Projects matching: Declan Lowney

Synopsis

Comedy following the antics of the infamous Alan Partridge, a local radio DJ in Norwich.

Synopsis

Based in Ireland, this romantic comedy tells the story of Harry Mckee, a sleazy local TV chat show host. Once a loving husband, Harry has become a drunken, unfaithful slob. His wife Ruth is divorcing him and taking his house, his money and his children.





On his last night as a married man he ends up drunk and is beaten up. The next day at the divorce hearing, when he keels over, his wife and solicitor assume he is pulling a fast one. However, this is not one of Harry's infamous pranks and as he is rushed to hospital Ruth is furious to still be legally 'Mrs McKee'. Harry eventually wakes up from a week long coma feeling like it's been years. Well, 25 years to be exact. Harry has lost his memory. He used to drink to forget, well now he's forgotten everything since 1974. Inside his sagging middle-aged body he feels 18, single and very naïve. But as Harry starts to recover physically, if not mentally, Ruth finds herself unwittingly remembering happier times with her soon to be ex-husband.

Synopsis

Set in Ireland, Wild About Harry tells the story of chat show host Harry McKee (Brendan Gleeson), once a loving husband but now a drunken and unfaithful slob. His wife (Amanda Donohoe) is washing her hands of him, but on the eve of their divorce he is beaten up and falls into a week-long coma. When he wakes up he has forgotten 25 years of his life. Although he doesn't know it, Harry has been given the chance to get back his life, his family and his self-respect - if only he could remember how it all went wrong.



Wild About Harry re-unites writer Colin Bateman with producer Robert Cooper, following 1998's Divorcing Jack. Bateman came up with the idea for the film from a newspaper clipping about a man who had been involved in an accident and couldn't remember anything after the age of 18.



However, it took four years to hone the script. First-time feature director Declan Lowney was brought on board early in the project. "Declan's talent shone out, particularly in the area of humour, but also in its romantic sensibility," says Cooper.



Two years later and the film was finally financed and cast. Lowney had Brendan Gleeson in mind from the beginning for the role of Harry, although the part of Ruth proved harder to fill. "Once we met Amanda [Donohoe], we felt she had the qualities we were looking for," says producer Laurie Borg.



James Nesbitt plays the role of a crazed politician who is stalking Harry, while George Wendt of Cheers fame plays the part of Harry's TV producer.



Wild About Harry was filmed in Ireland over an eight-week shoot in autumn 1999. Its first screening was at Cannes in 2000.