Lights, Camera, Action!

On a surprisingly sunny warm February afternoon, I find myself in an unusual situation. I am pacing around my house whilst on the phone to a movie producer, just back in the country after the Oscars. For weeks I have been trying to conduct my interview with Ed Guiney, co-producer of The Favourite. This is the movie that shocked us all as it received 10 Oscar nominations and even more surprisingly, ended up winning just one Oscar; Olivia Colman won Best Actress over the firm favourite, Glenn Close for her role in The Wife. “We hadn’t expected that she (Olivia Colman) would win, everyone was saying that Glenn Close was going to win.” Declared Ed Guiney.

Ed Guiney, with his company Element Pictures has produced other films such as The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Room, The Lobster and many more.

With Room, they won their first Oscar, Brie Larson winning Best Actress again. The Oscars are the biggest event in the movie calendar, so it was no surprise to hear Guiney say “We had a late night…I’m still pretty tired as I just got back yesterday” Guiney went on to joke that it was “first world problems.”

Photo credit: rte.ie

It was no surprise to hear Guiney be so quick witted and funny. Films such as The Lobster and The Favourite, both have a certain unique witty charm about them. Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone all have fantastic performances in The Favourite and all three show that quick wit in the film. Guiney puts it down to the work done by director Yorgos Lanthimos. “We had a long rehearsal period…of about three weeks…theatre games and exercises that are designed to break down the barriers between the actors…it meant the cast were very good friends and had broken the ice with each other…we were guided by Yorgos.”

My interview with Ed Guiney was in the pipeline for weeks, which given the fact it’s award season in the film industry, was completely understandable. However, it made my task of interviewing him more challenging, as well as The Favourite has done, I didn’t want to keep talking about it. I asked Ed “What motivates you?” He replied “God, that’s a big question…it’s a hard one to answer…I’m pretty ambitious.”

From looking at his career, it's clear to see his ambition. From starting a film making society in Trinity College with film director Lenny Abrahamson, to working as a film producer, to setting up Element Pictures with Andrew Lowe and having Element take ownership of the Lighthouse Cinema. His ambition doesn’t stop there. When I was asking about the glitz and the glamour of the Oscars, I said I’d probably never make it to the Oscars, Ed replied “Why not?”

Considering the success Element Pictures have had in recent times, I wanted to know if Ed Guiney had any mentors. I knew that he read biographies about the big movie moguls from back in the day, the likes of David. O Selznick and Irving Thalberg. Guiney worked for John Kelleher and David Collins and “they were very helpful and good to work with when I was starting out.”

The other film at the Oscars to receive Ten nominations was Netflix’s Roma. Netflix have become a huge player in the entertainment industry. Ed believes that “they’re a fact of life…they’re to be welcomed…it’s all positive.” It’s no surprise to see the ambitious Ed Guiney accepting and welcoming the gargantuan Netflix.

The Irish entertainment industry has seen great success in recent years as well. The likes of Saoirse Ronan, Lenny Abrahamson and Domhnall Gleeson and many others have prospered. When asked about this, Guiney mentioned “it’s related to long term investment in the industry...establishing the Irish film board.” He went on to add “for all the successes, we’ve had many failures and in order to learn, you need to fail and to fail spectacularly sometimes."

There is plenty more to come for Element Pictures. They’re filming a new TV series for BBC now based on Hannah French’s novel on the Dublin murder squads. There is also an adaptation being made of Sally Rooney’s book, Normal People with Lenny Abrahamson directing. Ed told me he has no time for hobbies, which is not surprising given the amount of work Element Pictures do.

The bad weather has returned to Ireland, the surprising warm sunny weather for February didn’t last too long. However, what should last long is the future of Element Pictures with the direction of the ambitious Ed Guiney. Given the recent success of Room and The Favourite, it will be interesting to see how far Element and Ed Guiney can go.