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What prompted the idea for “The Eclipse” and what excited you to undertake it?
Our movie was inspired by a short story by the great Irish playwright, Billy Roche. Billy and I have been friends for many years. We wanted to work together and used Billy’s story from a book he wrote called Tales From Rainwater Pond as our jumping off point. The original is a love story set against the backdrop of a literary festival. Over the years we spent writing the screenplay it morphed into a hybrid of our two styles, with a large supernatural/horror element creeping in, courtesy of all my usual obsessions. I can’t say what excited me about it specifically, except all the usual reasons - a chance to create a parallel universe we can seek to create and control and admire.
Elaborate a bit on your approach to making your film.
Film makers who inspired the style of “The Eclipse” include Stanley Kubrick, Roman Polanski and William Friedkin. I wanted it to have the atmosphere and poise of movies like “The Exorcist,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Barry Lyndon,” “The Shining” and even “2001: A Space Odyssy!”
Now considering our budget was about 2 million euros that was a pretty tall order, but having those movies as references really made a difference. Formerly I tended to shoot movies on the longest possible lenses. But on “The Eclipse” I shot a tremendous amount of it at the wider end of the Kubrickian lens spectrum. I also wanted the lighting to be very daring. So we used “The Exorcist” as a reference with all its tremendous solid blacks, which almost make mystery and confusion a part of the very frame itself. We also shot many of the scenes in one continuous take in order to try and maintain the uneasy atmosphere. We had a fabulous steadicam operator, Roger Tooley, with us for the whole shoot and he has some really outstanding work in this film.
Our designer, Mark Geraghty, and our costumier, Consolata Boyle, worked closely to create a cool, calm colour palate which gives the whole thing an almost Scandanavian feeling. We used mostly period architecture and shot on location to add to the atmosphere. One thing I never had to worry about was the acting. We had such an amazing cast (Ciaran Hinds, Iben Hjelje and Aidan Quinn) I could more or less let them get on with it and concentrate on the technical aspects of the film.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in developing the project?
Every film project is immensely challenging. We shot this movie in 25 days which was really quite a short amount of time. But we had done an enormous amount of preparation and having spent four years working on the script, there was not one moment of doubt in my mind about what I wanted at any moment during the film making process. We also didn’t have a lot of money, but that gave us tremendous freedom. I didn’t have to please anyone but myself. Its rewards have far outweighed the challenges.
How do you define success as a filmmaker, and what are your personal goals as a filmmaker?
Making any film that gives you pleasure is success as a film maker. Anything else is a bonus.
What are your future projects?
I’m directing a play next which is an adaptation I have done of Daphne Du Maurier’s short story, “The Birds.” It opens at the Dublin Theatre Festival this Autumn. I am currently rewriting the script and completing the casting process. I also have an idea for a new period piece I am working on. It’s really just at the note-taking phase, but it’s always nice to have a dream-like project to ponder in that place of perfection - the future!
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