Irish stars are coming to a screen near you: A roundup of their big films and TV shows
Irish actors with big projects on the way include Sarah Greene, Paul Mescal, Cillian Murphy, Aisling Franciosi and Jessie Buckley.
As the Irish film and TV industry benefits from a global boom in demand for storytelling, and our stars continue to make a strong impression on screen, there’s plenty to look forward to from Irish talent this year. Esther McCarthy looks at some upcoming highlights.
Thanks to years of hard work and savvy choices, Killarney’s Jessie Buckley is suddenly everywhere. Fresh from her scene-stealing turn in the new series of Fargo and stellar work in Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things, she has plenty more lined up this year including a role opposite Olivia Colman in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter, which has just completed filming on location in Greece. She’s also poised to be the new lead star of Men, the next feature from writer and filmmaker Alex Garland (Ex-Machina).
Colin Farrell goes into unchartered territory in The North Water, an upcoming series for BBC. Farrell piled on the weight to play Henry Drax, a brutish whale harpooner on an ill-fated sea expedition in the 1850s. Adapted from Ian McGuire’s novel, the impressive cast also includes Stephen Graham, Jack O’Connell and Tom Courtenay. Much of the four-part series was filmed around Svalbard near the Arctic circle, one of the most northerly shoots ever for a major production.
Following her work on Normal People, Cork actress Sarah Greene will return to our screens in Frank of Ireland for Channel 4 and Amazon. Written by and starring Brian and Domhnall Gleeson, the comedy series revolves around Frank, a misanthropic musician who lives in Dublin with his mother. Produced by Merman, a company co-owned by Sharon Horgan, the series will also star Tom Vaughan-Lawlor. Production was completed in Belfast year following a Covid shutdown.
Following the worldwide success of Normal People, the Maynooth actor has been catapulted from relative anonymity to superstar. It’s a transformation many young actors would struggle with, but Mescal’s embracing it with two huge roles on the way. He will join Jessie Buckley on Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter, which is completed. We will also see him as the male lead in Carmen, a contemporary take on one of the world’s most famous operas. The actor is currently filming the movie on location in Australia. We already know he can hold a tune, so this could be an enormous project for Mescal.
We’ll discover next month whether Irish-language drama Arracht (Monster) will be on the 15-film shortlist for Best International Feature at this year’s Oscars. Buzz is certainly building for Tom Sullivan’s feature, set during the early days of the Great Hunger. The movie has been gathering momentum on the festival circuit in advance of its release in Irish cinemas this year. Dónall Ó Héalai’s lead performance has been singled out for special praise and he’s been selected as a Star of Tomorrow by Screen International.
Scheduled for release last April just before the world went into chaos, Cillian Murphy’s role in the highly anticipated A Quiet Place Part II will now open in cinemas this year. John Krasinski’s psychological thriller was one of the best cinematic surprises of recent times. Krasinski returns to helm this film, which sees the Abbott family face new terrors. They come across a couple of other survivors, including Murphy’s Emmett.
Strong word of mouth is building for Rachel Carey’s Deadly Cuts, about a group of hairdressers who take on a local criminal gang which threatens the community they hold dear. Taking the coveted closing-night slot at next March’s Dublin International Film Festival, the comedy will have its world premiere. Carey said she wanted to make a comedy: “especially one that featured the style, wit, and occasional murderous urges of the Dublin young one”.
Meehan’s debut feature, which had its world premiere at Cork International Film Festival, will open this year. It tells the story of Kate (Gemma-Leah Devereux) a world-weary stand-up comedian who’s diagnosed with cancer. To placate her family she agrees to undergo treatment, only to meet a group of women who will transform her life. Though the film is fictional, it’s inspired by the experiences of two women - comedian Anne Gildea and Meehan’s own sister, Alacoque.
Sandra Bullock is one of Netflix’s highest-profile collaborators, with a major production deal with the streaming site and her last film, Bird Box, a big ratings hit. Irish/Italian actress Aisling Franciosi has landed a leading role opposite Bullock in her next film, an untitled drama thriller. Franciosi, whose first major part was opposite Jamie Dornan in The Fall, is building on the acclaim she received for The Nightingale, a harrowing revenge movie set among the Irish in 19th century Tasmania.
Writer/director Martin McDonagh and actors Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell aced the dark and enjoyably warped comedy that was In Bruges. Now the trio are set to join forces again for a new story to film on the Aran Islands this year. The movie, with a working title of The Banshees of Inisheer, revolves around two lifelong friends who find themselves at an impasse when one of them wants to end the friendship. Expect lots of pitch-black, acerbic humour.
Saoirse Ronan is poised to again show why she’s one of cinema’s most-respected young stars with a role opposite Kate Winslet in Ammonite. Fancied for an awards-season run this spring, the film set in 1840s England focuses on the intense affair that develops between the women they play, even though one of them is married. Ronan will also be on screen in Wes Anderson’s French Dispatch later this year.
Movie industry bible Variety is now tipping Irish animation Wolfwalkers to be in with a great chance of winning a Best Animated Feature Oscar when the awards take place in April. While the film is likely to be up against stiff competition from Pixar’s Soul and Studio Ghibli’s Earwig and the Witch, industry pundits have said momentum is behind Kilkenny based animation studio Cartoon Saloon, which has seen all three of its previous films nominated. It’s now on Apple TV.
One of the year’s big domestic TV series is set to be Smother, which will air on RTÉ and BBC this year. Set on the coastline of Co Clare, the noir thriller centres on the mysterious relationships of one family following the brutal death of the family patriarch. Written by Kate O’Riordan, the high-profile cast includes Dervla Kirwan and Seána Kerslake.
Currently nearing completion in Limerick’s Troy Studios, TV series Foundation for Apple TV is one of the biggest ever productions to film in Ireland and will land on the streaming platform later this year. The ten-part series revolves around the inhabitants of planets throughout the galaxy under the rule of the Galactic Empire. Jared Harris and Laura Birn head the cast.
Meanwhile from Wicklow’s Ashford Studios, a Vikings spin-off is coming to Netflix. Vikings: Valhalla is set 100 years after the events of Vikings as the English stand up against the Scandinavian raiders. William the Conquerer is among the historical characters that will appear and the series is being penned by the veteran screenwriter Jeb Stuart (The Fugitive, Die Hard). Like its predecessor, a ratings hit worldwide, it will be epic in scale.
