New York
with that feisty attitude and she comes from rural Ireland, but luckily she’s got a bit of a fight in her
too. Again, both sides use humor to communicate.”
Similarly, she was intrigued by the sudden mood and perspective shift when Eilis returns to
Ireland as more her own person. “She’s got this whole other life now that people in Enniscorthy
aren’t aware of but as soon as she comes back, she kind of falls back into the pattern of her old life,
allowing herself to be told what to do again. The difference is that she’s aware of it now, whereas she
wasn’t before. And I don't know in a case like this if you ever know if you’ve made the right
decision. I don’t think Eilis will ever know. But that is part of the beauty of her story.”
The heart of BROOKLYN for Ronan lies in the re-defining of home. “I love the piece of
advice Eilis passes onto the young girl near the end of the film -- that when you move away, you’ll
feel so homesick you’ll want to die and there’s nothing you can do about it, apart from endure it, but
it won’t kill you and one day the sun will come out and you’ll realize that this is where your life is.
That gorgeous piece of writing means so much to any person who has ever left their home and family.
Eilis needs to go through this incredibly happy, heartbreaking, exciting, scary journey in order to
make this choice about where she feels she wants to be. And for me that’s what BROOKLYN is
about. Your relationship with home is something you carry with you as move to different places in
your life and endure different things. The trick is carrying it without letting it weigh you down.”
Though he was aware of her talent, John Crowley was astonished by how many different
charming and heartbreakingly honest facets Ronan brought to her performance. “It seems like this is
the part that Saoirse has been waiting for,” he muses. “There’s an intersection between actor and role
which happens, if you’re lucky, once in your career. It felt as if every word Saoirse spoke on set she
could have been saying in reality. Her performance has an immediacy to it and an emotional depth
that is astonishing. The role is completely hers.”
Colm Tóibín was equally impressed by the way Ronan inhabited the character. “Saoirse has
an extraordinary ability to suggest a great deal emotionally while doing very little. That’s a most
fascinating quality to see, not only for people watching the film but for a writer because that’s what
you always try to do on the page,” he comments.
Tóibín goes on: “The camera loves her … you might not notice her in a crowd … but the
minute she has to perform, something else emerges that’s catches the light. And I think Eilis has that
quality too. In certain moments she really doesn’t want to be noticed, but the minute she’s needed or
under pressure, light comes on her.”
Finola Dwyer notes that this is a departure role for Ronan. “We all felt very lucky to have
captured Saoirse at this particular moment. She’s been an outstanding child and teenage actress, but
9
this is really her first role as a woman, and she has created an unforgettable and distinctive portrait of
coming of age unlike any other,” says the producer.
Ronan says she was able to go to such deep, raw places in part because of Crowley’s support.
“John was so tuned in to everything that’s going on within one scene – emotionally he knows exactly
how to map out where you should be. The script is beautifully simple in a way but John saw the
complexities. He digs up all these secrets, in a way, that you’re let in on as you go along. And that’s
what is so fantastic about working with John.”
In the end, Ronan hopes Eilis will resonate for her quiet strength. “I hope that people look at
Eilis as someone who becomes strong enough to choose the life she wants and feel proud of it,” she
concludes.
While casting Eilis was vital, it was equally important that her two suitors – one American,
the other unexpectedly found when she returns to Ireland – be as alluring and true-to-life. To play the
boyish plumber Tony Fiorello, who woos Eilis with bravado and tenacity despite her uncertainty, the
filmmakers chose rising star Emory Cohen. Known for his roles on NBC’s “Smash” and Derek
Cianfrance’s THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, this is his first major romantic lead.
Cohen, who is a New York native, was drawn to the character as both a timeless symbol of
youthful passion but also as a very real Italian immigrant who believes in the 1950s ideal that the
measure of man is doing the best by the woman he loves. “Ultimately, I think this is a story that
makes you think about a lot of things in life then and now,” he says. “What does it mean to love
whole heartedly? What does it mean to be a good man? What does it mean to enjoy the simple things
in life?”
He also says it made him think about the notion of love at first sight. “When Tony sees Eilis,
he’s hit by a lightning bolt. I read this line in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather that said when you get hit
by a lightning bolt you can’t even go to sleep because you can’t get the girl out of your mind. So I
thought about it like that. Tony sees love in that kind of way.”
Cohen’s portrait of Tony was inspired by a number of cultural references, from the
naturalistic Italian performances in THE BICYCLE THIEF to Marlon Brando’s working class
character in ON THE WATERFRONT. He even took swing-dancing lessons so that he would feel
confident in the life-altering moment when Tony first asks Eilis for a spin.
Crowley says that on top of Cohen’s probing approach, that actor brought an unaffected
instinct for charm. “From Emory’s first reading, it was immediately apparent he was our guy,” says
the director. “He not only had the charisma and masculinity but also the vulnerability and
authenticity.”
10
There was also an immediate, palpable link between Cohen and Ronan, which was able to
play out beyond words, in fleeting gestures and expressions. “Both Emory and Saoirse were so into
their characters that the chemistry always flew,” Crowley observes.
The magnetic contrast between Eilis and Tony appealed to Cohen. “There’s this very
interesting kind of reversal where my character is open, adventurous and passionate but underneath
all that there’s fear -- fear of losing Eilis. And I think in some ways she’s almost the opposite of
Tony, where on the surface she can seem more rigid and cautious than Tony but underneath that,
there’s a real spirit of freedom and knowing exactly what she wants to be… and it was kind of perfect
because Saoirse is like the Queen of Ireland and I’m like this New York junkyard dog,” he laughs.
The key to building their romance in a deliciously slow way was in knowing when to hold
back. “Me, John and Saoirse were always figuring out how to not go too far, to keep some of the
emotions in reserve, not letting it fully rip right away,” he points out.
Dwyer saw in their performances the rawness of love in its earliest, most thrilling stages.
“Watching them, I always really believed they loved being with each other. There’s a lot of humor
between them and you sense not just physical chemistry but a meeting of the minds,” she says.
Tóibín had a similar reaction to the pairing. “I thought ‘Oh wow, look at this guy. I know
exactly how he’s going to win her, just by being so funny, so good, so innocent, and so sweet.’ She
keeps looking at him for signs of darkness and there aren’t any, so I thought he was great.”
If Tony Fiorello is sweetly seductive, his more provincial but gentlemanly Irish counterpart,
Jim Farrell, had to be both an opposite attraction and a legitimate threat. That led to the choice of
Domhnall Gleeson, who has been coming to the fore as one of the most versatile actors of a new
generation with roles in ABOUT TIME, CALVARY, UNBROKEN, EX MACHINA and the much
anticipated STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS.
Gleeson knew he, too, had to find a subtle but visceral chemistry with Saoirse Ronan, to put
the question mark in the audience’s mind. “Life in Brooklyn may offer Eilis more, but it was my job
to make Jim seem worth staying in Ireland for,“ he says. “I really wanted to create a connection with
Saoirse that you would feel is worth fighting for.”
Like his castmates, Gleeson related to Eilis’ experience in his own way. “I think everybody’s
known a sense of displacement at one time or another, of not having a clear home,” he says. “I’ve
certainly been familiar with that at various times in my life -- and I thought it was captured brilliantly
in this story. Then there’s a lot of romance and fun to the story, which is very appealing.”
Crowley says that Gleeson’s take on the character brought out the bittersweetness of the
story. “There’s a consummate intelligence to Domhnall,” says Crowley. “He thinks very deeply
about all his roles and he brings an intensity and maturity to Jim that bounces beautifully off of
11
Emory as Tony. It was so important that Jim and Tony occupy vastly different spaces, that they be
totally opposite versions of men that Eilis could see herself with – and Emory and Domhnall brought
completely different but equally compelling feelings that underline her choice.”
THE SUPPORTING CAST
Surrounding the triangle of Ronan, Cohen and Gleeson in BROOKLYN is a supporting cast
featuring veteran and rising actors from both sides of the pond. In Enniscorthy, the cast includes Jane
Brennan as Eilis’ lonely mother Mary; Fiona Glascott as Eilis’ sister Rose, who insists on her going
to America; Eileen O’Higgins as Eilis’ Irish best friend Nancy; and Brid Brennan as the judgmental
‘Nettles’ Kelly. The Brooklyn portion of the story features Emily Bett Rickards, Eve Macklin and
Nora-Jane Noone as Eilis’ colorful cohorts at her Brooklyn boarding-house as well as “Mad Men’s”
Jessica Paré as Eilis’ polished department store boss.
Taking two of the film’s key roles are revered British actors: Academy Award® winner Jim
Broadbent (IRIS, MOULIN ROUGE!) portrays the émigré priest, Father Flood, who watches over
Eilis in Brooklyn; and Academy Award® nominee Julie Walters (BILLY ELLIOT, EDUCATING
RITA) is Mrs. Kehoe, the strict but savvy landlady of Eilis’ Brooklyn boarding-house.
Broadbent’s fervor for the novel was instrumental in his attraction to the role of the man who
arranges Eilis’ passage to America, then acts as her mentor when she is nearly laid low by
homesickness. “BROOKLYN is a universal story of the search for a better life in all its conflicts,”
he says. “It was both heart-breaking and heart-warming, but never sentimental. Very honest about
people’s their vulnerabilities and strengths that I also found it gripping.”
He describes Father Flood as “almost a social worker for troubled new Irish immigrants. He
steps in to help Eilis when she first arrives, and they become good friends. There’s a real connection.”
