On Wed 13 October RTÉ One broadcast Great Meadow Productions’ ‘When Harvey Met Bob’, a feature-length drama that tells the story of the relationship between Bob Geldof, played by Domhnall Gleeson (Sensation) and promoter Harvey Goldsmith, played by Ian Hart (Finding Neverland) as they brought about the historic Live Aid event 25 years ago. The drama is produced by Catherine Magee (The Clinic) who spoke to us about casting Bob Geldof, re-creating one of the world’s most iconic moment and being careful not to make fun of 80s fashion!
Great Meadow Productions commenced the three week Dublin shoot for ‘When Harvey met Bob’ on Monday, July 5th. Written by Joe Dunlop (Spijkerhoek) and directed by Nick Renton (Little White Lie) the ‘When Harvey Met Bob’ cast also features Antonia Campbell Hughes (Bright Star), Padraic Delaney (The Wind that Shakes the Barley), Owen Roe (Val Falvey T.D.) and Chris Dunlop. The feature is an RTÉ co-production with RTÉ's drama commissioning Editor Jane Gogan on board as executive producer.
The story of ‘When Harvey Met Bob’ is an intriguing one, in October 1984 Bob Geldof arrived home to find his wife, Paula, watching the legendary BBC broadcast by Michael Buerk from the feeding camps in Ethiopia’s Eritrea province. Deeply affected, the singer moves into action persuading a host of musicians and singers to give their name and talent for free to the Band Aid record - Do They Know It's Christmas? - which sells millions of copies. But when Geldof goes to Ethiopia to ensure the proceeds from the record will reach the starving people, he realises that so much more needs to be done. He needs to raise even more money to fulfill his promise that every penny from the record will get there. It is at this point that he conceives the idea of a global music event to feed the world and Harvey Goldsmith, well-known music promoter becomes involved.
Along with producing, Catherine Magee was involved with the casting process for the drama and tells us she never felt pressure to find actors who looked identical to the main characters: “Not in the slightest,” she says. “We really never set out to create look-alikes, we always just wanted to cast actors who could find the spirit of the character. I was particularly nervous about casting Bob Geldof but at an early casting meeting Kate Triggs, our executive producer, mentioned Domhnall [Gleeson]. Nick and I arranged to meet him informally and as soon as he came into the room we knew he could play this part – red hair or not! We did a series of make-up and hair tests to help convince him that we could achieve the look and really, from that point, he was there and I couldn’t have been happier with his performance.
”Because Harvey Goldsmith is not as well known there wasn’t the same pressure about how he looked. That said, casting Ian Hart was very exciting for us all. He is a tremendous actor and Eileen Buggy (Hair) and Lynn Johnston (Make-Up) did a lot of work on Ian too in the end so he really looked like Harvey when he stepped on set.”
As to the challenge of portraying the amazing events that Harvey and Bob organised, again Catherine admits that it was daunting but says once she read the script for the project she was convinced it would work: ”What attracted me to the film from the outset was the quality of Joe Dunlop’s script,” she explains. “I loved that he didn’t set out to recreate the scale of what happened on the day. What interested him was what was happening behind the scenes, the dynamic between Harvey and Bob, the chaos of putting the concert together etc. The drama and the comedy of what was happening behind the scenes was the story we wanted to tell.”
The drama’s executive producers are Robert Cooper and Kate Triggs (Margaret) for Great Meadow Productions and Stephen Wright (Five Minutes of Heaven) and Bethan Jones (Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley) for BBC. It was commissioned by Janice Hadlow Controller of BBC Two and Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning.
The project also reunited Catherine with director, Nick Renton with whom she had worked with on ‘Little White Lie’. When asked about his approach to directing, she is quick to voice her praise: “There are many reasons to love working with Nick,” she starts. ”But I mostly love his ability to bring the best out in actors. He respects actors and understands the process really well and they respond to that. He spends a lot of time in rehearsal before filming begins which always pays off.”
The photo above prompts a question about the fashion choices on the set – did Bob Geldof’s 80s style provide an absolute field day for the costume department or did Catherine et al have a particular idea about how their characters were dressed? “Yes we did. From the beginning we worked very closely with Fiona Daly (Production Designer) and Allison Byrne (Costume Designer) on how we wanted the film to look. We wanted it to be accurate to the period but not overly slavish in its detail. Our feeling was that we didn’t want to fall into a trap, particularly with costumes, of poking fun at the eighties.”
'When Harvey Met Bob' transmits on RTÉ ONE on Wednesday 13th October at 9.35pm.
