A very interesting period in Irish history that would make a great film.
Throughout his illustrious career, Colm Meaney has starred in a litany of Irish films and provided viewers with some memorable performances.
To many Irish viewers, the actor is still the quintessential ‘Irish Da’ because of his role in the Barrytown Trilogy (The Snapper, The Van, The Commitments) but Meaney has been very intelligent when it comes to mixing up his performances.
In terms of his ‘bigger films,’ the Dubliner can list the likes of Layer Cake, Con Air, Under Siege, Die Hard 2, The Last of the Mohicans, The Damned United, and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa on his CV, but Irish fans will remember him far more fondly than that.
After all, he’s also been in cult-classics like Into The West, War of the Buttons, Intermission and more.
In his new film, The Last Right, fans of Meaney’s turn as the somewhat pompous, irate, and Celtic mysticism-obsessed Detective Jerry Lynch in Intermission will spot plenty of similarities with his new role.
Essentially, in The Last Right he’s playing a by the book police officer that finds himself in a bizarre story that gets weirder and weirder as he gets angrier and angrier.
Well, after playing so many memorable roles on screen – including a performance as Martin McGuinness in The Journey – Meaney sat down with JOE and we had to know if there’s a figure from Irish history that he’d love to play.
It turns out that making a film about the 1798 Rebellion is still a big passion project of his.
“It’s not so much a character that I’d love to play, but I always feel we missed the boat a bit about not finding a great film about 1798. Through the ’90s, I talked with various people about that. I’d love to have made a film about that commemorated 1798,” he said.
As fans of Irish history will know, the Rebellion of 1798 was an uprising against British rule in Ireland.
The United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced by the ideas of the American and French revolutions, were the main organising force behind the rebellion, led by Presbyterians that were angry at being shut out of power by the Anglican establishment.
Ultimately, they were joined by Catholics, who made up the majority of the population. A French army which landed in County Mayo in support of the rebels was overwhelmed by British and loyalist forces. The uprising was suppressed by British Crown forces with a death toll of between 10,000 and 30,000.
“It’s a great story, the Rebellion itself, but also the fact that Irish republicanism – we’re not talking about sectarianism – Irish republicanism was founded by Protestants and Presbyterians. All of the leaders in 1798 were Protestant or Presbyterian. The ideology of Irish republicanism was the enlightenment, the French Revolution, and Presbyterian values. That was the foundation of Irish republicanism. It would be wonderful to find a vehicle that made people aware of that. There are events like that throughout Irish history that I’d like to be involved in telling our story, rather than a specific story,” he said.
We’d be very, very interested to see this project getting off the ground. Here’s hoping!
As for Meaney’s latest film, The Last Right is now available to watch in Irish cinemas.
Take a look at what’s in store.
Clip via Entertainment One UK
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