Walters was also a big fan of the novel and was thrilled to play the persnickety Mrs. Kehoe in
all her shadings. “She has a house full of unmarried young girls and she rules them with a rod of
iron,” she muses. “She is motherly but very strict. She allows no giddiness -- as she calls it. I think
she wants to be a guide for these young women … but if you cross her, there’s no going back!”
For Walters, whose mother was Irish, the film also hit home. “The voice for Mrs. Kehoe
comes from my childhood,” she notes. “It’s a mixture of the nuns I was educated by, my mother, my
aunts, my grandmother and people at church. It’s not one specific person, but it’s that memory of all
the Irish women that I knew – and they all had such great energy.”
John Crowley watched Walters completely inhabit Mrs. Kehoe’s mix of wit and unwavering
values on the set. “I knew Julie had an Irish mother and thus I had a suspicion that she would know
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that woman inside out, and of course she did,” he says. “She knew who she was, right down to what
her hair should look like and what she should dress like. Of course she’s a hysterically funny actress,
but here she’s doing comedy in a very real way. It’s beautifully played.”
FROM IRELAND TO BROOKLYN AND BACK AGAIN
Brought to life with the dreamlike shadings of a love poem, BROOKLYN unfolds in two
distinctly atmospheric worlds: one amid the cloistered, muted beauty of Enniscorthy, Ireland and the
other in the bustling chaos of New York’s Brooklyn, the frequent first stop of many immigrants to
America. John Crowley set out to explore both with a team that includes cinematographer Yves
Bélanger (WILD, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB), production designer François Séguin (LUCKY
NUMBER SLEVIN) and costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux (AN EDUCATION).
Taking the production to Enniscorthy, a town of 10,000 inhabitants in the heart of County
Wexford, was essential to capture the textures and meddlesome neighbors of Colm Tóibín’s story.
“This is where I’m from,” says the author. “My parents were from Enniscorthy, my grandparents
were from there … and it was lovely to see the film set in the very streets I was thinking about in the
book.”
Roaming through Tóibín’s stomping grounds, the place that made Eilis the person she is
when she arrives in New York, equally inspired the actors. “It affects your performance when you get
to experience the spirit of a place like Enniscorthy,” says Ronan. “Because the characters in
BROOKLYN are so Irish and so grounded, it was really great for us to be around people who are like
that in real life, who had the Enniscorthy accent and who had grown up there.”
While portions of the American section of the film were shot amidst the iconic brownstone
stoops of Brooklyn and on the shores of Coney Island, the filmmakers also found a stand-in for the
1950s version in Montreal, Canada, which also played an earlier vintage Brooklyn in the classic mob
drama ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA.
In his cinematography, Yves Bélanger aimed to echo Tóibín’s writing with some of his most
creative work to date, using stylized lighting and lyrical framing that speak both to the muted energy
of the 1950s and to the ineffable longing Eilis experiences on both sides of the ocean. “Yves did a
brilliant job, and I can’t imagine any other cinematographer who could have accomplished the kind of
beauty he brought to this in such a short space of time,” says Dwyer.
Likewise, production designer François Séguin honed in on nostalgic details of the 1950s
period but also on the different ambiances of an Ireland that still had a pre-war look in furnishings
and décor, while Brooklyn was in the midst of rapid post-war change. In both locales, he focused on
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forging a visceral sense of place. “François is super-talented,” says Dwyer. “Working with a wide
range of sets in three different countries, he created a cohesive look that feels like one piece.”
Also helping to recreate the era in the minds of actors were the beautiful clothes sourced and
created by Odile Dicks-Mireaux to evoke the inimitable elegance and grace of 1950s New York. She
was thrilled to step back into that era. “It was a complete pleasure to work with these characters,”
says Dicks-Mireaux, “and there was so much craftsmanship and invention in the 1950s period.”
Tóibín notes that he had very precise reasons for choosing that era, looking to explore that
quiet but loaded moment between the tumult of WWII and the rapid social changes of the 1960s. “ I
wanted this to be a very private world, where I could really throw an intense gaze on a number of
people whom might seem otherwise powerless – and put them in the limelight. Of course, no period
is truly neutral, but this period is more neutral than most periods,” says the novelist.
The early era of street photography, especially work by the mysterious Vivian Maier and
iconic New York shooter Elliott Erwitt, inspired Dicks-Mireaux with their candid shots of transient
city moments. However, she avoided even glancing at the couture of the era.
“John’s specific edict was to not look at any fashion magazines because this is a story of real
people – of working class girls trying to make their living in New York,” she explains. “In every
aspect of the film, John wanted the look to be very natural and real.”
Dicks-Mireaux especially enjoyed contrasting fashionable Brooklyn, of which Eilis is soon a
part, with the more austere dress of Enniscorthy. “There was a huge difference between America and
Ireland in those post-war years,” she explains. “The styles could not have been more distinct which is
perfect for the story we’re telling. In America it was a time of rich color – reds, caramels and yellow
ochres, pinks and pale colors – that just did not exist then in Ireland.”
An equal contributor to the film’s transporting atmosphere is the music, led by an aching
score from Michael Brook (INTO THE WILD, THE FIGHTER). There is also a transcendent
musical moment -- when Eilis volunteers to serve Christmas lunch to downtrodden Irish immigrants,
only to be enraptured by one homesick man’s stirring Irish lament.
Colm Tóibín told Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey that the unique voice of Irish singer Iarla
Ó Lionáird had been a particular inspiration to him while writing that scene. Inspired themselves,
they approached Ó Lionáird and were delighted to be able to bring him to Montreal to perform
“Casadh an Tsúgáin” live on the set.
Ó Lionáird fully understood why it would impact Eilis so deeply. “It’s a love song, in which
the repeating chorus talks about a man asking the woman to define in what way she’s connected to
him,” he explains. “That resonates for Eilis, in that she’s connected to two worlds. In the song, the
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man is asking the woman ‘if you’re with me, you’re with me’ and he says ‘be with me in front of
everybody, show everybody, be clear.’ She has to step into her own future and to decide what that is.”
Ronan was as moved as Eilis is during the scene. “Through this incredible voice, Iarla was
able to communicate every emotion that you go through when you’re away from home,” she says.
EILIS’ DECISION
The entirety of BROOKLYN builds to the life-altering decisions Eilis must make: between
Tony and Jim, between Brooklyn and Ireland, between her past and what she wants for her future.
Everyone involved knew from the start that the story hinged on the uncertainty of her ultimate choice.
“Some people will agree with her choice and some won’t,” says Amanda Posey. “We knew
what we wanted her to do as filmmakers, and John did too, but we also wanted the audience to make
their own decisions. One of the beautiful things about the story is that it explores several different
kinds of love. With Tony, Eilis experiences first love, yet with Jim there is a more grown up
connection. Then there’s the love she has for her sister and mother, which are different kinds of love
again. It’s really about how these varieties of love can both tear you apart and buoy you.”
For Posey, Eilis’ decision is necessary if heart-breaking. “A part of growing up is realising
that when you decide to go in one direction you’re closing a bunch of other doors. But I think Eilis
finds herself finally knowing the right thing for her, even if it’s heart-breaking.”
Adds Finola Dwyer: “At the end of the film, Eilis has a very clear future -- but you come
away knowing that her decision was also a major sacrifice.”
Saoirse Ronan felt that Eilis’ decision could truly have gone either way. “I can’t say if Eilis
makes the right decision – I think they both offered her happiness,” explains the actress. “The
beautiful and heartbreaking thing is that both these guys are equally wonderful. Jim is home and
Tony is a new life. They’ve both got an awful lot to offer and she knows it.”
Ultimately, Ronan says, she didn’t see the heart of the story as about which life Eilis chooses
– but about who she becomes in the process. “To me, it’s all about her being grown up enough and
mature enough to actually make her choice and follow it,” she concludes.
Domhnall Gleeson feels similarly. “You often can’t know whether the decisions you’ve
made are the right ones,” he points out. “But I think it’s important that Eilis truly has a choice now in
her life, which she wouldn’t have if she had never gone to America.”
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For Jim Broadbent, the lasting poignancy of Eilis’ decision is that it provokes so many
lingering questions. “The best thing about BROOKLYN is that the audience probably won’t know
which way things will go -- and they won’t know which way they will want it to go,” he summarizes.
######
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ABOUT THE CAST
SAOIRSE RONAN (Eilis Lacey) is best known for her starring role in the feature film
ATONEMENT, directed by Joe Wright, in which she starred opposite Keira Knightley and James
McAvoy. Ronan was 13 years old when she earned an Oscar nomination as well as Golden Globe
and BAFTA nominations for the critically-acclaimed performance.
Ronan is currently in production on the movie adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s THE
SEAGULL directed by Michael Mayer. She stars opposite Annette Bening and Corey Stoll based
on the play of the same name.
Recently, Ronan was seen in Wes Anderson’s THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL. The
film also starred Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Jude Law, Bill Murray and Edward Norton. She
also starred in STOCKHOLM, PENNSYLVANIA directed by Nikole Beckwith and also starring
Cynthia Nixon which screened at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
In Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, LOST RIVER, Ronan starred opposite Christina
Hendricks. The film held its premiere at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In 2013, she starred in
Open Road Films’ THE HOST, the film adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s popular novel. She also
lent her voice in JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR, an animation film directed by
Manuel Sicilia which also stars Antonio Banderas.
She was also seen in HOW I LIVE NOW, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto Film
Festival. Directed by Kevin Macdonald, Ronan played the lead role of ‘Daisy’ opposite George
MacKay, Tom Holland, and Harley Bird.
