Comedian Pat Shortt enjoys small town life in film role
Comedian Pat Shortt is settling into small town life in the Midlands where he is halfway through shooting award-winning director Lenny Abrahamson’s latest film Garage.
Producer Ed Guiney of Element Films said Shortt’s lead role in the low-budget film was a slight departure from his usual laugh-filled characters.
“It is a tragic comedy, it is comic but has a sad twist to it,” Guiney, who worked on Ken Loach’s Palm d’Or-winning The Wind That Shakes the Barley, said.
“Pat Shortt is fantastic in it. He is a great actor so we hope his fans will enjoy it and it will also find people outside of that. It is not quite typial for him.”
Director Abrahamson and writer Mark O’Halloran’s last venture Adam & Paul, about two desperate Dublin junkies, was a major hit picking up the Grand Prix for Best Film at Sofia International Film Festival.
The production team is spending six weeks shooting Garage in the Midlands.
“It is great, going perfectly. It is all very low key and we are keeping our heads down and getting on with it,” the producer said, after shooting began on August 14.
Guiney said they were halfway through shooting the film about the small-town misfit seeking love.
The feature stars the comedian, previously seen in Man About Dog and Killinascully, and Anne Marie Duff, from the Magdalene Sisters.
The cast will include Don Wycherley from Bachelor’s Walk, Brian Doherty from Pure Mule and Dennis Conway from The Clinic.
“It is a low budget film but by the time we have finished up to 100 people will have worked on the film,” Guiney said, adding it was funded by the Irish Film Board, Film Four, RTE, BCI and the tax incentive scheme Section 481.
Guiney said the film moved quickly from the script writing stage onto shooting.
“It was relatively quick. Mark finished the script late last year, and we managed to get it together quite quickly,” he said. “We discussed Pat for the role early on.”
The producer said the film industry in Ireland was bouyant at the moment.
“I think it is in very good health at the moment,” he said. “It has been incredibly busy. It is hard to get people.”
A number of productions are currently filming in Ireland, including the major television series on Henry VIII, The Tudors, staring Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Myers.
The series which will be broadcast on Showtime in the US early next year had budgeted for a spend of €19m in Ireland.
It is expected the film and television industry in Ireland would generate more than €80m to Ireland’s economy this year.
