Interviews
Name: Stephen Bradley
Degree/Masters: L.L.B. (1988)
Photo: Stephen Bradley with his wife Deirdre O'Kane on the set of Christina Noble
You studied Law here in Trinity, was writing and directing something that you were always interested in?
If I'm honest, I always wanted to be an actor. So I spent many of my Trinity days and nights on stage in Number 3 Front Square, which was where the TCD Players were based before the Samuel Beckett Theatre was built. When I graduated I went on a theatre tour to the USA with fellow Trinity student Richard Cook and sixteen others who made up the Irish Universities Theatre Company. It was an exhilarating, exciting time but it also convinced me that I had neither the level of talent nor the physical prowess to make it as an actor.
On my return from the States I had an alternative plan. James Hickey, now chief executive of the Irish Film Board, was then the most prominent and successful media lawyer in Ireland. I didn’t quite stalk him but I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Soon he had very kindly taken me on as an assistant and I was able to unleash the second part of the master plan. James was working with producer Noel Pearson and director Jim Sheridan on a film called My Left Foot starring an up-and-coming actor named Daniel Day-Lewis. At that point, no one had the faintest notion what an Oscar-winning success and phenomenal turning point for the Irish film industry that production would become. So I was able to sneak from the lawyer’s office into the exciting world of Ardmore Studios as a production assistant. More importantly, I got to observe the writing, directing and producing processes up close and I was hugely inspired by that opportunity. Strangely, I never feel that I have left the benefits of my Law degree far behind. In the producing and development parts of my work an awareness of intellectual property rights and all aspects of contract law are frequent parts of my experience. But I’m glad that I also get to write and direct and to work with talented actors who make me relieved that it’s them in front of the camera and not me.
What made you want to tell the story of Christina Noble?
Easy answer: my wife. I am lucky enough to be married to the actress Deirdre O’Kane who at the height of her powers as a stand-up comedian had been involved in large-scale funding raising events for the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. Although most people have long-associated Deirdre with comedy, she started her career as a straight actress with companies such as The Abbey, Druid and The Gate. In 2008, after we had moved to London, I took Deirdre for lunch on her 40th birthday (I have asked permission to say this!) and as usual pestered her to come up with an idea to develop as a film. She said there was only one thing she wanted to work on - a film about the life of Christina Noble.
Obviously, if you are going to make a project as demanding as this one (six years in development, production and post-production altogether) you also need to convince yourself and not just be led by others. So I read Christina Noble’s books and met her on many many occasions to talk about how I saw the film, until she was ready to grant the rights to her story. I also travelled to Vietnam and visited a few of the huge number of projects she has promoted there for the healthcare, education and protection of underprivileged children and their families. Apart from Deirdre’s involvement (she is one of three actresses who play Christina Noble in the film) I wanted to make the film because it’s an extraordinary and inspiring story about an Irish woman who, despite the toughest of early years, has driven herself to monumental achievements on the other side of the world. I thought that was a story really worth telling and celebrating.
Can you tell us about your writing and directing process? Do they influence each other?
I find writing the hardest discipline of all but I feel like I’m finally getting to grips with it. That is to say I am beginning to feel that I have some sort of personal process that works. Writing films is strange because apart from the dialogue (which often is very sparse) you are really just imagining the look, tone and story of the film in your head and then trying to describe that for other people. A screenplay also has to work for a whole range of different people in different ways; from financiers to actors to production designers. One of the most important things about writing screenplays is to allow the film to develop in your head for long enough so that when it comes time to commit it to paper it isn’t such a laborious struggle. This incubation period is vital to me. It might include watching films, reading books, scribbling notes and also a lot of walking in a reverie! You have to learn that this time is actually working and not dossing!
Directing is a totally different process. For a start it’s much more exciting because you know you are definitely making the film. Very few screenplays make the transition into production and that can be a debilitating thought when you are struggling to write them. Also where writing is solitary, directing is a whirlwind of interaction with collaborating cast and crew and is very fast and adrenalin fuelled during the shooting period. Editing is a much slower more ruminative time during the directing process but at least you have the pictures and sound in front of you. Music and sound are an incredibly important last lap once you have “locked” the picture. I try not to let my persona as a director bully myself as a writer too much. But inevitably there’ll be a few sequences in a film that the director insisted on from the beginning and won’t let go!
What is the most useful piece of advice you’ve ever received?
It wasn’t directed at me specifically but the great Spanish film-maker Pedro Almodovar said “if you want to be successful in the film business never give up!”
What is your favourite film and why?
Today (and it changes regularly) I am going to say Apocalypse Now - with its roots in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the direct line of its mission narrative, set in the crazy world of the Vietnam War (or the American War as the Vietnamese call it), spectacular performances and operatic direction, the film is a loud, painful roar about the complex cycle of conflicts throughout human history.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Francis Ford Coppola (he can bring the wine), Mary McAleese, Seamus Heaney, Emma Thompson, John Huston, Imelda May, Martin Sheen, Miriam O’Callaghan, Robert Downey Jr. , Megan Ellison, Ryan Gosling, Deirdre O’Kane (although I wouldn’t sit her next to Ryan Gosling) Ang Lee, Bronagh Gallagher, Phil Lynott, Pauline McLynn, Jools Holland, Sarah Greene, David Lynch, Christina Noble, Roman Polanski, Michelle Obama, Charles Laughton, Jessica Rabbit.
Now that’s what I call a party.