Pierce lookin' at you, kid
A feature documentary partially filmed in Cork and starring Irish Hollywood superstar Pierce Brosnan was released this week.
The film, ‘Quintessentially Irish’, features a cast of Irish acting and political royalty led by Pierce Brosnan and three heads of state: President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins; US President Joe Biden, and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, son of actress Grace Kelly who is of Irish descent.
The cast also includes Academy Award winner and Cork resident Jeremy Irons; Bob Geldof; sports commentator Marty Morrisey; actors Andrew Scott, Siobhan McSweeney, and Jessie Buckley; Rory Guinness (great-great-great grandson of Guinness founder, Arthur Guinness); Olympic gold medallist and Guiness lover Usain Bolt and his Irish agent Ricky Simms, and many more.
Cork actress Siobhán McSweeney said: “I think what's quintessentially Irish is that whatever is happening at the time, we'll claim it. We’re ‘glic out’, we’re clever. We claimed Obama. We claim whoever we want.” Siobhan has starred in ‘Derry Girls’ for which she won a BAFTA and on the West End stage in ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’.
The film was partly shot in Munster with aerial shots of the coastline of Cork, Clare, Kerry, Limerick, and Waterford.
In the film, actor Jeremy Irons talks affectionately about James Joyce and his heart being in Cork and Ireland. He is seen reciting ‘Ulysses’ and is asked what has attracted him to Cork.
He says: “The land, the sea, it's the attitude of the people, the anarchic quality. I have never sat down and listed what it is that makes me happy when I go west of Skibbereen to where I live. I'm honoured that I've been accepted, a bastard Englishman. I don't know, I always feel home is where the heart is and when I'm here, my heart is here.”
Blarney Castle also features in the film with the cast being asked if they have kissed the Blarney Stone. Marty Morrissey, the RTÉ sports commentator, is heard to say: “Do you know I've never kissed the Blarney Stone? I must do that. Might shut me up for once and for all.”
‘Quintessentially Irish’ is the third film directed by Irishman Frank Mannion, after his acclaimed debut ‘Sparkling: The Story of Champagne’ featuring Stephen Fry and ‘Quintessentially British’ with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench.
Mannion says: “‘Quintessentially Irish’ reflects the modern reality that Ireland is much more than cliched representations of leprechauns. There are 82 million people around the globe (including 23 million Americans) who claim Irish heritage and 6 million Brits with an Irish grandparent. I look forward to seeing what audiences make of this love letter to everything great and Irish.”
The film is now in cinemas in the UK and Ireland and on streaming services in Ireland.