Helen O’Hanlon is a filmmaker, writer and producer whose latest film Mirette is currently earning praise on the festival circuit. We recently had the chance to ask her a few questions about the movie and what it took to get it made. Here’s what she had to say.
Hello Helen, my name is David. Thank you for taking the time to talk about your new short film. Before we begin, might I ask you to tell our readers a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Helen O’Hanlon: Hi David – thrilled to be talking to you about Mirette – it is a hugely ambitious film, an epic piece of cinema that just so happens to be 30 minutes long that everyone worked so hard to make happen, we are excited to finally be getting it out there to audiences. I am a Director/Writer with a heavy leaning to magical realism. I want to make films that create highly imaginative universes that ultimately entertain, featuring empowered female characters. Mirette embodies all of this. I’m incredibly proud of the project.
Tell me how this project came about for you?
HO: I am a mother with 2 young children and came across Mirette On the High Wire back in 2013. As soon as I read it, I fell in love with it and believed it should be a film. I immediately wrote to the author, Emily Arnold McCully (who is herself an inspiration) … thankfully she agreed to let me do it and so our journey to screen began.
We’ve made Mirette as a half hour ‘special’ following on the coattails of animated children’s book adaptations like Room on the Broom, The Gruffalo, The Snowman but ours is ‘live action’. I think there is a demand for more high quality live action content such as this in the family arena, so we are trailblazing with this format.
READ MORE: Our Review of Mirette
Did you meet with the author, and how closely to the source material did you hope to keep?
HO: Emily was the best support I could ever have wished for. We met at the outset of the project and I gave her my first early draft so she could see my vision in its rawest state – I never wanted to make a film she didn’t like or feel was akin to her book. She loved what I wanted to do and was behind us all the way. he icing on the cake was that she came to our exteriors shoot in France and you can spot her in the film as an extra.
As for staying true to the story, I wanted this 30-minute adaptation to feel close to the book – it sold up to a million copies worldwide and has a huge fan-base to tap into. But Emily was fantastic at giving me the room to develop and adapt to make the film work as its own piece. Ours is a collaboration I have loved and look forward to working more with Emily in the future.
I really enjoyed the whimsical yet grounded approach to the film, capturing the sort of imaginary urgency of childhood with the weight of adulthood. Was balancing fantasy with reality something you struggled with in capturing the feel of the book and story?
HO: Well magical realism is my style of filmmaking and so it is something that makes sense to me, it suits my weird logic of things and is an area I feel very comfortable with. I probably would struggle far more making a brutal modern day documentary style-story than a film with magic and wonder … for example my favourite references are Mary Poppins, The Fisher King, Romeo & Juliet (Baz Luhrmann), The Shape of Water, or anything by the great James Whale.
You cast a few famous names of screen and stage in the film, including Tom Conti and Miriam Margolyes. Would love to hear how they came to be involved and what your experience was like working with them.
HO: They are absolute heroes of mine. I am a huge fan of theirs and even more so now we’ve worked together. I saw Miriam at an anniversary talk about one of her films. At that time I had written the character of Mirette’s mother to match the book but it occurred to me it would be better to change the character to be a Grandmother, as she might encourage Mirette to follow her dream to wire walk more than a mother might (audiences may expect maternal protection to kick in). So I rewrote the role for her and sent it to her. You can’t imagine my delight when she agreed. We honestly would not have got the film made without her support.
And Tom is a legend. Incredibly talented, charming and so so funny it was a total delight working with him from beginning to end. With Tom, as with Miriam, we simply sent the script and they loved it. I still thank my lucky stars that it caught their imagination as they crown our film and make it more wonderful than I could have imagined.
Let’s talk about Dixie Egerickx. Such a bright young talent. How did she join your cast?
HO: I had several casting sessions before spotting her photo in a very long list my casting director compiled. I knew immediately just from her headshot it was her. When we met she read a few lines and absolutely blew me away. That was how it went for the entire shoot. She is a remarkable talent whose star is astronomically rising: she has just been cast in the lead in the remake of The Secret Garden with Colin Firth and Julie Walters. She is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to see it.
Even for a 30-minute film, she has quite the challenging role, especially with the rope work. Was she able to keep herself up on the rope, and was there training involved?
HO: Yes she trained for 8 months beforehand and has become an accomplished wirewalker (as has Jean-Marc Desmond who plays Bellini). Neither had wire walked before coming to the project. (You can see clips of their training here)
I have to ask. Did you try any tightrope walking yourself?
HO: I have tried quite a few times. It’s as hard as you can imagine … I certainly was not elegant in anyway shape or form. But even managing a few steps is immensely satisfying. Everyone should try it at least once.
Tell us about the sets and costuming. It’s got a great period feel to it and the robust cast really sell their characters.
HO: I wanted the world to feel worn and lived in. The entire film I wanted to carry the feel of an old well-thumbed book. Our DP, Mark Stubbs, is an incredible artist, clearly so much of the beauty in the film comes from the lighting and gorgeous photography. Lucy Isherwood our Art Director devoted herself to the project as did our incredible team of costume designers, Conchita Scott-Saronson and Dolly Hurran, who spent countless hours trawling through theatrical costume suppliers stores and getting favours where we needed pieces made (we had to work on a very tight budget for all departments).
Miracles were made to happen by all departments to pull this together. But the results are worth every sleepless night and long day’s effort, which includes the soaring beautiful score by Art Lewy. Everyone knocked it out of the ballpark for this film and it shows in each and every frame.
Are there plans to expand this to a feature length film?
HO: Yes. We are deep in development and plan to shoot the film next year. Premiering at Tribeca has catapulted the project forward and while it will be a slightly different, slightly darker adaptation, it will still have the magic old-world feel … but be even more epic.
This is your second short film. What do you like about the format and do you have plans to make more?
HO: Well much as I love short films, I don’t really think of Mirette as a short – more as a ‘special’. My producer, Michael Stanish, and I believe in live-action children’s book adaptations as they present a wonderful opportunity to make cinematic high quality work of books with established audiences, driving a commercial viability and quality into the family arena that isn’t currently there. We have an NY Times bestseller, an amazing title, in development next and many more beyond. We are trailblazing with Mirette in this way and we love the potential we are uncovering by doing so.
Mirette is having a pretty successful festival run. Any dates for distribution so readers can get a chance to watch?
HO: We have a lot of conversations happening right now. It is my dear hope we can make it available later this year but we have to let the festivals have their exclusivity for the moment. Follow us on Twitter or FB to keep updated: @mirettefilm
Thanks so much for talking with me. It’s been a real pleasure. Good luck with the film and I hope to cross paths with you again.
HO: Thanks David – hope to chat to you again too.