Mayo stars in new film Quintessentially Irish featuring Pierce Brosnan

THE feature documentary Quintessentially Irish, starring Pierce Brosnan, will be released in Ireland and the UK on April 26. The film was partly shot in Galway and Mayo and is directed by Irishman Frank Mannion.

The film celebrates everything that is great and Irish, with a stellar cast offering their take on what’s quintessentially Irish, a veritable who’s who of Irish acting and political royalty led by Pierce Brosnan and three heads of state - President Michael D. Higgins, President Joe Biden and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, who discusses his Mayo roots and visits to his mother's homestead in Newport.

The cast also includes Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, Bob Geldof, sports commentator Marty Morrisey, actors Andrew Scott, Siobhan McSweeney, Rory Guinness (great-great-great grandson of Guinness founder, Arthur Guinness), business tycoons John Magnier, Dr. Michael Smurfit, Randal Plunkett, filmmaker and conservationist (aka Lord Dunsany), Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole, Grand National winning jockey Rachael Blackmore, trainer Aidan O’Brien, best-selling writer Emma Dabiri, Celebrity Masterchef winner Riyadh Khalaf, chef Anna Haugh, Olympic Gold medalist Usain Bolt and his agent Ricky Simms and more, including a cameo from musician Niall Horan.

The film also celebrates the GAA and the fact that Mannion’s grandfather and granduncle played in the first All-Ireland final for Galway and his grand-uncle was one of the inventors of the modern cork-filled sliotar.

The filmmakers had exclusive access to the White House on St. Patrick's Day and to the Palace of Monaco and Aras an Uachtarain during the State visit of Joe Biden in April 2023.

The film shot all over the country, north and south, and features Princess Grace's homestead in Drumirla and the Grace Kelly sculpture in Newport.

It is the third film directed by Irishman Frank Mannion, after his acclaimed debut Sparkling: The Story of Champagne featuring Stephen Fry and the hit Quintessentially British with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench.

Said Mannion: “I am delighted that Quintessentially Irish will be released in Ireland later this month.

“It was important to me to showcase Mayo and Galway on the big screen in this film. Both President Biden and Prince Albert speak proudly about their connections to Mayo.

“The film also celebrates my own family history with the GAA. My grandfather and granduncle, Jerome and John Mannion, played for Galwayin the first All-Ireland final. My grand-uncle John Mannion also helped invent the modern day sliotar.

“At the time the standard sliotar was filled with horse hair, which got sodden and unreliable in wet conditions, and he was frustrated by its unpredictability. My granduncle, who played in goal in that first All-Ireland, had a Eureka moment when he was sharing a post-match bottle of whiskey with his team-mates in a pub in Portumna. He came up with the idea of using whiskey cork as the interior, and there and then he improvised and created the first ever sliotar with cork interior, stitched in leather.”

Quintessentially Irish will be playing in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on April 26, and the film will be available on streaming in Ireland from April 29. The premiere will take place at the VISUAL George Bernard Shaw Theatre in Carlow this Sunday, April 21, at 7.30 p.m., preceded by a reception sponsored by Santa Rita wines and Bushmills, and it is a free screening that is open to the public on a first come first served basis. More info about the premiere at https://visualcarlow.ie/whats-on/quintessentially-irish.