 Martin Duffy directing |
Pre-production is underway for the children's fantasy feature film ‘Summer of the Flying Saucer’ scheduled to begin shooting in Galway this month. A German/Irish/Swedish co-production, director Martin Duffy (The Boy From Mercury) talks to IFTN about the film.
‘Summer of The Flying Saucer’ is a children's fantasy/adventure tale about a 15 year old Irish boy who falls in love with an alien girl. Set during the summer of 1967 in Mayo on the West of Ireland, the young boy’s dream of furthering his education is hindered by his father who believes he should take over the family business instead. His life is turned upside down when he meets two newcomers to the town, one a beautiful alien girl!
‘Summer of the Flying Saucer’ features an array of young talented cast. Robert Sheehan (Foreign Exchange, Ghostwood) plays the lead, Dan, with 18 year old Dubliner Joanne Kiernan in her first role as the alien girl Janis. Supporting cast includes Lorcan Cranitch (The Bill, Rome), John Keogh (Killianskully), Dan Colley (Big Bow Wow), Lalor Roddy (Chosen) and Hugh O’Conor (Chocolat, Northanger Abbey) who guest stars as the local priest.
After a six year hiatus from working in Ireland, Irish director Martin Duffy is pleased to be back on home soil. “I’m delighted to be directing in Ireland again, and with three other Irish projects in the pipeline, I’ll be back for a while,” he told IFTN today. Despite a grueling workload the director is looking forward to the next couple of months. “It’s great to be working with Magma Films and they’ve given me a lot of creative freedom on this project. I’m working with people that I know and I feel hugely supported. I’m having a ball!”
Duffy is reuniting with his ‘Boy From Mercury’ DOP Seamus Deasy (The General) for the production which will be photographed using Panavision High Def cameras. Costume Design is by Jacquie Fitzpatrick (Killinaskully) and Production Design is by Nicola Moroney (The Last Furlong). Post production will take place in Sweeden with Polish editor Michal Leszczylowski cutting the film and a CGI space craft is one of the elements already in the works for the project.
Describing ‘Summer of the Flying Saucer’ as “The Quiet Man meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind” Duffy affirms the script penned by writer Marteinn Thorisson is a pure treat. “I don’t think any Irish filmmaker has had the opportunity to have this much fun on a feature! It’s got all the traditional elements that we’re familiar with in Irish stories with aliens and some great special effects thrown in. I’m really looking forward to the fun we’re going to have.”
The €2m film is produced by Galway based production outfit Magma Films and co-produced by Sweeden’s Fido Films. The six week shoot begins on the 18th of September on locations in the west of Ireland around Gort and Tuam.
Martin Duffy will be updating his online blog for the duration of the shoot – read it on www.duffyberlin.com
‘Summer of the Flying Saucer” is a Magma Films/Fido Films co-production with funding support for the IFB and Eurimages. Release date is scheduled for 2007 with Irish distribution handled by Eclipse, Sonet in the Nordic territories and Telepool for the rest of the world.
