Kerry Feature ‘Spiderhole’ Scoops Irish Release | The Irish Film & Television Network

Spiderhole is an independent movie set in London which follows four art students in London who go in search of an abandoned house in which to live rent free as squatters. Kerry based producer Patrick O’Neill wanted as much of the film as possible to shoot nearby. As such, all the interior action of the movie was shot on location in Kerry in an old mansion in Ballard, the foyer of Mounthawk school, and the waiting room at Ardfert Clinic. The film shot in Kerry for 19 days and for another 4 days in London and was the first project to shoot on RED in Ireland.

Production of the film came about in an interesting way, as Patrick explains: ”Daniel Simpson, the film’s writer and director had another movie green lit and announced on the front page of Variety magazine back in June 2007 which was to star Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany,”he tells us. ”It was a big-budget movie but it came to a standstill after significant money had been spent in pre-production. I decided to take another script that Daniel had written and race the Hollywood movie to the finish line.”

Thus a Kerry based company was established and Patrick started raising money for ‘Spiderhole’ from individuals living in the vicinity to make the production possible. “I got considerable sums of money locally,Patrick tells us. ”I got great support from Alan and Joanne O'Sullivan and Kevin Hannafin, the film's executive producers

The film stars Emma Griffiths Malin (House of Boys), Reuben Henry-Biggs (The Illusionist), Amy Noble and George Maguire as the four squatters and John E.Regan as their eventual captor. All of the film’s actors were brought over from London and most of the film’s crew came from Toronto including the director of photography Vinit Borrison.

As mentioned above ‘Spiderhole’ was the first feature to shoot on RED in Ireland, something which aided the production greatly it would seem: “Because cinematographers were really interested in this new technology (as it was at the time) they were volunteering to help out with the film just to see the RED camera operate,” Patrick explains. ”We had people like Brian Nolan supervising the digital side of things and George Doyle overseeing the film’s still photography and continuity, for example.”

’Spiderhole’ wrapped shooting in May 2008 and was competed in late 2009. The film's post production was carried out by Magent Film & Digital and RedLab in Toronto. Both companies are co-owned by Nick Sorbara who was also an executive producer on the movie. Sound was designed and mixed by Grayson Matthews, also based in Toronto. Patrick decided to travel with the film himself, meeting directly with distributors in L.A., Cannes, Berlin, Paris and London. He secured a deal with Soda Pictures in London in April 2010 and the film screened in the Empire Cinema on Leicester Square for two weeks after which it screened in Belfast’s QFT.

Most recently Patrick and Soda Pictures spoke with Ward Anderson’s co-owner Leo Ward and, as a result of the ensuing discussions, the feature will now return to the county in which it was shot for a theatrical run. The film will screen at the Tralee Omniplex and Killarney's Cineplex from Thursday, November 25th. Patrick is looking forward to the Tralee screening in particular: “It promises to be exciting because the film will be shown from the DCP master in the Tralee' Omniplex.” The film will also show in Cork’s Gate Cinema on November 26th and 27th.

Patrick now plans to take the film further to international screens: “I have pending deals with distributors in North America, Canda and Germany,he says. Patrick is working with Raven Banner Entertainment in North America.

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