Element Pictures has announced that principal photography will commence next Monday, October 13th on Darren Thornton’s (Love is the Drug, Frankie) debut feature A Date for Mad Mary.
The film tells the story of ‘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 the Maid of Honour. When Charlene refuses Mary a ‘plus one’ for the wedding, on the grounds that she probably couldn’t find a date, Mary is determined to prove her wrong. She throws herself into the local dating scene, in the hope of finding a nice guy who’ll look good in a tux. But finding a date in a town where everyone knows your name, and your reputation, is not going to be easy…
According to Element A Date for Mad Mary promises to be a funny and truthful story about a small town girl struggling to find her way in a grown up world.
The film stars an ensemble of young Irish actors including Seana Kerslake, Charleigh Bailey and Tara Lee as well as established talent including Denise McCormack and Norma Sheehan, and is written by brothers Darren & Colin Thornton.
Thornton commented that “Everyone involved is just feeling thrilled that it’s finally happening. It’s a largely female cast on ‘Mad Mary’, so that aspect of it is really exciting, because you don’t get a lot of Irish films where the cast is predominantly female, so it feels good to be doing something new. We’ve cast incredible young actors and some of them are making their feature film debut, so it’s great introducing audiences to new faces that we know will soon become household names.”
A Date for Mad Mary is produced by Ed Guiney (The Guard, Frank, Lobster, Room) and Juliette Bonass (Glassland, Get Up & Go) and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures as executive producer.
The film will shoot in and around Dublin and Drogheda for 5 and half weeks and is backed by the Irish Film Board, Element Pictures Distribution, BAI and TV3.
Irish audiences will get the chance to see A Date for Mad Mary next year when it’s released through Element Pictures Distribution.