Mary McGuckian


Mary McGuckian is a film director, producer and screenwriter from Northern Ireland.

Early life

Born and brought up in Northern Ireland during the 'troubles', Mary McGuckian completed her formal education in the Republic of Ireland at Trinity College Dublin, where she took a degree in engineering. During this time that she became involved with 'Trinity Players', appearing in over 30 productions as well as producing, designing, directing and even lighting various others. She is remembered for her ability to juggle a demanding under-graduate lecture and exams schedule with full-time theatre commitment.

Career

Her interest in theatre and politics led her to follow an autodidactic post graduate education in literature, theatre, acting and directing on various courses in London, Paris and Italy. During which time she wrote a number of avant-garde plays and movement pieces which were variously produced in England and Ireland. Most acclaimed was probably her long-running stage adaptation of Brian Merriman's poem, "The Midnight Court".
Returning to Ireland, she continued to work as an actor and playwright until invited to write screenplays by various producers in the emergent Irish film industry of the early 1990s. At this point, she set up her own company, Pembridge Productions, to develop and produce feature film projects. The company was active as a co-producer on many Irish feature films and also produced three pictures which she wrote and directed. Words Upon the Window Pane,, This Is the Sea, ; all essentially Irish subjects rooted in her cultural heritage.
In 2001, she established Pembridge Pictures in the UK to develop and finance a slate of pictures for a long-term international production strategy by accessing UK tax-incentive based funding in co-production with treaty partners of the UK such as the EU treaty countries and Canada. The first of these to commence principal photography was her adaptation of the Thornton Wilder classic, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, delivered in May 2004, which shot in Spain.
More lately, she has turned her interest and attention to the exploration of innovative film-making techniques aimed at integrating a more collaborative style of production in order to prioritize performance values with the aim of making contemporary drama more compelling to audiences. Using a combination of modern script styles and extended character development work with collaborating actors who then improvise their own dialogue directly on set, the first film of her 'amorality' trilogy, Rag Tale, was conceived. Allied to the latest in digital photographic and post production technology, her process continues to redefine the conventional linear filmmaking process into a much more integrated and collaborative style of filmmaking as many of the cast and crew of Rag Tale joined her on Intervention in New Mexico in 2006 and on Inconceivable in London and Las Vegas in 2007.
The company of cast and crew which evolved in the making of the trilogy have spent the last year making 'The Making of Plus One, with Kate, Cate and George, The Story of a Hollywood Nobody'. A sort of 'Plus One' to the 'amorality trilogy', the picture commenced principal photography during The Cannes Film Festival in 2008, which setting explores the incongruous clash of the creative and commercial aspects of independent feature film making. It was completed in May 2009.

Personal life

She was married to John Lynch in 1997. They separated in 2008.

Latest Films

The Price of Desire is the story of the inception of 20th-century architecture told in the context of how Le Corbusier completely effaced Eileen Gray. The cast included Irish actress Orla Brady as Eileen Gray, Swiss actor Vincent Perez as her nemesis, Le Corbusier and Francesco Scianna and Alanis Morissette as her lovers the architect Jean Badovici and French chanteuse Marisa Damia. The film premiered at the 2015 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.
'A Girl from Mogadishu' stars Aja Naomi King, Barkhad Abdi and Maryam Mursals in the story of Irish Somali activist, Ifrah Ahmed's journey from war-torn Somalia to global activist against Female Genital Mutilation. It premiered at the 2019 Dublin International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the 42nd edition of the Mill Valley Film Festival. Other awards included the Audience and Jury awards at the Semaine de Cinima Britannique in France and the Cinema For Peace Foundation award for its contribution to Women's Empowerment at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival.

Recent Film/Past Film

"The Novelist" is an Experimental Performance Piece About A Writer Struggling Between Artistry And Addiction Starring Eric Roberts among others.
"Man on the Train" is a Remake Of Patrice Le Conte’s 2001 Film By The Same Name With Donald Sutherland And Larry Mullen Jr which was released by Tribeca in 2012.
"The Making of Plus One", Also Devised In Collaboration With Lothaire Bluteau, Geraldine Chaplin, Donna D’Errico, Michael Eklund, Suzan-Lori Parks, Jordi Molla, Amanda Plummer, John Sessions, Sara Stockbridge And Jennifer Tilly.
"The Amortality Trilogy Plus One" - A Trilogy Plus One Of Improvised Films Took Five Years to Complete. The Films Included:
"Rag Tale". Devised In Collaboration With Simon Callow, Lucy Davis, Kerry Fox, Rupert Graves, Ian Hart, David Hayman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cal Macaninch, Malcolm Mcdowell, Bill Patterson, John Sessions, Sara Stockbridge.
"Intervention". Devised In Collaboration With Charles Dance, Donna D’Errico, Colm Feore, Rupert Graves, Gary Farmer, Kerry Fox, Ian Hart, Andie Mcdowell, Russell Means, Bill Patterson, John Sessions, Sara Stockbridge, Jennifer Tilly.
"Inconceivable. Devised In Collaboration With Lothaire Bluteau, Geraldine Chaplin, Donna D’Errico, Colm Feore, Kerry Fox, Andie Macdowell, Elizabeth Mcgovern, Jordi Molla, Amanda Plummer, John Sessions, Sara Stockbridge And Jennifer Tilly.
"Words Upon the Windowpane" . Adapted From The One-Act Play By WB Yeats With Geraldine Chaplin, Ian Richardson, John Lynch & Jim Sheridan Which Was Selected For Venice, Sundance, London And Tokyo Film Festivals Among Others. THIS IS THE SEA 1996/97.Adapted From Her Stage Play Hazel With Richard Harris, Gabriel Byrne, Samantha Morton & John Lynch. BEST 1999/2000. Which Was Co-Written With Husband And Actor, John Lynch With John Lynch, Ian Bannen, Jerome Flynn, Ian Hart, Patsy Kensit, Stephen Fry & Rodger Daltry .
"The Bridge of San Luis Rey ". Which She Adapted From The Pulitzer Prize Winning Novel By Thornton Wilder With F Murray Abraham, Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, John Lynch And Jim Sheridan.

Filmography

Director

-http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/man-train-cannes-2011-review-192311
-https://variety.com/2011/film/reviews/the-man-on-the-train-1117946379/