When the Sky Falls
Synopsis
Following Guerin's murder, the future of the film was thrown into doubt. Besides worries about the danger of going ahead, Sheridan was concerned that a film might be exploitative. "My fear was that if the Hollywood studios got their hands on it, the story would be sanitised and sentimentalised beyond belief," he says.
Instead, he brought the project to Irish Screen. Producer Nigel Warren-Green says: "Everyone was quite frightened at the time - the gangsters were still running Dublin, no arrests had been made and they thought they had got away with it."
Colum McCann came in to write a new draft, making it more personal and closer to the real events, but the struggle to keep the story true to life made it hard to involve production partners. Warren-Green says: "Many potential backers couldn't believe a female character could be so courageous. Others found the plot implausible - even though it was based on actual events." Eventually, Sky Pictures and the Irish Film Board came on board and the film was shot in spring in and around Dublin under tight security, and was released in the UK in June.
Details
- Year
- 2000
- Type of film
- Features
- Director
-
John MacKenzie
- Composer
- Pol Brennan.
- Dir
- John MacKenzie. 1999. 35mm. 107mins. Exec prods: Kevin Menton, Peter Newman, Marie Louise Queally. Co-exec prods: Bruce Davey, Ralph Kamp, Rod Stoneman. Prods: Nigel Warren-Green, Michael Wearing. Co-prod: David McLoughlin. Scr: Michael Sheridan, Ronan Gallagher, Colum McCann. DoP: Seamus Deasy. Prod des: Mark Geraghty. Ed: Graham Walker. Main cast: Joan Allen, Patrick Bergin, Liam Cunningham, Kevin McNally, Pete Postlethwaite. Funding: Sky Pictures, Irish Screen, Irish Film Board, Irish government film incentives.
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
IRISH SCREEN PICTURES Lower Baggot Street Dublin 2, Ireland Tel: (353) 1 662 3505 Fax: (353) 1 662 3507
Sales Company
Icon Entertainment International (44) 20 7494 8100.
Page updates
This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.
When the Sky Falls
Director: John MacKenzie
Year: 2000
The film tells the story, based on true events, of a female journalist who, with little concern for her own safety, took on the bloody force of the Dublin criminal underworld at great cost to herself. The story starts in 1995 with Sinead Hamilton (Joan Allen) already deep into an investigation of the Dublin Mafia.<br /> <br /> <br /> Racing at 100 miles an hour through the Dublin hills, we find Sinead interviewing the notorious armed robber Martin Shaughnessy (Peter Postlethwaite) as his car screeches through the narrow country lanes. Shaughnessy insists that the corruption and degradation of Dublin is due, not to the likes of him - everyday armed robbers - but to the ruthless gangs running the ever growing and vastly profitable drug business. A business that corrupts all that it touches. These are the people that Sinead wants to expose; the drug barons gorging themselves on the city.<br /> <br /> <br /> Soon after the interview is published Shaugnessy is assassinated. At the murder scene Sinead meets Mackey (Patrick Bergin), a local Police Detective. Mackey is the classic cynical cop - tough, angry and tired. Though he knows he's fighting a losing battle investigating these sorts of crimes, there's still just enough of the idealist left, to make him carry on. However, though Sinead and Mackey have the same purpose, their methods could not be more different.<br /> <br /> <br /> So the scene is set. Heavily out-gunned in every respect, Sinead risks everything in her relentless pursuit of the underworld gangsters with only her wit, guile and sheer bravery to protect her. It's an investigation in which she discovers that truth has a cost, and that ultimately someone has to pay . . .
No Women No Children
Director: Akporé Uzoh
Year: 2025
The aftermath of a sexual assault (rape). Exploring the deep-felt consequences for all involved. At its heart an epic story of a couple's fight for the survival of their love.
The Wilding
Director: Adam Park
Year:
Told through leaked footage compiled by a whistle-blower, the film follows Emma and Richard, a couple thrust into the wilderness to survive for 100 days. Their confidence quickly turns to terror as a malevolent creature begins stalking them, ultimately killing Richard in a gruesome attack. Emma escapes and infiltrates the facility where the show's creators review their "progress." There, she discovers the chilling truth: the creature is part of their unholy science. With the odds stacked against her, Emma turns the tables - delivering brutal justice with unexpected aid from the very horror that was meant to destroy her. A darkly satirical blend of horror, sci-fi, and mockumentary, THE WILDING exposes the monstrous extremes the powerful will go to cheat death - and the human cost of their ambition.