Principal photography will begin later this month on writer/director James Fitzgerald (The Invisible Boy, Skunky Dog)’s latest short film, Bad Boy Buck. The short is one of four chosen for Focus Shorts, the cornerstone short film scheme from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland.
For unhappy farmer Buck Holmes, country life is tough and it’s all he’s ever known. He lives in a small town in rural Ireland with his wife Gale and their young daughter Molly. At dinner, Gale tells Buck that she’d like to try for another child, which Buck agrees to. But after a one-night stand with a foreign man named Orm Dod, everything changes.
Ashamed by the sexual encounter, Buck ignores Orm’s initial attempt to make contact, but ultimately agrees to meet him and talk. It is then Orm tells Buck that he’s pregnant with his child. Outraged by Orm’s bizarre claim, Buck dismisses him and storms off.
In the days that follow Orm begins to appear more frequently, slowly pushing his way into Buck’s life. Attempting to hide the truth from his family Buck descends into a downward spiral of madness as his fears and denial begin to terrorise him.
Bad Boy Buck stars Diarmaid Murtagh (Vikings) as Buck, Kelly Gough (The Fall, Casualty) as Gail, and Danish actor Tue Lunding (We Are All Leaving,) as Orm. It is produced by Simon Doyle for Failsafe Films, with David Grennan (What Richard Did, The Fall, Maze) as Director of Photography.
Bad Boy Buck will also introduce the thriller and horror genre into my drama work for the first time. My past work has tended to be more observant of rural life, character studies of people and their problems. Bad Boy Buck, will take themes I’ve explored before and flip them on their heads.
James Fitzgerald, Writer/Director
Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts aims to encourage strong, original storytelling, visual flair, and production values appropriate to the big screen, offering an opportunity for producers, directors and writers with at least one previous credit. Since its establishment in 2017, short films produced under the scheme like Steve Kenny’s Time Traveller, Eamonn Murphy’s A Better You and Kate Dolan’s Catcalls have seen international success at the Tribeca Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival and the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.
Find out more on writer/director James Fitzgerald on his website.