Niall Williams classic novel Four Letters of Love adapted for screen, filmed on location in Northern Ireland & Country Donegal, Ireland.
Originally published in 1997 and translated into more than 30 languages, Niall Williams’ beloved novel Four Letters of Love can now be seen on the big screen in an adaptation directed by Polly Steele, starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter, Gabriel Byrne, Ann Skelly and Fionn O’Shea.
Filmed across Northern Ireland and in County Donegal, on the Northwest coast of Ireland, part of the Wild Atlantic Way, the story tells of Nicholas and Isabel who are made for each other, but fate does not always choose the easiest path to true love. As destiny pulls them together, so do family, passion, and faith drive them apart.
“It’s about two families on two different sides of Ireland,” says Helena Bonham Carter. “You’ve got the Dublin family, William, a painter who can’t paint, played by Pierce, and his son Nicholas. And on the West of Ireland, you have a writer who can’t write, Master Gore, played by Gabriel Byrne, and their daughter Isabelle Gore. So, you’ve got these two young heroes —Isabelle and Nicholas—and the big question mark is how these two people end up together, how do they meet, and how their lives come to coincide. I play this mother, I’m the matriarch, a strong woman, I keep the world going—the family world going.”
Discussing the decision to film in Ireland, director Polly Steele was in awe of the landscapes available, “Ireland was the perfect backdrop. The landscape is more than just a setting – it’s a character in the story. The west coast, with its raw beauty and elemental nature, was instrumental in capturing the film’s essence.”
“The Irish landscape is like another character in the film,” continues Gabriel Byrne. “It’s poetic and moody, sometimes overwhelmingly beautiful. A part of Ireland that had never really been seen on screen before.”
“When I first read the script, I was really taken in by the rhythm of it,” notes Ann Skelly, who plays Isabel Gore. “The rhythm of Irishness was very present and I thought the language and the way Niall writes is so beautiful and I could imagine that transferring really well in the film.”
Helena Bonham Carter agreed: “It was hugely fun for just me as a person to be able to visit all these places and be in the places,” she adds. “You know, it is, the landscape of the places that so inform the story – Murlough Bay! Well, it was like being on the edge of the world. It was extraordinary and stunning.”
“There’s a certain sense of aloneness in a beautiful landscape,” said Pierce Brosnan about filming in Ireland. “It holds a special place in my heart—Ireland—and the mystery of Ireland, the beauty of Ireland, my own kinship with Ireland—being Irish, from the banks of the River Boyne, Navan, County Meath”. Alongside that deep connection to the land he knew, the setting of Donegal was a happy, fresh discovery. “Never having been to Donegal,” he continues, “and hearing about Donegal and the Wild Atlantic Way and the forgotten county and all these emblems of what this great county is, and nation is, was powerful.”
Brosnan was also able to blend his own work / life balance in a beautiful way. “I get to travel with my wife, Keeley, and to bring my mother back home to Ireland,” he says, adding “you have this great novelist who has penned the script, you don’t get that very often. It was a very strong, seductive package of life and definitely left a piece of my heart here in Donegal.”
The locations imprinted on Gabriel Byrne, who feels he won’t be alone in falling for the natural settings depicted on screen. “People will want to know where those locations are,” he says. “A lot of them are hidden; undiscovered; bleak; baron, at times; but also, intensely beautiful and inaccessible”. And just as he hopes audiences will want to discover these places.
“I think my favorite locations that we shot in were either Murlough Bay or Glenveagh National Park,” adds Fionn O’Shea, who plays Nicholas Coughlin. “That drive into Glenveagh National Park where the water was completely still and just being surrounded by the most beautiful mountains— I just felt very grateful to be there and it’s definitely something I won’t forget.” O’Shea says it was a true privilege to be surrounded by such majesty in nature: “Talking about its beauty does not do those places justice,” he says. “You really have to go and see them—being in Downings, being in the little bars and everything there was really lovely, and the whole community welcomed us with open arms which we felt really grateful for.”
“At Ardán, we work to champion stories rooted in the regions of Ireland that resonate on the international stage. Four Letters of Love is an example of the kind of ambitious filmmaking the WRAP Fund was set up to support. Adapted by Clare-based author Niall Williams from his own novel, produced by Mayo native Martina Niland, and filmed across breathtaking Donegal utilizing local talent and crew, this project not only showcases the artistic and narrative richness of the West and Northwest of Ireland, but also shines a spotlight on the wealth of talent and the highly-skilled craft of our creative communities. We are proud to have played our part in bringing this film to the big screen, and we look forward to audiences all over the world falling in love with the lore of our west coast in this film, and hopefully putting these locations on their holiday bucket list for years to come.” – Alan Duggan, CEO of Ardán
The cast all agreed about how special the on-set atmosphere was and the magic of being in Ireland: “It’s obviously the people that’s so special,” says Helena Bonham Carter. “And I hadn’t spent long enough in my life in Ireland. The Irish are extraordinary and so uniformly friendly—it’s like an island of extroverts. There’s no introvert, I don’t think, or at least I didn’t meet one. So friendly and so funny. I loved their company.”
“For me, going to Donegal—to those undiscovered areas—was a journey of awareness for me,” said Gabriel Byrne, adding it wasn’t just the rural that proved enticing. “It was also wonderful to work in Belfast,” he continues. “I worked in Belfast years ago but only for a brief period of time. To see the changes in the city, to see that it’s becoming more and more vibrant, more cosmopolitan—more European, in a way”. “And that’s why it’s really good that films come here, work here,” continues Byrne. “The crews are fantastic, the people on either side of the camera are as good as anywhere in the world. But it’s also opening up this landscape as well. It’s now becoming recognized as a place where you can make a film that some years ago might have been made in London or Los Angeles, so being in Belfast was a fantastic experience. Just meeting the people in the street, it is an incredibly friendly city.”
As Ann Skelly says, “There’s no better place in the world than Ireland in good weather.”
FOUR LETTERS OF LOVE is a Genesius Pictures, AX1 Films and Port Pictures production in association with London Town Films. It is produced by BAFTA Award nominee Debbie Gray (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Mrs. Lowry & Son) and Douglas Cummins (Let Me Go, The Girl) and Irish producer Martina Niland (Once, Sing Street). The film is financed by Northern Ireland Screen, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, WRAP (the Western Region Audiovisual Producer’s Fund), London Town Films and J Gleek Properties.
The film was released in UK/Ireland cinemas on Friday 18th July and in the US on 25th July.
Are You Interested in Bringing Your Group to Ireland?
Contact Cara Group Travel at 617-639-0273 to speak to a representative, or fill out the quick contact form below and a representative will get in touch with you! If you have a travel question or a general inquiry, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
