The Butcher Boy (1997)

Country of Origin: Ireland / USA
Year of Production: 1997
Running Times: 109 mins
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio:
Sound: DTS     Dolby Digital     SDDS

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Butcher Boy Film / Geffen Pictures / Warner Bros.
Executive Producer: Neil Jordan
Producers: Redmond Morris, Stephen Woolley
Production Manager: Mary Alleguen
Unit Manager: Des Martin

SCRIPT
Script: Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe
Novel: Patrick McCabe

DIRECTION
Director: Neil Jordan
1st Assistant Director: Christopher Newman
2nd Assistant Director: Suzanne Nicell
Assistant Director: Barbara Mulcahy

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Adrian Biddle
Camera Operator: Mike Roberts
Focus Puller: Alan Butler
Video Operator: Noel Donnellon

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Tony Lawson
2nd Assistant Editor: Jens Baylis

MUSIC
Music: Elliot Goldenthal; Gioacchino Rossini (William Tell Overture)
Songs: Kurt Weill (Mack the Knife); Paul Burkhard, John Turner, Geoffrey Parsons (Oh Mein Papa); O'Higgins, Flynn (Beautiful Bundoran); Tommie Connor (Never Do a Tango With an Eskimo); Brayton, O'Farelly (The Old Bog Road); M. Balfe, A. Bunn (I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls); Ernie Maresca, Ken Heckt (No-One Knows); Paul Hampton, Hal David (Sea of Heartbreak); Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson (Where Are You?); Kim Fowley (Nutrocker); Franz Schubert (Ava Maria Op 52 No 6)
Songs Performed By: Santo and Johnny (Mack the Knife); Eddie Calvert (Oh Mein Papa); Sinéad O'Connor (The Butcher Boy; Beautiful Bundoran); Dion and the Belmonts (No-One Knows); Elliot Goldenthal (Sea of Heartbreak); Frank Sinatra (Where Are You?); B Bumble and the Stingers (Nutrocker); John McCormack (Ava Maria Op 52 No 6); Regina Nathan (Sweet Heart of Jesus)
Conductor: Ed Shearmur; Ricardo Chailly (William Tell Overture)
Orchestrators: Robert Elhai, Elliot Goldenthal
Music Supervisor: Bob Last
Electronic Music Producer: Richard Martinez
Music Producer: Matthias Gohl
Music Editor: Michael Connell

SOUND
Sound Recordists: Brendan Deasy, Kieran Horgan, Stephen McLaughlin
Additional Sound Recordist: James Nichols
Sound Mixer: Stephen McLaughlin
Re-Recording Mixer: Robin O'Donoghue
Supervising Sound Editor: Eddy Joseph
Dialogue Editors: Nick Lowe, Nigel Mills
Foley Editor: Peter Holt

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Morag Ross
Hair: Dee Corcoran
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell
Assistant Costume Designer: Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh
Wardrobe Supervisor: John Scott

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Supervisor: Joss Williams
Special Effects Administrator: Michael Dawson

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects Supervisor: Kent Houston
Visual Effects Producer: Susi Roper

DIGITAL EFFECTS
CG Animators: Andrea Adams, Ditch Doy
Scanning and Recording Editorial Coordinator: Clare Norman (uncredited)
Digital Compositor: Kitty Veevers (uncredited)

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Anthony Pratt
Art Director: Anna Rackard
Assistant Art Director: Susie Cullen
Set Decorator: Josie MacAvin
Property Master: David Balfour
Stand By Props: Noel Walsh
Illustrator: Mick Brownfield
Draughtspersons: Colman Corish, Alan Gilmore, Martin Goulding
Graphic Artist: Laurence O'Toole

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Diana Dill

LOCATIONS
Locations: Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland; Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland; Warrenpoint, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK
Studio: Ardmore Studios, Wicklow, Ireland
Location Manager: Ger Daly

STUNTS
Stunt Coordinator: Patrick Condren

CASTING
Casting: Susie Figgis

CAST
Eamon Owens (Francie Brady)
Sean McGinley (Sergeant)
Peter Gowen (Leddy)
Alan Boyle (Joe Purcell)
Andrew Fullerton (Phillip Nugent)
Fiona Shaw (Mrs Nugent)
Aisling O'Sullivan (Annie Brady)
Stephen Rea (Da Brady / adult Francie)
John Kavanagh (Dr Boyd)
Rosaleen Linehan (Mrs Canning)
Anita Reeves (Mrs Coyle)
Gina Moxley (Mary)
Niall Buggy (Father Dom)
Ian Hart (Uncle Alo)
Anne O'Neill (Mrs McGlone)
Joe Pilkington (Charlie McGlone)
Pat McGrath (farmer on tractor)
Jer O'Leary (Dublin man)
Pat Leavy (Dublin cafe woman)
Janet Moran (Dublin shopkeeper)
Paraic Breathnach (man on truck)
John Olohan (Mr Nugent)
Ardal O'Hanlon (Mr Purcell)
Mikel Murfi (Buttsy)
Brendan Conroy (Devlin)
Tom Hickey (gardener)
Brendan Gleeson (Father Bubbles)
Gregg Fitzgerald (bogman 1)
John Finnegan (bogman 2)
Gavin Kelty (bogman 3)
Eoin Chaney (bogman 4)
Milo O'Shea (Father Sullivan)
Sinéad O'Connor (Our Lady / Colleen)
Ciaran Owens, Shane O'Connor (boys at fountain)
Paolo Tullio (Mr Caffolla)
Siobhan McElvaney, Aine McEneaney (girls in shooting gallery)
Patrick McCabe (Jimmy The Skite)
Sean Hughes (psychiatrist 1)
Tony Rohr (bogman in mental hospital)
Birdy Sweeney (man in well)
Marie Mullen (Mrs Thompson)
Stuart Graham (priest at college)
Macdara O'Fatharta (alien priest)
Ronan Wilmot (policeman)
Vinnie McCabe (detective)
Dermot Healy (bogman in hospital)
Gerard McSorley (psychiatrist 2)