Ronan was also seen in BYZANTIUM starring opposite Gemma Arterton and directed by
Neil Jordan which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2012. Ronan was seen in 2010
starring in Focus Features’ action-thriller HANNA, directed by Joe Wright. Ronan played the title
character, a teenage girl trained from birth to be an assassin. The cast includes Cate Blanchett and
Eric Bana. She was also seen in THE WAY BACK, directed by Peter Weir and starring Ed
Harris, Colin Farrell and Jim Sturgess. Inspired by Slavomir Rawicz’s novel The Long Walk: The
True Story of a Trek to Freedom, the film tells the story of a small group of multi-national
prisoners who escaped a Siberian gulag in 1940 and made their way across five countries.
In 2009, she starred in THE LOVELY BONES, directed by Peter Jackson, and based on
the popular novel. Ronan was honored for the performance by the Santa Barbara International
Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in the Leading Actress category. 38
Among her previous credits are VIOLET & DAISY; CITY OF EMBER, starring Bill
Murray, Tim Robbins, and Toby Jones; Amy Heckerling's I COULD NEVER BE YOUR
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WOMAN, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd; Bill Clark's THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
OF JONATHAN TOOMEY; and Gillian Armstrong's DEATH DEFYING ACTS, starring
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy Pearce.
Ronan currently resides in Ireland with her parents Monica and Paul.
DOMHNALL GLEESON (Jim Farrell) is currently working on MENA, directed by
Doug Liman. In January 2015 he appeared in Enda Walsh’s THE WALWORTH FARCE,
directed by Seán Foley, starring alongside his father Brendan Gleeson and brother Brian Gleeson.
This year he will next appear in THE REVENANT directed by Alejandro González
Iñárritu and JJ Abrams’ STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS.
Other recent credits include Alex Garland’s sci-fi film EX MACHINA, and the Coens’
adaptation of Louis Zamperini’s memoir UNBROKEN, directed by Angelina Jolie.
His previous lead roles in film include Lenny Abrahamson’s FRANK with Michael
Fassbender and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Richard Curtis’ ABOUT TIME opposite Rachel McAdams
and Bill Nighy, and SENSATION, directed by Tom Hall. He received IFTAs for playing Bob
Geldof in When Harvey Met Bob, Levin in Joe Wright’s ANNA KARENINA, and Jon in Lenny
Abrahamson's FRANK.
Supporting roles in film and television include John Michael McDonagh’s CALVARY,
Charlie Brooker’s “Black Mirror” on Channel 4, Mark Romanek’s NEVER LET ME GO, Joel
and Ethan Coen’s TRUE GRIT, the role of Bill Weasley in HARRY POTTER AND THE
DEATHLY HALLOWS (I & II) directed by David Yates, and Martin McDonagh’s Oscar-
winning short SIX SHOOTER. He also appeared in DREDD directed by Pete Travis, SHADOW
DANCER directed by James Marsh, Ian Fitzgibbon's PERRIER’S BOUNTY, A DOG YEAR for
HBO films opposite Jeff Bridges, Paul Mercier’s STUDS, Stephen Bradley’s BOY EATS GIRL,
and John Butler’s YOUR BAD SELF, for which he co-wrote sketches with Michael Moloney.
Domhnall’s work onstage includes Now or Later at the Royal Court, American Buffalo
and Great Expectations at the Gate, Druid’s production of The Well of the Saints, Macbeth
directed by Selina Cartmell, and Chimps directed by Wilson Milam at the Liverpool Playhouse.
Domhnall was nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway production of Martin McDonagh’s
The Lieutenant of Inishmore. He received a Lucille Lortel Nomination and a Drama League
Citation for Excellence in Performance for the same role. He earned an Irish Times Theatre
Award nomination for his role in American Buffalo.
Domhnall wrote and directed the short films NOREEN (starring Brendan and Brian
Gleeson) and WHAT WILL SURVIVE OF US (starring Brian Gleeson). Domhnall also created
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Immatürity for Charity, comedy sketches shot with family and friends in aid of St. Francis’
Hospice. They're pretty weird and they're on YouTube.
New York City native EMORY COHEN (Tony Fiorello) is one of Hollywood's fastest
rising young stars. His stand-out roles include the troubled teen AJ in PLACE BEYOND THE
PINES, starring alongside Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling, and in BENEATH THE
HARVEST SKY as Casper, a loyal friend who finds himself caught up in the illegal prescription
drug trade in northern Maine, which screened at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.
Cohen was most recently seen in THE GAMBLER in the role of Dexter opposite Jessica
Lange, Mark Wahlberg and John Goodman. The film centers on a literature professor with a
gambling problem who runs afoul of gangsters. The film was released in the U.S.A in December
2014.
In 2015, Cohen will be seen in STEALING CARS opposite John Leguizamo, William H.
Macy and Felicity Huffman in the role of Billy Wyatt. The film centers on a rebellious teenager
who navigates his way through the juvenile court system. He will also be seen in BY WAY OF
HELENA, in the role of Isaac, opposite Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth and Alicia Braga.
The film is about a Texas Ranger who investigates a series of unexplained deaths in a town called
Helena.
His past film and television credits include: NBC’s “Smash,” playing Leo, the son of
Debra Messing’s character for two seasons, and FOUR, reviewed as “a remarkable and moving
portrait of solitude.” The cast won “Best Performance in the Narrative Competition” at the Los
Angeles Film Festival in 2013. Additional credits include TESS AND NANA, AFTERSCHOOL,
LUCKY DOG, NOR’EASTER and HUNGRY GHOSTS.
JIM BROADBENT (Father Flood) is an Academy Award, BAFTA, Emmy and Golden
Globe-winning theatre, film and television actor, best known for roles in IRIS (for which he won
Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes in 2001); MOULIN
ROUGE (for which he was awarded the BAFTA for performance in a Supporting Role in 2001)
and the International phenomenon the HARRY POTTER franchise. He was BAFTA nominated
most recently for his role alongside Meryl Streep in THE IRON LADY (Phyllida Lloyd, 2011).
He has since continued to appear in an eclectic mix of projects, including John S. Baird’s
scurrilous Irvine Welsh adaptation FILTH; Roger Michell’s romantic comedy drama LE
WEEKEND (for which he was nominated for a British Independent Film Award as Best Actor);
and THE HARRY HILL MOVIE, in which he appeared in drag as a three-armed cleaning lady.
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More recently Jim has starred in Christopher Smith’s Christmas comedy GET SANTA; and Paul
King’s critically acclaimed PADDINGTON, based on the beloved children’s books by Michael
Bond. Jim also appears in Jalmari Helander’s action adventure Big Game, starring Samuel L.
Jackson.
Since his film debut in 1978, Jim has appeared in countless successful and acclaimed
films, establishing a long-running collaboration with Mike Leigh (LIFE IS SWEET, TOPSY-
TURVY, VERA DRAKE and ANOTHER YEAR) and demonstrating his talents as a character
actor in films as diverse as THE CRYING GAME (Neil Jordan, 1992), BULLETS OVER
BROADWAY (Woody Allen, 1994), LITTLE VOICE (Mark Herman, 1998); BRIDGET
JONES’ DIARY (Sharon Maguire, 2001); HOT FUZZ (Edgar Wright, 2007); THE DAMNED
UNITED (Tom Hooper, 2009) and CLOUD ATLAS (Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana
Wachowski, 2012).
Also honored for his extensive work on television, Broadbent most recently received a
Royal Television Award and BAFTA nomination for his leading performance in “Any Human
Heart” (based on William Boyd’s novel of the same name), and had previously been recognized
for his performance in Tom Hooper’s “Longford,” winning a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, and
his performance in “The Street” for which he won an Emmy. His earlier role in “The Gathering
Storm” (2002) had earned him Golden Globe and Emmy nominations.
Other selected credits include “Birth of a Nation – Tales out of School” (Mike Newell,
1983); “Blackadder” (John Lloyd, 1983); “Only Fools and Horses;” “Victoria Wood: As Seen on
TV;” “The Young Visiters” (David Yates, 2003); “Einstein & Eddington” (Philip Martin, 2008);
“Exile” (John Alexander, 2011); “The Great Train Robbery” (James Strong, 2013). Broadbent
recently completed filming alongside Ben Whishaw and Charlotte Rampling “London Spy,” an
original production by BBC America.
Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Broadbent has also
appeared extensively on the stage, notably with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal
Shakespeare Company. His work on the stage has seen him appear in acclaimed productions
ranging from Our Friends in the North at the RSC Pit (directed by John Caird and written by
Peter Flannery) and A Place with Pigs at The National (written and directed by Athol Fugard),
through to Habeas Corpus at The Donmar (directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan
Bennett) and The Pillowman at The National (directed by John Crowley and written by Martin
McDonah).
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JULIE WALTERS (Mrs Kehoe) is an award-winning British actress, who came to
international prominence in the title role in EDUCATING RITA in 1983 opposite Michael Caine.
This won her an Oscar® nomination as well as a BAFTA and Golden Globe award for Best
Actress. Walters received her second Oscar® nomination and won a BAFTA for her supporting
role as the ballet teacher Mrs. Wilkinson in BILLY ELLIOT, directed by Stephen Daldry in 2000.
Julie is perhaps best known internationally to young audiences for her role in one of the most
successful franchises in big screen history, playing Mrs. Weasley in seven of the eight HARRY
POTTER films.
