Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ruth Negga, Eva Birthistle, Gavin Friday and Stephen Rea joined director Neil Jordan for the European premiere of ‘Breakfast on Pluto’ on Wednesday evening in Dublin, raising €100,000 for UNICEF.
The black comedy film, based loosely on Pat McCabe’s best selling novel, is set in 1970’s Ireland and charts the life of Patrick-‘Kitten’ Braden (Murphy), a warm-hearted cross-dresser who struggles with life in Ireland and moves to London in search of his long lost mother.
The film was shot in Kilkenny, Dublin, Belfast and London in September/October 2004 with a budget of €12 million. Producer Alan Moloney has acknowledged how difficult the funding was: “The nature of the script was intimidating for some. It makes people, audiences, think about things and often financiers are not prepared to take a risk with material that has that capacity and strength.”
Persistence and determination paid off; "Under an extremely difficult set of circumstances we found partners in Pathé, the Irish Film Board and the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission. It was amazing how Pathé responded – literally overnight. Having an ally like that was very supportive. We’ve been extremely lucky with our partners."
The support has been justified: the film opened in November in US to widespread positive reviews from the critics, and a Golden Globe nomination for Cillian Murphy, with possible BAFTA and Academy Award nominations to be announced at the end of January.
The film goes on release today in Ireland and UK.
Director - Neil Jordan
Producers - Alan Moloney, Neil Jordan, Stephen Woolley
Written by - Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe
Executive Producers - François Ivernel, Cameron McCracken, Mark Woods, Brendan McCarthy
Director of Photography - Declan Quinn
Film Editor - Tony Lawson
Production Designer - Tom Conroy
Costume Designer - Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh
Casting Director - Susie Figgis
Chief Make-up Artist - Lynn Johnston
Chief Hairdresser - Lorraine Glynn
Line Producer - Jo Homewood
Associate Producer - Susan Mullen
Original Piano Music - Anna Jordan
1st Assistant Director - Robert Quinn
Production Managers - Patrick O’Donoghue, Breda Walsh
Production Sound Mixer - Brendan Deasy
Supervising Location Manager - Ger Daly
Supervising Sound Editor - Mark Auguste
Stills Photographer - Patrick Redmond
Production Depot provided all cameras, lenses, and grip (www.production-depot.com/)
