On the Nose (2001)

Subotica Entertainment Ltd
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Dublin 2, Ireland
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On the Nose (2001)

The Production

September 1999. Irish producer, Tristan Orpen Lynch of Subotica Entertainment meets Canadian producer Scott Kennedy of Cadence Entertainment at a trade forum on co-production in Vancouver. Scott tells Tristan about a script he has optioned, written by Tony Philpott, a Dublin-born writer who had been working in commercials in Vancouver for 13 years. ON THE NOSE is a comedy caper about a Dublin hospital porter who has an infallible, if unusual, method for predicting horse race winners. The two producers agree that the project seems like an ideal opportunity to exercise the co-production treaty agreed between Canada and Ireland which allows for 50/50 incentive funding in both countries.

Tristan recalls, "I was interested in doing a co-production - because it's really difficult to fully finance a feature film if you're coming from a place as small as Ireland - but I was saying at the conference how frightening a prospect it is because you have to absolutely trust the people you're working with. Scott and myself talked all about the difficulties and so on and got on very well and decided we'd try to do something. We weren't sure at that stage what we could work on together - but between us we a number of possible projects. So we stayed in touch and he sent me the script for ON THE NOSE and I thought it was really funny; a light-hearted, fun, caper film which I immediately felt would be great to do in Ireland and make a pleasant change from the dark drama which seems to characterise so many films made here."

DEVELOPMENT
Scott was producing commercials at the time and had worked with Tony on a number of occasions. He recalls, "One day we were shooting and he told me about this crazy idea he had for a story about these hospital porters in a Dublin medical school. I just laughed and laughed when he told me about it and I told him that if he wrote the script I would option it right away. So in a very short period of time he sent me the first sixty pages - something that a writer almost never does - and immediately I followed through on my promise. The writing was really, really funny but more important was the fact that the characters were so warm and so believable. For a first time feature script writer it was really impressive and in fact most of what's in the script as it was shot was in it right from the beginning."

As a Canadian production, Cadence were able to take advantage of a number of state and regional funding sources: Telefilm Canada, BC Films and the Harold Greenburg Fund all contributed development finance on the basis of the script. Indeed, for some time it was assumed that the film would be shot in Canada. "It was a very commercial script", says Scott, "which is unusual in Canada and everyone we approached was pretty eager to get involved. Originally we were going to shoot all the interiors in Vancouver and maybe fake somewhere like Newfoundland for the exteriors - its been done before and the landscape is very similar." In retrospect however, he believes that shooting in Ireland resulted in a different picture. "There's no way it would have been as good a movie as it has turned out to be. For a start we wouldn't have got the cast - Dan and Robbie were both very keen to come to Ireland, Brenda had worked here before and really wanted to get back, and the other roles, filled by Irish actors are all just perfect. There is such a pool of creative talent here - performing and creative. As well as those concerns there's the whole texture of the city that really filtered down to the production and made it a really good shoot."

"I first read the script in November of 1999 and we were shooting in March", says Tristan. A number of factors hastened the project's commencement. Casting agents John and Ros Hubbard were instrumental in getting the script to the male leads who immediately signed up on its strength alone. There were commitments from the three principals, all internationally known actors, but as is common, for a limited period of availability. At this point Sky Pictures were approached for completion finance, to which they favourably responded.

The producers approached director David Caffrey, who had achieved critical success with his first feature and BBC TV mini-series Aristocrats. Caffrey recalls, "I was very flattered to be asked and I really liked the script but I felt that it needed more shape as a narrative. The draft I began with was full of great whacky situations, great characters and terrific dialogue. I worked away on it for three weeks, non-stop 14 hr days and wrote a whole new draft and gave it back to the producers. But I was trying to do something too linear and in doing that taking a lot of the juice out of what made the script special. So from then on we all collaborated using the spine and dialogue of what was already there. Nobody liked the draft I did so we started putting back in all the really good stuff that Tony had written - he's got a great imagination and a really good ear for dialogue. We spent six, long, days together - the producers, Tony and me - and brought it to where it is today."

