Magnolia Pictures International has announced that they have acquired world rights to Irish romantic comedy ‘Standby’. The feature is directed by Rob and Ronan Burke and stars Jessica Paré from ‘Mad Men’ and Brian Gleeson (‘The Stag’, ‘Love/Hate’). Magnolia previously acquired
‘Frank’, which is out May 9th, for worldwide distribution.
‘Standby’ is the debut feature from the Burkes, who have won at the Irish Film and Television Awards both for their youth programme ‘The Importance of Being Whatever’ and for their short film ‘Runners’. The script was by Pierce Ryan and the feature was produced by John Wallace of Black Sheep Productions and David Grumbach of Juliette Films with the support of the IFB, RTÉ and Film Fund Luxembourg.
Irish production credits include cinematography by David Grennan and editing by Tony Kearns and John Murphy. Paddy Hanlon and Alan Scully worked on sound. Emma Lowney was production designer. Irish members include Gleeson, Stanley Townsend, Ian Lloyd Anderson, John Lynn and Tina Kellegher.
‘Standby’ follows Alan (Gleeson), who works at the tourism office at Dublin Airport, and Alice (Paré), who is an American on standby. Eight years ago, the two had a relationship that ended badly, and now every hotel room in Dublin is booked so the pair decides to put their coolness aside and spend the night the evening getting to know each other.
Christina Rogers and the Magnolia Pictures International team will be representing the film at the upcoming Marché du Film in Cannes.
