Irish actors are set to dominate screens worldwide this Autumn/Winter with key roles in an array of major films. From Paul Mescal battling in Ancient Rome to Saoirse Ronan navigating the bombing of London, Irish talent will be at the forefront of the most anticipated films in festival/awards season. Here's a small preview of when you can expect to see some of our brightest stars in cinemas.
Speak No Evil (releasing 13th September)
Aisling Franciosi is one of the four leads - alongside James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis and Alix West Lefler - of James Watkins' new horror, as a dream holiday in a beautiful country house becomes a psychological nightmare.
The Outrun (releasing 27th September)
Saoirse Ronan stars in German director Nora Fingscheidt's drama, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Ronan plays a young woman recently out of rehab for alcoholism who returns from London to her home in Scotland's Orkney Islands seeking to heal and come to terms with her troubled past.
Joker: Folie A Deux (releasing 4th October)
Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga are headlining the hotly anticipated sequel to Todd Phillips' Oscar-winning Joker which saw Phoenix take home the Best Actor trophy for his iteration of the iconic DC Comics villain. Joining them will be our own Brendan Gleeson, recently Oscar nominated himself for The Banshees of Inisherin, who co-stars as a guard at Arkham Prison and appears in the film's recent new trailer. The film remains shrouded in secrecy, so it's anyone's guess what is motivating Gleeson's character, and how he may end up crucial to the plot.
Small Things Like These (releasing 1st November)
The Tim Mielants-directed adaptation of Claire Keegan's novel opened the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year and will hit cinemas in November. Cillian Murphy stars and produces, fresh from his Oppenheimer Oscar win, and the cast also includes Eileen Walsh, Michelle Farley, Clare Dunne and Agnes O'Casey. Set in 1985 in New Ross, Murphy plays a coal merchant who makes a discovery at a local convent that forces him to confront secrets in the town. Murphy and Alan Moloney's Big Things Films are producers, along with Matt Damon, Drew Vinton and Jeff Robinov.
Blitz (releasing 1st November)
Saoirse Ronan will follow The Outrun shortly with a key role in Steve McQueen's World War II drama. McQueen, director of Hunger and Widows, is set to dramatise the London bombings from a fresh perspective, as the son of Ronan's character seeks to return to London from the English countryside, where he has been brought for safety. The film will open London Film Festival and close New York Film Festival, before a limited cinema run and a release on Apple TV+ later in November.
Bird (releasing 8th November)
Barry Keoghan continues to work with some of the most high-regarded filmmakers around, teaming up with Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) for a colourful drama. Keoghan plays the father of a girl living in a squat in northern Kent. He doesn't have much time to devote to his children, so his daughter seeks attention elsewhere, encountering a stranger called Bird - played by German actor Franz Rogowski (Passages).
Gladiator II (releasing 15th November)
Ridley Scott returns to gladiatorial Rome for the long-awaited sequel to his Oscar-winning 2000 epic, with Paul Mescal in the lead role of Lucius, who is seen in the first trailer confronting villainous Denzel Washington and battling Pedro Pascal in the Colosseum. After receiving his first Oscar nomination for Aftersun, it will be Mescal's biggest stage to date as a leading man.
Conclave (releasing 20th November)
Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) directs a Vatican thriller set in the aftermath of a Pope's death, as cardinals fight to be named his successor and secrets are unravelled within the Cathedral walls. The cast is led by Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci, and also starring is Brían F. O'Byrne, most recently seen in Marian Quinn's Twig.
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Also set to premiere before the end of the year, but currently without release dates, are Bring Them Down starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott (co-produced by Tailored Films); Joshua Oppenheimer's The End starring Tilda Swinton, George Mackay and Bronagh Gallagher (co-produced by Wild Atlantic Pictures); and Justin Kurzel's The Order starring Jude Law and Alison Oliver. All three will screen at Toronto International Film Festival with release date information expected soon.