Most recently, Walters has started production on the second season of “Indian Summers”
and starred as Mrs. Bird in Paul King’s critically acclaimed PADDINGTON, based on the
beloved children’s books by Michael Bond.
Over 30 years, Julie has appeared in countless British film productions, both highly
successful and critically acclaimed, such as Roger Michell’s TITANIC TOWN in 1998 ,
CALENDAR GIRLS (Nigel Cole, 2003), Richard E. Grant’s WAH-WAH in 2005, DRIVING
LESSONS (Jeremy Brock, 2006), BECOMING JANE (Julian Jarrold, 2007) and MAMMA
MIA! (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008).
Walters has also been honoured for her extensive work on television, recently coming
fourth in the ITV network’s poll of the public’s 50 Greatest Stars in the UK. One of her first
stand-out acting roles on TV was in the classic “Boys from the Blackstuff” (Phillip Saville,1982)
and was followed by a string of significant dramatic and comedic roles, including and “The
Secret Diary of Adrian Mole,” “GBH,” “The Wedding Gift” and “Pat and Margaret.”
Through the late 1990s, productions included “Brazen Hussies” (Elijah Moshinsky,
1996), “The Ruby in the Smoke” (Brian Percival, 2006), as well as WGBH / PBS’s “Oliver
Twist” (Renny Rye, 1999) “The Canterbury Tales” (Dermot Boyd, 2003) and the lead role of
outspoken politician in “Mo Mowlam.” Julie is perhaps best known to British television
audiences for her collaborations with Victoria Wood, appearing with her in the award-winning
sitcoms “Wood and Walters,” “Acorn Antiques,” “Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV” and
“Dinnerladies.”
Having studied at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre, Walters has also
appeared extensively on the stage; in regional theatre, stand-up comedy and cabaret. Educating
Rita (Mike Ockerent, RSC Donmar Warehouse) launched her into the limelight earning her
Variety and Critics’ Awards for Best Newcomer, she then went on to play Lady Macbeth
(Leicester Haymarket Theatre), Judy in Last of the Haussmans (Howard Davies, The National
Theatre), May in Fool for Love (Peter Gill, NT Cottesloe) which won her an Oliver nomination
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for Best Actress and Kate in All My Sons (Kate Keller, NT Cottesloe) for which she won the 2001
Olivier Award for Best Actress.
In 2013, Julie Walters was awarded the Richard Harris Award for Outstanding
Contribution by an Actor at the Moët British Independent Film Awards, celebrating her extensive
contribution to the British film industry. This was followed in 2014 by the prestigious BAFTA
Fellowship Award.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
With a background as an award-winning theatre director, JOHN CROWLEY (Directed
By) received critical acclaim and his first awards in film in 2003 with his first feature
INTERMISSION, which starred Colin Farrell. His subsequent work includes BOY A (2007,
starring Andrew Garfield and Peter Mullan), IS ANYBODY THERE? (2009, starring Michael
Caine) and, most recently, episodes five and the finale of TRUE DETECTIVE season two,
starring Vince Vaughn and Colin Farrell. He is currently directing Cate Blanchett and Richard
Roxburgh in an adaptation of Chekov’s THE PRESENT for Sydney Theatre Company.
Oscar-nominated producers FINOLA DWYER & AMANDA POSEY (Produced by)
produced AN EDUCATION, written by bestselling author and screenwriter Nick Hornby,
directed by Lone Scherfig and launching its star Carey Mulligan. AN EDUCATION was
nominated for three Academy Awards (including Best Film), nine BAFTAs (including Best Film
and Best British Film, winning Best Actress), six BIFAs (winning Best Actress) and won Best
Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Recently produced films include the feature documentary MY NAZI LEGACY which
premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April 2015 to outstanding reviews. Made
in association with the BFI and BBC Storyville, the documentary follows international human
rights lawyer Philippe Sands as he explores the family background of two sons of senior Nazis
and the legacy of their fathers’ actions in WW2. It will be released in the US and UK this autumn.
They are in pre-production on THEIR FINEST HOUR AND A HALF, a co-production
with Number 9 Films that will shoot late summer 2015. Based on Lissa Evans’ novel, it has been
adapted for the screen by Gaby Chiappe with Lone Scherfig directing a stellar cast that includes
Gemma Arterton, Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin. A romantic drama with a difference set in the early
1940s THEIR FINEST HOUR AND A HALF combines the quick-fire repartee of a screwball
battle of the sexes with the reality of filmmaking under threat of imminent invasion and London
in the Blitz.
Dwyer and Posey produced A LONG WAY DOWN the adaptation by Jack Thorne of the
best-selling novel by Nick Hornby. The film was directed by Pascal Chaumeil
(HEARTBREAKER) and stars Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots,
Rosamund Pike and Sam Neill, and had its world premiere at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival.
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Dwyer produced Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut QUARTET under her Finola Dwyer
Productions banner, from a script by Oscar-winner Ronald Harwood starring Maggie Smith, Tom
Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon and Sheridan Smith. The film took
over $60m globally.
Dwyer’s previous producer credits include Iain Softley's BAFTA-winning debut
BACKBEAT; Stephan Elliott's cult favorite WELCOME TO WOOP WOOP; Chris Menges'
THE LOST SON; Sandra Goldbacher's award-winning and BAFTA-nominated ME WITHOUT
YOU, starring Michelle Williams and Anna Friel; Antonia Bird's EMMY-nominated THE
HAMBURG CELL; Stephen Woolley's feature debut STONED; Golden Globe, EMMY-
nominated and BAFTA-winning “Tsunami: The Aftermath” by Abi Morgan, directed by Bharat
Nalluri, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Roth, Sophie Okonedo and Toni Collette which Finola
produced for HBO/BBC. Finola has made films all across the globe, shooting in New Zealand,
Australia, Thailand, Jamaica, the USA, Canada, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, and Hungary.
Dwyer made her theatre producing debut with Elling, starring John Simm. The sell-out
West End run culminated in a Best New Comedy award and Olivier Award nominations
including Best New Comedy and Best Actor. The Broadway production starred Brendan Fraser
and Denis O’Hare. Dwyer is also the former Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee and a BAFTA
Trustee.
Posey’s previous producer credits include FEVER PITCH, based on Nick Hornby’s best-
selling memoir, which Hornby adapted, starring Colin Firth, as well as the US remake of FEVER
PITCH for Fox 2000, adapted by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, directed by the Farrelly
Brothers starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon; and FIVE SECONDS TO SPARE starring
Ray Winstone and Andy Serkis. Amanda’s earlier credits include working with Stephen Woolley
on Neil Jordan’s Oscar-winning THE CRYING GAME and INTERVIEW WITH THE
VAMPIRE (starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt) followed by heading up film development at
Scala Productions, for Stephen Woolley and Nik Powell.
Dwyer and Posey also spearheaded The Story Works 2010/2011, an innovative
screenwriters' initiative for ten UK writers, in conjunction with script editor Kate Leys and the
Edinburgh International Film Festival, supported by Skillset. Masterclass speakers and mentors
included Jane Campion, Ronald Harwood, Paul Greengrass, David Mamet, Christopher Hampton,
John Madden, Will Davies, John Mathieson and Pietro Scalia.
NICK HORNBY (Screenplay By) is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and award-
winning author. Prior to his most recent screenplay BROOKLYN, Hornby adapted Cheryl
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Strayed’s NY Times bestselling memoir into the film WILD, which was directed by Jean-Marc
Vallée, and starred Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.
Nick was Oscar and BAFTA-nominated for his screenplay adaptation of Lynn Barber’s
memoir AN EDUCATION, directed by Lone Scherfig and starring Carey Mulligan, Peter
Sarsgaard, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike and Emma Thompson, and he adapted his own
memoir for the screenplay of FEVER PITCH starring Colin Firth.
Many of Nick’s international best-selling books have served as a rich stream of
inspiration for filmmakers: the British film of FEVER PITCH was re-made by the Farrelly
brothers, starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon; HIGH FIDELITY was directed by Stephen
Frears, starring John Cusack and Jack Black; ABOUT A BOY was directed by the Weitz
brothers, starring Hugh Grant, Rachel Weisz and Toni Collette; and A LONG WAY DOWN was
directed by Pascal Chaumeil, starring Pierce Brosnan, Aaron Paul and Toni Collette.
Nick’s other novels include Slam (2007) for young adults (currently being developed as
an Italian language feature by the makers of IL DIVO); How to be Good (2001); Juliet, Naked
(2009); and his most recent novel Funny Girl was published by Penguin in the UK in November
2014, and by Riverhead in the US in February 2015.
As well as Fever Pitch (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award), Nick
has written several other works of non-fiction including; 31 Songs (shortlisted for the National
Books Critics Circle Award in America) and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, a collection of
Nick’s book columns for the influential US magazine The Believer (also subscribed to
worldwide) and to which he continues to contribute a bimonthly column. Nick is also a recipient
of the EM Forster Award by the American Academy of Arts & Letters.
In November 2010, Nick co-founded the children’s writing charity The Ministry of
Stories, located in East London, now expanding to other UK cities.
COLM TÓIBÍN (Based on the Novel by) was born in Ireland in 1955. His novels are
The South (winner of Irish Times/ Aer Lingus First Fiction award; shortlisted for the Whitbread
First Novel Award); The Heather Blazing (winner of the Encore Prize); The Story of the Nigh t
(winner of the Ferro/Grumley Prize; shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger); The Blackwater
Lightship (shortlisted for the Booker Prize, made into film starring Angela Lansbury and Dianne
Wiest); The Master (winner of the LA Times Novel of the Year, the Dublin IMPAC Prize and the
Prix du Meilleur Livre, shortlisted for the Booker Prize); Brooklyn (winner of the Costa Prize for
Best Novel); The Testament of Mary (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize) and Nora Webster
(winner of the Hawthornden Prize and shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year).
