FOLLOWING RAVE reviews, awards, and being selected as Ireland’s official entry for the 2021 Oscars, Galway made film Arracht has now been optioned for a Hollywood remake.
Arracht was written and directed by Tom Sullivan, and features Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2020, Dónall Ó Héalaí, alongside Dara Devaney, Michael McElhatton, Seán T Ó Meallaigh, Pádraic Breathach, Eoin Ó Dubhgaill, Conall Ó Céidigh, and newcomer Saise Ní Chuinn.
Arracht has now been optioned by Smuggler and Kingsgate Films for a Hollywood remake. Producers will be Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty ) along with Patrick Milling Smith, and Brian Carmody.
Ahead of that, Galway cinema goers will be able to see the Galway made, Irish language original, when it is screened in cinemas from October 15.
Set in Ireland in 1845, Arracht centres on Colmán Sharkey, a fisherman, father, and husband, who takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest. Patsy, a former soldier, arrives just ahead of the beginning of the Famine. As the crops rot in the fields, Patsy and his brother Colmán travel to the English landlord's house to request a stay on rent increases that Colmán knows will destroy the community.
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His request falls on deaf ears and Patsy's subsequent actions set Colmán on a path that will take him to the edge of survival, and sanity. Only when he encounters an abandoned young girl does Colmán's resolve lift.
Arracht was produced by Cúán MacConghail for Macalla Teoranta with executive producers Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell of Fantastic Films. It premiered to critical acclaim at the prestigious Tallinn Black Nights Festival in 2019. It also won Best Irish Film at the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival, where Dónal Ó Héalaí won Best Actor.
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“To have produced a film that moved Greg Shapiro and his team so much, that they wanted to option it is the stuff that dreams are made of,”said producer Cúán MacConghail. “He has produced several of my top ten films of all time. Tom and I are so delighted.”
