Category: Brooklyn

Saoirse talks about filming “Brooklyn”

Saoirse recently talked to Independent.ie about her experience filming “Brooklyn” in Enniscorthy, Ireland. Read the article below:

‘It was brilliant!’

That was how Hollywood star Saoirse Ronan summed up her return to a town she knew well from her childhood in Ardattin near Tullow: ‘I grew up in Carlow and use to come to Enniscorthy quite a lot when I was younger. I remember the cinema. We used to go there a lot.’

She was speaking at a reception in Enniscorthy Castle hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce and Town Council for the cast and crew of ‘Brooklyn’. The talk at the function was of bringing the premiere of the new picture, if not to Enniscorthy itself, then to the cinema facilities either Gorey or Wexford when it is released next year.

The star of ‘Brooklyn’ was particularly impressed and moved to learn that some of the extras recruited from around the area, or their parents, met their partners at dances in The Athenaeum. One of the big scenes in the film was such a dance in the same landmark building on Castle Street.

She was also touched to think that she was part of a movie dealing with emigration and the ties to home. Just turned 20, she revealed that it was familiar emotional territory for her own family: ‘Mam and Dad made that journey and went over to New York in their twenties.’

She happily posed for pictures with local people and came across as most down to earth, despite the fact that she is now famous all around the world. Throughout the time on set in Enniscorthy, Curracloe, Tagoat and Crosstown, paparazzi with their long lens cameras have been keeping an eye on proceedings, in the hope of capturing a shot of Saoirse with co-star Domhnall Gleeson.

‘It’s been very long hours generally – 13 hours a day but it has been going well.’

Source: Independent.ie

(Video) Saoirse filming “Brooklyn”

Thanks to Philip Kenny, we have a very brief video of Saoirse filming “Brooklyn” in Enniscorthy a couple of days ago.

“Brooklyn” starts shooting in Wexford in April

Parallel Films’ production of Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson will begin filming in April in Wexford and Canada. Directed by John Crowley, the film is an adaptation by Nick Hornby of Colm Tóibín’s novel of the same name, and it will also star Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters and Emory Cohen.

Set in the 1950s, as is the novel on which it is based, Brooklyn concerns a young Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey (who appears to be renamed Nora in the film) starts a new life in New York. However, a family tragedy back in Ireland means she has to make a difficult choice between the two men she loves in both countries.

Brooklyn is a HanWay films production, and that company’s website summarises the plot in rather jaunty fashion in their pre-production news page. “All Nora has to look forward to if she stays in 1950s Ireland are slick-haired rugby players, selling cigarettes one at a time at the local shop, and bad weather.”

“So when a kindly priest, Father Flood, sponsors her to go to America, she packs her meagre belongings, says goodbye to her mother and her sister, Rose, and hello to…Brooklyn, which with its bright lights, brownstones and brash confidence is a shock for timid Nora. Seasickness from the treacherous journey to Ellis Island transforms into homesickness as she gets to Mrs. Kehoe’s daunting lodging house, full of gossiping single girls.”

The project was developed by BBC Films, The Irish Film Board is also funding and Parallel Films in Ireland is co-producing.

The omens are good for a compelling production, as screenwriter Nick Hornby, and the film’s producers Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey were all Oscar-nominated for the acclaimed period drama, An Education.

Source: RTÉ Ten