25
His play The Testament of Mary was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 2013.
His collection of stories Mothers and Sons won the Edge Hill Prize, and his second collection The
Empty Family was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award.
Tóibín has twice been a Stein Visiting Writer at Stanford University; he has taught at the
University of Texas at Austin, Manchester University and Princeton. He is currently Irene and
Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University. He served on the Arts
Council in Ireland between 2006 and 2013. He is Chairman of PEN World Voices Festival in
New York and a member of the Board of Druid Theatre.
Tóibín is a contributing editor at the London Review of Books, a member of the Royal
Society of Literature and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and
Letters. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster, University College
Dublin and the University of East Anglia. His work has been translated into more than thirty
languages.
Born in Saint-Jean-d’Iberville and raised in Québec City, YVES BÉLANGER (Director
of Photography) moved to Montreal to study film production at Concordia University, where he
became part of a new wave of Canadian cinema artists and also became bilingual.
Beginning in 1989, he made his mark in the music video industry, working as
cinematographer on rock and country videos, which in turn earned him commercial work. In
1995, he began shooting feature films and television shows; with directorial collaborators
including Alain Desrochers, Louis Bolduc and Jean-Claude Lord. Telefilms that Bélanger filmed
have included “The Growing Pains Movie,” reuniting the original series’ cast and directed by
Alan Metter.
Among the feature films that he has been director of photography on are Alain
Desrochers’ GERRY, WUSHU WARRIOR, CABOTINS, and LA BOUTEILLE [THE
BOTTLE]; and Patrice Sauvé’s CHEECH, for which he received Canadian Society of
Cinematographers (CSC) and Jutra Award nominations. Among the short films that he has been
director of photography on are Tara Johns’ KILLING TIME, for which he was a CSC nominee,
and Geoffrey Uloth’s WILDFLOWERS, for which he won a CSC Award.
Another feature credit as cinematographer was Xavier Dolan’s emotional epic
LAURENCE ANYWAYS, starring Melvil Poupaud and Suzanne Clément, who was honored at
the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival for her performance. Bélanger was again a Jutra
Award nominee for his work on the movie.
26
More recently, Bélanger worked with Jean Marc Vallée on two films; DALLAS
BUYERS CLUB starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, the winner of best
cinematography at the Rome International Film Festival and three Oscars®; and WILD, starring
Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.
Bélanger has just completed his third collaboration with Jean Marc Vallée;
DEMOLITION, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper as well as SHUT IN, a
thriller starring Naomi Watts and directed by Farren Blackburn
A French-Canadian based in Montreal, FRANÇOIS SÉGUIN (Production Designer)
has designed feature films, television series and live theatrical stage productions all around the
world. He has won five Genie Awards for Achievement in Art Direction from the Canadian
Academy of Film and Television, and has been nominated twice more. Séguin has collaborated
with director François Girard on films such as THE RED VIOLIN and SILK, as well as on the
Cirque du Soleil show, Zed, in Japan.
He designed Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas show Michael Jackson: One, and travelled to
China to design Dragon’s production of The Han Show. Feature film credits include LUCKY
NUMBER SLEVIN and PUSH for director Paul McGuigan; Billy Ray’s SHATTERED GLASS;
THE KARATE KID and THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES, for director
Harald Zwart; and the Denys Arcand-directed JESUS OF MONTREAL and THE BARBARIAN
INVASIONS.
Séguin also designed the acclaimed Showtime television series “The Borgias,” for
director Neil Jordan, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Art
Direction.
JAKE ROBERTS (Editor) is a well-established editor who has enjoyed great success
within the film and television industry. As a long-time collaborator with David Mackenzie and
Sigma Films, Jake cut THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS, PERFECT SENSE, YOU INSTEAD
and STARRED UP which was nominated for Best British Independent Film at the BIFAs in
2013.
Roberts recently collaborated with Lone Scherfig on THE RIOT CLUB featuring
Douglas Booth, Max Irons and Sam Claflin for Blueprint Pictures.
He has also edited several award winning short films including I LOVE LUCI which won
the Scottish BAFTA Award for Best Short Film in 2011 and his television credits include the
hugely popular “Misfits” series along with “Skins Redux” with director Charles Martin. Jake
27
also has co-editing credits on the feature films CITADEL, JUMP and DONKEYS which was
nominated for Best Feature at the Scottish BAFTAs and recently did a polish on Ron Scalpello’s
PRESSURE.
MICHAEL BROOK (Music By) is a Golden Globe and Grammy nominated composer,
producer and recording artist recognized for his unique style of composition that traverses
ambient, world, Americana, electronic and orchestral territories.
His work often contains unusual combinations of instruments, sounds and moods that
create a powerful, unique and emotional impact.
His music career began as a recording artist, guitar player, producer and collaborator,
working with artists such as , Brian Eno, David Sylvian, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, The Pogues, on
ground breaking labels such as 4AD and Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records.
As his music began to be licensed in films such as Heat and Any Given Sunday, he developed an
interest in composing for film and moved to Los Angeles from the UK in 1999.
Among the more than 40 films that he has scored are THE PERKS OF BEING A
WALLFLOWER, THE FIGHTER, INTO THE WILD, CHAVEZ, AN INCONVENIENT
TRUTH and the Oscar® winning documentary UNDEFEATED.
ODILE DICKS-MIREAUX (Costume Designer), who is fluent in French, studied
theatre design at the Central School of Art and Design. After leaving college she went on to work
in fringe theatre with companies such as Pip Simmons and Belt and Braces.
Dicks-Mireaux joined the BBC in 1979 as an assistant. In 1982 she became a designer in
her own right designing the costumes for the Award winning series “Blackadder” starring Rowan
Atkinson. Other BBC projects include Jon Amiel's “Silent Twins;” Angela Pope's “Sweet As
You Are;” and Warris Hussein’s “Clothes In The Wardrobe” starring Jeanne Moreau, Joan
Plowright and Julie Walters, for which she won an RTS Award for Best Costume Design.
In 1996 Dicks-Mireaux left the BBC to work freelance, since then she has worked
consistently in both film and television. Television work includes “Great Expectations” for
which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design; “Gormenghast” for which she was
nominated for both BAFTA and RTS Awards for Best Costume Design; “The Lost Prince” for
which she received an Emmy Award and an RTS Award for Best Costume Design; “The Deal”
with director Stephen Frears; and most recently “The Hollow Crown, Richard II,” directed by
Rupert Goold, with Ben Wishaw and Rory Kinnear, for which she was again nominated for a
Best Costume Design BAFTA.
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Film credits include: BUFFALO SOLDIERS starring Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris and
Anna Paquin, Stephen Frears’ DIRTY PRETTY THINGS starring Audrey Tautou and Chiwetel
Ejiofor; Fernando Meirelles’ THE CONSTANT GARDENER starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel
Weisz, AN EDUCATION, her first collaboration with director Lone Scherfig, for which she
received a BAFTA nomination, LONDON BOULEVARD, Roger Donaldson’s THE BANK JOB
starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows and ONE DAY starring Anne Hathaway and Jim
Sturgess.
More recently, Dicks-Mireaux has worked on BEL AMI starring Robert Pattinson, Uma
Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas, QUARTET directed by Dustin Hoffman starring Maggie
Smith, Tom Courtenay and Michael Gambon, A LONG WAY DOWN directed by Pascal
Chaumeil starring Aaron Paul, Toni Collette and Pierce Brosnan.
Dicks-Mireaux has recently finished working on Ben Wheatley’s HIGH RISE starring
Tom Hiddlestone, Jeremy Irons and Elizabeth Moss.
KLE SAVIDGE (Music Supervisor) is one of the UK’s foremost music supervisors.
13 is an impressionable age and it was the timely discovery of “Space Oddity” on her
brother’s stereo that brought forth to Kle the realization of music’s power to evoke, lift and
transform the space it occupies.
Savidge arrived in the UK in 1990 from her hometown of Toronto, surmising somehow
that she might find herself ever more engaged in the British soundtrack that informed her youth.
Outrageously, she immediately found what she was looking for when she stumbled upon a nascent
Creation Records and a certain Alan McGee who took her under his wing and made her his right
hand woman for the next ten years. Savidge was at the center of a seminal movement in recent
British pop history as a hopeful Noel Gallagher arrived in the Creation office with a demo tape that
would change everything. Working with the acclaimed talents of artists such as Oasis, Primal
Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain gave her
extensive experience in all aspects of recorded music from the studio to post production.
Savodge has always possessed a unique attraction to ground breaking music and, when
Creation imploded in 2000, she embarked upon a career in music supervision, keen to branch out
on her own in an area suited to her talents. She has since become a sought after and respected
music supervisor, sourcing tracks and artists for unique performances. She has worked with first
time directors David Schwimmer and Dustin Hoffman to established talents Susanna White, John
Crowley and Pascal Chaumeil.
