A Date for Mad Mary

#IrishFilm: A Date for Mad Mary expands off the back of a stellar first week at the box-office

Following a fantastic opening week, in which it earned over €88,000 at the box-office, and with fantastic word-of-mouth Element Pictures’ A Date for Mad Mary expands to just under 30 sites this weekend.

Irish audiences flocked to A Date for Mad Mary this week which has seen Darren Thornton’s debut feature eclipse competition from veteran filmmakers, like Woody Allen with Café Society. A Date for Mad Mary has the second highest screen average of the week which is an incredible feat for an independent feature from a first-time director.

In A Date for Mad Mary, ‘Mad’ Mary McArdle returns to Drogheda after a short spell in prison – for something she’d rather forget. Back home, everything and everyone has changed. Her best friend, Charlene, is about to get married and Mary is maid of honour. When Charlene refuses Mary a ‘plus one’ on the grounds that she probably couldn’t find a date, Mary becomes determined to prove her wrong. But her attempts at dating are a disaster and she winds up feeling more alone… until she meets Jess and everything changes.  The film is directed by   Darren Thornton and stars Seána Kerslake, Tara Lee, Charleigh Bailey, Denise McCormack and Siobhan Shanahan.

A Date for Mad Mary premiered at Karlovy Vary where it garnered heart-felt praise from Variety who called it “instantly loveable” and “a delight”.   The Irish Times called it “a triumphant first feature” and “the wedding zinger you’ve been waiting for”, while The Irish Independent awarding it 5 stars and praising Kerslake’s performace “she’s superb, an extraordinary talent and surely bound for bigger things.” We give it 4 stars ourselves, again singling Kerslake out for her exceptional lead performance.

The film has also been selected to screen in competition at the BFI London Film Festival this October.

Speaking on the result, head of Element Pictures Distribution Audrey Sheils commented:

It’s such a pleasure to work on a film right through from development to the big screen, and then see it capture the heart of critics and audiences alike. I think we’ll all be seeing a lot more Seána Kerslake, Tara Lee and Charleigh Bailey in coming years. Everyone in Element Distribution is delighted to see their talent so widely recognised.

A Date for Mad Mary is written by Darren and Colin Thornton and produced by Ed Guiney (The Guard, The Lobster, Room) and Juliette Bonass (Get Up & Go, Glassland). The film is financed by the Irish Film Board, BAI and TV3.

Follow the film and engage in the conversation with #ADateForMadMary on Twitter.

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