“Of course, we cross our fingers,” he tells the AFP Chris McCarthy, head of tourism at Achill, who is not fussy: “we will accept any of the nine awards, we are not demanding!”, he jokes.
Between July and November 2021, the island’s vast landscape of rugged cliffs, peat bogs and beaches was transformed for filming.
Purteen Harbor, a fishing port on the east coast, became the location for a harbor street lined with 1920s-style shops.
And high on the windswept cliffs of the southwest coast, the pub where much of this noir tragicomedy takes place was built from scratch.
Atlantic atmosphere
The film’s director, Martin McDonagh, wanted the actors to “feel the atmosphere of the Atlantic” when they opened the door, McCarthy says.
“It’s something they couldn’t recreate in a studio“, he explains from the viewpoint, where the wind throws the drops of seawater against the cliffs.
The filming boosted the local economy by injecting 1.7 million euros (1.8 million euros) into an area of less than 3 thousand inhabitants.
Now the island enjoys spreading the film to boost local tourism: every time images from the film or an award-giving speech go viral on the internet, bookings increase.
Over a beer, Mick Lynch, owner of Lynott’s, a pub on Achill Island, says the film is already attracting visitors.
Among the mementos that adorn the walls of his establishment is the scissors with which the violinist Colm, a character played by Brendan Gleeson, cuts his fingers.
According to Lynch, his little tavern – originally a 16th-century prison with dry-stone walls topped by a thatched roof – is the real-life version of the one created for the film.
“If these walls could talk, what stories would they tell us?“, he reflects, remembering that during the filming, Brendan Gleeson and his co-star Pat Shortt, frequented this pub.