Photo: Christopher Barr
Pierce Brosnan’s magical romance movie will be coming to the big screen in early 2025, it has been revealed.
Vertigo Releasing has acquired the rights to ‘Four Letters of Love’, based on Niall Williams’ bestselling novel, with plans to release in the UK and Ireland in Spring 2025.
Directed by Polly Steele and starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter, and Gabriel Byrne, the drama was filmed in Donegal and Antrim last year with funding from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, with the support of WRAP (the Western Region Audiovisual Producer’s Fund), and Northern Ireland Screen.
Glenveagh National Park, Dunfanaghy beach, Dunlewey and Doochary all enjoyed some Hollywood action in March 2023 as filming took place across breathtaking Donegal locations.
Helena Bonham Carter and Gabriel Byrne in Four Letters of Love. Photo Still: Christopher Barr
Four Letters of Love is described as “a life-affirming tale about faith and doubt, maybes and almosts, and the miracle of love”.
Williams’ beloved novel was first published in 1997 and was translated into more
than 30 languages before he adapted it for the screen.
Four Letters of Love along with Inishowen-made Cry from the Sea, starring Dominic Cooper, and Ballyshannon-made TV series Obituary have been highlighted as examples of the richness the western region has to offer.
The Western AV Forum (WAVF), a collective of stakeholders in the West of Ireland’s AV industry, chaired by Ardán, is calling for a €10m investment from government in regional producers in Budget 2025.
The charity says the funding will be an interim solution to address the lapse of the Section 481 Regional Uplift.
The Uplift, which operated between 2019 and 2023, resulted in the AV sector creating consistent employment for thousands; generating millions in direct spend in regional areas; and highlighted the potential viability of a sustainable audio-visual sector outside Dublin/Wicklow.
“The Government cannot continue to ignore what is becoming a crisis in the industry in the West, and must support the proven track record of success this side of the Shannon by reinstating and expanding the scheme,” a spokesperson said.
In its budget submission WAVF said: “At the height of the Section 481 Regional Uplift – at 5% in 2021 – it accounted for €124m of regional spend. It directly led to the employment of 1,941 Crew, 369 Cast, and 2,417 Extras. Even in 2023, the final year of the Uplift, at a greatly reduced level of 2%, projects were delivering immense benefits regionally. In 2024, however, with the uplift having lapsed, Ireland’s regional film and television production sector is facing a critical juncture.”
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