HOT off the heels of the premiere of Once Upon A Time In A Cinema, film director David Gleeson says plans are already underway to shoot his next film in his native Limerick.
The 1980s feel-good movie played to a sell-out audience last night (Thursday, April 23) at the Royal Cinema on Cecil Street, the same venue in which the movie was shot.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, the Cappamore native said he hopes to return to the Treaty City.
“We do intend to come back here and shoot our next movie. I’m writing it at the moment,” he said. “It’s a very different kind of movie. But if you’re shooting in Ireland, why would you shoot anywhere else?”
The red carpet was rolled out last night for the movie where cinema owner, Earl Clancy, played by renowned Irish actor Colin Morgan (Belfast, Merlin) manages a small-town cinema firefighting the Friday night from hell while mulling over the sale of his cinema to a shady politician.
And it was the cherry on top for the local filmmaker to premiere the movie in the same location it was shot in.
“I think it’s a world first,” he said. “It’s a venue with such a history in Limerick. It really felt like the closing of some kind of cosmic loop.”
“It was such a privilege. I still can’t wrap my head around it.”
Cinema has been a family affair for Mr Gleeson, whose grandfather and father ran the Regal Cinema in his native Cappamore. It was this upbringing, immersed in cinema, that inspired the idea for the movie.
It’s already been described by critics as ‘funny’ and ‘wise’, and, perhaps most notably, a movie that ‘rings of authenticity’.
This is brought to life by the people of Limerick, Mr Gleeson adds, an area with “so much untapped talent”.
Hundreds of extras featured throughout the movie, made up of ordinary Limerick people who gave up their time to get a glimpse of what it’s like to be on a movie set.
“We got so lucky, a lot of the extras needed very little direction. We wouldn’t have been able to afford them if we were filming in Dublin”, Mr Gleeson commented.
And it’s that same community spirit that shines through in the movie for main protagonist Earl Clancy, who discovers “his value to the community”.
With cinema at the heart the plot, the director is calling for the Royal Cinema where they shot the movie to permanently re-open its doors.
“What Limerick really lacks is a cinema in the city centre. It’s a venue that’s got serious history, there’s even a plaque on the wall memorialising the fact that Oscar Wilde performed here as well as The Cranberries,” he said.
“I’d love to see it restored and modernised but also to retain what it looks like. I would hate to see it split into four or five little screens because then you ruin what’s beautiful about it”.
The cinema, founded in 1852, has been closed since the 1990s after the building was damaged by a fire. It has since re-opened on two occasions as a movie set and to host the play Connie.
Once Upon A Time In A Cinema comes out in cinemas on May 1 and, perhaps for the very first time, Limerick folk might spot their loved ones and neighbours on the silver screen.