The premiere broadcast of Fastnet Films’ feature boxing documentary ‘Babyface Goes to Hollywood’, which tells the tale of the Irish prize fighter Jimmy McLarnin, airs on Setanta Sports Ireland on Wednesday 17 December at 10pm.
The film begins with the young Jimmy being packed away with his brothers and sisters from his home in County Down and to the US. Along the way there are killings, Nazis, organised crime, the movies, and the World's Gaelic Football Championship along with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Bing Crosby and Al Capone. Jimmy McLarnin would become the totemic Irishman in America during the Depression, but this was a time when the idea of a 'celebrity' was in its infancy and Jimmy, as the 'Hebrew Scourge', would at one stage in his life become an unwitting symbol of anti-Semitism.
Written and directed by Andrew Gallimore and produced by Morgan Bushe, ‘Babyface Goes to Hollywood’ was made through the support of the BCI Sound and Vision Broadcasting Funding Scheme and Setanta Sports Ireland, and was shot on location in New York City and Hillsborough, Co. Down.
“Make no mistake; this is Andrew Gallimore’s finest work to date. He’s managed to paint the defining story of one of Ireland’s greatest ever fighters. Jimmy McLarnin is an Irish legend but if you asked people on the street most would not have heard of him. This is all going to change after this film,” says producer Morgan Bushe.
“Once again, this project would not have been possible to make without the support of the BCI and I would like to express my personal gratitude to Philip Cooper. Tony Whelan and all the backroom staff at Setanta Sports Ireland were constant in the their support and can’t be thanked enough, likewise with the editor Eoin McDonagh who is proving to be one of the leading Irish editors of his generation”.
