Starring Dame Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates and Laura Linny, "The Miracle Club", a heartwarming movie about four working-class Irish women entering a local parish talent contest to win a trip to Lourdes, will premiere on Monday and get a general release in theatres in September.
For close to 20 years filmmakers had struggled to get "The Miracle Club" made. Now starring actors with Oscars, Emmys and Baftas to their names, the movie will be premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival on Mon, June 12.
In the past the screenplay had been seen to be not quite right, funds could not be raised by it was Maggie Smith, star of "Downton Abbey" and "Harry Potter" who never lost faith in the project. British producer, Chris Curling, finally got "The Miracle Club" up and running.
The movie is set in 1960s Ireland and tells the tale of "funny, messy, vocal and flawed” working-class women. While they've never left their homes in the suburbs of Dublin, they win the prize of a lifetime, a trip to a place of miracles, the sacred French town of Lourdes. The movie was shot in Dublin and Wicklow in 2022.
Speaking to the Guardian, Director Thaddeus O’Sullivan said "What really enthralled me about the story is how three strong characters confront one another and then, by embracing truth, they understand that the miracle they have all been looking for is right in front of them – in the strength of their friendships and unshakeable togetherness...
“What we have achieved together is to make an emotional movie that is truly joyous, uplifting and aspirational.”
Of Smith's performance he said “She’s so un-Downton. Although [her] character does have a somewhat prickly and demanding nature … eventually we see a deeply vulnerable, humble and compassionate woman.”
The movie's Producer Curling said "She has such an actor’s brain. The questions she asks, the comments she makes… about the screenplay as a whole and individual scenes got to the heart of the story and the relationship between her and the other two characters. Every day on the set with her was a revelation.”
The journey to this point started 18 years ago when Curling was presented with the original screenplay “Pushers Needed” by Jimmy Smallhorne, Timothy Prager, and Josh Maurer.
Maurer said: “At its heart, this film captures the strength, resilience, and love of remarkable women as they define themselves under their own terms, and by the power of their friendship and faith.”
Check out the trailer the "The Miracle Club" here:
Comments