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The Actors | |
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Directed by | Conor McPherson |
Written by | Conor McPherson |
Produced by | Neil Jordan Redmond Morris |
Starring | Michael Caine Dylan Moran Lena Headey Michael Gambon Miranda Richardson Michael McElhatton Abigail Iversen Aisling O'Sullivan Ben Miller Simon Delaney Alvaro Lucchesi |
Cinematography | Seamus McGarvey |
Edited by | Emer Reynolds |
Music by | Michael Nyman |
Distributed by | Momentum Pictures [1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | Ireland |
Language | English |
The Actors is a 2003 film written and directed by Conor McPherson and starring Dylan Moran and Michael Caine. In supporting roles are Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson and Lena Headey.
The Actors is a contemporary comedy set in Dublin. It follows the exploits of two mediocre stage actors as they devise a plan to con a retired gangster out of £50,000. The gangster owes the money to a third party, whom he has never met.
The actors take advantage of this fact by impersonating this 'unidentified' third party, and claiming the debt as their own. To pull it off they enlist Moran's eerily intelligent nine-year-old niece, who restructures the plan each time something goes wrong.
The two protagonists are acting in a version of Shakespeare's Richard III in which everyone dresses in Nazi uniform, a sly nod to Ian McKellen's production.
The film is centred on the Olympia Theatre, and it is noteworthy for featuring the famous glass awning over the entrance which has since been destroyed in a traffic accident. The glass awning has since been rebuilt to its full former glory.
Empire gives the film 2/5, describing it as "Based on an idea by Neil Jordan, The Actors had the potential to be gut-achingly funny. But instead it ends up raising a few paltry smiles." [2]
The Actors | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | 19 May 2003 | |||
Genre | Soundtrack, contemporary classical, minimalism | |||
Language | English | |||
Label | EMI Records | |||
Michael Nyman chronology | ||||
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Sir Michael John Gambon was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career, he received three Olivier Awards and four BAFTA TV Awards. In 1998, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.
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The 15th Irish Film & Television Academy Awards took place at the Mansion House on 15 February 2018 in Dublin, honoured Irish film and television drama released in 2017. Deirdre O'Kane host the film awards ceremony.