PRODUCTION / FUNDING Ireland / Netherlands / UK
Jim O’Hanlon wraps The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes
- Based on the best-selling novel by Anna McPartlin and toplined by Niamh Algar and Sam Claflin, the story follows the titular woman, who cherishes her ordinary life even as it draws to an end
Jim O’Hanlon has completed production on The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes, an Irish-Dutch-British co-production led by Jessie Fisk, of Irish firm Feline Films. The feature, based on the best-selling novel by Anna McPartlin, stars Niamh Algar (Calm with Horses [+see also:
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The screenplay, penned by McPartlin herself, follows Rabbit Hayes (Algar), a woman who cherishes her ordinary life even as it draws to an end. As she confronts her past and a future she will not see, her optimistic family faces the painful task of saying goodbye and deciding what awaits her 14-year-old daughter Juliet (Weir). The cast also features Colm Meaney, Sinéad Cusack, Tom Glynn-Carney and Ruth Bradley.
Speaking about the project, O’Hanlon said: “I fell in love with Rabbit Hayes and her wonderfully funny, quirky, idiosyncratic Irish family the moment I picked up Anna McPartlin’s brilliant novel. It’s a testament to Anna’s beautiful screenplay that we’ve been able to pull together such an amazing cast and crew to create a film bursting with love and loss, wit and warmth, music and laughter.”
O’Hanlon’s previous work includes 100 Streets (starring Idris Elba and Gemma Arterton), two Your Christmas or Mine films for Amazon and the upcoming period comedy Fackham Hall, written by Jimmy Carr.
Alongside Fisk, the production team includes Collie McCarthy and Diarmuid Hughes for Forty Foot Pictures (Ireland), Joram Willink and Maike Neve for Bind Film (Netherlands), Anna McPartlin for AMcP Films (Ireland), and Alan Keane for Hotdrop Films (Ireland). Paradiso Films and Finite Films serve as executive producers.
The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes is backed by Screen Ireland, the UK Global Screen Fund, the Netherlands Film Fund, Coimisiún na Meán and RTÉ.
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