29
CASTIn Order of Appearance
Eilis SAOIRSE RONANPriest FATHER MATT GLYNN
Miss Kelly BRID BRENNANMary MAEVE MCGRATH
Mrs Brady EMMA LOWEShabby Woman BARBARA DRENNAN
Timid Woman GILLIAN MCCARTHYRose FIONA GLASCOTT
Mary Lacey JANE BRENNANNancy EILEEN O’HIGGINS
George Sheridan PETER CAMPIONGeorgina EVA BIRTHISTLE
Ship Waiter JAMES CORSCADDENMrs Kehoe JULIE WALTERS
Patty EMILY BETT RICKARDS
Diana EVE MACKLINSheila NORA-JANE NOONE
Miss McAdam MARY O’DRISCOLLDorothy SAMANTHA MUNRO
Bartocci Customer #1 JANE WHEELERMiss Fortini JESSICA PARÉ
Diner Waiter ADRIEN BENNFather Flood JIM BROADBENT
Mr Rosenblum AL GOULEMYoung Man MAX WALKER
Frankie Doran IARLA Ó’LIONÁIRDDolores JENN MURRAY
Young Man At Dance ELLIS ROCKBURNTony EMORY COHEN
Bartocci Customer #2 ERIKA ROSENBAUMMrs Fiorello ELLEN DAVID
Laurenzio CHRISTIAN DE LA CORTINAMr Fiorello PAULINO NUNES
Frankie Fiorello JAMES DIGIACOMOMaurizio MICHAEL ZEGEN
Boy’s Father TADHG MCMAHONBoy at City Hall HUDSON LEBLANC
City Hall Official PAUL STEWARTJim Farrell DOMHNALL GLEESON
Maria NIAMH MCCANNMr Brown DENIS CONWAY
Mrs Farrell KAREN ARDIFFMr Farrell GARY LYDONMrs Byrne ÁINE NÍ MHUIRÍ
Girl On Deck MELLA CARRON
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1st Assistant Director CHARLIE WATSON
Post Production Supervisor POLLY DUVAL
Financial Controller LOUISE O’MALLEY
Music Editor YANN MCCULLOUGH
IRELAND UNIT
Line Producer PATRICK O’DONOGHUE
1st Camera Assistant NICOLAS MARIONSteadicam Operator DANIEL BISHOP
2nd Camera Assistant BRIAN DUNGANDIT / Downloader PAUL DEANE
Camera Trainee / Video Assistant SARAH DUNPHYCamera Trainee JOHN MCCARTHY
Script Supervisor ROWENA LADBURY
Gaffer JAMES MCGUIREGrip PAUL TSAN
2nd Assistant Director ENDA DOHERTY3rd Assistant Director NICK THOMAS
Extras Coordinator STEPHEN KIRKAssistant Extras Coordinator DENIS FITZPATRICK
Sound Mixer BARRY O’SULLIVANBoom Operator ENDA CALLANSound Trainee SEAN O’TOOLE
Production Accountant SOPHIE TEBBITTAssistant Accountant EVELYN MCLOUGHLIN
Accounts Trainee SUSANN CHANDLER
Production Coordinator JANE MCCABEUK Production Coordinator ABBY MILLS
Assistant Coordinator ORLA HEFFERNANProduction Trainee CIAN BOYNE
Director’s Assistant KIERON WALSHEAssistant to Finola Dwyer CHARLOTTE CAWTHORNE
Location Manager GORDON WYCHERLEYAssistant Location Managers GRANT BOBBETT
BRENDAN O’SULLIVAN
31
Casting Associate ALICE SEARBYCasting Assistant SARAH WILSON
Art Director IRENE O’BRIENStandby Art Director MELANIE DOWNES
Assistant Art Director CHRISTINE FITZGERALDTrainee Art Director FIONA COONEY
Set Decorator / Buyer JENNIFER OMANBuyer EMMA LOWNEY
Trainee Buyer THERESE O’LEARYGraphics Designer PAUL BRADY
Best Boy SIMON MAGEEGenny Operator PADRAIC O’FATHARTA
Electrician BRENDAN DEMPSEYPractical Electrician DAMIEN HEFFERNAN
Assistant Costume Designer ELLEN CRAWSHAWWardrobe Supervisor JUDITH DEVLIN
Standby Wardrobe Assistant KAREN RIGGCostume Trainees LAURA ANNE MOONEY
BÉBHÍNN MCGRATH
Assistant Make Up NIAMH O’LOANAssistant Hair LORRAINE BRENNAN
Property Master NUALA MCKERNANStandby Prop CHRISTINA BROSNAN
Standby Assistant DANIEL O’FLAHERTYDressing Props PAUL HEDGES JNR.
Dressing Props Assistants MARK TIMMONSPAUL BOULTON
Stores Person JANET HOLLINSHEADProps Trainees PAUL CAIRNDUFF
DYLAN SCOTTProps Runaround Driver LIAM MAGUIRE
Road Crew LIAM DOYLE
Construction Manager NICKY MACMANUSConstruction Chargehand FEARGHUS MCHUGH
Supervising Carpenter BRIAN TIGHECarpenters ALAN FINGLAS
KRISTIAN TIGHELORCAN NOLANGAVIN HACKETT
Scenic Artist NEVILLE GAYNORScenic Background Artists JOSEPH GAYNOR
DARREN KEARNEYPainters NIALL KEARNEY
NORMAN DUFF
32
Rigger ROBBIE CURRYStagehand RAY BOYLE
Construction Driver STEPHEN PRESTON
Standby Carpenter GRAHAM WATERSStandby Painter DANIEL LYONS
Standby Stagehand JASON ARKINSStandby Rigger JAMES DOYLE
Trainee Assistant Directors JESSICA WHELEHANDANIEL LLOYDKEITH BROWETT
Stand In / Trainee Assistant Directors CONOR FLANNERYROISIN EL CHERIFOLLIE KELLYMEGHAN MCLACHLAN
Dialogue Coach BRENDAN GUNN
SFX Coordinator BRENDAN BYRNESFX Technicians ANDREW NOLAN
LIAM MCDONALDMARTIN FITZPATRICK
Transport Captain PAUL CULLENUnit Drivers DAVID LEON
MARTIN REILLYPETER THORNTON
Minibus Drivers COLMAN SHARKEYEDWARD FORAN
Facilities IRISH FILM FACILITESFacilities Manager NICO LINUL
Facilities PETER HILLJOHNNY FORTUNEMERVYN EWING
Camera Truck Driver GARY HAMILTONConstruction Truck Driver GAVIN MCGLASHAN
Electrical Truck Driver WILLIE COOLEYProps Truck Driver JAMES TANSEY
Paramedic ANDREW WATERSHealth & Safety Officer KEVIN KEARNS
Catering LOCATER LTDCatering Manager GARY WALSH
Chef MARIUS DZIKOCatering Assistants DANIEL PATACHI
EMANUEL BACREDINICOLETTA ROSO
33
Rushes & Editing Services WINDMILL LANEWindmill Lane Edit Assistant MARTIN FANNING
Rushes Assistant EOGHAN MCKENNA
CANADA UNIT
Line Producer NICOLE HILARÉGUYProduction Manager DIANE ARCAND
1st Camera Assistant NICOLAS MARIONSteadicam Operator FRANÇOIS ARCHAMBAULT
2nd Assistant Camera MARIE-PIERRE GRATTONData Wrangler SIMON DESROCHERS-LAPLANTE
Playback Operator VINCENT GOUINCamera Trainee SHAWN ANN RIBOTTI
Script Supervisor ROWENA LADBURY
Gaffer EAMES GAGNONKey Grip ALAIN DESMARCHAIS
2nd Assistant Director BRIGITTE GOULET3rd Assistant Director KAVEN MACDONALD
Additional 3rd Assistant Directors EVELYNE RENAUDANABELLE BERKANISTÉPHANE BYL
AD’s Trainee CLAIRE BAUMANN
Sound Recordist CLAUDE LA HAYEBoom Operator FRANCIS PÉLOQUIN
Accountant GUY AUMONDAssistant Accountant CHARLENE HODGE
Accounting Clerk NOËLLA TURBIDE
Production Coordinator MANON PAYANTUK Production Coordinator ABBY MILLS
Assistant Production Coordinator MARJORIE CARONAssistant to John Crowley ELZA KEPHART
Office Runner NICOLAS PRIVÉ
Unit Manager PATRICK LEGAULTAssistant Unit Manager STEEVE LEBLANC
Set PA CHRISTIAN BOURQUETruck PA MICHEL BILODEAU
Production Assistants KEVIN ST MARSEILLEANDRÉE-ANNE FAUCHER
Location Manager GUILLAUME BLANCLocation Scout MICHELE ST-ARNAUD
34
Location Manager (boat) MICHELINE SYLVESTREAssistant Location Manager ALEXANDRE PIUZE-GUALMINI
Principals Casting LUCIE ROBITAILLENY Casting JIM CARNAHAN
Extras Casting JULIE BRETONDialogue Coach JULIA LENARDON
Dance Choreographer ANDRÉ THÉORÊT
Art Director ROBERT PARLEAssistant Art Director GUY PIGEON
Graphic Artist CARL LESSARDArt Department Coordinators DIANE PAGÉ
HÉLÈNE LAMARREKey Set Decorator LOUISE TREMBLAY
Decorator MANON THOMASAssistant Decorators ISABELLE POULIN
EMMANUELLE FOURNIER
Best Boy Electric PIERRE DAUDELINGenny Operator FRANCK FARINA-SCHROLL
1st Assistant Electric CONSTANT LAVALLÉE2nd Assistant Electric ROGER ROBICHAUD
Additional Assistant Electrics CHARLES PÉLOQUINDANIEL GOYENS
