Dan Ireland's latest
film is the comedy drama, "Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont,"
based on the best selling novel of the same name, by the late,
celebrated English author, Elizabeth Taylor, for Cineville and
Picture Entertainment.
The story centers around
an elegant elderly lady (Mrs. Palfrey) who, after being
recently widowed, moves from Scotland to London to be near to
her 26 year old grandson, Desmond. When Desmond fails to
return any of her several phone calls, or visit her at the
resident hotel she is staying (The Claremont), fate brings her
together with a young writer, Ludovic Meyer, after she has an
accident outside his basement flat.
Eventually, Ludo ends up
helping Mrs. Palfrey by playing a charade - pretending to be
her grandson, so that the other off-beat elderly residents of
the hotel believe that she hasn't been lying, and that she
really does have a grandson. The two newly found friends
discover they have a lot more in common with each other then
they do with other people their own age.
Ludo inadvertently leads
Mrs. Palfrey through her past; Mrs. Palfrey inadvertently
leads Ludo to his future. The young writer finally finds the
story he has been looking for all his young life - and Mrs.
Palfrey finds the 'grandson' she never knew she had. Thus
begins a deep-rooted friendship that is far reaching, and
everlasting.
Along the way, a few
problems arise when her real grandson shows up at the hotel.
The film starts one of
the greatest actresses of our time, Dame Joan Plowright
(Enchanted April), aka Lady Laurence Olivier, in the largest
and most demanding role of her screen career, and introduces a
stunning new actor in a leading role, Rupert Friend (The
Libertine, Pride and Prejudice). The supporting cast consists
of some of the greatest and most respected actors from the
Engligh stage, Anna Massey (Peeping Tom, Frenzy), Georgina
Hale (Mahler, The Devils, The Boyfriend), Millicent Martin (Alfie),
Clare Higgins (this year's Best Actress Olivier Award winner
for her performance in Hecuba), and newcomer Zoe Tapper (Stage
Beauty). The film was photographed by Claudio Rocha, Ireland's
long time cinematographer, with music by Stephen Barton.
The score was produced
by Ireland's long time collaborator, Harry Gregson-Williams
(Kingdom of Heaven, Domino and Shrek). The film was Produced
by Lee Caplin, Zachary Matz and Carl Colpaert.
The screenplay was
written by Ruth Sacks, with additional dialogue by Martin
Donovan and Dan Ireland.