Conference tallis::celt

    I saw this film a few months ago.  I thought it one of the best I've
    ever seen.  The young Christy was played by Hugh O'Connor.  I saw him
    on a TV interview recently.  He said he watched tapes of Daniel Day
    Lewis' scenes before they filmed his.  
    
    I expected the movie to be very sad but found it was just the opposite.
    The woman who played Christy's mother was also on TV here.  She said
    "If your depressed, go see this movie.  It will cheer you up."
    
    
    Julia  

    That's exactly what it did for me....cheer me up. I came out of the
    movie feeling really good. As you said, Julia, you would expect it to
    be sad, but it was actually quite light hearted in places.
    
    Gerry

    
    Oscars.......
    
    Daniel Day-Lewis.......best actor
    Brenda Fricker.........best supporting actress
    
    

    Thanks for starting this note.  I had heard of 'my left foot' but knew
    nothing about it.  After seeing this note, Michelle and I went out to
    see it - last weekend.  It was excellent.  We were so glad to see that
    Brenda and Daniel got best supporting actress and best actor!!
    
    I'd like to hear a biography on those two if anyone knows about them
    - where are they from in Ireland, etc.
    
    Thanks again,
    
    JO'R
    
    P.S. Yes, Guinness is doing wonderfully........

I tried to get my wife and kids to see the film but they came up with
very weak arguments against the idea ( "I have to wash my hair", "I gotta
take the garbage out", etc), so I went instead.

There were scenes in that movie that brought back some fond, and not so fond,
memories of my very young days in East End London (Stepney to be precise).
Brenda Fricker reminded me of my grandmother O'Brien, but the greatest
impact was Christy.  It only struck me after the movie was over, but I
suddenly realized the struggle my brother must have, and still does, had
when he became a quadriplegic 17 years ago.  The struggle to get a wheel-
chair, unable to do those things that your peers are doing, the rage of
being restrained by your physical condition whilst your mind is performing
back-flips.  

You must see this movie.


Pat

    Off the top of my head.....
    
    Daniel Day-Lewis was born in England. His father Cecil Day-Lewis
    was Poet Laureate (the official state poet - England is full of
    peculiar occupations: there may be a Pornographer Royal for all
    I know). Cecil Day-Lewis was himself a native of Belfast. Daniel
    Day-Lewis normally plays Irishmen in films.
    
    Brenda Fricker is a native of Dublin. Her surname suggests Palatine
    ancestry. She lives now in England where she plays a nurse in some
    TV surgical soap.
    
    

    Leaprechauns appearances as are rare as Brando's but who gets the
    nomination ???
    
    Hugh O'Connor (young Christy) is the son of John O'Connor a really
    well known concert pianist from Dublin.
    
    I have not seen the movie yet but I did hear that Ray McNally's
    performance was really outstanding as christy's father, a late vocation
    to serious films and had he lived would have made it to an oscar.
    His part in "the Mission" was also outstanding I believe. 
    
    As for the Producer and especially the director, Noel Pearson &
    Jim Sheridan respectively, you'll hear of these two again.  Their
    next release has just been shot here in Connemara (Leenane near
    Clifden in Co. Galway).  It's called "The Field" from a play by
    John B. Keane.  It stars Richard Harris as "the Bull McCabe" a brutish
    farmer who covets a nice field in the locality.  Tom Berenger is
    the Irish American who returns to take possession of his inheritance.
    John Hurt plays a "sleeveen" s**t-stirrer.  It is tipped to be a
    great film also as the play is supposed to be a powerful statement.
    
    SOme background to keep ye going.
    
    Snake says I don't have the time for all this art.
    

    
    Brenda Fricker is not in "surgical soap" as was written earlier. She
    is in fact an actress of great capabilities. The series in question
    is called 'Casualty' and has a large following in the UK as it covers
    many subjects that would not normally be aired. 
    
    Brenda herself has played a nurse who through depression becomes hooked
    on tranquilisers and then has to go through the rigours of withdrawal.
    
    

    One man's drama is another man's detergent......
    
    

Sneak, er snake (damn finger problems with this LK201!).  I think
it's Ray McAnally, not McNally.  Also, he performed to devious
perfection in the made-for-television movie, 'A Very British Coup'.
And was it not Daniel Day-Lewis who acted in 'My Beautiful Laundrette'?

There was a film made in Canada a few years ago that had a theme
somewhat similar to 'My Left Foot', except it was called 'My Left Buttock'
and it was about a bum from Newfoundland...

Pat

    
    re:  "My Left Foot"...
    
    I saw this movie last summer in Dublin, and I don't know which actors/
    actresses played what part, so can someone tell me what Brenda Fricker
    played?
    
    -L

    
    
    
        From the March 28 Irish Echo:
    
    
    	Brenda Fricker received the academy award for her portrayal 
    	of the incredible Mary Brown, mother of Christy Brown.
    
    
    	The future does look bright for Brenda Fricker. She recently
        finished filming "The Field" with "My Left Foot" director
    	Jim Sheridan and new offers are pouring in all the time.
    
    	She recently refused a role in a movie with Tom Selleck and will
    	meet with Roland Joffe (Killing Fields director) soon.
    
        I hope to see the movie myself, as soon as it shows up at
    	a theater in the Nashua/Merrimack New Hampshire part of the world.
        
        I hear it may be shown here right after some NEW movie called  ...
	"The Quiet Man"    :-)
    
    
    	keVin
    

<<I don't know which actors/actresses played what part, 

Don't know them all but here's some:

	Daniel Day-Lewis ............ Christy Brown
	Brenda Fricker .............. Mary Brown (Ma)
	Ray McAnally ................ 'Paddy' Brown (Da)
	Hugh O'Connor ............... Young Christy
	Cyril Cusak ................. some sorta patriarch

and in a stellar role...

	Dublin City ................. Dublin City


Pat

    
    A nice touch....
    
    
    
    "Major Video stores in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts have 
    raised more than $10,000 for United Cerebral Palsy of Rhode Island
    through rentals of the film  MY LEFT FOOT.
    
    For every rental of MY LEFT FOOT between June 13 and July 13, Major
    Video donated $1 of the $3 rental charge to UCP-RI.  HBO Home Video,
    the cassette's distributor, donated funds as well.
    
    MY LEFT FOOT is the story of Christy Brown, an artist and writer
    stricken with Cerebral Palsy who overcame his physical disability to
    develop his talents to their greatest potential."