HOLLYWOOD GETS THE GREEN LIGHT
A new Netflix show comes out next month, and the filming locations will be familiar to Irish viewers. So what else has been snapped on our shores?
AS a nation of storytellers, it’s unsurprising that our shores are often used as idyllic shooting locations for telling stories. Netflix series, Bodkin, which will be released on May 9, was filmed in West Cork, Wicklow and Dublin.
The show is a dark comedic thriller about a motley crew of podcasters (Will Forte, Siobhán Cullen, Robyn Cara) who set out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers in a quaint, coastal Irish town. But once they start pulling at threads, they discover a story much bigger and weirder than they could have ever imagined.
West Cork, with its rugged landscape and collection of towns and villages, served as the perfect place to shoot the show.
Holding, based on West Cork resident Graham Norton’s book of the same name, saw the location’s potential too when it came time to shoot the 2022 show starring Conleth Hill and Siobhán McSweeney.
It’s common knowledge that the likes of Once, Sing Street and Killing Bono were filmed in Ireland — after all, it’s where they’re set — but there are big international blockbusters that have seen Hollywood stars descend on to the Emerald Isle.
The sixth instalment of the Harry Potter film franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, saw Daniel Radcliffe and co film in Clare and Kerry.
Cult classic The Princess Bride is beloved and hated in equal measure by audiences in the years since its 1987 release but one of the things it really does right is location, location, location.
Towards the end of the film, as the central characters make their way to the ‘Cliffs of Insanity’, they’re actually heading to the Cliffs of Moher. In the film, a character climbs up the cliffs with just a rope — but that is by no means something to attempt, as the official Cliffs of Moher website warns.
Saving Private Ryan, which starred Tom Hanks
and Matt Damon was filmed in Wicklow, and even featured locals as extras for some scenes. This writers’ own uncles even made an appearance.
Matt Damon, of course, returned to Ireland in 2020 to shoot The Last Duel, and he ended up staying put for part of lockdown, when filming was forced to pause. Though the film was shot in Wicklow and Tipperary and not Dalkey, it is where the A-lister called home for a spell.
Powerscourt in Wicklow, scenic as it is, has been the backdrop for many a film, but between 2007 and 2010, it served as a prime filming location for The Tudors. The historical drama featured Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Henry Cavill and Sarah Bolger. It was also shot at Ardmore Studios in Bray.
The 2002 historical adventure, The Count of Monte Cristo, might be set in Italy, but the team also saw the potential of Powerscourt Estate, filming there as well as at Kilruddery House and Slane in Meath.
Season one of BBC1 show, The Tourist, starring Jamie Dornan, was filmed in Australia. But for the second season, the cast and crew set up shop in Ireland instead, in part so the lead actor could be closer to his family. As a result, the show was filmed in locations around Dublin and Wicklow.
Dublin’s Kilmainham Gaol is a prime tourist attraction in the capital, and for good reason as it serves as a beacon of Irish history. But thanks to the impressive infrastructure, it also serves as a good filming location. It was featured in The Italian Job and The Wind That Shakes the Barley, but most surprisingly, it was the perfect stage for Hugh Grant in children’s flick, Paddington 2.
In the 15th season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, two episodes of the hit sitcom were set in Ireland. The intro for The Gang Goes to Ireland, and The Gang Still in Ireland featured shots from Blennerville Windmill, Ballyferriter, Annascaul, Lispole, Dingle and Slea Head, all in Kerry.
The cast — which includes Danny Devito and Rob McElhenney — was spotted on Irish soil in 2021, but thanks to lockdown restrictions in place at the time, the crew wasn’t able to film quite as freely as planned.
Biker drama, Sons of Anarchy, set part of its third season in Belfast, which didn’t quite resonate with audiences.
Many found the accents bad, and the scenery even worse. Although some scenes were shot on location, the majority of filming took place in California. In some cases, the grass was so brown and unconvincing it had to be edited to look greener, and thus more Irish, in post-production.
“In most cases, we find just about anything we need to shoot here in L.A.,’’ said location manager Gary Kesell.
“We can double for anywhere — even Northern Ireland.”