Tony Philpott recalls two memories from his Dublin childhood, which were the starting points for the script. The first was "the sight of the hospital porters sitting on the steps of the Royal College of Surgeons - just around the corner from where I grew up - in their shop coats, eating their sandwiches at lunch time. This just clashed in my imagination with the knowledge of all the bits and pieces of humans that were being bisected and investigated inside the college." The other memory was going to Newgrange, the megalithic burial site outside Dublin. "I remember going there on school tours as a kid and being spooked by the thought of a dead body from an ancient civilisation being buried there." It was this clash between the sacred and the profane, the ancient and the modern that fired his imagination, a confrontation in which he sensed the possibility for great humour. He says, "When I lived away I missed the negative humour of Dublin - which is sometimes caustic but almost always good-natured. In Canada people used to think I was a nutcase because I was so irreverent in their eyes. In the film Brendan is irreverent towards the cadavers but he's also very sensitive towards them. He talks to them, wonders about what kind of life they led and so on. I think that what is called 'political correctness' sometimes goes too far and in doing so removes the possibility of our laughing at ourselves." Dan Aykroyd believes that "the film does something which hasn't been seen in cinema for some time: it's very funny, very believable and very irreverent. I think people will really like it."

CASTING
Dan says, "I have four criteria for deciding whether or not to get involved with a project: the script, the role, who's involved, and location. This film had all of those." Not many actors have the luxury of Aykroyd's international reputation to fall back on when considering offers of work, but the cast of ON THE NOSE are unanimous in one regard as to why they got involved: the quality of the script. "I laughed out loud all through it," says Aykroyd - himself the (co) author of seven screenplays including GHOSTBUSTERS and CONEHEADS - two of the most successful comedies of the 1980s."The writing has a beautiful lightness which is really gentle on the characters; although they're up to no good there is no malice in these people." He continues, "the script was very attractive to me both for the quality of the writing and also the absurdity of the plot, but also because of the reality of the whole situation. Even though the method by which Brendan predicts winners is completely mad, you believe that it might actually be possible." As for the other grounds for getting involved, well primary among them was the chance to work with Coltrane. "I first met Robbie about a year ago working on another film and we hit it off right away - it felt like we had known each other in a previous life. We have all the same things in common - cars, planes, and music - so when I was asked if I'd like to star opposite him in this film, and because the script was so great I said yes right away. And also it was a chance to come to Ireland which I'd wanted to do for a long time but never got around to."

Robbie Coltrane, the first 'name' to be involved with the project (and whose involvement encouraged others to sign up) was given the script cold. His initial reaction echoes Aykroyd's: "My agent in LA gave it to me without any information about who was directing or who was in it or anything and I just thought it was great - hilariously funny and also believable. It's very different to the current vogue for 14-yr old comedy which all gets a bit boring. What's funny about the script is the way that it undercuts itself all the time. Its sets you up for sentimental moments and then kicks your legs away from you, the way good comedy does." He describes his character as "a bit of a dreamer - and so am I, so I identified with that side of him." Coltrane also responded to the film's treatment of masculinity. "One of the many things I really like about the script is the relationship between the three men in their work; the Dr upstairs and the porters downstairs who live in their own little world. The way that Brendan has a fairly lowly position but actually he runs things is fairly typical of a lot of places, I think. On paper it looks like a fairly simple job but in reality he keeps the place going. Also he has to keep Boyle and Cassidy from murdering each other." He particularly liked the script's treatment of the character. "He is a guy to whom things happen - he's a fairly passive sort of character. But he finds his redemption in the end."

Brenda Blethyn remained in touch with Tristan Orpen Lynch since she worked on NIGHT TRAIN, his feature debut as a producer. "He told me about this film and sort of said 'I don't suppose you'd be interested - its not a leading role or anything'," she recalls. "So I said 'Let me have a look at the script,' which I immediately liked and I knew Robbie was going to be in it, and I'm huge fan of his work, so I said yes. It's a very funny story." Asked about her character, Deirdre, she says, "I really liked her. She's holding the family together - and he respects her for it. She doesn't get a lot of time on screen, she doesn't even get that many lines but she's the rock. She's the woman behind the man and in that sense she's very important to the story."

