by Rose Rushe
LIMERICK town and country is backdrop to ‘Lost and Found’, one of two Film Limerick projects to scoop €15,000 from City of Culture. Carlow based Liam O’Neill and company Paradox Pictures won through the shortlist with this endearing tale of Charlie, a 10 year-old whose get-rich scheme is petnapping. He then sells the stolen bird, rabbit, whatever back to its owner for a fee to pocket.
Filming will take place March 19 to 24, some in Thornfields, the Haselbeck-Flynn estate in Ahane and more on city streets. With Sean Flynn working as production manager, Ronan Cassidy as executive producer, Frank Boland on art, Mark Griffin, Liam O’Brien and Nigel Mercier of Behind the Scenes involved, Limerick’s flag is hoisted high for this funded, fun fiction.
Talking to Arts page, director-writer Liam O’Neill expressed his delight in winning the contract; he makes clear that neither he nor producer Magdalena Puzmujzniak are drawing down a salary from the work.
O’Neill spoke about the miracle of ‘self taping’ instead of auditions when sifting through candidates to cast as Charlie. Charlie (Lee O’Donoghue) is the lost imp whose best friend is his phone, Dad having past away and his mom Kathleen (Caroline Morahan) still grieving.
“Gillian Reynolds is a casting director in Dublin with whom I’ve worked on a couple of projects.. I looked at 180 kids’ self-tapes [industry showreel] and it takes the pain out of the auditioning process – which is an excruciating one for everyone involved”.
Young Dubliner Lee O’Donoghue won through, a significant role as he fills almost every frame. O’Neill fell for him “because on film, you don’t want kids who are overschooled. That can be OK in theatre but not on screen. Being overtaught can mean being overly mannered and film is unforgiving”.
Meanwhile Caroline Morohan he chose having seen her in The Abbey Theatre’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ – “a very difficult role”. She impressed, as did her move to Los Angeles: “She is clearly very serious about being an actress”.
Essentially ‘Lost and Found’ is an exploration and “is hopefully a story of redemption”. Liam O’Neill is thrilled also with the introduction to Thornfields, to the point he bumped up the storyline from common or garden middleclass to ‘big house’. “It’s a fantastic location. It is like being set in Ardmore Studios, the silence, the distance from traffic and distraction”.
He has yet to cast the village priest but is primed to go otherwise. His compliments also to Limerick Animal Welfare in Kilfinane who have been most helpful with casting pets. Now who was it said, ‘never work with animals or children’? Brace yourself, Paradox Pictures. WC Fields was no moron.