Rigging Gaffer PETER MATHYSRigging Electrics DANIEL VACHON
MICHAËL OHAYON
Best Boy Grip CLAUDE GERVAIS1st Assistant Grip ERIC LEGENDRE
Grip DANY PRÉVOSTAdditional Grips BENOIT DAOUST
SAMUEL EUSANIO
Assistant Costume Designer CARMEN ALIEKey Extras Wardrobe Mistress FRANÇOISE LABELLE
Extras Wardrobe Mistress SYLVIE DAGENAISAssistant Extras Wardrobe Mistresses CHRISTELLE DEFORCEVILLE
ÉMILIE MARTINEAUDOMINIQUE THÉRIAULTJOSÉE BOISVERTDIANE DAOUST
Runner JULIEN LATENDRESSECostumes Coordinator CATHERINE FILION-VILLENEUVE
Key Dresser MANON GIRARDDresser CAMILLE DEMERS
Key Extras Dresser JOHN STOWEAdditional Extras Dressers GINETTE RÉGIS
MARTINE PICARDALBERT GRÉGOIRE
35
NIAMH BUTLERVÉRONIQUE LE BLOND
Key Specialized Wardrobe Technicians VALÉRIE DELACROIXÉMILIE MARTINEAUFAUVE PARADISJONATHAN GIRARDNOÉMIE POULINANNE-MARIE KEARNS-DRAPEAU
Seamstresses JOSÉE COMEAUNICOLE LANGLOIS
Make Up Artist MARLÈNE ROULEAUAssistant Make Up Artists MAGALIE MÉTIVIER
EDWINA VODAJULIE MIGNOT
Hairdresser MICHELLE CÔTÉKey Extras Hairdresser ROCCO STALLONEAssistant Hairdressers COLETTE MARTEL
MARIO HUOT
Additional Production Assistants CÉDRIC ARCANDJEAN-FRANÇOIS HALLALEXANDRA ELKINJEAN-SÉBASTIEN HOULELAURA NOËLANNE-CATHERINE BOLDUCBRIGITTE DESHUSSESKEVEN P. PARENTALEXANDRA MORINALEXANDRE BESNERLAURENT ULRICH
Unit Runner MARTIN FRADETTE
Property Master-On Set Prop Master DENIS HAMELAssistant Set Props CAROLINE DAVIGNON
Assistant Props Buyer ANIE LEBLANCOn Set Dresser STEPHAN MCKENZIESwing Crew #1 STÉPHANE CARON
FRÉDÉRIC CHAMORROSwing Crew #2 JOAO BAPTISTA
FRANÇOIS ARCHAMBAULTSwing Crew #3 DOUGLAS MACLEAN
PASCAL TREMBLAYSwing Crew #4 DAVID AMYOT
JEAN-PIERRE RIVERINSwing Crew #5 SÉBASTIEN PERRON
PASCAL CANUELKey Scenic Painter ODETTE GAUVREAU
Scenic Painters VINCENT RONSEBRIGITTE CÔTÉSARA BÉLANGER
36
SOUZAN TAWAKULNATALJA SCERBINAJEAN-MARC CORMIERMATHIEU LÉVESQUE BLOUINRENÉE BOULAISJÉRÔME SINCENNE
Craft Persons ROLAND CHAPUTMICHEL DICAIREETIENNE POULIN
Assistant Craft Person JIMMY LEMAY
Picture Car Coordinator RÉAL HAMELAssistant Picture Car Coordinators ÉRIC BRAIS
STÉPHANE BYLDENIS RAYMONDMAUDE BEAUNOYER
Assistant Captain Driver MARC-ANDRÉ GOYERDrivers HÉLÈNE ÉMOND
ROGER VAILLANCOURTRENÉ BRISSONTANIA VERIANDRÉE ROYTONY PELLETIERGABRIEL FORTIN TAILLON
Production Vehicles KIROULEPicture Cars RÉAL PICTURE CAR
Rushes Assistant Editors GUYLAINE ALLARDGENEVIÈVE ROBERGE
NEW YORK UNIT
Production Manager LINDSAY FELDMANProduction Coordinator SCOTT BREDENGERD
Accounts Department CHRISTOPHER CONKLINGMATTHEW BERNABEI
Visa Services SHERMAN KAPLAN AND BRIAN DINGLE
PRODUCTION SERVICES PROVIDED BY ATLANTIC PICTURES, CHRISTOPHER MARSH AND DARREN GOLDBERG
37
1st Assistant Editor LEA MOREMENT
Assistant to Finola Dwyer ANNA KOCHPost Production Coordinator CHRISTINA LEGKOVA
Sound Design & Post Production by SOUND 24Sound Effects Editors MARK HESLOP
DILLON BENNETTSupervising Dialogue Editor GILLIAN DODDERS
Dialogue Editors IAN MORGANEMILIE O'CONNOR
Foley Recorded at SHEPPERTON STUDIOSFoley Editor PETER HANSON Foley Artist JACK STEW
Assistant Sound Editor NICHOLAS FREEMANTLE
Re-recorded at PINEWOOD STUDIOS Re-recording Mixers IAN TAPP, CAS
ADAM SCRIVENERFoley Mixer GLEN GATHARD
Assistant Foley Mixer JEMMA RILEY-TOLCHSound Mix Technician JOHN SKEHILL
ADR recorded at GOLDCREST POST PRODUCTIONADR Mixer MARK APPLEBY
ADR Voice Casting PHOEBE SCHOLFIELD
Visual Effects by WINDMILL LANE VFXVFX Supervisor ANDY CLARKE
Executive VFX Producer CIARAN CROWLEYVFX Producer CIARA GILLAN
VFX Coordinator GILL RYDERStudio DARAGH CASEY
2D Artists JOHN MCMAHONROB HARTIGANJENNY KEANE
3D Artists TIM CHAUNCEYJAMES KENNY
Junior Artists DAVE LEAHYSTACY MANGANKEVIN RYANPEARSE TOOMEY
Additional Visual Effects by MUNKYVFX Supervisor GARY BROWNLead VFX Artist FABIO VONA
VFX Artists RICHIE WHITEVFX Artist MIGUEL ALGORA
VFX Line Producer GILLIAN MACKIEProduction Assistant KATE WARBURTON
Titles Design by MATT CURTIS
38
Digital Intermediate by MOLINARE TV & FILMDI Colourist ASA SHOUL
DI Online Editor GARETH PARRYDI Producer ALAN PRITT
Molinare Post Production Coordinator CHARLOTTE AIRTHDI Manager MATT JAMES
DI Coordinator FRANCOIS KAMFFERDI Conform Editors TIM DREWETT
MICHELLE CORTSTEVE OWENTOM CAIRNSJOHNATHAN DICKINSONLIZZIE NEWSHAM
DI Online Assistants BEREN CROLLKELVIN DALEY
Data Transfer Operators MIKE ANDREWSWILL CATTERMOLELEIGH MYERS
Film Consultant LEN BROWNVFX Production Manager FATEMEH KHOSHKHOU
Stills Photographer & EPK Director KERRY BROWNUnit Publicity PREMIER - JONATHAN RUTTER
Production Notes PATRICK REED
FOR WILDGAZE FILMSAssociate Producer for Wildgaze Films BENNETT MCGHEE
Head of Development JOSEPHINE DAVIESAccountant JOHN MORGANResearcher RAPHAEL VON BLUMENTHAL
FOR PARALLEL FILMSCo-Producer for Parallel Films SUSAN MULLEN
Production Assistant ALISON NOLANAssistant to Alan Moloney TOM PULLEN
FOR ITEM 7Associate Producer for Item 7 JEANNETTE GARCIA
Coordinator MARIA GRACIA-TURGEONAssistant Accountant ROSELINE LILI EGOUME
Business Affairs SAM COPPOLA
FOR BBC FILMSSenior Business Manager MICHAEL WOOD
Head of Legal and Business Affairs ZOE BROWNLegal and Business Affairs Manager NADIA LACHMAN
Marketing Executive JACQUI BARRLegal and Production Assistant RUTH SANDERS
39
PRODUCED WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF TELEFILM CANADACAROLLE BRABANT
MICHEL PRADIERSTEPHANIE AZAM
SANDRA KARRJULIE BLONDIN
ELSA GODIN
FOR IFBExecutive Producer for Bord Scannán na
hÉireann / the Irish Film BoardRORY GILMARTIN
Chief Executive JAMES HICKEYDeputy Chief Executive TERESA MCGRANE
FOR BFIDirector of Lottery Film Fund BEN ROBERTS
Senior Production and Development Executive
NATASCHA WHARTON
Head of Production FIONA MORHAMHead of Production Finance IAN KIRK
Business Affairs Manager BEN WILKINSON
FOR INGENIOUSCHARLES AUTY
ELEANOR WINDOTED CAWREYLESLEY WISE
BUSINESS AFFAIRS FOR INGENIOUS – DAVID QULI
FOR SODECMONIQUE SIMARD
CATHERINE LOUMÈDELAURENT GAGLIARDI
JULIE MORIN
WORLDWIDE SALES AND DISTRIBUTION: HANWAY FILMSMATTHEW BAKER
JUSTIN KELLYTHOMAS MANNAZI SAMINGANJAN SPIELHOFF
JONATHAN LYNCH-STAUNTONCLAIRE TAYLOR
CHIARA GELARDIN
In Association with TSG ENTERTAINMENT
Camera Equipment Ireland VAST VALLEYLighting Equipment Ireland CINE ELECTRIC
40
Camera, Grip & Lighting Equipment Canada
VISION GLOBALE
Avid Equipment SALON RENTALSPost Production Script FATTS
Digital Negative and Prints iDAILIES
Production Legal Services SHERIDANSJAMES KAY AND NICK MAHARA
Insurance provided by GALLAGHER ENTERTAINMENT - KEVIN O’SHEA
Completion Guarantor Services by FILM FINANCESGRAHAM EASTON, DAVID KORDA, JAMES SHIRRAS
Auditor SHIPLEYS LLP - STEVE JOBERNSCollection Account Management by FINTAGE CAM B.V.
