Macdara Kelleher of Wild Atlantic Pictures: ‘It seems like every year is an amazing year for Irish talent’

The best time to catch a few minutes with an Oscar nominee? Well, during half time of a Six Nations match, of course. I met with Macdara Kelleher of Wild Atlantic Pictures on the sun soaked poolside terrace of his Hollywood hotel, where we obviously spent large swathes of time talking about the glory of escaping the 60-day-strong record of rainfall in Ireland. We are Irish, after all.

Wild Atlantic Pictures are nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for Ethan Hawke for the film Blue Moon at this weekend’s Academy Awards for their work on co-production. The film, which is a 1940s biographical comedy-drama revolving around lyricist Lorenz Hart and his shattered self-confidence, was filmed almost entirely in Ireland, with the majority of the crew on-set being Irish.

“Basically everyone who worked on Blue Moon was Irish, apart from Ethan and Richard,” Macdara says. “I remember watching Dazed and Confused when I was in college and going, ‘If I could ever make a movie this good or with this guy, I think I’d die a happy man’. Rick [Richard Linklater] is an absolute dream to work with, we shot that movie in three weeks, and Ethan is just amazing. I was saying to him yesterday, he was staying near where I live in Dublin during filming and I would see him out walking looking like he was talking to himself because he had so much dialogue to learn!”

“For me, Blue Moon is a real classical, old school style film that you don’t really see as much any more, and that’s what I love about it. With every film Richard Linklater has made, there’s always something distinctive and unique about it. They’ve all got a piece of his DNA in them. Even my kids love his work because they’re obsessed with School of Rock!”

In terms of career highlights, this moment is hard to beat for Macdara. “Blue Moon is absolutely a career highlight for me, and hopefully Lee Cronin’s The Mummy will join that once it’s out. Lee’s previous film, Evil Dead Rise, was another big highlight for us, it premiered at SXSW and the screening blew the roof off. I always try to stay looking forward, but we’re getting better at stopping and enjoying the moment we’re in. When you work on a movie like Blue Moon, it reminds you why you got into filmmaking in the first place.”

Ireland is being lauded for its cultural renaissance, but it’s safe to say that this creative energy in film and television isn’t going anywhere fast. As Macdara puts it, it feels like every year is an amazing year for Irish talent! I wonder how he’s seen the industry evolve since he made his first foray into the space.

“Twenty years ago, you wouldn’t have said ‘yeah go and do that as a career, that’s a good choice’ because there just was not as much work,” Macdara recalls. “Now it feels like it’s a proper booming industry. I think a lot of the success that you see here comes from Screen Ireland, who are brilliant at supporting the filmmakers that come through, especially at the start of your career, which is so important. They are so vital to the industry, and they’ve got a great level of funding and we’re in a good time right now.”

“It’s easy to think this level of success happened overnight, but it has been happening over the span of over thirty years. It could probably be traced back to Michael D Higgins’ time as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, when they brought in Section 35 in the ‘90s. That was the start of that real, tangible support for Irish film. A lot of directors and actors and filmmakers would have gone to the UK because there wasn’t enough work at home in Ireland, whereas now they don’t have to do that.”

Oscar Wilde Awards photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for the US-Ireland Alliance. All Blue Moon imagery via Sabrina Lantos/Sony Pictures Classics.