Michael Creagh does a Titanic on the Irish Famine
I came across a link on Facebook’s Marketplace for a movie called “The Hunger” by Michael Creagh, curiosity made me click the link.
It seems this “advertising creative” (creative what though?) has spent 4 years working on a script for a movie loosely based around the Irish Famine, which apparently has always been known as “The Hunger”, which to me sounds more like the title of one of those woeful Sarah Michelle Geller attempts at a horror movie.
“Having committed to the famine and done my research, I was still missing a story. What kind of story could best communicate the tragedy of the Famine in film language? One day I came across an old passage in a book that described the relationship between Ireland and England as a love affair between a vulnerable passionate woman and a strong but neglectful man. It was then that I realized that the story of the Great Hunger must be told through the age old medium of the love story.” - Michael Creagh
Heartbreaking, isn’t it? I wonder if he can get Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet involved somehow. Or better yet! Ben Affleck.
Of course only someone that calls themselves a “advertising creative” could employ such a blatant Hollywood device on a topic so sensitive for many. Rather than take a historical event and producing a movie that encourages debate and learning they’d rather manipulate you with Notebook-esque characters. It’s almost as if the massive loss of life and suffering simply isn’t enough to draw the audiences in.
“The Irish Famine was one of the most formative catastrophes, not just in Irish history, but in World history. Yet, 160 years on, it still has not found it’s place on the silver screen. We believe a market exists for this movie among the huge diaspora in the USA, Europe and Australia who claim descent from Famine survivors.” - Michael Creagh
So his motivation to attempt, yes attempt, to make this movie is because “a market exists”. A market in emotional manipulation perhaps?
The famine is an extremely sensitive chapter in Irish history that I really do not think will benefit from a Hollywood make-over that would do nothing more than stir anti-English sentiments that have more recently been absent.
A thought provoking, intelligent movie that would aim to teach a lesson from history (rather than capitalise and exploit) would be much more appreciated by the “huge diaspora”.
Thankfully, this is only a script, for now. Let’s keep it that way.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Thank you for your comments, Sinead.
You’ve actually made me consider re-looking at the language I use on the website. Perhaps, in my attempts to find a producer, I’ve been too selly and “Hollywood”.
But I can assure you that my intention with the script is to make a powerful, thought provoking drama about the famine (without too much “English bashing” - the main hero is English, the main villain is Irish).
I don’t apologise for it having a classic Hollywood movie structure. Some of the most powerful movies do.
So many Irish movies fail because they ignore the principles of mainstream movie-making. I don’t want this to fail. I want it to have a wide audience.
But I’m only a novice at this so I don’t know whether it’s going to be powerful or just a load of old tosh.
I would hate to think it would be seen as exploitation. I’d rather it never got made if that was the case.
While writing it, I’ve always tried to be respectful of the event and those who died (your James Cameron ref is a stinger but definitely something to keep in mind. The world doesn’t need another Titanic!)
Perhaps you would allow me to send you the screenplay and you can judge it on its own merits.
It’s good for me to hear comments like those you wrote above. It helps keep my head out of the clouds!
best regards,
Michael Creagh
December 15th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
@Michael
Thank you for taking my comments into consideration and not dismissing them. I would hope that you would look into changing the language you’ve used online to describe your screenplay. Using a website as a promotional tool is all well and good, but your language is obviously targeting a specific audience - producers etc., but never forget that the Internet is a public domain and it is for this reason that my article about it is so negative.
I am flattered that you would consider sharing your screenplay with me, I’d actually be quite interested in having a read. You can email me sineadcochrane at gmail dot com.