Score Recorded at ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, LONDONEngineer SIMON RHODES
Assistant Engineers TOBY HULBERTSTEFANO CIVETTA
Conductor NICK INGMANOrchestrator DAVID GLEN RUSSELL
Music Production CRAIG CONARDScored Mixed by RICHARD EVANS
Orchestra Contractor ISOBEL GRIFFITHSAssistant Orchestra Contractor SUSIE GILLIS
Orchestra Leader PERRY MONTAGUE-MASONLibrarian PHIL KNIGHTS
Violin Soloist JULIE ROGERSClarinet Soloist MARTIN ROBERTSON
Piano Soloist TOM CAWLEY
Additional Music Recorded at TEMPLE LANE STUDIOS, DUBLINProduced by JOHN CARTY
Engineered by MICHAEL HEFFERNAN
“TEDDY O’NEILL”Traditional
Arranged by John CartyPerformed by John Carty, James
Blennerhassett, Paul Gurney and Jim Higgins
“GOLDEN JUBILEE”Traditional
Arranged by John CartyPerformed by John Carty, James Blennerhassett,
Paul Gurney and Jim Higgins
“BOOLAVOGUE”Written by Patrick Joseph McCall
Arranged by John Carty
“BE COOL AKA KEEP COOL”Written by A Jacquest
Licensed by Rockin’ Music
41
Performed by John Carty, James Blennerhassett, Paul Gurney and Jim
Higgins
Performed by Johnny Moore’s Three BlazersCourtesy of Ace Records Ltd.
“CASTLE FINN”Traditional
Performed by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Fiachna Ó Mongáin
“CASADH AN TSÚGÁIN”Traditional
Performed by Iarla Ó Lionáird
“MACUSHLA”Written by Dermot MacMurroughPerformed by John McCormack
Licensed courtesy of Naxos Rights Us Inc.
“SILVER THREADS”Written by Hart Pease Danks
Performed by John McCormackLicensed courtesy of Naxos Rights Us Inc.
“THE STACK OF BARLEY”Traditional
Arranged by John CartyPerformed by John Carty, James
Blennerhassett, Paul Gurney and Jim Higgins
“YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS”Traditional
Arranged by John CartyPerformed by John Carty, James Blennerhassett,
Seamus O’Donnell and Jim Higgins
“DYNAFLOW”Written by Jack Cooley
Courtesy of Embassy Music Corp./Music Sales Creative
Performed by John Carty, James Blennerhassett, Seamus O’Donnell and
Jim Higgins
“A GARDEN IN THE RAIN”Written by Carroll Gibbons and James
DyrenforthCourtesy of Chester Music Ltd. trading as
Campbell Connelly & Co.Performed by John Carty, James Blennerhassett,
Seamus O’Donnell and Jim Higgins
“FIVE, TEN, FIFTEEN HOURS”Written by Rudolph Toombs
Used by kind permission of Carlin Music Corp.
Performed by Ruth BrownLicensed courtesy of Warner Music UK
Ltd.
“WHAT’S IT TO YOU, JACK?”Written by A Jacquest and J Carter
Used by kind permission of Carlin Music Corp. and Lark Music Ltd.
Performed by Linda HayesCourtesy of Ace Records Ltd.
“ZING A LITTLE ZONG”Written by Harry Warren and Leo RobinPublished by Music Sales Corporation and Four Jays Music Co., administered
by peermusic (UK) Ltd. / Campbell Connelly & Co. Ltd.
Performed by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney
Courtesy of Jasmine Records
“JESU JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING”Written by JS Bach
Performed by David KellyCourtesy of De Wolfe Music
“CANON IN D”Written by J Pachelbel
Performed by David Kelly
“MY WILD IRISH ROSE”Written by Chancellor Olcott
Arranged by John Carty
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Courtesy of De Wolfe Music Performed by John Carty, James Blennerhassett, Paul Gurney, Seamus O’Donnell and Jim
Higgins
‘Singing In The Rain’ poster and stills licensed by
WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC
‘New York 1956’ imagery supplied by GETTY IMAGESClearances Coordinator CHARLES EDWARDS
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO
RICK GEKOSKI, BOB SULLIVAN, JEREMY THOMAS, DUSTIN HOFFMAN, CHRIS ANDREWS,
JENNIFER LAKE & DONALD DONOVAN, LISBETH SAVILL, ROGER & MARLIESE DONALDSON
WITH THANKS TO
ADAM VENIT, PAUL LYON-MARIS, JENNE CASAROTTO, BEN ROBERTS, DAN ALONI, RICHARD PAYTON & ANDREW MACKIE, PETER SUSSMAN, CHARLES LAYTON, ALISON THOMPSON, LISA WOLOFSKY, SANDRA MARSH, JENNIFER
KAWAJA & JULIA SERENY, RONALD GILBERT, CHRISTINA PIOVESAN, CHARLIE DIBE, GAYLE VANGROFSKY, ANDREW MCALPINE, RICHARD HOOVER
T BONE BURNETT, MICAH GREEN, PIETRO SCALIA,JOHN MATHIESON, STEPHEN FUSS
ENNISCORTHY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, ENNISCORTHY TOWN COUNCIL, ENNISCORTHY GARDAI SIOCHANA, WEXFORD COUNTY COUNCIL, ENNISCORTHY ATHENAEUM COMMITTEE, JOHN O’CONNOR AND ENNISCORTHY ENTERPRISE CENTRE, O’LEARY ESTATE AGENTS ENNISCORTHY, THE SHOWGROUNDS ENNISCORTHY, ST AIDAN’S
CATHEDRAL AND PARISH ENNISCORTHY, ST MARY’S CHURCH AND PARISH TAGOAT, ALL THE BUSINESSES AND RESIDENTS OF CASTLE STREET,
COURT STREET, JOHN STREET, FRIARY HILL AND LOWER CHURCH STREET ENNISCORTHY, AERFAST INTERNATIONAL, MOVIETONE FROCKS, CARLO MANZI LTD, RTE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT, FATHER MATT GLYNN, PAUL
HAND OF DUBLIN FIRE BRIGADE MUSEUM, JOANNE BYRNE, PADDY BERRY, AOIFE WOODLOCK,
NICHOLAS CAROLAN & BRIGITTE BARK, IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC ARCHIVE, DUBLIN
ELA MAISON BIRKS (Donald Morneau), COMPAGNIE DE LA BAIE D’HUDSON (Catherine Durand), SOCIÉTÉ DU VIEUX PORT DE MONTREAL, PATTISON,
MINISTÈRE DE LA CULTURE ET DES COMMUNICATIONS, SOCIÉTÉ RADIO-CANADA, ESPACE, COSTUME INC., LES SERVICES BALDGORILLA INC.,
LOUIS RENE LAMARCHE OPTICIEN, SAVARD OPTICIENS, LES ENTREPRISES A & R BROCHU, Transport Desgagnés inc. and the crew boat of Camilla Desgagnés,
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AQPM, AQTIS, ACTRA, SPACQ, ARRQ
PRODUCED WITH THE SUPPORT OF INVESTMENT INCENTIVES FOR THE IRISH FILM INDUSTRY PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND.
PRODUCED WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF SODEC SOCIÉTÉ DE DÉVELOPPEMENT DES ENTREPRISES CULTURELLES - QUÉBEC
A UK / CANADA / IRELAND CO-PRODUCTION
FILMED ON LOCATION IN IRELAND, MONTREAL AND NEW YORK
In Memory of CLARE DWYER
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PRODUCED BY BUN AND HAM
PRODUCTIONS LIMITED
PRODUCED WITH THE FINANCIAL
PARTICIPATION OF CRÉDIT D’IMPÔT
CINÉMA ET TÉLÉVISION – GESTION
SODECFUNDED BY THE BROADCASTING
AUTHORITY OF IRELAND WITH THE TELEVISION
LICENCE FEE
With the support of theMedia Programme of the European Union
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MADE IN ASSOCIATION WITH RTE
THE EVENTS DEPICTED IN THIS FILM ARE FICTITIOUS. ANY SIMILARITYTO ANY PERSON LIVING OR DEAD IS MERELY COINCIDENTAL.
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS PROTECTED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
AND OTHER COUNTRIES. UNAUTHORISED DUPLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR EXHIBITION
MAY RESULT IN CIVIL LIABILITY AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.
MADE WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE BFI’S FILM FUND
DEVELOPED WITH THE SUPPORT OF BBC FILMS
No: 49673
© 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporationand TSG Entertainment Finance LLC.
©2015 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PROPERTY OF FOX. PERMISSION IS GRANTED TO
NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS TO REPRODUCE THIS TEXT IN ARTICLES PUBLICIZING THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOTION PICTURE. ALL OTHER USE
IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, INCLUDING SALE, DUPLICATION, OR OTHER TRANSFER OF THIS MATERIAL. THIS PRESS KIT, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, MUST
NOT BE LEASED, SOLD, OR GIVEN AWAY.
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