For Tony Briggs, an aspiring Australian actor, the offer to play Michael presented not only the opportunity to play alongside some wonderful actors but also the chance to play a character, like himself, of Aboriginal descent. He first encountered the script - or a small portion of it, at least - after he received a casting call from his agent. At first he was reluctant to play a character defined largely by race. A native of Brisbane, he points out that "There's a real issue back in Australia about white people writing Aboriginal stories. But I kept an open mind. He's written as a very articulate and educated character - which goes against the grain of traditional stereotyped representations. So I was pleasantly surprised." Asked how he went about preparing for the part he replies that "I've loosely based this character on someone who's fairly well known back in Australia - an Aboriginal lawyer who's been fighting on behalf of the so called 'stolen generation' - children who were taken from their families by the government and placed with white foster families. This happened to my mother's family, so its something that's very close to me." He admits nonetheless to a degree of anxiety in playing the part of a character who is recognisable to him and representative of his race. "I was ringing my relatives back home and telling them how anxious I was. It's important not to go overboard. I've been able to contribute to the script in small ways which I think make it more authentic. Most probably no-one will notice, but I had to do that." So careful was he not to trivialise or lampoon Aboriginal culture he even researched the language of his ancestors. "There's a scene where I have to speak some kind of Aboriginal indigenous language. In the script this was just gobbly gook which I didn't want to do. I though it would be good to say a few words of my people's language, 'yorta yorta', which has been extinct for generations. One of the only people left alive who can speak it is my Grandmother. So I made up my words from a dictionary that was only compiled a few years ago."

The production team were also sensitive to the way in which Tony's character, Michael was conceived. David Caffrey notes, "We have always been aware that there are issues raised in the film which are on a certain level very sensitive and we've tried to be as respectful and accurate as we can in our depiction of them. There is a depth and sincerity to the film even though it's a comedy."

PRODUCTION
ON THE NOSE went before camera in March 2000. Shot over a seven-week period, it was filmed entirely on location in and around Dublin. Despite the difficulties of working on location and the constraints of a limited budget, it was a good-humoured set. "During development we all had to sit through every single word for weeks," says Tristan. "But there was never a bad word from anyone during that time and I think that carried through to the shoot - it's definitely one of the nicest productions I've ever seen or been involved with." Despite the huge administrative workload involved with a co-production of this nature, "once the camera was set up and shooting began it became instantly apparent that on the set there was a lovely feeling of calm. David Caffrey can take a lot of the credit for that, because even though behind the scenes it was very hectic, and we were constantly applying pressure to him, he was totally confident and in control on the floor. And Jo Homewood, the production manager, was also absolutely brilliant, and dealt with all kind of things that we didn't even know about. Without her it wouldn't have been such a smooth production." The cast appreciated this sense of confidence and control. "David's a gem, remarks Brenda, I'd work with him again in a heartbeat." Eanna McLiam who plays Boyle concurs: "Dave is really great to work with - he isn't overawed by the actors he works with and he knows exactly what he wants while still leaving you room to breath as a performer. Everyone is very fond of him." Dan Aykroyd has been around quite a few sets and he believes that Caffrey has a promising future ahead of him. "This film requires a particular approach and understanding and in the way that he's shooting and directing the actors, David is very much in control," he says.

Caffrey says that this is because of his feeling for the characters in the story. If you look at any of the work I've done, you'll see that it's all about character first and foremost, not plot. The characters in this story are very well drawn, you could imagine them all immediately. There's a lovely sense of humility about them. This is no doubt as a result of Tony Philpott following the golden scriptwriting rule, 'write what you know'." "I am Brendan he says, grinning... I could write that part with such confidence because I put so much of myself into it. Boyle is a composite of all the guys I worked with in factories when I was a teenager. He's what they call in Dublin a 'chancer' - he'll do anything for anything. And Cassidy is the old guy who always seems to be around just to make things difficult, who tells you things like 'you can't park here', or 'this is not the right form'. But although the context is quite specific I think the story is one that people everywhere will respond to - its just about very ordinary people trying to get ahead in a very unorthodox way."