‘Stalker’ Premiere

Mark O’Connor’s latest feature, Stalker, had its premiere last week at Movies@Dundrum in Dublin. Among the cast and crew in attendence were John Connors, Barry Keoghan and Kathy Monahan alongside such special guests as Jim Sheridan, Sinead O’Connor, and Damien Dempsey, whose songs feature on the film’s soundtrack.

John Connors & Kathy Monahan

The film is an Irish psychological thriller and follows Oliver Nolan, played by Connors, a volatile homeless man, who wanders the streets of Dublin City during the Christmas period. After an unusual encounter with an evangelist, Oliver believes he is sent on a mission from God to clean up society. When he saves a disaffected young boy named Tommy from some local bullies an unlikely friendship is formed. Oliver soon learns that Tommy’s mother is a heroin addict and his uncle Rudyard is a local drug dealer, and takes it upon himself to get even with Rudyard and his gang of roguish criminals for taking advantage of his only friend, Tommy.

Barry Keoghan

Commenting on how he wanted to make something unconventional and experimental, writer-director Mark O´Connor said “Stalker was born out of the political and social crisis in the country. I talked to John Connors about a guy I knew from Ranelagh and that´s where the character of Oliver was born. Myself and John sat down and wrote Stalker over a 3-week period. John slept on the streets in character to prepare for the role and made a speech to 10,000 people at a political rally which we used in the film. There were several taboo subjects we wanted to explore which rarely get addressed in Irish cinema such as mental health, clerical abuse, homelessness, etc. We hope Stalker gets people talking about these issues but also entertains. It´s very exciting to finally get a chance to showcase Stalker to the Irish public in cinemas.”