‘Game of Thrones’ novelist George R.R. Martin will present the North American premiere of ‘The Callback Queen’ at his Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with lead actress Amy-Joyce Hastings on February 7th.
The film was directed by Irish filmmaker Graham Cantwell, who achieved early acclaim with his short film ‘A Dublin Story’. His film ‘Anton’ (international title ‘Trapped’) was IFTA nominated in 2009 and in 2010 he directed the TV drama series ‘The Guards’ for TV3.
‘The Callback Queen’ premiered last year at the 25th Galway Film Fleadh, and also had screenings at Leicester Square in London and in Luxembourg at the British and Irish Film Season.
The film is set in London’s film industry and features Amy-Joyce Hastings (‘The Tudors’) as unlucky actress Kate Loughlin and Mark Killeen (‘Game of Thrones’) as director Vincent Catalano, and follows the young actress chasing her big break who must maintain her integrity in the face of her director's romantic attentions.
Other cast members include Seán T. O Meallaigh (‘Kings’), Kate Braithwaite (‘Little Deaths’), Morgan Deare (‘United 93’), Eoin Macken (‘Merlin’) and Vicki Michelle ('Allo, Allo’).
Mr. Martin, who is also executive producer of ‘Game of Thrones’, said: “I discovered Amy-Joyce Hastings one day when dozens of readers began sending me emails with links to a reading by a lovely young red-haired Irish actress.”
Hastings missed out on a chance to audition for ‘Game of Thrones’ but through her friendship with Cantwell a narrative hook for ‘The Callback Queen’ arose. Cantwell recalls: “I had been planning to write a comedy about young filmmakers but I lacked a hook to tie the story together, so when Amy-Joyce told me about her experience chasing a GOT audition it all clicked into place.”
The film will premiere on February 7th at the Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which Martin purchased and re-opened in 2013 after it went dark in 2006.
The trailer for ‘The Callback Queen’ can be viewed below:
