The Bleak Shall Inherit The Earth

Carmel Winters, the award-winning director of the hard-hitting Irish drama Snap talks to Roe McDermott about kidnap, torture and abuse; working with the late Mick Lally on one of his last ever projects; and how in the past Irish film has sensationalised and simplified tales of abuse.

Roe McDermott, 11 Apr 2011

After winning best film and best director at the Dublin Film Critics’ Circle awards this year and screening to great acclaim at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2011, it’s fair to say that Carmel Winters’ first foray into filmmaking has been a raging success. Having penned plays such as B For Baby for the Abbey Theatre, and taught creative writing in both Ireland and the UK, the Cork native says her long years of writing experience prepared her for directing her self-penned film. “All the defeat along the way, all the disasters and rejection and humiliations leave you quite bomb-proof!” she laughs.

Exploring the relationship between a caustic woman, her son and her father, Snap deals with very sensitive subject matter. When teenager Stephen kidnaps a toddler and is accused of torturing him, both his mother and the audience are forced to question what his motives are, what he’s capable of and what could have driven him to such an horrific crime.

One would think that writing about such harrowing themes would be a difficult, even draining experience, but Winters says she found it “buoyant”.

“This will sound strange,’ she says, “but when you’re writing well it’s a great experience. I’ve probably written more comedies than straight, tough drama. Even if you’re writing comedy and it’s not going well, you fall into the depths of despair. I didn’t find it tough because I knew I could trust my material. And I do feel quite blessed to be able to write something that isn’t often voiced, to bring something to the light that some people might be avoiding.”

Winters does wonder whether she could have written the script if she’d children herself.

“I think if you have children you want to take a more optimistic view of human nature. I wouldn’t like to think I wouldn’t have been able to write it, but emotionally it may have been more difficult. I also mightn’t have had the time to work on it for years without money if I had a child!”

Page 1/3     <Previous 1 2 3 Next> 

Roe McDermott

Once one of the acting elite, Nicolas Cage’s career has recently been marked by financial scandal and a string of critically lampooned movies. But his passion never wavers. He tells Roe McDermott about being fated to become an actor, how art and inner conflict drive his performances, and reprising his role as the world’s darkest hero in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

2012-02-20

He achieved mega-fame as Aragorn in Lord Of The Rings. But Viggo Mortensen was never going to be a mere matinee idol. A poet, painter and deep thinker, his latest collaboration with director David Cronenberg sees Mortensen playing the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. We ask him to lie back on a couch and tell us all about it.

2012-02-15

Jason Segel could have embarked on any project he wanted after the success of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. So he decided to revive his first comedy love, The Muppets. He talks to Roe McDermott about the enduring popularity of Kermit and co.

2012-02-01

Best known for playing Stifler, the American Pie jock with the hot mom and unfortunate taste in beverages, Seann William Scott has finally grown up. In the best role of his career, he puts in a sweet and subtle performance as Doug Glatt in the brilliant ice-hockey comedy Goon. The self-deprecating actor talks to Roe McDermott about returning to the American Pie franchise, being snubbed by the Oscars (shocking) and how drinking semen became the defining moment in his career.

2012-01-20

Smart, sassy and stunning, Daniella Moyles is a successful model who makes frequent appearances in the gossip columns, alongside friends Georgia Salpa and the cast of Fade Street. Latterly, however, the 23 year-old beauty has become RTE’s latest presenting whiz-kid, joining Aidan Power on the music and sports show Bulletin TV where she gets up close and personal with some of the world’s biggest stars.

2012-01-05

A warning to those attempting to chart Jeremy Renner’s advancement: there’s a serious risk of whiplash ahead. Staying under the radar with a modest career for over a decade, the American actor has suddenly become the talk of Tinseltown, receiving two Oscar nominations in as many years.

2011-12-08

Terry McMahon’s psychological thriller Charlie Casanova has had a troubled gestation. With a script that had been repeatedly rejected by the Irish Film Board, no outside support and a miniscule budget, the Irish director’s hugely controversial examination of class, language and violence has achieved international acclaim and this month was picked up by Studio Canal.

2011-11-21

The Coronas are on the march. Having spent six weeks in LA working with studio guru Tony Hoffer on their third album Closer to You, they are about to embark on a campaign for world domination that will take them right through next year. So what is it that makes the band tick? In a remarklably revealing interview, Ireland’s most down-to-earth frontman Danny O’Reilly tells Roe McDermott about the making of The Coronas’ masterpiece, why he’d never go solo, working with his mammy – and how a certain blonde beauty has stolen his heart.

2011-11-15

Between appearing in the Coen brothers’ western True Grit and the hugely successful Harry Potter films, it’s safe to say that the past year has been a good one for Domhnall Gleeson. Currently starring in Irish sex-based dramedy Sensation, he talks to Roe McDermott about Ireland’s relationship with sex, his directorial aspirations and why you should never google yourself.

2011-11-07

As the cast and crew of Bollywood film Ek Tha Tiger wrap on their final day of filming in Dublin, Roe McDermott finds out how two cultures combined, as henna was traded for hurleys.

2011-10-28

With an already impressive array of films under his belt, including Billy Elliot, King Kong, Flags Of Our Fathers and Jane Eyre, Jamie Bell has now achieved his childhood dream of working with Steven Spielberg. Taking the lead role in Spielberg’s The Adventures Of Tintin: Secret Of The Unicorn, he talks to Roe McDermott about working with his hero, reimagining the controversial comic, and how he uses his work to exorcise his personal demons.

2011-10-28

With his award-winning debut Parked set for an American release, Darragh Byrne talks to Roe McDermott about the potential of Irish cinema, the social and economic resonances of his film and working with Irish acting stalwart Colm Meaney.

2011-10-11

Annointed the critics’ golden boy with his low-budget debut Clerks, actor, director and writer Kevin Smith has since had as many misses as hits. So for his new politically tinged horror Red State, Smith turned his back on Hollywood and distributed the film himself.

2011-09-26

Like Pinky and the Brain, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Anton Yelchin seem an unlikely pairing, but have quickly become inseparable. Not one to break up a beautiful bromance, Roe McDermott spoke to the up-and-coming stars about their friendship, the Mel Gibson controversy, the problem with women and how they’re well on their way to taking over the world.

2011-09-13

Fresh from the set of Horrible Bosses, Colin Farrell’s role as a predatory vampire in the comedy horror Fright Night marks another wildly fun part. Here, he talks about getting older, fatherhood being easier the second time round – and why he’ll always return home to work with Irish filmmakers.

2011-08-29

Having just played an assassin in Hanna, currently starring as a sweet but isolated Borrower in the Japanese animated film Arrietty, and with roles as vampires and hit-women in the future, Roe McDermott was pleased to find that the Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan wasn’t anywhere near as scary as her CV might suggest. She reveals how her assassin training, a ukulele and a hula-hoop are going to land her a headlining slot at Oxegen next year.

2011-08-23

It had to end sometime. But how does it feel now for the actors who spent their teenage years growing up in public as stars of the extraordinarily successful fantasy saga, Harry Potter?

2011-07-26

He’s the dean of Irish screen acting, with a CV that includes Hollywood blockbusters and low budget independent films. In his latest movie Brendan Gleeson plays a feckless Garda, riding shot-gun with an African-American FBI agent. But is there more to the character than meets the eye? Gleeson holds forth on the sticky issue of Irish people and race, Barack Obama’s recent visit and why he is determined to bring Flann O’Brien’s At Swim-Two-Birds to the big screen. Words: Roe McDermott

2011-07-25

Currently starring in the funniest comedy of the year, the outrageous Bridesmaids, Sligo actor Chris O’Dowd tells Roe McDermott about how being a bit chubby set him on the path to comedy, the advantages of being Irish in Hollywood and what it’s like taking on the girl’s role for a change. Oh, and then he threw a chair at her!

