Hollywood Comes To Paddy

Sure agus begorrah, it’s not everyday you get to visit a movie set and meet the one and only St Patrick.

Better still, that hairy oul’ fella from Indiana Jones and Lord Of The Rings, the great John Rhys-Davies, is there too.

Such was the thrill for Greystones kids Dylan and Ethan Lai, when their mum, Sarah, took them along to the I Am Patrick shoot, a docudrama Ms Maunsell has co-produced alongside writer/director Jarrod Anderson from CBN Films.

And the good news is, Netflix have just announced their going to debut Sarah’s latest adventure in the screen trade on Thursday, March 12th – just in time for Paddy’s Day.

Narrated by mighty Moe Dunford (Black 47, Vikings and, fittingly enough, Patrick’s Day), starring alongside John Rhys-Davies in I Am Patrick are the likes of Seán T. Ó Meallaigh (An Klondike, Vikings) and Robert McCormack (The Professor And The Madman). The documentary will be hitting American cinemas on March 17th and 18th.

Says the bould Sarah, “Being Irish, and with St. Patrick being so much a part of our culture, it was refreshing to retell the story of Patrick the man. He wasn’t perfect – he was human and flawed, like the rest of us. He was held captive in Ireland as a young boy and made a miraculous escape back to his family in Britain, only to make the decision later in life to leave the safety of his home and return to Ireland and spend the rest of his days here.

“We filmed in some breathtaking locations around Ireland to tell his story. Achill Island, Connemara and County Clare… I think audiences will be captivated by the landscapes we have chosen as a backdrop to this film. It was initially only set for cinema release in the USA, so I am delighted that Irish audiences will now get to view it on Netflix…”

Nice. The fact that Wicklow wasn’t listed as one of those breathtaking location shoots, even though this is The Most Beautiful And Cinematic County In All Of Ireland, is something we’ll have to discuss with Ms Maunsell another time. Especially given that her company is called Location Fixer Ireland.

In the meantime, congrats to Sarah and all the cast and crew.

Happy to report too that this is the first Irish documentary in over 40 years that doesn’t feature Bono waxing lyrical about yet another childhood hero…