From Esther McCarthy at ScreenDaily comes more news on new Irish comedy Halal Daddy. Irish distributor Element Pictures Distribution has acquired the Irish and UK rights to the film, which began principal photography in Sligo earlier this week.
Other news includes the addition of Irish acting legend Colm Meaney to the cast, which already included Nikesh Patel (London Has Fallen) in the lead, Sarah Bolger (In America, Into the Badlands), Art Malik (True Lies), Angeline Ball (The Commitments, Shameless), Stephen Cromwell (The Hallow, Red Rock), and Paul Tylak (Moone Boy).
Inspired by true events, Halal Daddy is a culture-clash comedy about Ireland’s first Halal meat factory, and tells the story of young British Muslim Raghdan Aziz’s struggle to manage a rundown abattoir in the West of Ireland while dealing with racist fathers, stoned buddies, gay Germans, and a furious ex-girlfriend.
Halal Daddy is directed by Sligo native Conor McDermottroe, who co-wrote the script with Viva screenwriter Mark O’Halloran., with Mel Griffith (Ricky: Three’s a Crowd) as director of photography, Conor Dennison (A Dark Song) as production designer, and Kerry Gooding (Game Of Thrones) as costume designer. The film is produced by Ailish McElmeel for Deadpan Pictures in Ireland, and Hermann Florin for Benrae Florin Films in Germany.. The film is co-financed by Eurimages and Koch Media with support from the Irish Film Board/Bord Scannán na hÉireann. Global Screen are handling world sales, having already secured German distribution via Koch Media (theatrical) and Telepool (TV).
Halal Daddy will shoot in Sligo for 5 weeks, before moving to Germany to complete post-production.