‘The Guard’ writer/director John Michael McDonagh has signed Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids), Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes), Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, Love/Hate), Isaach De Bankolé (24) and David Wilmot (The Guard) to join Brendan Gleeson in his latest project 'Calvary'.
Scheduled to shoot on location in Ireland this September, the film was launched for pre-sales at the recent European Film Market in Berlin by Protagonist Pictures.
With a budget is circling $7million, ‘Calvary’ is developed by McDonagh’s Reprisal Films which he runs with ‘The Guard’ producers Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez-Marengo and Elizabeth Eves.
‘Calvary’ is a dark comedy that follows good priest Father James Lavelle – the opposite to Gleeson's character in ‘The Guard’ – who is tormented by various members of his Sligo parish.
‘The Guard’ picked up four Irish Film & Television Awards at the recent ceremony in Dublin, including Best Film, with McDonagh also named the Irish Film Board Rising Star.