Oconnor in easter rising film cast
Singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor will be among the cast in a new motion picture based on the 1916 Easter Rising. Set for production next year, ‘The Rising’ will be the first movie on the revolutionary movement of the early 1900s in Ireland. It will be released in 2016, the 100-year anniversary of the six-day rebellion.
“Our movie will tell the truth about the most defining cultural and political episode in recent Irish History, the moment when Ireland stepped out of famine towards freedom. The hero of our movie, Seán MacDiarmada, unveils the revolutionary spirit in the Irish” says McCann, the award winning filmmaker, whose last film ‘Volkswagen Joe’ won eight international awards this year.
“Sinéad O’Connor has great courage and is the true embodiment of the Irish spirit we hope to portray in our movie - never afraid to challenge public opinion and to tell the truth. I have great respect for her as an artist and an individual.”
Shane MacGowan has also just confirmed that he will pen an original song for the movie. The Pogues frontman, who wrote ‘Fairytale of New York’ has joined ‘The Rising’ team as the writer of the song to conclude the film. McCann says, “Shane McGowan is not only a leading Irish songwriting talent, he is one of Ireland’s iconic cultural figures, respected across the world”.
McCann’s co-writer, Northern Irish author Colin Broderick echoed the sentiment saying, “To have both Sinéad O’Connor and Shane MacGowan on board with us is a wonderful blessing to this movie. We all share a vision and responsibility of telling this ‘birth of a nation’ story together at this important time, the 100 year anniversary.”
Ireland has produced some of the world’s leading cultural figures and the filmmakers are engaging some well-known actors as well as emerging talent to tell this story. “Actors like Michael Fassbender, Saoirse Ronan, Brendan Gleeson and Aiden Gillen are known world-wide and Irish Independent movies have done well on the international marketplace. Our casting director Carla Stronge will unite many of these stars of the silver screen with Sinéad O’Connor in the cast.'
“We have the support of Seán MacDiarmada's family, and the families of other leaders such as James Connolly, who was executed alongside Seán MacDiarmada” says McCann.
Supported by the film board in Belfast, Kevin McCann is currently in talks with film investors in the United States, UK and Ireland to provide the necessary finance to bring this story to the big screen. ‘Over the past year, I have met investors on the East and West Coast of the United States who see a real market in the anniversary year of 2016 and want to be part of this historic moment. With a budget of $6 million, the film requires a number of key investors as well as support from state agencies at home.’
Those interested in supporting this movie can visit the crowd-funding page for The Rising:
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/237688734/the-rising?ref=discovery
or by visiting www.therising.ie or www.maccana.ie