2011-06-20

Ian Power, director of the uplifting Cork-based film The Runway, talks to Roe McDermott about the community spirit of 1980s Ireland, how the Celtic Tiger made us lose our sense of welcome — and the Colombian pilot who became an Irish boy’s ET.

2011-06-07

With the latest Pirates Of The Caribbean installment released this month, Roe McDermott somehow manages to keep her cool in the face of Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane...

2011-05-31

As Irish director Conor Horgan’s post-apocalyptic drama One Hundred Mornings is released, he talks to Roe McDermott about societal breakdowns, morality and why even at the end of the world we’ll be sleeping with the wrong people.

2011-05-10

The creators of the most successful horror franchise ever, Saw, are back to terrify us all, this time with their old-school haunted house film Insidious. Roe McDermott spoke to director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell about why they hate the term ‘torture porn’ and how they’re getting more subtle in their old age.

2011-05-03

Neil McCormick’s quest for rock and roll fame has been chronicled in the comedy rock movie Killing Bono. He talks to Roe McDermott about the making of the movie, why Bono told McCormick to kill him – and how naked women and goats played a part in his job interview for Hot Press…

2011-03-30

Robert Sheehan, the hyperactive star of E4’s Misfits and Killing Bono, stops bouncing around for just long enough to tell Roe McDermott about shooting red-hot sex scenes with 76-year-olds, how he caused Nicolas Cage to burn his own hand in order to stop laughing on set, and working with Pete Postlethwaite in his last ever film role. Oh, and Killing Bono...

2011-03-30

He’s starred in The IT Crowd, been in The Mighty Boosh, won awards for his music videos, counts Noel Fielding and Alex Turner among his close friends and has directed one of the most brilliant indie films of recent memory, the hilarious and quirky Submarine. And yet, Richard Ayoade assures Roe McDermott that he’s not cool. Eh, we may have to agree to disagree on that one…

2011-03-14

David Michôd, director of critically acclaimed Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom, talks to Roe McDermott about the Melbourne crime scene, Jackie Weaver’s Oscar nominated performance and why not going to therapy has helped his art.

2011-03-02

They’re the YouTube sensations who have parlayed a novelty hit into a proper pop career. The Rubberbandits talk about riding, rhyming and the fashionista potential of plastic bags.

2011-02-18

DJ Caruso, director of Taking Lives, Disturbia and new sci-fi flick I Am Number Four talks to Roe McDermott about using his parenting skills with young actors, the genius of Alfred Hitchcock and whether or not he’s an alien believer…

2011-02-14

The maverick record label that gave the world My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream and Oasis is the subject of a eye-popping new documentary, which receives its Irish premiere as part of the Jameson Dublin Irish Film Festival. Danny O’Connor talks about getting inside the Creation story.

2011-01-28

hotpress.com

• News
• Music
• Features
• Politics
• Movies
• Comedy
• Lifestyle & Sex
• Audio & Video
• Photo Galleries
• What's On
• Shop
• Competitions
• Hot Press Covers Collection
• Messageboard
• Industry Listings
• Archive
• Caught In The Net
• Buy Hot Press Back Issues
• Activate Hot Press Gift/Hot Box

Blogs on hotpress.com

• Anne Sexton: Sexed Up
• Gabby Sanderson: I'm With The Band
• Peter Murphy: Blog Of Revelations
• Roe McDermott: Screen Lover
• Rob Smith: Footbal El Mundo
• Drink Aware Festival News

Additional Sites on hotpress.com

• The Music Show
• The Jagermeister Freezer Sessions
• Hot Press Books
• Hot Press Rock Photo
• The Philip Lynott Exhibition
• Jamie Lawson: 'The Last Time'

Join Us

Contact Us

Hot Press,
13 Trinity Street,
Dublin 2.
Rep. Of Ireland
Tel: +353 (1) 241 1500

Email:info@hotpress.ie

Click here for more contact information.

Hot Press always welcomes feed back so if you've got something to tell us click here.

Advertise With Us

For more detail on how to advertise with Hot Press click here or call us on +353 (1) 241 1540