The Damned: Cork producer Conor Barry on making his dark thriller in Iceland

It wasn't easy to make a film in the cold, short winter days, but the Bishopstown man and his crew persevered, writes Esther McCarthy

Mon, 20 Jan, 2025 - 21:30

Inspired by and set in the Westfjords of Iceland, The Damned is a dark thriller with its location at its centre. Yet the movie is an Irish co-production - and for Cork-born producer Conor Barry, it represented his latest movie-making challenge.

“It was shot in the West Fjords, the very northwest of Iceland,” says Barry.

“So the Donegal of Iceland, you can imagine not a place more barren and out of the way, and it was written for that location.”

The tense psychological horror follows a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing outpost during the middle of an especially cruel winter.

Amid dwindling supplies, does she leave the men to die to protect her own crew? The cast includes Odessa Young and Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole.

The film represents the international nature of many Irish co-productions. Written by Irish screenwriter Jamie Hannigan, the movie was directed by Icelandic filmmaker Thordur Palsson (The Valhalla Murders).

With Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Pictures producing the movie backed by Screen Ireland, the film was co-produced by companies from Iceland, Belgium and the UK.

“We were able to get the level of budget required and the resources required to be able to shoot in Iceland in February, which is the wildest and coldest time,” says Barry, adding that the stunning but tough landscape was always imagined as central to the film.

“Yes it was very difficult. But it was also very normal for the Icelandic crew and an Icelandic co producer who's very much used to filming in snow in those conditions. So although it was very difficult, it was one of those situations where we had the right tools for that.

Inspired by and set in the Westfjords of Iceland, The Damned is a dark thriller with its location at its centre.

“We were well resourced for the challenges that were there. The writer, Jamie Hannigan, was in Iceland with Thordur and slightly changing things on the ground as required. And the actors were all brave and up for the challenge, which was amazing.”

Short winter days in a country that far north meant that the crew worked in as little as six or seven hours of daylight. “In a way, everything was designed around that,” says Barry.

“So we chose our battles, and the whole production was designed around the availability of that light to take the best advantage of that light when it was there.”

From Bishopstown in Cork, Barry originally studied civil engineering at UCC before embracing a long-held passion for film and studying at the National Film School in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

“I would have been one of those people who would have gone to the Cork Film Festival every November when I was younger, and that would have given me my first taste of film,” he says.

“I've always adored films and the power of cinema, and especially seeing super talented people and being able to help them realise what's in their brains. I think story is more important than ever.”

Barry went on to work on movies including Mammal, the story of a woman who forms a bond with a youngster, starring Barry Keoghan and Rachel Griffiths. That was followed by Pilgrimage, about a group of Irish monks that embark on a pilgrimage to move their sacred relic to Rome.

The Damned follows a 19th-century widow tasked with making an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing outpost.

Cast included Tom Holland and Richard Armitage. Upcoming movies include The End, a musical shot on location in Ireland and starring Tilda Swinton and 1917 star George MacKay.

At a time when the Irish film industry is blossoming, movies being made in the horror and thriller genres seem to be in particularly rude health.

Oddity, shot on location in Bantry House, has been both a critical and international commercial hit for filmmaker Damian McCarthy. Kate Dolan’s lean horror thriller You Are Not My Mother produced Irish-themed folklore scares.

Following the success of his eerie thriller The Hole in the Ground, Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin has directed such large-scale studio movies as Evil Dead Rise and an upcoming new take on The Mummy series.

Meanwhile, forthcoming Irish-language horror Fréwaka got strong reviews following its first screenings on the festival circuit.

“I think it plays to the strengths of Irish filmmakers,” says Barry of the genre. “I think it's so important that you can make a film that is commercial and still meaningful.

“I think it plays to the strengths of being able to have something to say, but also to be aware of an audience as well, and how to manipulate that side of things.”