In Ireland, young Francie lives with his depressed, suicidal mother and his violent alcoholic father. Under the strain of his appalling daily life Francie becomes steadily unhinged, slips into a fantasy world where he meets the Virgin Mary and ends up murdering his neighbour Mrs Nugent when she starts nasty rumours about his family. He's committed to a psychiatric hospital where it is hoped he may be cured.

France
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Bros.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Geffen Pictures

Australia
Rating: MA

France
Rating: U

Germany
Rating: 12 (w)

Portugal
Rating: M/12

Spain
Rating: 13

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: 15

USA
Rating: R

1998
Berlin International Film Festival, Germany
Silver Berlin Bear Best Director (Neil Jordan) - winner
Special Mention (Eamon Owens) - winner
Golden Berlin Bear (Neil Jordan) - nominated

European Film Awards
Best Cinematographer (Adrian Biddle) - winner
Best Film (Redmond Morris, Stephen Woolley) - nominated

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, USA
Best Music (Elliot Goldenthal) - winner (tied with Carter Burwell for Gods and Monsters (1998))

San Diego International Film Festival, USA
Festival Award Best Actor (Eamon Owens) - winner

YoungStar Awards, USA
Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film (Eamon Owens) - nominated

1999
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, USA
Best Picture - nominated
Best Director (Neil Jordan) - nominated
Best Original Score (Elliot Goldenthal) - nominated
Most Promising Actor (Eamon Owens) - nominated

Golden Satellite Awards, USA
Outstanding New Talent (Eamon Owens) - winner

Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing: Music (Foreign and Domestic) (Michael Connell) - winner

Young Artist Awards, USA
Best Performance in a Feature Film: Leading Young Actor (Eamon Owens) - nominated

1996
July
1: Ireland - production begins

September
15: Ireland - production ends

1997
July
13: Ireland - shown at the Galway Film Fleadh

1998
February
14: Germany - shown at the Berlin Film Festival
20: UK - theatrical release
26: Germany - theatrical release

April
3: USA - theatrical release

May
6: France - theatrical release

June
18: Netherlands - theatrical release

July
23: Australia - theatrical release

September
10: Slovakia - theatrical release
24: New Zealand - theatrical release

November
27: Sweden - theatrical release

December
18: Brazil - theatrical release

1999
January
19: Iceland - shown at the Reykjavik Film Festival

February
Day Unknown: Portugal - video release

June
17: Hungary - video release
19: South Korea - theatrical release

September
23: Hong Kong - shown at the British Film Week Festival

2000
February
11: Japan - video release

March
2: Hungary - shown as part of Irish Film Week

2002
May
7: USA - television broadcast (on HBOZ)

This little piggy laughed all the way home!

Der Schlächterbursche - German title
Contracorriente - Spanish title
O Rapaz do Talho - Portugese title

INCLUDES FOOTAGE FROM
The Atomic Cafe (1982)
The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)

MAGAZINES

Cineaste vol.23 no.4 (1998) pp.32-36 (USA)
article (The Abused Child of History: Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy by Martin McLoone)

Empire March 1998 p.42 (UK)
review (by Christopher Hemblade)

Empire September 1998 p.120 (UK)
review (by Neil Jeffries)

Film Review March 1998 p.24 (UK)
review (by Neil Corry)

Neon September 1998 p.94 (UK)
review (by Kevin Maher)

NEWSPAPERS

Aftonbladet 27 November 1998 (Sweden)
review (Mitt liv som hund i Irland by Jan-Olov Andersson)

Diário de Notícias, DNmais 3 April 1999 (Portugal)
review (by João Antunes)

Expresso, Cartaz 13 March 1999 (Portugal)
review (by Jorge Leitão Ramos)

Svenska Dagbladet 27 November 1998 (Sweden)
review (Svårsmält om bitter barndom by Bo Ludvigsson)

book into film; children; visions; virgin mary; religion; alcoholism; psychiatric hospitals; pigs; ireland; suicide; schools; mental illness; butchers; families; schizophrenia; killer children